We Need Your Help to Save National Service and Social Innovation. Please Call your Members of Congress Today: Urge them to Vote NO on H.R. 1, a bill that cuts thousands of jobs and funding for efficient, results-driven programs.

Across our country, thousands of service and social innovation programs are in danger of being entirely defunded today by proposed budget cuts and we need your help to make sure that service and social innovation remain a national priority. Call your Congressperson today and let him or her know that you support innovation and service.

The US House of Representatives is considering a continuing resolution that will determine federal funding for the rest of the fiscal year of 2011. The plan that the Committee on Appropriations Chair Harold Rogers is proposing will cut $100 billion from the budget. Major news outlets from across the country say that the cuts will come in part from eliminating the Corporation for National and Community Service and its programs, including AmeriCorps and the Social Innovation Fund.

By defunding these incredibly cost-effective programs, we will lose more than 100,000 jobs across the nation along with significant private sector leverage. Through a dollar for dollar match of funds through AmeriCorps and other initiatives to local organizations, taxpayer dollars are leveraged to create greater partnerships for private investment in local communities, resulting in $800 million in investments from the private sector and other non-federal sources annually. The Social Innovation Fund has a 3:1 match on every federal dollar invested, stimulating significant private sector and philanthropic investment in our communities.

America Forward is partnering with Voices for National Service, ServiceNation, and other national coalitions in the critical effort to save these programs and support local communities by advocating for the continued funding of the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Take action now! Download talking points and instructions on how to contact Congress. For more information and to get involved, please email info@americaforward.org.