OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Generations Invigorating Volunteerism And Education Act

Floor Speech

Date: March 18, 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Education

GENERATIONS INVIGORATING VOLUNTEERISM AND EDUCATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - March 18, 2009)

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Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. Chairman, I wish to engage the chairman of Education and Labor in a colloquy.

Mr. Chairman, Teach for America has been in the AmericaCorps program since 1994 and is the Nation's largest professional service corps. This program recruits top college graduates of all backgrounds and career interests to commit to teach for at least 2 years in our Nation's most underserved classrooms.

To date, 20,000 Teach for America corps members have enriched the lives of more than 3 million low-income students in our Nation's lowest performing schools. While only the one in ten Teach for America corps members initially planned on a career in education, two-thirds remain in the field in some capacity. This only goes to further demonstrate the life-changing impact this kind of service can have on an individual.

Teach for America is also experiencing remarkable growth as more and more Americans look to give back to their communities. Applications are up 40 percent this year, with 35,000 people applying to serve through Teach for America alone.

Given this growth and its potential to expand and meet the needs of underserved students across the Nation, is it correct that, under this bill, Teach for America will continue to be eligible under the professional corps' description of the model for funding under the Education Corps or any of the other newly created corps programs under section 122?

I yield to the chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, and ask if this understanding is correct.

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I thank the gentleman for yielding and for raising this issue. Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention.

I am proud to be a long-time supporter of Teach for America, and I am pleased to say that they will continue to be eligible to participate in AmeriCorps through the newly-created National Service Corps exactly as you have described.

Teach for America has demonstrated measurable effectiveness in the classroom and is exactly the type of measurable success that we are looking to scale up. Thank you again, Mr. Cassidy, for your support of this program and for raising this issue and for the support of the GIVE Act.

Mr. CASSIDY. I thank the chairman.

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