Events Detail

Transcript Now Available - Click Here! (PDF format, 30 pages, 246 KB)

A complete, edited transcript is now available of the Bradley Center's February 9 panel discussion, entitled

Expand National Service?

  Sagawa, Reed, Schambra, Somin, and Lenkowsky

When soon-to-be President Barack Obama devoted time on the Martin Luther King, Jr., day of service to painting a shelter for homeless teens, he reminded us of his intention to call all Americans to a greater national commitment to service. Indeed, there is a powerful movement abroad to expand government support for national service programs, not only by adding substantially to the number of compensated service positions, but also by providing incentives to businesses, retirees, and nonprofits to play a larger role in encouraging voluntarism. Some have even argued, as BRUCE REED and John Bridgeland put it in a recent New York Times op-ed, that “an investment in service as part of the economic recovery plan could add hundreds of thousands of jobs” to a faltering national employment picture. Is this the time for a major new expansion of national service programs?

This and other questions were the focus of a February 9 panel discussion hosted by Hudson Institute's Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal. Panelists included SHIRLEY SAGAWA of the consulting firm sagawa/jospin; BRUCE REED of the Democratic Leadership Council; George Mason University's ILYA SOMIN; and LESLIE LENKOWSKY of Indiana University. The Bradley Center’s WILLIAM SCHAMBRA moderated the discussion.

• "Volunteer to Save the Economy" by Bruce Reed and John Bridgeland, The New York Times, January 23, 2009 (Click here to read the piece on The New York Times' web site.)
• "In National Service, It's Quality, Not Quantity" by Leslie Lenkowsky, The Chronicle of Philanthropy issue dated September 4, 2008 (PDF Format, 2 pages, 27 KB)

Transcript Information
 

The transcript of this discussion was prepared from an audio recording and edited by Krista Shaffer. To request further information on this event or the Bradley Center, please contact Kristen McIntyre at (202) 974-2424 or kmcintyre@hudson.org.