In anticipation of the Senate hearing on the Serve America Act, Senator Kennedy issued a powerful statement in support of the service and social innovation bill. Yesterday Susan Milligan captured Kennedy’s comments in an article in the Boston Globe:

Americans young and old are looking for new ways to serve their communities and give back to their country. This hearing will enable us to learn of new and better ways to provide those opportunities to serve.

Service has always been a bipartisan goal, and the legislation we’ll hear about today continues that tradition. From President Kennedy’s creation of the Peace Corps to President George H.W. Bush’s Points of Light to President Clinton’s AmeriCorps, presidents of both parties have contributed their own ideas about how best to ask the American people to serve their own communities. I commend President Obama for making it an early priority of his Administration to expand service opportunities across the country to involve many more Americans in meeting our most pressing challenges.

We could not agree more! This legislation will provide much needed support for social entrepreneurs and create new avenues for growth in the field of social innovation. It is so exciting to see it receiving such a strong endorsement!