Key Elements of USA Freedom Corps

The USA Freedom Corps initially will have three major components:

• A newly created Citizen Corps to engage citizens in homeland security: The new Citizen Corps will consist of Citizen Corps Councils. It will engage Americans in specific homeland security efforts in communities throughout the country. These initiatives include a Medical Reserve Corps, a Volunteers in Police Service Program, a doubling of Neighborhood Watch, a new Terrorist Information and Prevention System, and a tripling of Community Emergency Response Team members.
• An improved and enhanced AmeriCorps and Senior Corps: The Administration will provide additional community-based service opportunities and will leverage hundreds of thousands of additional volunteers through 25,000 new AmeriCorps participants, 100,000 new Senior Corps participants, and removing barriers to service. The 25,000 new AmeriCorps participants will generate at least 75,000 additional volunteers.
• A strengthened Peace Corps: The President’s plan will double the number of Peace Corps volunteers over the next 5 years, returning the number of volunteers to near its historic high, which was 15,000 in June of 1966.

The President is requesting more than $560 million in new funds in Fiscal Year 2003 to support this new citizen service initiative.

The citizen service initiative will be managed by a new USA Freedom Corps Council and an Assistant to the President within the White House. The Council and White House Office will make further policy recommendations to the President to enhance service, help agencies recruit and mobilize volunteers, study how better to chart civic progress, and find ways to recognize the participation of Americans in serving their communities, country, and nations around the world.

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