On December 14, 2023, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and America’s Service Commissions convened a virtual launch event with State Service Commissions across the U.S. to share findings from new public opinion research on young Americans' views about participating in a year of national service.
The event revealed key findings from the Academy’s research and highlighted action-oriented recommendations for state service commissions and national service organizations to integrate relevant messaging and tactics into their existing recruitment practices and processes.
In June 2020, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences released Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century. The final report of the Academy’s Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, Our Common Purpose articulates the need to establish a cultural expectation of service such that participating in a year of national service can become a universal experience for young Americans from across lines of difference.
To advance this reform, the Academy partnered with the America’s Service Commissions and California Volunteers to introduce a data-driven approach to building demand for national service opportunities among young Americans. The data from this research will be available on the Our Common Purpose website in Spring 2024.