Statement on Receiving the Report of the President's Advisory Committee on the Points of Light Initiative Foundation
It is with a great deal of pleasure that I have today received the report of the President's Advisory Committee on the Points of Light Initiative Foundation.
Last summer I announced a three-part strategy to make community service central to the life and work of every individual, group, and organization in America. To help to implement this strategy, I announced that the Points of Light Initiative Foundation would be formed. I asked Gov. Tom Kean of New Jersey to head a committee to advise me on the structure of the Foundation and on the legislation needed to accomplish its goals. At the same time, the White House Office of National Service has developed recommended goals for the Foundation.
In addition to Governor Kean, this distinguished Presidential Advisory Committee is composed of Edward A. Brennan, chairman and chief executive officer of Sears, Roebuck & Co. and chairman of the board of governors of the United Way; Norman A. Brown, president and chief programming officer of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Frances Hesselbein, national executive director of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America; and Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., senior partner of the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld and former president of the National Urban League.
I am committed to making community service national policy of the highest priority. Drug abuse, illiteracy, homelessness, AIDS, environmental decay, and hunger must no longer be seen as someone else's problems for someone else to solve. To be a Point of Light is to measure your own success by what you do for someone else. Community service must become part of our daily pattern of living.
I am confident that the report I have received today from this distinguished group of Americans will assist us greatly in achieving these worthy goals.
Note: The Office of the Press Secretary issued a fact sheet on the same day which provided the following additional information on recommended goals for the Points of Light Initiative Foundation:
Points of Light Action Groups
Mission: To engage individuals from all walks of life and diverse groups and organizations who may never have worked together before in collaborating with one another to solve community problems.
a. To develop Points of Light Action Groups in all 50 States to determine pressing community problems, identify and mobilize community resources, and deploy them against these problems. Such groups would consist of new or strengthened partnerships among businesses, professionals, unions, schools, religious organizations, nonprofits, clubs, associations, and concerned individuals.
b. These groups will serve as catalysts for community action and as new engines for social change.
Youth Engaged in Service to America (YES)
Mission: To engage every young person, aged 5 to 25, in community service.
a. The Foundation will identify model community service projects in organizations of which young people are a part (schools, churches and synagogues, neighborhood organizations, clubs, etc.) and encourage similar organizations to replicate them.
b. The Foundation will help create youth service projects in a limited number of pilot areas (to be determined by the Board) that engage a wide variety of local groups and organizations and provide models which communities can replicate throughout the nation.
c. Every significant sector of American society (corporate, professional, labor, religion, nonprofits, clubs, and associations, etc.) not yet involved in youth development will work with young people to devise community service initiatives or participate in existing projects which are led by young people.
One-to-One Relationships
Mission: To form one-to-one mentoring relationships with people in need.
The Foundation will target a limited number of communities (to be determined by the Board) in which intensive efforts will be undertaken through the collaboration of a wide variety of community-based groups and organizations to develop one-to-one relationships with virtually every single individual in need.
Media Leadership/Support
Mission: To devote the distinctive capabilities of the local and national news and entertainment media to persuading people to engage in community problem solving.
a. Every segment of the news and entertainment media (e.g., television, newspapers, magazines, radio, cable, motion pictures) will provide examples of media groups and/or organizations that highlight community service continuously, spotlight successful service initiatives, profile outstanding community leaders, and inform the public of how to engage in community service.
b. In addition, in partnership with the Advertising Council, the Foundation will develop a nationwide advertising campaign to develop a new perspective on our social problems, to increase public awareness of the importance of community service, and to catalyze community action.
c. The Foundation will also create a mechanism to provide regular satellite feeds to local television stations containing stories about highly successful and newsworthy community service leaders and developments, and a wire print service to disseminate such information to local print media.
Finance/Resource Acquisition
Mission: To obtain the necessary resources from the private and public sectors to support the activities of the Foundation.
The Foundation will raise at least $25 million from the private sector in financial contributions and additional in-kind contributions. Also, the Foundation will seek $25 million in congressional funding.
George Bush, Statement on Receiving the Report of the President's Advisory Committee on the Points of Light Initiative Foundation Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/264587