Transcripts For CSPAN National Conference On Citizenship 201

thanks for the lookahead. tomorrow, the u.s. national intelligence chair will talk about changing national security needs. the event is hosted by the atlantic council and live coverage begins at 5:00 p.m. eastern on c-span 3. next, a forum examines how to get citizens more involved in their communities. after that, discussion concerning crime-reducing programs that offer alternative incarceration. then, "q&a." >> civic business and education leaders talk about activism and corporate responsibility. during the event, retired general stanley mcchrystal is recognized for his service and just how to get involved in the community. it is about two hours and 40 minutes. >> and now, ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the national anthem. by the say, can you see, dawn's early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming brought stripes and bright stars through the perilous night watched ramparts we were so gallantly streaming red glare, the' bombs bursting in air night and through the that our flag was still there oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave free andland of the brave ♪ of the [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome national conference on citizenship chairman michael weiser. ♪ [applause] >> diane is not only a talented performer and artist, she is also a very talented fundraiser. her connection to the national conference on citizenship is working with our service here project. you may have heard the term the franklin project. it is all aligned. we appreciate your efforts on our behalf and we appreciate you bringing your talents to our stage once again. [applause] am significantly less talented. ncoc is honored to partner with american university for this year's conference. would all of the claude eagles in the room please stand up. people from american university in the room, please stand up. [applause] thank you for being here. a.u.is a fall break for and faculty and most of the administration is at a retreat. there are some students on campus. a number have joined us as we appreciate their participation and deeply appreciate the partnership of american university, which, like the national conference on citizenship, is a congressionally-chartered organization. center, they help undergraduates volunteer every year. we learn by doing. we learn by doing. their freshman class alone provides more than 7000 hours of freshman service experience. i assume also studying for midterms, but that is just a guess on my part. there many programs connect students with the diverse communities of the d.c. metro area, strengthening both in the process. please join me in thanking a.u. for hosting this conference. [applause] i also want to thank our conference title sponsors, their generous support allows us to host this engaging event and develop world-class programming in addition, i would like to recognize kkpmg, apollo education group, sprint, ge anddation, nrg, isl, paycom, who have all contributed to the success of this conference. please join me in thanking all of our sponsors. [applause] ncoc is called by our congressional charter to convene in the civic engagement field, create programs that advanced citizenship, and facilitate action by our partners around the country. we hold this conference as a mandate of our charter once a year. this is the seventh conference that i have been honored to chair. for nearly 70 years, we have been convening and it has played an important role in shaping our country's civic egos. governors, supreme court justices, presidents have all shared their views on important desegregationing and the role of government. this year, we will shine a light on the subject of economic inequality. if you have not already, i encourage you to walk through history. there is a series of posters on display in the long hallway leading to these rooms. it does a really interesting job of telling the history of ncoc and the history of civic engagement for the united states since 1946. i want to thank jeannie harris and kendall lorenz and -- lorenzen for bringing it to life. they were our summer interns this year. the game is connect, and power, act.- empower, you will share ideas and lessons learned that empower each of us to take action that leads to greater civil -- civic engagement. being together, engaging one another, taking what we learn from this room into our daily lives can have meaningful impact on the quality of citizenship in the country. this is every year. an important year, meeting. i would like to take a moment to recognize my partners in this effort. my fellow directors of the national conference on citizenship who give up their time and their resources and of ncoc good hearts -- directors who are here this morning, please stand and be recognized. [applause] partner.e main in the course of caring ncoc, i have been fortunate to work with two executive directors. contribution has broadened and deepened. shirka.ronounced you got it from the source. his work on service and revolutionary approach to creating national service opportunities have led the citizenship guilt into new territory. and you have a partner like him, each day, you get encouraged in your own work. i get a call, i get a fax, i get a text, i get an e-mail, something that reminds me that the future is there. and it inspires me. a passion for civic engagement and health for our communities. please welcome elir. ♪ [applause] >> thank you so much for that introduction. join me in thanking michael for his commitment and his leadership to ncoc. [applause] i also want to thank michael and tom,ife, julie, as well as phil. this year, we invited a number of our partners to design and lead the learning summits that are happening this afternoon. i want to ask those people to stand and be recognized and be thanked. do not be shy if you are in the audience. [applause] our mission is to strengthen civic life in america. ussyde the decedent -- deb once said that music is like the space between the notes. i think community is the space between people. the question is, how do we fill that space? do we fill it with trust? do we fill it with support? do we reach across the divide to work on common problems together? do we volunteer? do we vote? do we engage with the government? the answers to these questions are credible to our country because we know that when people are engaged, families are stronger, individuals tend to be more employed, schools are better, governments are more responsive, and critical needs are met when all of these things happen. it is this sort of activity that we define as civic life. when we talk about strengthening civic life, this is what we are talking about. increasing that sort of the space and making between people vibrant and alive. when that happens, we have strong civic health. over the past eight years, we have led a movement to call attention to the civic health of a country. with many of you in the audience, we have issued over 30 reports around -- from around the country. the story ofling how well our communities are doing. or in some cases, not doing. the knot is also important -- the not is also important. those reports have been a catalyst for action across the united states. the census bureau collects the data that is the essential ingredient of those reports. together, we put out that data every year as part of something called volunteering and civic life. we will talk a little bit about that data in a little bit. that is an important element. we also helped to create the civic 50 program together with our partners, points of life and bloomberg. the civic 50 calls attention to the top 50 community-minded companies in the united states. these are companies that are doing great work in their communities, but also getting something in return. they are strengthening their brand. they are increasing their capacity to recruit employees and to retain them. those two things are critically important because a lot of companies are learning that more and more people, especially young people, want to work for an employer who cares about the community and does something to match that care. we are thrilled at ncoc that bloomberg and points of light are continuing to spur us forward and i want to give them a round of applause for doing that. [applause] taken the lead in the service year group net. we want to have an impact in our communities. service year is an initiative of the national service alliance. we are a proud member of the alliance. i want to recognize our alliance partners, the franklin project, voices for national service, and service nation. thanks to all of you for being members of the alliance. the goal of the alliance and service year is fairly simple. one is to dramatically increase the service opportunities for young people in america. there are a lot more people who want to serve than there are positions and we need to change that. the second thing is to foster the type of active engaged citizenship that the ncoc charter calls for. we know from the data and from our research that when people are engaged in any way, they tend to be more engaged in other ways. if you volunteer, you are more likely to vote and vice versa. national service is a real multiplier. people serve the community for a year, they are very active. and also going to the nonprofit sector. we need lots of folks to serve communities that way. so we are a proud member of the national service alliance. of course, all of our work would be easier if schools were to embrace their civic mission. after all, that was the idea of public education, right? partners of proud the campaign for civic mission of schools and we are proud to, with them, support their seminal report called "guardians of democracy." that should not be confused with "guardians of the galaxy." that is a whole different thing. later today, we will have deep dive summits into all four of these areas where we will ask you, with our captains, to talk about the work that you are the lessonsare learned, to challenge of us and each other to think about how we should do our work differently, to connect, to help us empower each other so that we can act when we leave this conference and we can be stronger for it. that is our mission today and i am thrilled that all of you are here to be a part of that. at this time, i want to introduce marcy kaptur us -- marci campos. teaching american studies and government classes, she is critical to fulfilling a.u.'s commitment to community-based learning. she is a strong advocate for engaging students and services and coordinates departments campus to support increased service opportunities. please join me in welcoming her. [applause] ♪ >> good morning. great to have you all on our campus. i want toof a.u., welcome you and just congratulate the group that organized this. the conference agenda looks excellent and very much aligned with the importance that a.u. places on student engagement and civic and community issues. strategic plan that puts great emphasis on its work, stating that one of our goals is to act on our values through social responsibility and service and that we have a vigorous commitment to the city and people of washington d c. last year, the university decided to go further. we concluded that we needed some campuswide learning outcomes to define what students should be able to do by the time they graduate. among the 10 learning outcomes agreed upon, one is actually civic engagement and it states, graduates will demonstrate knowledge of and respect for society and the environment. they will demonstrate an appreciation of the importance of the collective and the roles of the individual. they will act with a sense of responsibility and service to the public interest and to social justice." a.u.'s history is rooted in a commitment to civic engagement and we maintain that commitment. as was stated earlier, the university was chartered by an act of congress in 1893 and it was established to actually train and support public service. u. is number three among medium-sized universities with 43 of our alumni currently serving as peace corps volunteers. a.u. had 19ar, presidential management fellow's and that is for students pursuing federal service careers. students are among the most politically-active in the office, the center for community engagement and service, has the privilege and the opportunity to be a campus hub for organizing and for monitoring different forms of service and civic engagement. we manage an array of programs to extend student learning beyond the classroom and into the city, enabling our students to apply their learning to real-life situations that are being tackled every day by our enormous nonprofit sector. we are very lucky in washington because we have both the community-organizations, the national organizations, international, and public offering. among our signature programs are freshmen service experience, which just celebrated its 25th year anniversary. we invite students to begin their college experience by going out into the city and working at about 50 different sites throughout the city to do two full days of community service and learn about the place they will be living for the coming year. we think that is a great way to start your education, to learn about where you are going to live and what are the pressing issues? 