David Cohen

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Editor's note: David Cohen, a senior advisor to Civic Ventures, has been an advocate and strategist on many of the major social justice and political reform issues in the United States since the early 1960s.

Among the achievements of the first 100 days of President Obama and his Administration, I believe the signing into law of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act represents a singular breakthrough with immeasurable promise for the President, his Administration and the American people.

Yes, I am an admirer of the Obama Presidency so far -- even with mistakes that even the President acknowleges. Obama recognizes that government must serve as a catalyst and an active intervenor to restart our economic engine, but that it is civicly engaged citizens who solve problems and fulfill responsibilities.

As a lover of history I go back to the FDR days and the long history of citizen service. I remember to this day the enthusiastic conversations I had even decades later with poor young men from Brooklyn and my native Philadelphia about their Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) experience.

At a ceremony celebrating President Obama's signing of the Serve America Act, Harris Wofford, a founder of the Peace Corps, reminded us that in 1933, FDR was determined to get 250,000 young people into the CCC within four months. The demand was so great, and the organization so effective, that 300,000 signed up. That laid groundwork for the the breakthrough legislation we associate with the safety net-- social security, unemployment compensation, the minimum wage-- that did not get enacted until late in his first term or even his second.

Passed with bipartisan majorities, Serve America does lots more than expand Americorps -- to 225,000, eventually -- though that is reason enough to praise it. As are the "dazzling innovation" of Encore Fellowships, as John Gomperts, the president of Civic Ventures, describes them.

Serve America deliberately makes room for older people to serve in Americorps with its focus on our tough public issues: education, health, renewable energy, helping returning veterans, fighting poverty. The new law recognizes that older people have an experience to give that contributes to and strengthens the common good. The law makes it operationally possible with Encore Fellowships, Silver Scholarships and the expectation that at least 10% of the Americorps positions will include people over 55. That´s fantastic.

But there is a larger point. Maria Eitel, the new CEO of the Corporation for National Service, the agency that will administer Serve America, put it perfectly: "We äre redefining together what it means to be a citizen." Note the emphasis on together: intergenerational, non-profit, private and the public sectors.

Obama's first 100 days are the start of a continuing adventure in active citizenship. Among those up for the adventure are older people, who can help tackle our toughest problems through significant public purpose work that provides some satisfaction, earns some money and contributes to our economy -- and our country.