The U.S. Public Service Academy is an exciting effort that is capturing the imagination of young people all across the country. You can become an important part of our movement by joining the National Youth Council (NYC) or your state’s Youth Advisory Council (YAC). As part of the NYC and YAC, you will help us build the Academy in three important ways:
1) Youth mobilization
We need to spread the word about the Academy to young people everywhere – in schools, churches, synagogues, malls, FaceBook, MySpace, . . . The best way to get young people involved is to have another young person tell them about what we are doing. NYC and YAC members will help us get more young folks involved in the movement.
2) Political action
Think you are too young to make an impact on politics? Wrong! Young people have already been tremendously helpful in getting a bill to create the Academy in front of Congress. The U.S. Public Service Academy Act (S. 960 in the Senate and H.R. 1671 in the House of Representatives) was introduced in March 2007. Now that the bill has been introduced, we need to convince people in Congress to support it. NYC and YAC members can help us organize letter-writing campaigns and call-in days that will encourage representatives and senators to join us.
3) Blueprint feedback
As part of the movement to build the Academy, we are writing a Blueprint that will describe what the school will look like from the ground up. This document will cover admissions, faculty, students, student life, post-graduation placement, and other important topics. NYC and YAC members will read through the document to make sure that we don’t screw it up – after all, young people will attend the college, and we want to be sure that our plans make sense to them.
As part of the NYC and YAC, you will help us change the face of higher education in this country. You will be expected to spend 1-2 hours a week (more if there is a major event coming up) working on the Academy. The hours are flexible, and much of the work can be done online. If you are interested, download the NYC contact sheet or the YAC contact sheet and email it to Shawn Raymond: