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The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act or Serve America Act (, (Public Law 111-13 )) was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on March 9, 2009, by Representative Carolyn McCarthy of New York. Originally titled the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act (GIVE Act), the bill reauthorizes and expands the AmeriCorps program that was first established in 1993. It passed in the House of Representatives on March 18, 2009. The U.S. Senate debated and approved an amended version of the bill on March 26, 2009, renaming it the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, after Senator Ted Kennedy. The House of Representatives voted on the bill a second time, approving the amended version on March 31, 2009. It was signed by President Barack Obama on April 21, 2009. ==Volunteerism provisions== Included in this bill are some major provisions related to improving volunteerism. First, five new service corps are created which address the needs of low income communities. These include a Clean Energy Corps to encourage energy efficiency and conservation; an Education Corps to help increase student engagement, achievement and graduation; a Healthy Futures Corps to improve health care access; a Veterans Service Corps to enhance services for veterans; and an Opportunity Corps. The bill expanded the number of volunteers nationwide from 75,000 to 250,000. Under the Serve America Act, AmeriCorps's list of programs was expanded. The list now includes giving access to technology, disaster services, mentoring, giving services to disadvantaged youth, higher education service-learning, re-engaging court-involved youth and adults, providing financial literacy education, building affordable housing, providing access to health care and other State and Federal programs, establishing e-Corps, giving job-training and helping with job placement, helping to reduce crime, creating a musician and artist corps program, and providing foster care and mentoring. Much of the Serve America Act discusses funding and how grants can be provided to non-profit organizations through AmeriCorps. The bill expands the focus of the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) to include disaster relief, infrastructure improvement, environmental and energy conservation, and urban and rural development. The bill requires 50% of the NCCC's summer program participants to be from economically and ethnically diverse background. Additionally, this bill creates the National Service Reserve Corps of former national service participants and veterans who are capable of being called to service in the event of disaster or other emergencies. The bill instructs the NCCC to start a Call to Service Campaign, in order to encourage all Americans to engage in service, as well as marking September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance, of which the NCCC is responsible for planning. It also creates the Campuses of Service which supports and recognizes institutions of higher education with exemplary service learning programs and helps students in the pursuit of public service careers. The bill also increased the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award that members receive in exchange for their work to $5,350 for 2010. This award value is associated with the maximum Pell Grant scholarship. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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