National Youth Service Day, 1994 and 1995

Proclamation 6674 of April 19, 1994

National Youth Service Day, 1994 and 1995

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

On September 21, 1993, I had the great pleasure of
signing into law a new national service program, using
the same pen that John F. Kennedy used to create the
Peace Corps. That event was particularly meaningful to
me because so many of my own dreams about national
service began when President Kennedy challenged my
generation to ask what we could do for our country--and
thousands responded as Peace Corps volunteers.

Thirty years later, a new generation of young Americans
is not waiting to be asked. All along the presidential
campaign trail, young people told me again and again
what they wanted most--the opportunity to make a
difference. So we created AmeriCorps, a new national
service program. Now, the real work of rebuilding
America must begin.

This year, 20,000 young AmeriCorps members will provide
hands-on community-based service to meet our Nation's
urgent needs--in education, in public safety, in health
care reform, and in the environment. In exchange for a
commitment to service, AmeriCorps members will receive
many benefits. They will get education awards to help
them pay off student loans and finance further
education. They will have an experience that will
change their lives forever. But the most important
benefit of national service will be seen in the
accomplishments of the participants in the communities
they serve. With young people at the vanguard,
AmeriCorps can help to bring the American people back
together with a sense of working toward a common
purpose.

I know that it can be done. Last summer, we launched a
pilot service program to see if AmeriCorps could really
work to strengthen communities. As a result of our
Summer of Service program, 87 participants in Texas
helped to immunize over 100,000 children. Fifty
participants in New York City operated summer day
school programs at the Harlem Freedom Schools for 643
at-risk youths. And 74 participants through Boston's
City Year program provided educational, health, and
environmental services that reached more than 14,200
individuals. If national service participants can have
that kind of impact in 8 weeks, just imagine what they
can accomplish in a year--or two--of service to their
communities.

In the youth of America lies our hope for the future.
Throughout our history, our young men and women have
challenged us to reach for goals that seemed beyond our
grasp, to reach for an understanding between all people
of good will.

The Congress, by Public Law 103-82, has designated
April 19, 1994, and April 18, 1995, as ``National Youth
Service Day'' and has authorized and requested the
President to issue a proclamation in observance of
these days.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim April 19,
1994, and April 18, 1995, as National Youth Service
Day. I urge every American to observe these days with
appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities in
honor of volunteers and in recognition of their
extraordinary contributions to America.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-four, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and eighteenth.

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