President Obama is expected to sign the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act into law this week. On Friday, April 17, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) issued a statement in strong support of the legislation, saying:

This legislation is bold and far-reaching, authorizing a series of new initiatives, creating new programs for social innovation and volunteer generation, and making important and helpful changes to our existing operations.

CNCS went on to outline the steps the legislation must still go through, most notably the appropriations process, before it is implemented. Finally, CNCS thanked the many champions of service and social innovation, without whom this groundbreaking legislation would not be possible.

We wouldn’t have reached this historic landmark without the decades of hard work and resulting impact of national service participants and staff. The strong bipartisan votes in the House and Senate are a testament to the value of what our Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, VISTA, NCCC, Learn and Serve America, and other national service programs accomplish every day on the frontlines of communities across America.

We would like to echo CNCS and thank you all for your dedication to social innovation and national service. We look forward to watching as President Obama signs the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act into law!

To read the Corporation for National and Community Service’s entire statement, click here.