550-700r, anywhere from students participate in that program. we also have a unique alternative program which operates over enter, spring, and summer breaks and is an alternative to the typical cancún-type spring break. key leadershipay roles in this program because they design, plan, and implement a social justice-oriented trip, either domestic or international. they decide it and write a proposal and it has to be approved and selected. in the coming year, we have 13 trips planned. just as a sampling, one group will be going to the u.s.-mexico border to learn about immigration and how the legal system is a dressing the arrival of thousands -- is addressing the arrival of thousands of unaccompanied minors who are fleeing violence. another group will go to san francisco to look at the andrsection of homelessness -- another will focus on healing and community development in rwanda. the program that is growing the most rapidly on our campus is community-based learning, commonly called service learning. some colleges actually require it read we do not. this is an academic, course-based pedagogy that classroom-based learning through meaningful involvement with a community agency, a nonprofit, or a school. through a planned collaboration with the professor and community partners, all stakeholders benefit, both i meeting course objectives and addressing community-identified needs. this is really important, that reciprocity. his current semester, we have 47 different courses in which students are linking the course lectures and the discussions and the readings to an issue faced by residents in the city. classes as varied as public health, third world cities, visual literacy, marketing for change, and the american constitution are linking to over 100 organizations, developing partnerships in with both -- in which both sides benefit. you are seeing the impact of income inequality on participation in our society is central to what our students are exploring. why are these new approaches to learning growing? and they are, not just here, but around the country. why is it so important right now? millennial students want to be actively-engaged in their learning. they learn much more from hands-on experiences that connect to people's lives, not just what they read about in the abstract. retention is big in higher education. several studies have shown us that there is a correlation between involvement in community-based learning and completing college. so that is critical to all of us who are paying tuition somewhere. re to thents' exposu nonprofit sector opens their eyes to the great opportunities that these places offer when they graduate and are looking for jobs. we offered them both the experience and a whole world of where you can work. we have many students now working in d.c. public schools, including in cesar chazen -- chavez, which is one of our presenters. and the agencies they have collaborated with as undergrads. for me, this is very gratifying because my own professional history lies with schools in d.c. and maryland and with the nonprofit sector, where i worked for 25 years before i came to a.u. 10 years ago. we believe that nonprofit agencies, public offices, and schools should all see the university as collaborators in the search for the solution to problems faced in areas like , housing, health immigration, employment, and the environment. that is just to name a few. we can be so educators -- c o-educators and problem solvers together. on behalf of the university, i welcome you and look forward to how this conference helps us all can, empower, and act. thank you all so much. [applause] >> for our first civic highlight, please welcome diane douglas. [applause] ♪ >> good morning, everyone. analysis, a, and determination and dissemination of data on our american civic life is one of the most important and impactful things that ncoc does. we are going to look at why that matters, how it matters, how it is done, how all of us can be involved, and how we can bring it back to our states and communities. we are going to look at threats to the collection of civic data that are happening right now. if you have come to this conference to get involved, that is a way you can get involved immediately, because we all have to rally to make sure that that stays a coherent and supported part of our mission and vision. and then we talked to the great ncoc staff about how that vision should continue into the future and we will talk about enlarging our cohort of stakeholders. in the second half of this section, we will turn to our communities to state how this is meaningful in shaping civic health and localities. we will look at the partnerships and support and the impact that it has in local communities. we will share best practices with each other. if you are someone who worked on civic health indices for your state or locality, we hope you will commandeer your wisdom. if you are planning on writing a civic health index report for your community, you can find a place to get more practical tips on how to make it the best report in the nation. if you are someone who is just curious about what this all means and how does data impact our civic life and shape it, then we hope you will come and bring your questions to the session. thank you so much. [applause] gentlemen, please welcome back ilir zherka. [applause] >> we are going to call wendy spencer out here in a moment read before we do that, i want to say a few words about her. her career spans 30 years and includes leadership roles across .ectors government, nonprofits, the private sector. democratic and republican administrations. she served as the ceo of the florida government commission on volunteerism, where she coordinated major efforts in response to disasters, including eight record-breaking storms from 2004-2005. it is quite an achievement. she has also held professional roles in many organizations, including the united way, the chamber of commerce, and the bank and insurance industries. we know her as our primary cheerleader and i know her as my sister in service, wendy spencer. [applause] >> thanks, ilir. brother in service. we love to share that. hello, everyone. it is so great to be at the national conference on citizenship, where we are rallying around civic participation, volunteerism. i feel like this is an american and civicolunteerism life. are you ready for a great conference? yes? absolutely? this is great. really great to be here on nationalr the conference on citizenship. we are doing our part to engage service. across the nation today, 75,000 members are serving. around 300,000 seniors are serving. we also have about 4.6 million volunteers who are either serving alongside those members or they will participate in one of our days of service like dr. martin luther king day of ,ervice or 9/11 day of service a remembrance. combined with the national service participants and volunteers, it is about 5 million americans in service through all of our programs. in 60,000 locations across america. so that is every school, every health care center, every part, every habitat home that is being built the -- being built. all engaging in service, helping shelter those who are homeless, providing food for those who need food security, serving for veterans and their family members who need our support. serving in our environment. rebuilding after disasters. we are currently doing that in detroit and even some aftermath of hurricane sandy, oklahoma. many of our tornadoes. they are serving right now. collectively, i believe that we feel that so many americans are committed to service and are demonstrating a very strong sense of desire to help one another. in fact, our volunteering and civic life in america study, we ask this question -- do you help your neighbors? i am pleased to say that about two thirds of americans, around 180 million, say yes to that question, that they do help their neighbors and that they informally, helping their neighbors, helping transport them, supporting their efforts, finding ways to be a good neighbor. about two thirds. so i have some interesting news as it pertains to volunteers through an organization. ,ore of that formal connection really connected through an organization. this year's study, which we will release in a couple of months, i am going to give you a sneak review today. we had some exciting news as it pertains to the commitment of volunteers among young americans. we have known for quite a while that the defining characteristics of millennial's is that this generation, which spans from age 18-33, has, and i brownstein, "has an impulse towards service." among that group, the college-aged millennial's, the youngest sector of that group of millennial's, have a particularly strong service impulse. our recent study shares with us that the volunteering rate among the 18-24-year-olds attending college, and that is the key word, was 25.9% last year. average, then, on volunteering rates for adults --rall, which holds study steady at just around 25%. it is significantly higher than the volunteering rate of 18-24-year-olds who are not in college. that rate is about 13.8%. have some good news and we have an opportunity. the good news is, when you consider the number of americans in this age group is larger than it was a decade ago and the 18-24-year-olds attending college has increased dramatically, there is a lot of servingause they are and volunteering and connecting with that. the opportunity is to talk about those who are not enrolled in college. that rate is 12% less among that age group. so that gives us an opportunity that i think we need to address. there are a couple of ways to approach that. to appeal to them that helping your community is important. please try to find something that you are -- that about and support that cause. if that is not enough to lower that group of 18-24-year-olds into volunteering, let's persuade them with a very per -- a very specific benefit. volunteering as a pathway to employment, this report released last year, has given us some very good things. if you are unemployed and you are looking for work and you volunteer, you increase the likelihood of gaining a job by 27%. if you do not have a high school diploma and you are looking for work and you volunteer, that likelihood raises up to 51%. if you live in a rural community and you are looking forward in a rural community, your increase is likely about 55%. because so many of our young people in the age group of 18-24 are looking for work, they are in the bracket with the highest unemployment rate of any age group, we need to find ways to get them connected to jobs. i think that with this case study, luring them in through the voluntary is a good way to do so because it will help them, but it will also help the communities they serve. so that is the case. how do we do it? the president's task force on expanding national cap -- national service that president obama issued over a year ago, and i cochair that as the domestic policy dreiser to the president, asked us to go out and find partnerships to grow opportunities for americans to serve. with otherto work federal agencies, the private sector, nonprofits, faith community. , am pleased to report that with our new partnerships, we have been able to enroll over 4000 new members this year and in the coming year and $33 million committed to this. that is through these partnerships. we are looking for more. if that is not enough, we say another way to engage more americans to serve is let's find some resources. so we were able to identify up to $30 million in a partnership we call americorps partnership challenge. this partnership, for all of those who take us up on it, will help us engage up to 8000 americorps