National Service: An Annuity to Invent the Future and Enrich the Present

The time has come because of the irrational economics of a post-high school education. We live in an age when the white collar world demands a university degree. However, diplomas recede from the reach of an increasing segment of the population that simply cannot afford it. Whether returning soldiers from Iraq or young people hailing from tough urban neighborhoods, we need a GI bill for the 21st century that brings these people to our campuses and reduces the widening educational inequities spreading across society. If we hope to shrink the have/have-not gap, there must be some relief from the steepening curve of college tuition. The rising national deficit and impending entitlement crisis constrain the ability of Washington to intervene with its wallet. It’s going to require creative investments like national service.

The time is now because the costs of climate change have reached a tipping point. The realities are inescapable and life-changing—witness the alarming recent IPCC report. The window to save the planet we know and treasure is closing. Yet, despite abundant reasons for despair, young people are searching for strategies to diminish their footprint and change their consumption habits. We are fortunate that the next generation hungers for impact on this issue. Without their vigilance, it is depressing to imagine the future our grandchildren would face. We need a means to channel this interest into programs that preserve our environment, clean our communities, and restore our world: national service is the ideal vehicle for a campaign of grassroots environmental renewal.

Finally, it must happen now because the idea of America depends on in it. In a world in which our prestige has diminished and our influence waned to historic lows, the most powerful asset at our disposal is ourselves. If we want to strengthen our standing in the world, America must capitalize on these invaluable assets—our creativity, our imagination, our passion and the promise of America. It is a force personified in 200-plus years of raucous democracy. It is a magic expressed every day in our freedoms, large and small. It is a phenomenon embodied in our young people who bring boundless energy and entrepreneurial spirit even the most intractable challenges. Our greatest opportunity is the civic zeal and democratic ideal as exemplified in these people, truly our best and our brightest. I hope we can unleash their talent on our toughest problems—education, health care, urban renewal—and national service can provide that platform.

The good news is that the risk has been taken out of the equation. Mavericks like Peace Corps, City Year, and Teach For America already have proven the case: set our young people before our toughest problems and they will rise to the challenge. A thoughtful and systemic commitment to true national service can reinvigorate our communities here at home by investing and reinvesting our resources against our toughest problems. It's a great formula, the kind of annuity that will invent the future we hope to see while enriching the present along the way.

Jonathan Greenblatt is a member of the faculty at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA where he teaches social entrepreneurship. He is the co-founder of Ethos Water and a former executive at Starbucks Coffee Company.