THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                        (Grand Canyon, Arizona)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                   January 11, 2000

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

I am pleased to announce today that my budget for Fiscal Year 2001 will include over $850 million for the Corporation for National Service. The investments in my budget will keep us on track to my goal of 100,000 AmeriCorps members serving annually. They will also fund several innovative initiatives to empower young people. Through a new "AmeriCorps Reserves" program, modeled on the military reserves, we will be able to engage former AmeriCorps members in service during times of crisis. Through a new Community Coaches program, we will place dedicated adult in 1,000 schools who can guide students in effective service and connect the school to the wider community. And through the Youth Empowerment Grants I am proposing, we will be able to reward social entrepreneurship among young people who are finding their own solutions to problems like youth violence and civic alienation.

Everyone who serves is a catalyst for change. Since the passage of the National and Community Service Trust Act, more than 150,000 young people have served in AmeriCorps. They represent our very best ideals -- they have helped to immunize more than a million people; taught, tutored or mentored 4.4 million children; helped build some 11,000 homes; and truly sparked a new spirit of public engagement across the land. The initiatives I am announcing today will help more Americans share in the power and promise of community service. I look forward to working with Congress to ensure their enactment.

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