members in service over the next year or two. so this is college scholarships that we will be offering. we are looking for organizations who are willing to underwrite the living stipend for the americorps members. bring us your ideas. if you have an idea and are willing as an organization to underwrite some of that honest living alliance, we are willing to partner with the education scholarships and brand them as americorps members, which is a great opportunity to join with us. and i am really pleased that the ncoc and the national service alliance also has this goal. to engage more americans, in particular the 18-24-year-old range, and service. it has led to a wonderful leader, general stanley mcchrystal, who is being a wonderful face and a terrific champion for encouraging people to serve and we will hear from him soon. i really have to thank general for their and ilir leadership and all the members of the national service alliance as well. we know our opportunity. we need to get more americans to serve. we have partnerships available. we have provided the funding to do so. we are going to engage more americans in service. we just celebrated our 20th anniversary, where we celebrated having servedans in americorps over the last 20 years. what we have learned from those who serve is that they learn great skills. they learn how to be great speakers. they learn how to connect services to individuals. they learn how to market a program. they learn how to work through problems and they learn how to serve with people different than themselves. all of these are characteristics that employers are looking for and we want to encourage employers to look for. they also have a bit of a service above self, mission above self sort of mentality in their call. and they competed for these positions and they have been selected. to askre now going employers across the country to recognize that national service participants like the alums of have corps and americorps great assets to offer an organization. at the 20th anniversary event, president obama, alongside president clinton -- and we were pleased to have president george w. bush and laura bush give us a message during that day and also president george h w bush from states, -- in all 50 the new class of americorps, 75,000 of them who were inducted at the same moment in time on september 12, but on this day, president obama announced a new initiative called employers of national service. we are asking employers to give a little bit of a preference to those who have served communities through americorps or peace corps. ,aybe in your advertisements you say, americorps members, toce corps alums encouraged apply. taking it a step further, maybe ask those employers around the country to put a checkbox in their application that says have you served in a national service program like americorps or the peace corps? please describe your experience. i am very pleased that we are having an inaugural charter employers of national service partnerships challenge that will enlist employers around the country who will participate with us. i am pleased to share a couple of great employers that have already signed on. universal,cast, nbc the american red cross, habitat ,or humanity, teach for america the city of nashville was our very first city, and the city of south sioux city in nebraska announced the partnership with the first lady of nebraska. organization and you employ anyone, consider the alums of national service participants in your qualifications or as someone that you could look to to bring onto your team and i promise you they will make outstanding team members. i am thrilled to be a part of this conference. i am thrilled to be a partner i toolir and the ncoc. -- to ilir and the ncoc. i support the work that our universities and colleges are doing to connect students with opportunities to serve. let's work on that group who are not enrolled in college as well. i employed to count on all of you to join us in the americorps partnerships challenge or any way that you can find a vehicle, and avenue for america's two -- an avenue for americans to serve our community. thank you very much. [applause] [laughter] ♪ >> thank you, wendy. before bringing out our next speakers, i want to give you a sneak peek of some of the civic life data that will be coming out. i want to share three numbers with you. two of them have not changed much, but the third i find interesting. ate dinner with friends and family, which is great. that is good news. trusted most or all of their neighbors. have somenumber, 55% or a great deal of confidence in the media. that sounds like it is a majority and a large number, but sincet down seven points 2011. that sounds to me like that is worthy of a civic health index report. all of these numbers do not me as much as a mean have meaning in and of themselves. it is those folks who, in small or big ways, make the difference in our communities. i want to invite a group of folks who have done that through national service, mary bruce and her colleagues from americorps. please join me in welcoming them to the stage. mary bruce. [applause] ♪ >> my dad dropped out of high school. he went back in his early 20's. i remember he was telling me that he took it much more seriously the second time around and there was another student who was being distracting in class. he did not like that. so my dad found that kid in the hallway, grabbed him by the collar, slammed him into the lockers and threatened him within an inch of his life. my dad said it helped that kid pay attention. later went to college but he did not finish. he always regretted that. up,ur household, growing college was not optional. my dads stories and his hope for us made us pay attention. so when our college acceptance letters came, we were thrilled. but when, no matter how we ran the numbers, we found out we could not afford it, it was devastating. very late my senior year of high school, i had to find something else and i found americorps. and it changed my life. i moved from suburban ohio, where 99% of my peers went to college, to washington, d.c., thanc schools, where fewer half finished high school. i served as a tutor and mentor in a fourth grade classroom. i have never been so exhausted. i remember once i was walking to school because of winter holidays and i wanted to do something for those kids so i bought some kranz and small things and put them in gift bags and carefully tied ribbons on the gift bags. i was in the middle of the sidewalk, hands full of these gift bags, and i broke down and cried. how are kranz possibly going to tocrayons possibly going make a difference to these kids? i can see their faces so clearly. these kids were so smart and so hard-working and stuck in a system that was completely failing them. these kids made me pay attention. i do not know where they are today, but i would like to think they were a little bit better prepared because i was there. more than that, i know i am part of teachers,. principals, poets and policymakers who were made in america. individuals who continue to live a life of service because they served. the data shows that. nine in 10 americorps alums continue to work in a public sector. they say it was the most significant expense of their life. i am thrilled to be joined by two fellow americorps alums, jeffrey and kelly. we were made in americorps, we are part of a movement and i am thrilled to have them share their stories today. >> growing up, i was a bit of a nerdy kid. i was often bullied and picked on in school. despite that, i always had this inner sense of confidence that whatever i was going to do in life was going to be important and have an impact. i had that because of my parents. my family instilled that vision in my future. for me, i thought it was going to be through science. i always wanted to be a doctor. eight years old, i thought i was going to be in the emergency room i loved the show "e.r." maybe i was going to be in a biotech lab, finding a tear for cancer. so i was a bio major. -- i signed up for service learning. i found it different and engaging. i differ -- i definitely did not me tot they would assign a group of teenagers who had been removed from their families because of decisions that their caregivers had made. i developed relationships with those young people and began to look at them and see my teenage self within them. when i looked in their eyes, i did not see any light or did not hear any vision of what they thought the future could be. it was in those moments that i realized that the impact i always thought i would have with the work in my life was likely going to go a little different. that one service course became another and another. when i graduated from college, i did not want to go as a bio grad. i was looking for a professional opportunity that would impact the lives of young people. in an americorps program. when my plane landed in new hampshire and i raised my right hand and took the americorps pledge, i had no idea what the participation in that program would do to me. that it would ignite this lifelong service to transform individuals and communities. but it did. i stand before you today back in the lab, the social innovation lab, excited and honored to be part of a network of americorps alums, national service supporters, organizations like how weho are exploring can address the challenges we face as a community and a country. i am jeffrey richards. we are facilitating 500 national service opportunities each year. thank you. [applause] >> so, good morning. how is everybody feeling this morning? great. my name is kelly. like my colleagues here, i was made in americorps. when i graduated from college, i graduated with a major in urban planning and comparative learning, which prepares you for life as a spoken word poetry i was a three-time ring break alum, which i think holds a record for you i wanted to do something with my life. i graduated from school in 2000. of alwaysthe benefit knowing that americorps was there. do that that is what i could with my life when i wanted to contribute and give back to my community. after i graduated from school, i served a year in public allied chicago. partthen, it was in large due to michelle obama. back in those days, people always talked about how great the obamas work. i was like, who are the obamas and why does everyone think they are great? we soon learned of their impact on american history. when i was in my time in americorps, i was working on the eastside of chicago, doing youth entrepreneurship. my first day on the job was everyone's first day on the job. it was a startup. in the early weeks of my time, one of the major gang leaders was assassinated by a rival gang and there was so much happening in the community at that time. as i have gone on to perform all over the world, i will always take that experience of not only in that space, but also of my cohorts and friends that continue to make impacts in so many different fields. before i close out today, i would like to share a poem with you all if that is all right. yes? is that all right? i wrote this in celebration of the 20th anniversary of americorps. it is dedicated to the 900,000 people who have served through americorps and to all of you, who care so deeply about contributing to our communities in different ways. "to find your place in the world, where your leverage can mean everything where your courage can invite a child to read, a house to be built, a veteran to live more fully again, grasp hands in this circle because none of us know what we can be not yet we find out together planning nights in the school gym, packing medical surprise at the clinic, on jimmy paper from that printer, that long stretch of road beyond the floodplains here, where value so often goes overlooked here, in this place, this person, this community, you commit without maybe even knowing exactly why yet you commit 10 months, a year, two years, three, a lifetime billions of hours of work, the hundreds of thousands of hands working so hard to pull together was so often falls through the cracks here, where it too often goes overlooked where it's leverage can mean everything for all of us every single one." thank you all so much. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the head of the national advisory board of the ncoc. morning. we are running a little behind, so i run on stage. it is always so glistening to of servingories community and country. what a wonderful display of empowered service. such auce is doing next-door very job. wendy spencer, on behalf of our country, helping to strengthen the service culture. 