Don’t Muffle the Call to Serve

???1 Million Jobs for $10 Billion.???

There???s much criticism of the Stimulus Package, but few alternatives proposed. Here???s excerpts of some of our ideasl:

Jonathan Alter noted in Newsweek that ???with 15 years of scandal-free AmeriCorps apparatus in place, service jobs can be established with Rooseveltian speed, an important criteria for inclusion in the stimulus.??? And if those rapidly deployed AmeriCorps jobs stimulated entrepreneurialism, and each generated additional jobs. ???

60,000 Youth Entrepreneur Corps jobs at $20K each for one year would cost about $1 1/2 billion
40,000 Ssuccessful-Entrepreneur jobs at $40K each would cost about $2 billion.

If they average just four jobs each in a whole year of effort, that???s 400,000 permanent, self sustaining jobs, at a cost of $10,000 each.

What kind of entrepreneurial jobs might they create? Why not ask for proposals ??? and quickly hire the best. ??? Thousands of online entrepreneurial proposals ??? noticed by the media ??? public opinion ??? .

And why not also adapt the Grameen Bank micro loan model to the US? ??? Harness latent expertise ??? an army of proposal evaluators. ??? 1,600,000 loans averaging $1000 each would cost about $2 billion. ??? 40,000 Successful Entrepreneurs on their lunch break select two per week yields 320,000 funded monthly. ??? A lot of kilns, paint sprayers, floor sanders and caulking guns bought in 2009 and 2010. ??? 10% success still yields 160,000 new jobs ??? only $13,000 per SELF SUSTAINING job.

.. $5.5 Billion of the $10 Billion proposal yields ??? 660,000 jobs, 85% of them self sustaining.

Would appreciate thoughtful comments at our more extensive Policyinnovation.blogspot.com Thanks. Jim and Dianne ©JLP2009

Thank you for your very excellent point in this article! I wholeheartedly agree!
I wish that every idea put forth for inclusion in the economic stimulus bill were analyzed based on its likely impact on economic growth (both short-term and long-term), in other words, it's multiplier effect. I would bet that investing in national service comes out way on top. Not only does it have great capacity to very, very immediately meet needs, it also represents a tremendous investment in expanding our human capital, which will pay economic dividends for decades.

One key point however: the public-private model of AmeriCorps funding is a huge barrier to rapid growth, and yet I hear no one, absolutely no one, questioning this basic premise of the model. AmeriCorps was developed during an era of re-inventing government and huge value placed on shifting or at least sharing the burdens of government on to the private sector. Programs like City Year and Teach for America served as models in which the government only provided a portion of funding. As a result, AmeriCorps grants fund less than 50% of the costs per member. While this model has been great for stretching the impact of tax dollars, it has and will continue to be an impediment to the growth of national service. While organizations like City Year and Teach for America have been relatively successful attracting private dollars and growing, they are outliers, among the best at private-sector fundraising. Many organizations that seek to have or grow AmeriCorps programs either exist in regions with less available private sources or they do not have the networks and capacities of CY and TFA. Even for those that do have that kind of fundraising capacity, their growth would have been substantially larger if AmeriCorps had funded a larger share per member.

Imagine this -- President Obama and the Congress triple funding for AmeriCorps under its current model. AmeriCorps programs would need to more than triple their private sector fundraising over night. How likely is that in this current economy?

President Roosevelt enrolled over a million young men in the CCC within 100 days. That simply would not have been possible if the CCC was based on AmeriCorps public-private match requirements.

My recommendation? Change the model for AmeriCorps funding. Increase the percentage that the federal government will fund up to at least 2/3. Increase the total amount of funding per member up to $20,000.

John Sarvey

I just wanted to tell you how happy I am to see your return to msnbc. I have missed you insights. Keep up the great writing and compassionate vision of the world. best blackbird

I just want to say how nice it is to be seeing more of you on msnbc. I have always seen you as a very honest, compassionate man. Keep up the great writing and your world vision. best. dorothy

Being an AmeriCorps member i just wanted to say thank you for the emotional boost. I sometimes get the "Burnout" feeling that is often mentioned by my co-workers I'm printing this article and putting it in my office. THANK YOU!!!

Good post, as always Mr. Alter. I feel good when you are on with Keith or Rachel, but better when you get on the more conservative shows. This article is the only review I have read outside of the blogs going into some of the finer points of proposed legislation or proposals for legislation. This volunteer proposal really raises my spirits. Thank you.

Hidden inside Americorps - at least it used to there - is the VISTA program, orginated during LBJ's War on Poverty. Also the Senior Community Service program (SCSEP) is still churning away putting low income seniors to work in local community agencies. They share a noble calling: enlisting ordinary Americans, young and old, in service to communities, especially poor ones. And they have been doing so for decades, unsung champions of a forgotten commitment? Someone should shed some warm light on these and other Federal programs long neglected or forgotten, and the patriots who still carry their banners. Not everyone has forgotton them. Barack?

I want to say that if allowing gays to be on the front line then he should not have allowed any gays in his cabinet. the lady from arizona that was over the prisons is gay. Was her status considered when she took office or nobody knew it? It's true she is gay.

I was very pleased to read your article. I am in full agreement with your rationale and statements. I would like to add one thought. Putting young people to work, as the old CCC, has another benefitin addiiton to those you mentioned. It helps to keep them out of JAIL. Even if you are successful in keeping at risk kids in school, hopefully to get an education, the fact that they have no place to use these skills still keeps them at risk. Poverty, low education levels and few job opportunities are significant factors in crowding our jails with young people. Putting them to work, perhaps continuing their education while they are working is a definite deterrent. From what I've learned, it costs more to keep a convict than it does to give him a college education. I applaude your AmeriCorps endorsement, but I hope you'll consider adding the CCC revieval to your list of :"Good Ways To Accomplish Our Goals." Thank you for speaking out. I hope you're heard by the people who control the programming. Diane Killion

I dont think we should build more libraries now like what andrew Carnegie did one hundred years ago. Neither we should hire artists to paint the walls as was done in the New deals. As far as shovel ready jobs is concerned, there is plenty of machinery around which means no large number of people is needed.

You need some help harleyhere..you should stand behind the president (and the first lady, and his kids) you should not want to get all up on his junk! Is your real name Monica ?? Sicko

Immediately after his inauguration, Obama will balance the budget, revive the economy, solve the real estate problem, solve the auto industry problem, solve our gas/alternative energy problem, stop the fires and mudslides in California, ban hurricanes and tornadoes, stop identity theft, reverse global warming, find Osama, solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, get rid of corruption in government and achieve world peace. Then on the 7th day, He will rest.

Obama had better live up to most of his promises or he will produce a generation of extremely cynical youths, one that will make Gen X look like a bunch of optimists.

So the government should buy itself out of the crisis by...hiring everyone itself?

No problem, harley. you have a nice one, hear?

Hehehe, nice piece of low-class slime, harley; Worthy of Newsweak and Democrats.

Are you on the Gov dole too?

Ah, yes. The "totally in the Tank for Obama" Jonathan Alter weighs in with another plug for Obama. This writer will say nothing critical about Obama and this article is just another example.

The big Democratic Party supporters will get big dollars. Gov Richardson could point the way, I am sure. People like Alter want to make the country think that we are in a depression - they are stuck in 70 year-old thinking. So we need the 'shovel-ready' projects... Alter wants a Gov handout for these people... You know, connect the dots - "Elect a liberal Democrat, you get a government handout".

Why not a national policy for business that will boost EMPLOYMENT