Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 24, 1995 TAG: 9507240132
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For the answer, look down ... to the bottom line.
Conclude the CEOs: AmeriCorps, President Clinton's pet program, is one heck of a good investment. This national-service initiative - which in less than a year of existence has engaged 20,000 young adults, ages 18 to 25, in 350 public-service projects in 1,100 communities throughout the nation - is reaping up to $2.60 in benefits for every $1 spent on it. And these are just the quantifiable benefits, as confirmed by an econometric study by economists.
The payoff is coming in reduced welfare costs, increased earnings, reduced special-education costs, improved educational performance and increased computer usage in communities with AmeriCorps projects. Down the road, there could be even greater benefits in the form of reduced crime, drug abuse, homelessness, teen pregnancy, health problems and pollution, to mention a few.
Consider some of the specific accomplishments of AmeriCorps volunteers, who receive modest federal assistance for higher education in exchange for their good deeds. They have built eight disability-accessible playgrounds; repaired 15 senior-citizen homes; restored four historical sites; closed 20 crack houses; reclaimed a large neighborhood park that had been abandoned to gang shootings.
They have organized and supervised programs for at-risk youngsters; provided literacy training for adults; renovated inner-city housing units and rural homes; constructed wheelchair accessible trails, ramps and sidewalks; provided emergency medical services; fought forest fires; repaired flood-ravaged dams and streams; retrieved wilderness areas; and built greenways.
Unfortunately, the number-crunchers have no way of measuring what may prove the most important benefit: an outlet and boost for old-fashioned civic idealism, and, with it, citizens' grass-roots energy and gritty determination to solve problems for the commonweal, rather than depending on government for solutions.
By the way, this value is often trumpeted by politicians. So in congressional Republicans' haste to destroy AmeriCorps, what's up? Plainly, an opportunity to take a swipe at Clinton.
GOP lawmakers, of course, frame it differently. It's necessary to balance the budget, some say - though eliminating AmeriCorps would save less than 1 percent of the more than $1 trillion it will take to do it by 2002.
Other critics argue on the grounds that young people should not be paid for being good citizens and serving their country. Odd, they don't argue for ending national defense because the armed services pay volunteers.
If the common sense of a program that promotes volunteerism and civic work, addresses community problems, helps kids with college expenses, and departs from no-strings-attached federal entitlements and handouts doesn't sway Republican lawmakers, what will?
Maybe the CEOs' bottom line: Returns on the AmeriCorps investment have started coming in, and they are considerable.
by CNB