2.5 years ago, our next guest and keynote speaker was giving a talk on leadership at the aspen institute ideas festival and ignited a nation with a big idea. just returned from commanding troops in iraq and afghanistan, he noticed that, for the first time in history, less than 1% of americans were serving in our military during assumptiong to the that serving the country was somebody else's job. he went on to call for large-scale national service so that every young american could have the shared experience of serving their nation, either in the military or as a civilian. this commitment to service grows out of his own service to country and remarkable record of achievement. he has been praised for creating a revolution in warfare that fused intelligence and operations. a four-star general, he is the former commander of u.s. and international forces in afghanistan and iraq. he is also the former leader of the joint special operations command, jsoc, which oversees the military's most specialized forces. his leadership of jsoc is credited with well-known actions that made our country safer. today, through his work here at home, he is on the frontlines lines of the national service movement yet again. bringing the same ingenuity and dedication he brought to the battlefield to the franklin project at the aspen institute and the new national service alliance, of which the national conference on citizenship, service nation, and voices for national service are a proud part. his chair of the franklin project's leadership council has recruited and led advocates for national service, bringing in former secretaries of defense and state, leaders from the military and from every sector of american life. mangone to lead the effort with his extraordinary team. shaheen-mcconnell, adam koretz, and tess mason-elder. and my cochair, alan casey, a witness with us as well. he has encouraged all of us to apply some of the lessons from with a common vision, clear goals, and a plan of action to meet them. he is also the author of the best-selling book, "my share of the task." how many of you read it? is new book is set for release in 20 -- in 2000 15. today, the national conference on citizenship is honored to present general stanley mcchrystal with this award, commissioned by the major george a smith memorial fund. this award is designed to honor the life and service of major smith, a man who served for 20 years in the u.s. army as a foreign area officer throughout the middle east and spent his retirement working with fema to help hurricane victims help restart their lives. in honor of major smith legacy of service, his family established this award to recognize an outstanding veteran who defies their citizenship through service to our country, both in uniform and beyond. i cannot think of anyone who better fits that description or someone who has done more than his share of the task. then our honoree and keynote speaker today. please welcome general stanley mcchrystal. [applause] ♪ >> i grew up if the rangers and the world hula was first used in the rangers. and it was interesting because there is a great story. it went back to omaha tpwheach the first world war. if any of you saw "saving private ryan." he was in the second battalion. they were getting shot-up. and a brigadier general needed people to start moving inland no matter how difficult it was going to be. and he went to an organization and he said, which unit you guys from? >> the young sergeant said, sir, we're the rangers. ok. rangers lead the way. and the young man looked up and said, who, us? [laughter] you spend a lifetime in the military like i did, you are taught never to volunteer. from day one even if they're giving out four day passes and $100 bills to them, don't volunteer because it's a trick. i spent my whole life volunteering. and it was funny around soldiers and around people in this room, you have a habit of volunteering. you can't help yourself. if someone says something has to happen, you just do. your arm's up before you realize it. when things weren't hard an it was pretty easy, you couldn't get people to volunteer but if it got very difficult and an organization was in a difficult spot and you kneed a group of volunteers to go in there, you always had more than you could demand. and so volunteering becomes something that becomes inside our being. and it's not whether glour uniform. it's something about you that grows inside of you. and we tend to volunteer when we know we need to. we tend to do that kind of thing. we tend to step forward and take responsibility when times are hard. and i will tell you right now, i think this is that moment in america. we just look around and we inlstinketively know we have to change the concept of citizenship. if we go to many people in america they think that if they vote and they pay their taxes, they think they did their dues citizen. it's a relationship between people that have the responsibility to and for each other. and that's what citizens are. they are jointly bound to take care of each other. and so the concept of citizenship instead of being small and being a set either of entitlements or limited responsibility really is about why you do or don't do what you do. and i think citizenship in america has eroded for lots of reasons. but it's eroded to the fact where we need to stop and look at the real problem. we can look at partisan and politics. we can look at economic inquality. we can look at the polarization of the different parts of our society. but if we really look at the problem and we want to fix it instead of going out there against each individual thing. if we want to take a big step, then it's going to take a big idea. i believe in the big idea that service produces different citizens. i believe in the big idea that once you are part of something bigger than yourself, you feel differently about it. once you've invested, you own what f what america is an society -- and what society is. the recognition is that america needs to do something right now. we've been doing more. but we need do more. and citizenship is reinforced dramatically by an experience of service. so the franklin project is one part of an alliance to push the idea to make service a right of passage and expectation for all americans by giving an opportunity to every young american between the ages of 18 and 28 to do a service year. 12 months of paid national service in some spectrum, health care, conservation, education. it's two sides of the same coin with military service. we've allowed the term "service" to be associated with wearing a uniform. and it's not. service is service to others. and so if we say are you in the service, that ought to apply to everyone who is or who has been serving others. all we have to do is give people the opportunity. think about your first experience doing that. you felt good about it initially. i did a good thing. but over time you felt very different about your commitment to the whole. and it gets inside you. so the idea of service year is in the franklin project. so we have a long-term effort which it's going to take a decade or more to expand the concept of the service years so that every young american has that opportunity. right now we are pretty limited. the opportunities available to americans, we're going to have to expand those dramatically. our so 10-year gold is to 25% of each group. and our ultimate goal is to have it so impedestrianed in our culture that when young people are sitting around with their dinner table, their family will go well, where were you thinking about service? either before, during or after college. and young people talk monk themselves not about are you going to serve. talk about where you serve. and then i think we're going to be best when it goes long enough or on a train. you're standing. crowded train waiting and you start talking to the stranger next to you. and very early in the clferings you say where did you serve. and he said i taught in indiana. and tore person said i had my edge demation the marine corps. and there will be an instant connection between them. there will be a bond that they never knew. because bonfides citizenship did not just mean i can vote. it means you the right and responsibility. and long-term, i'd like to they fef we can make this an expectation to where people who move forward in society and they move forward in business or government or particularly politics and they think about running for office, they won't do it. -- unless they can stand up and say and this is what i did for the nation to contribute. i'm a small part of this movement. i joined it really slightly over two years ago. i didn't even know what amerry corps was -- americorps. and i think i'm probably average. so i've gotten the opportunity to see what it is and so we have to have so much more offensive. this room shouldn't be full of 150 people. it ought to be 50,000 people hearing this at the same time. i believe it's possible if we align to the big idea. thank you so much for all you've done but you know what, a thank you is really just trying to get you to do more. [laughter] so thank you so much for all you are and all you've done. god bless you. [applause] >> one more time would you give it up for bill and crystal, please. [applause] >> every time i think i might be doing something, might be making some contribution, i think of people like stan mcchrystal that gets me out of bed a little faster. gets me to put on my pant as little faster. gets me out the door a little faster. a couple of personal notes. is ted mcconnell here? where's ted mcconnell? would you please stand up, ted? [applause] today is his birthday. ted is the executive director for the campaign for the civic missions at schools and a pillar of our school. so happy birthday. and many, many returns of the day. s kristen campbell here? kristen? oh, kristen? isten is a -- is a long time -- oh, am i in trouble. come here. [applause] >> full time employee on the conference of citizenship and council in ort of legal terms and along the way she's going to get married in two weeks to a wonderful guy. and along the way she really screwed up her arm and so only -- only in national service terms is she a wounded warrior. thank you. > thank you. >> this morning we aim to shed light on the issue of economic equality. d its relationship to active civic engagement. the goal certainly is not to engage in a partisan discussion of a solution or to discuss the first myriad of economic causes related to equality. instead our goal is to better understand this issue and the relationship between civic engagement and equality. what are the interplays between these two critical elements of our lives and how can we see active citizenship as a potential long-term way to address this challenge from many political, social and economic advantage points. it's sort of an interesting prism. it's an interesting way to view the light. civic engainlment is an interesting way to view is light that is coming from the issue of economic equality. the history of capitalism in our country has been a constant search for balance. the balance between what the economists refer to as our base nimal intinketses -- instincts which are often incentive but propel us forward. i'd like to read something that a friend sent me. as capitalists incoming equality is part of our economy, it motivates interprenures to take risks and build companies. overory nation's history, capitalism fostered a great society in a relatively short 50 years, america has gone from nowhere to leading countrys that are five times our age. at the same time democracy serves as a counter balance giving every citizen equal representation. america is getting richer but most voters don't feel it. take into its conclusion the indicators that ncoc measures its civic initiative both quantitative and qualitative. and we need to keep that civic data coming. tell us about the balance like ack thermometer, these indicators inevidently signal when our country is threatened. it has to work for a many as possible. everyone in basketball terms, everyone needs to have a legitimate look at the basket of success. this is one reason why in 2011 and again ncoc dove deeply into civic engagement and unemployment. the panel discussion is a national progression of that work looking not at the downstream challenge of unemployment but the more culturally engrained of upstream challenge. we don't expect to find a sflution the next 50 -- 60 minutes but we have gathered