Vol. 59 No.  77 Thursday, April 21, 1994  p 19123 (Proclamation)  1/90

Title 3-
The President

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.

  

[FR Doc. 94-9885
Filed 4-20-94; 11:33 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P



The Contents entry for this article reads as follows:

Special observances:
  Youth Service Day, National, 1994 and 1995 (Proc. 6674), 19123