Investing in the Health and Well-Being of Young Adults (2015) / Chapter Skim
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5 Civic Engagement and National Service
5 Civic Engagement and National Service
Pages 171-198
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From page 171... ...
• National service programs have become more competitive and community goal oriented; the military also has changed, largely as a result of extensive deployment in the past decade and a half. Among other implications, these changes mean that 1 This chapter draws heavily on a paper commissioned by the committee titled "Civic Engagement, Volunteerism, and Young Adult Well-Being: Volunteer Work and National Service as Developmental Opportunities for Social Incorporation," by Constance Flanagan and Victoria Faust.
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From page 172... ...
Civic engagement and national service encompass a broad range of activities including community service (volunteer and mandated) , political involvement, environmental service, several teaching programs, and military service.
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From page 173... ...
We conclude with policy and research recommendations. OVERVIEW OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND NATIONAL SERVICE Volunteerism and Well-Being Although volunteering is aimed at helping those on the receiving end, it is also associated with, and may contribute to, health and well-being among those who volunteer.
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From page 174... ...
. Changes in Civic Engagement During the Transition to Adulthood Involvement in civic organizations and volunteering is lower among young adults than among high school students and older adults (Flanagan and Levine, 2010)
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From page 175... ...
Historical, community, and social forces can shape civic engagement, and research has shown that negative social and economic indicators such as poverty, involvement in the justice system, and school dropout are risk factors for civic disengagement (Beaumont, 2012; Ginwright, 2011)
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From page 176... ...
. That being said, with the exception of programs that target particular groups, women are more likely than men to enroll in national service programs.
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2-3) NATIONAL SERVICE PROGRAMS FOR YOUNG ADULTS Institutions are the venues whereby people are recruited into civic life (Verba et al., 1995)
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. As a substitute for or in addition to college, national service can offer opportunities for civic engagement, building social connections, exposure to training opportunities, and recruitment into civic life for those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
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From page 179... ...
In short, aside from administrative changes to service opportunities, the recent sweeping support for national service embodied in this act remains largely unrealized.6 The current umbrella programs coordinated by CNCS include AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, the Social Innovation Fund,7 and the Volunteer 6 In some cases, programs that were initially funded, such as Summer of Service, which supported middle school youth from disadvantaged families for participating in service, were defunded by Congress the following year because of budget cuts. Organizations such as ServiceNation and ServeNext have established a grassroots coalition to hold public officials accountable for the implementation of the Serve America Act.
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From page 180... ...
AmeriCorps comprises three major programs: AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps VISTA, and AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) ." AmeriCorps State and National and NCCC programs focus largely on direct service provision.
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From page 181... ...
To counterbalance 1 year of full-time or continual parttime service, AmeriCorps participants obtain an education award that can be used to repay qualified student loans or toward higher education or vocational training. The education award must be used within 7 years of receipt (Abt Associates, 2008)
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From page 182... ...
Specific AmeriCorps training opportunities come from individual sites, AmeriCorps program structures, state commissions, and national workshops and conferences. Training typically includes reflective learning, team building, service project development, and professional development.
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. Data were analyzed using propensity score matching (based on national and community service interest, demographics, and previous civic engagement)
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. Overall, despite the need for appropriate caution regarding the extent to which AmeriCorp participation caused the various outcomes, there were many positive effects on civic engagement and some on employment -- both priority areas of focus for national service; however, there were few effects for educational outcomes or other life skills, which also are priority areas.
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From page 185... ...
hire almost exclusively disadvantaged youth.9 Some programs, such as YouthBuild, Public Allies, and PASCO (a regional service corps that engages all of its members in leadership devel 9 Note that the Serve America Act defines "disadvantaged youth" as those who have one or more of the following characteristics: are out of school, are unemployed, are aging out of foster care, have limited English proficiency, are homeless or runaway, are at risk to leave secondary school without a diploma, are former juvenile offenders or at risk of delinquency, or have a disability.
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From page 186... ...
New Directions in National Service: Implications for Young Adult Development Based on changes in the Serve America Act, an increase in service opportunities for young people can be anticipated. While current funding allocations encourage programs to hire disadvantaged youth, one can also expect to see a greater level of professionalization of service in light of the rigorous goals for community impact through the CNCS distribution of resources.
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From page 187... ...
Overall, the growing deemphasis on member development represents a lost opportunity to incorporate into national service programs mechanisms that could improve health and well-being during the transition to adulthood, as well as the productivity and citizenship of future generations. MILITARY SERVICE Although long compulsory during times of war, military service is now voluntary, and the military is increasingly made up of many diverse groups of Americans, most of whom are young adults.
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From page 188... ...
Military service is widely assumed to have profound effects on the life course. Understanding what those effects are, however, is challenging because servicemen and women are what is known as a "selective" population.
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From page 189... ...
. Many features of military service likely facilitate this earlier family formation, including wage stability, subsidized housing (which often is based on family size and therefore sensitive to fertility)
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From page 190... ...
Given the overrepresentation of young people from historically disadvantaged racial/ethnic groups in the all-volunteer forces, military service has many features that can boost their future prospects. For example, it offers better pay and greater job security than most occupations available to those who enlist, and it offers more equitable treatment than many young adults would find in the broader labor market.
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From page 191... ...
. Given the special relevance of military service to the transition from adolescence to adulthood, more attention is warranted to the specific segment of the military consisting of young adults.
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From page 192... ...
. Overall, although more rigorous experimental and long-term studies clearly are needed, existing evidence indicates that national service programs can have a positive impact on young adults' health, safety, and well-being.
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From page 193... ...
− xtend local and municipal credit for military service in the civil E service employment test to civic service programs. − here feasible, provide opportunities for future assistance in W the labor market, such as by having members demonstrate com petence that can lead to occupational certification or providing information on jobs and credible references.
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From page 194... ...
• Conduct more rigorous experimental studies to determine how civic engagement and national service impact trajectories of the health, safety, and well-being of young adult participants. • Give specific attention to institutional supports and individual char acteristics that facilitate successful transitions from national service to education, employment, social relationships, and citizenship.
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From page 195... ...
2011. Civic engagement patterns and transitions over 8 years: The AmeriCorps National Study.
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In Policies for youth civic engagement, edited by J Youniss and P
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adolescents' civic engagement: A story of changing participa tion and educational differences. Journal of Research on Adolescence 21(3)
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2002. Youth civic engagement in the twenty-first century.
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