a group of distinguished thinkers to shed light on this toig. gals nel is led by bill tan. he is the chair in the brookings institution of the governance program, a foreman policy at visor to bill clinton. e is a political campaigns and elections. discusses result polarization. >> there he poses mornt questions to my fell hoe journal readers an i use this balance and my thinking about these critical issues and i know others as well. r c.o.c. has a long standing roe relationship with bill. and with that it is certainly a pleasure to introduce bill gals n and the members of his panel. [applause] >> haven't yet gotten buy focals but i think i -- bifocals but i think i should. it is a pleasure and an honor to be back here at an annual meeting of this organization which has done so much to omote both knowledge and action in the area of civic engagement. there is nothing like this organization and i hope it continues to go from strength to strength in the years ahead. the most precious thing that we have is time and i will try not to waste it. my first job is to introduce the members of this panel. they all have distinguished resumes and so i will not give any one of them the introduction that he or she deserves. arting at the far end robert ndura who is a full low in policy studies at the american enterprise institute. and for purposes of today's discussion, perhaps most importantly, the commissioner of the new york city human resources administration which is the largest municipal human resources administration in the untry and an extraordinary vantage point from which to view of what's going on in our society today. next is eric lu who is the founder and c.e.o. of citizens university and probably very well known to many of you as the co-author of a couple of eally influential books. gardens of democracy and the true patriot. who eric, williams, simon has become extraordinary prominent and influential at what i now regard as a very young age. she is the founder and c.e.o. of c.w.s.'s strategy. her advice has been done by some of the most important profit making as well as nonprofit institutions in the world. ithip you'll recognize some of these name. aspen is too old. anybody who can get all of them together is on to something. and to my immediate left to right depending on your vantage point, thomas hunger board who is the senior economic iics. that's the economic policyiness tuesday. you can tell er as the guy we would say he's disqusting. they can research the service. he hasn't yet touched c.e.o. or joint tax me. his resume is complete. so since -- since you're a certified economists. could you get this conversation any y talking a bbt at time, and what we know has been going on in these areas over the past generations or so. >> ok, well, i want to step back a little bit and we are alking about we are in equality. they will get opportunities or outcome. it's easier to measure economic outcome than it is to talk about opportunity. that's where we go get the discussion about consumption. in come a wealth of, you know, inequality. i tried in a world however you ant to measure sunlight. or 're looking and before ter the -- the and consumption inequality have been inequality. down 30, 35 years. >> the interesting thing about much of this sh increases most of the eaks at the top it or income distribution and basically it's the top 1% or aybe a which i think does have some implication. it is very important for a variety of other reasons including social cohesion and civic engagement. >> thank you so much. . m going to recognize as the commissioner of the largest human resource administration in the country. he hasn't had a link as to what happened in new york city but also is a -- and take a look at the national trend as well and look at the relationship between them. > the human resource's was social services agent i. so we had and our focus there reduction t's not on or opportunity eneyewitness man. i think we made progress during our difficult times in the last seven years. nationally i think the inquality issues for some repts becoming different and helping people at the low end. a little bit of discussion. watch her con senive bureau who was very disappointed. 45 million americans are still qualified as three. it really hasn't moved. it comes from african-americans and it's almost 15% lower and reached a peak. we're far off where we were the relative think fast. so from my perspective, i think we need to focus more on broad based growth that increases opportunities and jobs at all of the economy, the recovery has been struggling. e have to work on and emphasis and we also have to focus on work support that make wages go farther especially with people left out like childless adults or singling individuals. we are not likely to benefit blues. they are entirely relying on the wage. and then lastly it's family to the extent that the most recent data once again confirmed. 's 45% in married couple families. it's 9%. did any t record income inequality and bad statistics are highly related to communities where most of single holds are in family units. those and poverty reduction is what we really need to focus on. >> so eric lowe, you have spent a number of years now working hard at the relationship between civic trends and economic trends. what do you assess that on our civic and political live? >> first of all, it's real exciting to be part of the conversation and grat fighting that c.o.c. is focused on this question of inequality. it is, you know, for those as robert was saying whose concern is primarily about poverty and alleviating poverty. i'm not sure that i would call it a distraction. i understand the point that you're make. to me -- in quality, economic and political are the central fact of american life today. we'relying through a period of nearly unprecedented inequality in terms of the spread and unprecedented concentration of wealth at levels not seen since roughly the great depression. these are one of those instances where we don't want test correlation is causation. where it connects to your question i think these are not unrelated phenomenon. they are quite two sides of the same coin or two parts of the same vicious cycle. economic inequality and political inequality. when you the level of concentrated voice and concentrated political clout clouth that we have in this country today. there's a recent study showing that essentially the policy preferences of average americans have little to no bearing on the policy outcome of politics. that's not a partial statement. have gone through different ones where slices within the top 10%. at kind of inequality begets civic inquestion -- inequality find that they have little to no voice or no power to make the voices heard. that in turn gets more economic inequal fi. that's the thing that this is ot just -- wow these are two different phenomenon. these are a feedback and a cycle. more broadly in the work that ncoc has helped us in figuring time-out break that vicious circle of more economic opportunities, more political opportunity and more civic opportunity. i'm sure well-get to talk a bit more about that. >> you have been one of the principle actors in the effort to get melin y'all generation involved in addressing all of these questions. so i really have a two part question. first of all does what you just heard ring true given the sorts of people you've counciled and the sorts of groups you tried to activate and inspire. number two, how are you advising groups and individuals to begin responding to these questions? >> first, i had to shut up because i'm not as reserved as my colleagues. i'm very, very excited about this work. i know that everyone up here is. i know my job has primarily been to tell stories and to help people tell the stories that inspire change. and so when i hear this data and this analysis, it absolutely rings true. and my primary role until this work has been how do i help young people not just understand this data and what it means but convey the storys that young people are telling us and acting out on a day-to-day basis to decision-makers. what we're hearing and what we know about its economy and young people is terrifying and it's kind of depressing if we're going to be honest about it. and yet all of the data about research show that we are still even though i'm in the upper older end of the melin y'all demographic but all the data shows that melin -- millenials there.ll i actually read some wonderful work that eric has done where he arctic lated this brilliantly where millenials are a bypass generation. they're not interested in the institution of old. and i hate to say of old but of the institutions that they are told is a better way to do it that would solve their problems nd lead them to economic prosperity. economic security is another term that i hear come up quite a bit when young people are talking about their future. they don't put their faith in the institutions that has thus far failed them. that's the story that they've been told and have seen played out in their lifetime. d yet, they are solution oriented. the discussion needs to transformed into one of solutions. how do you position the work that we do? position civilic engagement as a solution? perhaps not the only. certainly not the only. but the data that wendy spoke earlier said you can see the relationship between volunteers and vic engagement employbility. if we begin to tell not just young people but the country that this is not something beautiful and wonderful and positive for the sake of historic reverence for the sake of civic engagement in and of itself. to the economic insecurity that you're experiencing as a way to help garner yourself a better future. i think we'll see a dramatic increase in young people participating. the second thing i'll say is that when we look at young people and their livels of civic engagement, i think there are two stories being told where we care about the data. we recognized that melin y'alls are civic minded. the national merit is that the people are selfish and connected to reality. but we have to find way to talk about the work that young people are doing. it may not sound to the commoner ear to the average person like what we have been . ught civic engagement is they respond to measures of their economy and social concerns. finding ways to hold their leaders accountability. v is a technology that they will help build and create. i think we have to talk about language and how all of the work we're done to accurateryry flect what they're feeling and what we're doing. that's terrific. four wonderful opening statements in response to related to different questions. i'm going to call an audible ermanent because two important debates have emerged already, at least discussion for discussion an reflection. rst, i detended some emphasis. between tom hung irford and robert gore. on the question we should be looking at inequality or poverty. obviously we can look at both. but what should we really be keeping our eyes on as the problem to be addressed through civic engagement as well as other means. you might want to say something. equality in common is very unimportant place. we need to keep our institutions honest. complain about institutions failing them. well, you have to be involved and keep the institutions by going out and voting, going out with your and attending city hall meetings. it's not that hard to make an punt when they're in the direct. and the whole thing i actually talked to them about what's a specific issue on your mind and hat should be on their mind. eric said, you know, a distraction. i think they do a better job of some of the problems that we see. it seems breathe. we also have health inequalities which is tightly related to the income. they should be focusing on. that includes the welfare and we shouldn't lose sight that there are people in the middle who really, you nokes -- they come over the last 20 or 30 years. obviously, i've worked for 18 years. and i'm focused on the bottom. ly over this though. there are some solutions on the economicer issue. and one of them is i am a bliver. and the workers. that rule has been pass pd. that would be a good thing. we thowled talk about that. secondly i think a corporate in america are often sitting on an awful lot potential. they can give it to sheryl elderses. they can pass on to. they could be focus ond that see. constituent but this does sh the talk about ongoing resent mean who at the top for sometimes it's one year reasons. this does seem to me to pull us away from this much larger. how