A perfect storm rarely happens in the nation’s Capitol—strong vocal support from the President and First Lady, bipartisan support from Congress, and a commitment in the budget to create or expand a program. So when the stars do align it’s worthwhile to take notice especially when it’s something for the betterment of our country and its citizens.

Last week the House Committee on Education and Labor passed the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act or GIVE Act, a bill to reauthorize national service programs by tripling the number of AmeriCorps volunteers, expanding service opportunities to all stages of life, and creating a nationwide community-based infrastructure fund to leverage investments in service.

Throughout President Obama’s campaign and after he was sworn into office, he has championed the idea of expanding service opportunities for citizens of all ages to meet the social challenges of our country.  This is more important than ever as food banks are overwhelmed, the homeless population continues to rise due to foreclosures, and areas of the country still struggle to recover from their massive disasters as seen in New Orleans.

President Obama and Congress thankfully understand the importance of volunteering not only to the citizens who receive it, but those who are hungry to give it.  Dating back to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps 76 years ago, through several presidents in both parties, service is something our country takes pride in and rightfully so: Americans have always been generous with their time and money to help those in need.

The premise of the GIVE Act is to allow individuals through a variety of programs to give back to their communities, which during this time of crisis is needed now more than ever.

It’s not just the citizens needing the services that are hurting.  The nonprofits providing the sought after programs have been facing plummeting donations and downsized budgets that result in staff cuts. There’s now more stress to provide more with less resources.  It’s the vicious cycle of our economy.

The bright spot, however, is volunteering and service which can fill in some of the gaps felt by nonprofits as Americans give freely of their time to engage in a wide variety of missions and projects.

Another important aspect of the GIVE Act entails a provision for veterans to ensure that service programs are serving the families of military members including those on active duty.  Members of our military and civilians are interested in helping veterans and those in active duty so it’s only natural that the bill includes a Veterans Corps.  Participants in the Veterans Corps will focus on supporting the families of service members and returning veterans by promoting efforts in the community to serve their unique needs.

The GIVE Act is expected to pass the full House and the Senate companion piece of legislation, the Serve for America Act, should follow soon thereafter.  If all goes as planned, President Obama could be signing a service bill in early April and through a stroke of a pen take the national-service movement to a whole new level.

This would be an exciting development for citizens of all ages, but especially young people.  By expanding AmeriCorps, thousands of jobs in public service will be created and nonprofits will have more staff to implement their important programs.  In addition, students just coming out of school, looking for work and strapped with large student loans will have an incentive to engage in service as the bill includes a boost in the educational stipend offered in exchange for service.

In tough times, service is the right medicine and the perfect combination for everyone but especially for our young people, nonprofits, and low and moderate income families.  We need boots on the ground working for social change and a new source of jobs and financial relief.  In this case, thank goodness for perfect storms!

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