Yet, in the celebrations at the White House and elsewhere, none of its supporters is likely to say that AmeriCorps has lived up to its motto of “getting things done.” In fact, the program remains small, rarely with more than 75,000 members annually, many of whom serve part-time. Plans to expand to 250,000, approved in 2009 in tribute to Senator Ted Kennedy, have never received funds.

Why has AmeriCorps not done better, despite its worthy goal of creating more opportunities for Americans to serve their country? The reason is not because they don’t want to; applications for AmeriCorps regularly exceed the number of open positions.

However, Americans have many other ways of serving their country, including by volunteering millions of hours each year for charities. That is why some Republicans argue that AmeriCorps is unnecessary.

Many Americans also work for government and non-profit groups that address the same issues AmeriCorps does. Some Democrats would rather spend money on them, instead of paying for inexperienced AmeriCorps members. With few exceptions, studies indicate the legislators may be right.

But AmeriCorps does teach its members what it means to be good citizens. That is a more modest contribution than what many of its advocates hoped for two decades ago, but essential in a country that depends on its citizens to help.

Sources:

On origins and expectations: Stephen Waldman, The Bill: How Legislation Really Becomes Law: A Case Study of the National Service Bill (1996)

On accomplishments: David A. Reingold and Leslie Lenkowsky, “The Future of National Service,” Public Administration Review, December, 2010, S114 – S121.

On 20th anniversary events

But since the 1990’s, we have worried that our tradition of joining was waning. Americans were increasingly “bowling alone,” a Harvard professor claimed, less inclined to work, socialize, or cooperate with their neighbors. At the time, many disputed his findings.

However, his argument got a boost last month from the Federal government’s annual survey of volunteering. It found that just one in four American adults gave some of their time to a civic organization in 2013, the lowest percentage since the survey began in 2002. The rate for young adults, between 16 and 34, fell below 22 percent, lower than for all other age-groups, including the elderly. Less than 20 percent of minority-group members volunteered.

Of course, some people may not consider what they do, such as helping out at school or in church, as volunteering. And there are many other ways to become involved in one’s community besides joining an organization. By international standards, Americans remain more likely to volunteer than the people of most other countries.

Even so, the fact that the United States is much less a nation of joiners than it had been is not a good sign. If we are unhappy with what our communities are like, or what our government does, we will only have ourselves to blame.

Sources

Tocqueville, Alexis de. “On the Use Which the Americans Make of Associations in
Civil Life,” Democracy in America (1839).

Schlesinger, Arthur M. “Biography of a Nation of Joiners,” American Historical Review, Vol. 50, No. 1 (1944), pp. 1-25.

Putnam, Robert D. “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital,” Journal of Democracy, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1995), pp. 65-78.

“Volunteering in the United States” (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

“World Giving Index” (Charities Aid Foundation)