do question increase wages and job throughout the rest of the economy. and we seem to have lost track on that. it's a long way from getting out to the depression. if we don't stop picking up speed. theand we really -- have difficult. so aim very much mo cussed on job create. >> one thing about social services. volunteers and world have been having that sail. we're the center of the world. social services, fighting poverty. the economy is really the center of the world. it's so much more powerful. and what he can do is figure of we can do in search government social services. civic engagement. i think -- i can jump in -- [laughter] quite agree with a lot of robert just sli. actually there's a word that's been missing from our entire conversation which i think is support important to state. now we're here with power. you know, i think volunteerism for just it. they happen in a context of unequal power. and so it turns out that there is one way and break and you cut your teed in the politics and you're make up false choices. you can't address positive si in poverty. while simultaneously making our civilic health. and that was our move to the city to raise our minimum wage for 15 million. look who i was privilege lenled and a crathed one. deal that made this happen in our city. of d not that song kind socialists. this is -- this deal was drafted on an exick series and theory won nd the when they have more of the power with his. and that end up being great for the whole company. cament tall listen. for civic rice. because when to actionly make rent to actually be able to cover health care bills to actually be able to meet each month's needs. guess what we have a little more time on the margins to maybe get involved in that political campaign. you better have more time on the margins to have lun tier at the church. and show up at their kid's school and be part of the p.t.a. but even more on that let's get it more concrete. at the heart of the this campaign to push forward and to get $15 inactive who for the most part we're agreeing who haven't participated in civic life before, has never tried to to get involved in public questions. across the board they started showing up in civic life. and when you saw you could get results by organizing, by getting out there, they learned i don't know i don't want this to sound partisan. they learned what members of the tea party earned in 2009. when you're in a situation you eel like institutionings aren't feeling you and you get corrective voice, the system starts to listen to you. right? and that ability for people to discover that capacity is a way to simultaneously address overty, i think. >> which i think is great and it actually leads straight to the second question i wanted to pose before we go to q&a involving this entire group which we will in just a couple of minutes. erica, you used a very interesting phrase before to characterize the my -- millenials. the bypass general yation. somehow you can go around the existing institutions and do things through alternative pathways and networks. now, i listen very carefully to eric seattle's story and what he seemed to be talking about was a connection with the existing institutions rather than a bypass strategy. is it bypass or is it connection? >> it's not an either or. and i actually think that for many millenials the bypass result matly results on the connection. so when you find an example. when you find in sequence six is a digital app created to llow citizens to address a problem. a pothole. a way of using things to connect immediately with the person or the people or the institution who can fix it. and he build community around that. and so would that bypass? yes. in theory those pathways already exist. you can go to city hall. you can call a 1-800 number. pathways exist. but they created a new way around that using technology that helped and made their communities more. so i don't think -- and i can go through countless other examples where young people are saying, look, thesiness tukeses we understand that they're value. they're not working the way they're supposed to work and they're not working the way they worked for our parents. so what can we do to get immediate results and hopefully the end all those looked at the other institutions. sts still a believe in this country, and yesterday what we've seen throughout this particular cultural context that they became bore sd that things are broken. and so when things are broken it doesn't make sense to tell someone you can fix it but you can only fix it using the and that's what we say in essence and you can only fix it through voting. many of the issues that my parents' care about. voting is very important. i've spend my life on you are et denigrating. e also need to recognize where and embrace it and embrace the results of that in order to change down the institutions. >> thank you so much. i'm going to call michael raja back on up to the -- to help moderate this discussion. >> so thank you to our panelists. i'm going to take a chairman progressity and ask a for question. . found very interesting we are beyond lucky to have her. ut the failure of institutions , i would say that failure of institutions is a frustration common to people in also in socio economic data. the subtext of this conversation how do we share if we have more broadly. whether that's not true -- and one of the clear things that would surprise it's a problem with those who have it to share and who are reluctant is a lack of confidence in institutions with whom they might share it. public schools being bought at the top of chart on that list. -- how do we get common cause here? create -- because eric and i were talking about you can say that the deck is stacked in favor of the 1% or which - against the poor is is sor of the discussion we've been having today. -- w do we go get the through? >> i have some ideas. i don't know that i have the answer. but my approach is and it's going to sound so fluffy but hear me out. it's really about the storys that we tell. the storys that we tell about civic engagement, the story that he said involving seattle. it has not pressured to be engaged. we're certainly not politically engaged. and we see not only what the engagement looked like but the outcome out of the result. >> i don't hear those stories often. i hear them from eric. from the communities that i work with. of this country we don't hear the stories of what civic engagement works today and how it's working. let me give you an example, ferguson. we have all the details an nuances of what's being indicted. so many of my friends have traveled to ferguson? >> they're in ferguson more something called ferguson october. and police -- but you were using this as a little cat moment an opportunity to help edge gamente with and figuring out where do we go from here. >> if we can begin talking about these moments not in just a nar reway. t as and has these beautiful opportunities to say you have a voice. and you do have power even though many don't recognize it. and they don't have the opportunity to win. here's what it looks like when we in the engagement community says just say here. . and is m ji and i think different aren't civic engagement. down cast attitude is in the institutions. i'm a little more optimistic. i came of averagee started thinking about politics in their early 70's. president nixon resigned. >> we've had very difficult times. we are now in the sixth year the president, with passed his signature change. it was a grats roots movement. -- i'm a little more on the mystic is the charter school movement. clore i saw something coming you hear it from. and we're going to -- did it not work the new mar. said she wanted to do something different. and just basically changed the course of whoa was going to hoop. so the entire school is a new york city. in an effort to change political. . would have supported that for a reasons. there is a -- our discussions are not so unheal ni. we don't need to be more, the in my exernts just adam. congress does happen. very briefly. i think we would all do well in and their framed. his rarts which i woumed summarize as polls. activic engagement is a play that anybody can play. ou talked about the t party. well, that grass roots. and to a peer of two years which who was doing this. and it could be in crimes. the by wizz dom of that program. useful reminder and they're two very different things. you have more engagement and ore division at the same time. agree what what he's saying. enter it's a larger story of us, right? and i really wanted to connect the dots. the franklin project is doing. it's not -- it will be interesting to expression anything than a killer act. not just in terms of getting more younger making it the smfs is a. will go so so so floor. even if people get more engaged and even sh i told the and we can feel like -- we know each other. we see each other. and we come together not just to say sbret. let's talk about how we're diverse and different. >> the region or whatever it may be. you know, i think it's soup irexciting not only to have that n.t.o.c. in inequality. he doesn't want to learn if it's in your nerve. as we have these conversations just no. lets' get a good discussion going. don't be baffle for them. pluzz. hi, i'm jayie stationy, i'm a foundation. ru for for your service. i'm sue sal yeah starts up. o the 99% of the crit tall mechanic but not in areas engaged. so i'm continues dantley working on the otherer mow co we have some high lntsh they need to go beyond this. ich is why we're courtless you kind of d as ex-pent what i was learning in the envelope. . d i thought -- a small percentage a and i was rejected. wr for the rest you can call nice to me because i am in amerk core goimple. . nothing is going to stop like in knock. if >> it wasn't personal because of my book grouped. i don't know what kind of receivic. there were sthoom they don't guzz it's newport. it's interested in erica will try to hell. and as i sleep asleep. ?ike i can't make anic mact but when ego back these people. you have no idea of what's going on because they don't need to know they're not receptive to the homeless. thank you very much you know, i think we can we talk about our differences so much. my gack ground knowing how to 150. and they're human need. we don't talk about those income. of whether that be with the show. d itened up being in a con >> they're use sh spoken well, they didn't articulate that they want mihm. >> when you hear amerry cord. . bonds. why i as two they please. we just if you gl ve to position's she's not just potential at the punches. kind that of heeverageer and now for our lab to up up igure. but those are real. hen we can patted the and that overcome some of the moreabilities ernses than we do? i just -- i'm reminds like -- that heard that question my friend chris mar visit. ound it on a economic six. . r military cand will not as victims walking on waters pick. be thing that comes to mind it ho different served in is even tetter. >> did you weigh in. when we encounter someone like me. police say thank you for your spotlight, rathe? all right. better than not thinking. but i would love it now if when that's says to them they say ou're welcome. just take that that. . i tudly did serve. .'m not particular sbrf it won't be interesting. by the national up there. fi lipts and chase from youman . d i believe in tighten out . this is really what we're spodsed to began. this is sigh mop one ing i enjoyed was the with thatting with said. i understand fight will be an equipment overdemithe. they will gip that process to go. we are going to leave here today. >> i refuse. they can door whatever they want. and they can begin the journey as -- > to begin the journey looking well, i think, nice place to start. the minimum wage has been struck for 7:25 miment. and so ame going to replace you ne oing for wart dines, calls to increase. one thing to do and that will codge.ple in and helped with minimum wage. >> we had a slightly higher minimum wage in new york city than the rest of the country. isave two concerns, one single mothers transitioning from a program and entering into low-wage jobs. it children in the household, and as a result they were eligible and received a large benefit, public health insurance, child care assistance, and child -- food to stamp benefits. at the of of rosing minimum wage, might not have, in terms of the economic well-being done that much. bipartisany, in a way, we shored up that population. the other population i was concerned about was single