Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry wants to expand volunteer service across the nation.
At stops in Manchester and Concord, the Massachusetts senator detailed a program that would swap years of college for two years of service.
NHPR?s David Darman has more.
John Kerry says he was inspired to join the military during the 1960?s by then president John Kennedy.
Kerry promises that if he becomes president in 2004, he?ll revive the spirit Kennedy put forward.
I will set a goal within the next decade of enlisting five hundred thousand young people a year in service for college-more than one out of seven young Americans working side by side, in many different ways, but with a common commitment to our best hopes and values.
Kerry would ask individuals to serve for two years.
In return, the federal government would pay for four years of tuition at a public college.
Kerry would also expand Americorp and more than triple the size of the Peace Corps.
And Kerry says he?d make community service mandatory for high school students, to teach them lessons about civics.
Today, the state of Maryland, many school districts around the country, and many high schools-including some here in nh- already require service. They have proven its worth-and shown that it is not make work. Rather it can make a difference in many lives and enrich all our communities.
Kerry would get older Americans into the volunteer spirit as well.
He says retired people can help tutor the young.
Kerry says the spirit of volunteerism soared in the days and weeks after September 11th.
But Kerry blames President Bush for letting that spirit slip away.
When Republican john mccain and democrat evan bayh offered a bipartisan initiative to expand national service, the president rejected it. He did not even follow through on his own modest pledge to expand americorps and the peace corps.
Kerry did not address the issue of funding.
But he did promise taxpayers that he would not leave states the burden of paying for his programs.
Kerry says leaving states un-funded mandates would teach young people the wrong lessons.
