Under the plan, middle and high school students would perform 50 hours of service a year.
In addition, Obama proposed a tax credit of $4,000 to help make college affordable but to receive the credit, the student would be required to clock at least 100 hours of service a year.
The ideas are part of a wider-range plan that would include quadrupling AmeriCorp and doubling Peace Corps volunteers, which Obama said is essential in helping the nation meet goals and restore the nation?s worldly standing as a leader.
?Your own story and the American story are not separate; they are shared,? Obama told a crowd of about 900 people, mostly students. ?And they will both be enriched if we stand up together, and answer a new call to service to meet the challenges of our new century.?
The crowd gave Obama enthusiastic applause. Sean Ransick, a junior at Cornell, said the plan makes sense.
?I think it?s a great idea. I think it?s very innovative,? Ransick. ?I haven?t heard anything like it before. It was tough for me to get to college financially. That would have been an option and I certainly would have taken it.?
Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, said the plan would also seek to create a national online network to connect volunteers with service organizations. It would also create a ?Social Entrepreneurship Agency? to help nonprofits improved collaborations with government.
His campaign staff didn?t immediately respond to questions about how much the plan would cost.
?The non-profit sector employs one in 12 Americans and 115 nonprofits are launched every day,? Obama said. ?Yet while the federal government invests $7 billion in research and development for the private sector, there is no similar effort to support non-profit innovation.?
In addition, Obama proposed a tax credit of $4,000 to help make college affordable but to receive the credit, the student would be required to clock at least 100 hours of service a year.
The ideas are part of a wider-range plan that would include quadrupling AmeriCorp and doubling Peace Corps volunteers, which Obama said is essential in helping the nation meet goals and restore the nation?s worldly standing as a leader.
?Your own story and the American story are not separate; they are shared,? Obama told a crowd of about 900 people, mostly students. ?And they will both be enriched if we stand up together, and answer a new call to service to meet the challenges of our new century.?
The crowd gave Obama enthusiastic applause. Sean Ransick, a junior at Cornell, said the plan makes sense.
?I think it?s a great idea. I think it?s very innovative,? Ransick. ?I haven?t heard anything like it before. It was tough for me to get to college financially. That would have been an option and I certainly would have taken it.?
Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, said the plan would also seek to create a national online network to connect volunteers with service organizations. It would also create a ?Social Entrepreneurship Agency? to help nonprofits improved collaborations with government.
His campaign staff didn?t immediately respond to questions about how much the plan would cost.
?The non-profit sector employs one in 12 Americans and 115 nonprofits are launched every day,? Obama said. ?Yet while the federal government invests $7 billion in research and development for the private sector, there is no similar effort to support non-profit innovation.?