men. young men, particularly young men of color are the most disconnected in our society. increasing minimum wage for them, i'm not so much sure it would help them. inwould make it harder for employer to take the chance to hire them because the cost would be higher. it is competitive for those jobs. there are lots of people and for good reason. open immigration attitudes in new york city, we like bringing the low-wage workers in. so higher minimum wage? i do not know if it will help them. i do not know if that is the best solution. i think there are two things. we have toel that talk about getting the economic engine of our country going. and the second is, i agree with the civic engagement issues. we have to talk about responsibility of citizenship. there comes with being a citizen a responsibility to serve in the way that you say. that is an important ingredient that is not stated. of being aurden citizen and that is something we should all shoulder at some point in our lives. >> i'm going to resist the temptation to continually minimum wage debate. >> please do. ask happy to have run off-line after we're done. but to be responsive to the question about millennial's, i very concrete, tangible reality that many people in your age cohort are facing is student debt. we are right as a country for a cross party, cross theological conversation about how to reform debt system. it is not simply a matter of the term of debt, it was a matter of to what extent it presence and expansion of loans contributed to the escalation of the cost of college, we have to have an honest look at this. it has got to be one that is led by those of you in the millennial generation as citizens are experiencing the pain. anyou can get engaged on issue like that that would be a, tangible way that would be good for the country. >> with get some more questions, please. >> good morning. my name is charles. i am an alumni and teacher. i am currently teaching third grade. when i think about the implications of the economic inequality as we have been discussing it today, i do not think we have talked barely enough about the group that is affected enough. that is children. our score walls, i am the civic coordinator. we have functions from "get out getting the members of the community out to vote and registering voters. it has been amazing. within our school walls, and have launched a recycling campaign where our kids, and i know some of adults struggle with that doesn't compostable goes into trash, our kids recycle paper in and compost and know exactly what materials need to go there. but getting it into the trash was an accomplishment, right? score we exhibit our values and dreams. as stark reality is that soon as our kids step outside of the school walls there is the disillusionment of service within the scroll and what they are facing on a day to day basis when they go home to their communities. my question for you today is this, what should our messaging be? we talk a lot about the millennial's. we talk a lot about the groups advocating for minimum wage. and talking to students -- when i go back to class on monday morning, when i look at my kids in i give them a message, what message should we be framing for young minds in our school buildings about how they can, in a realistic sense, be active members in their community? begin, we're going to let this go another 10 minutes. we have a number of questions. i hope that does not screw anybody up. i'm going to borrow from two friends of bills at the brookings institute who talked about the success sequence for people in america. graduate fromto high school, work, it have a committed partner who you want to raise a child with before you have children. with those three components of chance will to, the be about 98% of not being in poverty. being big believer in honest with children in and young people about what to are up against. up against is hard and difficult. it is made harder if they do not graduate. if they do not hit into the workforce. and if they have a child before they are ready. and forrder for them their children. so that is a message i will give to your kids. ask my message is very brief. it is practice power. an, itr the context is could be one to leave the school walls, your block, your floor in your building, your home. your sibling. right? plaque this the power of exit -- back to us the power of example. practice the power of actually making your voice heard and getting clear on what you want and expressing that. the worldchange overnight if you are in the sixth grade? no. is somethingice as important as everything else you have just heard. practiced follow up on power with the message i told my younger sister. wascame out of college and teaching spanish in baltimore in an inner-city school on the verge of closing. the story she came home with more painful and shocking and i could not understand how she could teach. we come from a religious background. one of the beautiful things we took from religion was the idea of faith. just that term. believing in something you might not he able to see. how that applied to the classroom and the students she worked with. the idea you had to get them to believe in their power even though they might not be able to see it when they leave the walls of the school. you have to get them to believe in the virtue and purity of this country and the ideas we are all striving to reach even though they do not see it in their neighborhood. we are doing it to having them practice power there. there will still be a gap. between notuge gap and what happens when they go home. but if you can instant them with this idea, even though they go home and do not see the power, they know they have it. if you cannot believe all of that together, you will be well -- if you can believe all of that together, you will be well on the way to helping them. my daughter was teaching kindergarten and had a headache every day. the thing i would tell students will be tuesday in school, pay attention, and when you go home, practice what you learned in school. if you have brothers and sisters, a parent, other people in the house, neighbors, practice power. >> i went to give a shout out to charles because i also work there. my question today, and what we say at democracy prep about and what was said in the opening about civics being the space between people really resonated with me. panelas listening to the and eric was telling a story about the community of seattle raising the minimum wage, it is possible to have more civic engagement and yet more stagnation at the same time because as communities with different needs around the country and gauge civic league they often arrive at different conclusions to similar problems. one thing that has not come up at all would begun rights. it was a practical issue , people in new york city come to different conclusions than people in a small town in mississippi. my question is, but does it say about the future of our country that we want to solve problems as a community, which is a very powerful thing. i work for charter schools and we're designed to print power in the heads of the community. we come here today as americans. we need to be unified as a country. where do you see is growing as we move forward as the trends but heads regarding the needs of the different communities clashing at the national level? >>? bill? this, our chances of getting to yes will be substantially enhanced if we full, generous, thoughtful use of our system of federalism. that does not, unlike some countries like france, require madeto every decision be at the center and applied exactly the same way in every jurisdiction. some verygood's -- good friends of mine have been leaders in the same-sex marriage movement. the last thing they wanted as they develop that movement is a single supreme court case that mobilization the way rose bader ginsburg believed roe v wade did on the choice issue. lot of room for variety in this country. not to make full use of that and resolve at the center for everybody those things, but only those things that need to be resolved uniformly. great movement of 20th-century politics was to move more and more things away locality ande and toward the center. for many reasons we had to do that. it is a formula that may have had to head off. we must think much harder about federalism. one reason is there are some problems much better solved at the sub-national level. the next is, trust in government are much higher at state and local level then national level. why not build on strength? >> anything to add? he said it perfectly? >> name please? im with a national organization that works with people to be engaged at the local level. interested inrly agency and power and connecting. equity, ifement or you will is very powerful. you mentioned power. we find that to many civic engagement efforts are divisive. even those that are aiming at improving the lives of communities sometimes. people are bringing that service and the problems are still there. part of that has to do with the issue of agency. part of it has to do also with equity lens.an so when you are engaging people you are empowering them but also not creating more problems then you are trying to solve. can you speak more about how civic engagement can do more. in what ways can it do more to create engagement? >> in our last 40 seconds? please. great point. a we talk about volunteers in service to make sure this is not a conversation at the local or national level that comes about people who have lots of stuff helping people who do not have lots of stuff. right? which, of course, in the context materiallity there are facts of unequal material circumstances. but what we are getting at here -- i mean -- the big question we're trying to answer as americans, and this is national, is it possible in a society of unequal material circumstances to actually make the idea of equal citizenship mean something? that is it. right? there are not a lot of places trying to ask or even answer the question. we get partial credit for even wanting to try. your comment is really up -- important here. clientst a serving mentality, but a mentality of everybody here has the capacity to make change. everybody has the capacity -- and indeed, the only enduring written in thee context of minimum wage and other places, the true enduring prosperity does not trickle down from the top. it emerges from the middle out and from the bottom up will stop i would say the exact same is true of civic health. it does not get bestowed from on high. it does not come from those who are already healthy to pass it on to those who are not. it emerges from the middle out to in the bottom up. the best those of us who have capacity can do is to ensure that those in the middle and bottom so that the and economically start getting more wherewithal. civicivic push -- more purchasing power. to meetside enough demand. >> do you have a summation, bill? >> only to say that the conversation has been every bit as rich and stimulating as the organizers of this panel could have wished. >> thank you. will you join me in thanking the panel? well done. [applause] ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please and susand mcconnell griffin from the national council for the social study. [applause] ♪ >> what a fabulous panel. we were blessed to hear from them. it if you can keep it dr. franklin. reborn inneeds to be each generation and education is its midwife. so said john dewey. more recently, america's favorite unemployed cowgirl, sandra day o'connor has observed from one end of this country to the other, knowledge of our system of governments, i wrote rights and responsibilities of citizens is not passed down through the gene pool. it must be taught. we have work to do. each of these three patriots was describing the essential historic mission of our nations of schools. admission as important as foundational today as it are as has been, as it always will be. for those of us who care about these of ehealth about our nation, and for those of us who care about people becoming civic lee engaged, we must care about the foundational civic mission of our schools. and folks, we are not talking about your grandpa's civic learning. were not talking about old-fashioned civic that that thick education. were talking about new, exciting race of how to be engaged. my calling, the first civic social studies teacher in our nation, susan griffin, is going to talk a little bit about that. susan. [applause] >> great to be here with you. there is a lot of wonderful stuff going on