Detailed Summary

Serve America Act - Amends the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to create two new service-learning programs: (1) a Youth Engagement Zones to Strengthen Communities program, providing competitive grants to partnerships between local educational agencies that serve high-need, low-income communities and certain community-based or state entities to engage students and out-of-school youth in service-learning addressing specific challenges faced by their communities; and (2) a Campus of Service program, which annually grants up to 30 institutions of higher education (IHEs) with exemplary service-learning programs the funds to assist their students' pursuit of public service careers, and the right to nominate additional individuals for ServeAmerica Fellowships.

Directs the Corporation for National and Community Service (Corporation) to contract for a 10-year, longitudinal service-learning impact study.

Establishes the Commission on Cross-Sector Solutions to America's Problems to study ways in which the federal government and businesses can more effectively collaborate with nonprofit and philanthropic organizations to address pressing national and local challenges.

Creates a Community Solutions Funds Pilot program awarding competitive matching grants to grantmaking institutions or partnerships between such institutions and state or local governmental entities which will use the grants to provide competitive matching subgrants to community organizations for use in replicating or expanding proven solutions to specifically identified community challenges.

Establishes an Innovation Fellowships Pilot program awarding competitive grants to individuals who are veterans, or have completed at least one period of national service, to establish innovative nonprofit organizations that address national and local challenges.

Creates a ServeAmerica Corps program providing formula grants to states and awarding competitive grants to states and nonprofit organizations to fund national service in low-income communities by: (1) Clean Energy Service Corps that improve certain clean energy indicators, including energy efficiency and conservation measures; (2) Education Corps that improve certain education indicators, including student engagement, achievement, and graduation; (3) Healthy Futures Corps that improve certain health indicators, including health care access; (4) Opportunity Corps that improve certain opportunity indicators, including financial literacy and access to housing, and employment-related services; and (5) Encore programs designed to take advantage of the skills of participants age 50 and older. Creates additional incentives for national service participation by individuals age 50 and older.

Makes ServeAmerica Corps participants eligible for national service educational awards.

Directs the Corporation to create a Civic Health Index enabling states and communities to assess their civic health.

Establishes the ServeAmerica and Encore Fellowships program providing ServeAmerica Fellowships to IHE-nominated individuals and Encore Fellowships to individuals age 50 or older who agree to be placed with nonprofit organizations to carry out projects in specified areas of national need. Makes ServeAmerica fellows eligible for national service educational awards.

Creates a Volunteer Generation Fund program awarding competitive matching grants to states and nonprofit organizations to increase the availability and capacity of volunteers to address state priorities with regard to areas of national need or work with nonprofit civic entities, including faith-based organizations, to address such needs.

Establishes a National Service Reserve Corps of individuals who have completed a term of national service to respond to national disasters and other emergencies.

Directs the Corporation, within 180 days of this Act's enactment, to conduct a nationwide Call to Service Campaign.

Requires the Office of Volunteers for Prosperity (VfP) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to implement a VfPServe program providing skilled professionals with fixed-amount stipends to offset their costs of volunteering abroad to address specified VfP objectives aimed at ameliorating living conditions in developing countries.

Status of the Legislation

Latest Major Action: 9/12/2008: Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Points in Favor

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Points Against

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