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We’re delighted to see national service pushing even farther to the forefront of politicians’ and media leaders’ minds! Only last week, Richard Stengel, managing editor of TIME magazine, trumpeted the launch of Be the Change’s ServiceNation campaign in September as a real “place for not only dialogue but also action.” Be the Change, a member of the America Forward Coalition, is organizing grassroots efforts and supporting legislation to bring about “better public policy, promote active citizenship and citizen democracy.”

The face of social entrepreneurship isn’t just that of the young and energetic. Rather, giving back is something that more and more Americans at all stages of life want to do. Even after traditional retirement, almost half of the 78 million aging baby boomers are considering taking up “encore careers” in the social sector. “Our dodderdom may have consequences for society every bit as profound as our youth did!” writes Nicholas Kristof in Sunday’s New York Times. When service is no longer a passing passion of the young, but an integral part of the national ethos, America’s “leaders and citizens will [be able to] work together to foster innovation in the social sector!” The leadership that experienced, older Americans bring to the social sector can provide a model for full national involvement in service, and add weight and authority to the innovations of social entrepreneurs.

This Fourth of July weekend, Albert Hunt, Executive Editor of the Washington Bureau for Bloomberg News, spotlighted America Forward and the power of social entrepreneurship in an article in the International Herald Tribune. Hunt connects the America Forward message to the common commitment of both Senator McCain and Senator Obama to national service and public-private partnerships to solve America's pressing social problems. Hunt writes, "Social entrepreneurs are pushing a new paradigm that bridges partisan and philosophical divides," he calls social entrepreneurs "idealists without illusions" and praises the work of coalition members like Teach For America, Year Up, and New Leaders for New Schools.
ders for New Schools.

An article by Jonathan Weisman in The Washington Post, 7-3-08.

Click here to read this article.

Senator Obama has once again included the America Forward policy ideas in one of his national speeches! Yesterday he gave a speech in Colorado Springs about citizen service and included the America Forward policy ideas of a Social Investment Fund Network and Social Entrepreneurship Agency in the speech. Click here to read a Washington Post article on the speech. Our ideas are also on his website, under the "Service" Issue tab and categorized as "Investing in the Nonprofit Sector."