this afternoon, but if you want to see some applied civic knowledge, then you come to sessions that will generation citizen, nick's a challenge, and the cesar chavez public charter school on public policy. studentsl show you how learn to be civic lee engaged, to apply the knowledge, and frankly i was listening to what andyone said this morning please know that we have all of the answers. [laughter] because, k12, we have this document called college career and civic life. , social, for state city standards. it looks at civic economics and geography. k-12. it looks at getting the knowledge, doing research, evaluating evidence, and taking civic action. is the arc described here and it lays out what needs to happen. k-12. so when students graduate, they are raring to go. they are going to volunteer, they are going to do public service, they are going to be ready for a career, college, and most importantly, civic life. >> look forward to seeing you. >> thank you and coc for another fabulous national conference on citizenship. thank you. [applause] gentlemen please ncoc chairman. >> good afternoon everyone. morning, still. slightly. as general mcchrystal said this morning, the importance of national service is hard to overstate in all of the forms that can entail. and torage that power build the capacity to achieve the kind of scale that general mcchrystal has talked about, we need to bring together a number of different institutions from the government to private corporations to educational institutions. taken up this call to service more than cisco. with has been working hard the franklin project, with the aspen institute, to make this a reality. not just a common expectation, but as a common opportunity for young people. is the title sponsor of our annual conference as well as they have generously committed over $5 million to the exchange. for the first time, this exchange will seek to bring members, host organizations, and funders together into one integrated website and process. cisco has been all-and on this project, giving advice and support to us and our partner institutions through a major matching rant. ofay, i have the honor introducing the senior vice president for cisco's public sector organization. he leads an integrated team of more than 2000 who leave -- who serves americans in all sectors. -- no as well the power of service himself. members ofed with his team on various projects as well as is personally involved here in washington with an organization in silver springs that works with children with disabilities. it is my honor to introduce him. [applause] >> it is an honor to be here. i brought this to prove to you that we are the technology company and not the food company. payne, ourh larry vice president and lindauer t, who runs our commercial east organizations here. here?e we if you think about general mcchrystal said in the spirit of this conference, we are here for three reasons. this is a conference about america's youth, the future ,trength of u.s. corporations and the global viability of america to have a competitive experience and educated workforce. culture of giving back. every one of our 70,000 employees embrace our cause and give back to our community. but here and today, we're here because it is about the presence and future of our country into our use. are no topics that are more important. it supports communities, helps people with their lives, provides additional capital to organizations that serve other people. suresco, we want to make people have the skills to succeed in tomorrow's workforce and national service delivers on that import and promise and that important goal. young people to engage in national service are socially conscious, motivated, innovative, tenacious, and talented. we want tohe people work in our corporations. while serving their communities, young people develop skills in communication, problem solving, teamwork, leadership. these are skills that are increasingly vital in the workplace and sometimes, not often found. according to a report for voices for national service, this goes people acquired during their national service make them more and earn be employed higher salaries over the course of their career. of example about two thirds said itps volunteers helped with their experience in finding a job. right now, we cannot accommodate for everyone. only about two thirds of americorps members reported -- i am sorry, we cannot accommodate everyone. there are seven applicants for every employee, for every job that is available. we need to find jobs for our youth. a strong been supporter of the concept of national service service for more than a decade. for instance, we provide cash putin-kind grants that highly achieving recent college graduates to underserved schools for two years. we are very proud to be part of the national services alliance to make service be a common opportunity and expectation for all americans. can a cisco is a 19 company, have chosen to be a national supporter of the national service exchange, which has been built and will be run by the national conference on citizenship. went to think the national conference on citizenship for being such a great partner. this is an exchange that captures the skills of our youth and alliance and was that are available in the work force. that way, we are actually connecting the talents with the openings. the online exchange will connect the youth who wish to serve with organizations looking for talents and services and the funders who want to support both. exchange is indispensable in filling the vision of the alliance. handle certifications, individual service profiles, fundraising, social media linkage, and be the platform to support this important work. to date, cisco has provided cash support, i.t. consulting, vendor selection, and marketing assistance to the ncoc. but that is just an advertisement. it will ever really done is challenge america in a $3 million challenge grant to get other organizations to join us in this initiative. through the exchange, we will connect the right people at the right opportunities. this will give america's youth, young adults, the opportunity to do good work and solve problems while they become better, , contributing citizens. when barack obama u.s. companies. we challenge our u.s. companies to join us in making a national service year and a reality for young americans. this is important work. it will have an impact on our countries's global competitiveness. thank you again for the honor of participating. enjoy your lunch. [laughter] >> ladies and gentlemen, for our final civic highlight, from the points of light corporate institute please welcome if on turner and jenny lawson. -- yvonne turner and jenny lawson. >> good afternoon. imagine a world where every company paid their employees to volunteer. where companies used the volunteer programs to attract the best. where volunteerism was used to drive innovation. we're living in a place where companies are increasingly in the role community needs with people. focal point ofhe the community where civic life revolves. thelargest corporations in country contributed 54 million inlars each to the -- companies these days, they are not just writing checks. giving back the most precious asset. the time and talent of their employees. back toanies give berlin dollars with a pro bono services to communities. brochure, they are mobilizing again. deeper partnerships and communities invite you to learn. join us in our learning summit at 1:00 p.m. where we will explore what this means. we will discuss what companies are doing and engage in a cross-sector dialogue and opportunities for cooperation between corporate america, civic societies, and universities. we will hear from fedex and ge. we will hear how they have designed community engagement with as that help us awareness of social issues, trust in public institutions, and other forms of civic engagement. we invite you to join us. >> thanks. our commercial messages, in a world that is moving or possibly two big data, what does it mean to measure community-mindedness? philanthropy in the private sector seek to build partnerships with the nonprofit lead socialcale and change, how do we build partnerships around measuring? what to measure, and how to measure? you can learn more this afternoon if you join our torning summit at 3:00 p.m. discuss and evaluate metrics. yes, this is the topic right before drinks. nationalhear from experts in measurement and evaluation, including the executive director of the andorate executive board senior manager of corporate citizenship at the right. these organizations have played an important role in the conversation around developing metrics and measures for understanding volunteerism and social impact. will discuss the measurement framework. this is a measurement for prince of light and bloomberg that was ncoc.ped here at this will be released on december 8, but we will share some insights about what we are starting to understand. will also share some new point of light tools. we're going to challenge you to think about how you are measuring programs, how you are partnering with your companies and philanthropic lenders to improve your measurement outcomes. light, we are increasingly dedicated to those looking to increase their employee volunteer program so they can work with you for great outcomes in your community. please join us for this conversation. i think now it is time for lunch. thank you. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, to adjourn our morning session, please welcome gail. ♪ >> well. of all say thank you to all of our speakers into specially to all of you who have been so important to what is going on here. they morning has been filled with an exchange and debate of ideas and energy and enthusiasm critical to strengthening civic life of america. i also want to thank our board and program committee, many of whom are in attendance today. not call you out, but please stand up so we can give you a round of applause. come on. [applause] it is a joy to work with these folks. i really enjoyed my opportunity as chair of the program community. in a moment we will have lunch and that will be followed by our learning summit. these are in-depth workshop sessions as a complement to our plenary. i hope you will take the topics here and turn them into information, action, and collaborations that last well beyond today. there are four summits in two sessions. a coffee break in between at 2:30. you identified a session of interest when you register, which is now printed on the back of your name tag. your room assignments are listed on the program and screen. all of the rooms are in the world voting across the street. as opposed to an friendly volunteers, and impress signage will help you find your way to your sessions after lunch. we allocated rooms based on the interest identified and did our best to balance the sessions. you are welcome to change sessions if you wish, but if you go to a room that is overflowing, please consider attending a different session. towill reconvene after word report our experiences. we listen to your feedback and even on the road it's carefully when making decisions about future events. received an he evaluation when you registered. these completed before you leave today. there will be boxes on the registration table and in each of the learning rooms to deposit your completed evaluations. us for aou'll join happy hour at lee's restaurant in chevy chase. connectbe a place to with your colleagues in a fine into and from all setting. you're frustrated beyond us. shuttles will run between here your first drink will be on us. a shuttle will run between here into there. now, it is time for lunch. lunch will run until 12:45. after that, we will encourage you to begin moving toward your summit rooms. thank you, and enjoy. [laughter] >> up next, a discussion on crime reducing programs to reduce incarceration. at 7:00 a.m., your calls and comments on washington journal. now, law enforcement officials discuss the prison population and help prisoners. former nra president david keene. last squareversity hosts this event. it is about one hour and 15 minutes. >> in this proceeds from the premise that we really do not have one criminal justice system. this goes beyond federal concerns. each state has its own system. we have really worked hard to make sure we have people that are actually -- actively involved in law enforcement. chief was pulled off this morning to deal with pending issues.

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