A Congressional vote to eliminate all $435 million for President Clinton's National Service Program, Americorps, has sparked a debate among some Harvard students about the role of federal funding in community service.

Student-participants also say that program organizers will now have to scramble for new sources of funding in order to maintain the quality and scope of their programming if the National Service Program is in fact cut.

Though President Clinton has threatened to veto the proposed funding cuts, Harvard Americorps participants are preparing for the worst. For them, federal cutbacks may mean the end to some service opportunities and stipends.

United in Praise

Harvard Americorps participants are united in their praise for the National Service Program. Specifically, they cite the way in which Americorps provides opportunities for students to serve local communities while still making money for college.

Hahrie C. Han '97, who works with an Americorps-funded afterschool program in Cambridge called Summerbridge, said that the main benefit of Americorps is that it makes community service attractive and feasible for students.

"What is important about Americorps," Han said, "is the incentive it offers young people to enter into community service."

She said that the "high profile name, the propaganda and the paraphernalia are all important ways of getting people psyched to do service they might not otherwise do."

Han said that if her program lost its federal funds community service in Cambridge would take a direct hit. Students "might need to use their time to find other sources of income or it might not seem as attractive without all the hype," Han said.

Hurlbut resident Gretchen A. Brion-Meisels '99, another Summerbridge participant, also praised the program.

"It's the closest the administration has come to what needs to happen, which is to give people money to pay off college in exchange for community service work," Brion-Meisels said.

Ethan G. Drogin '98, however, said that Summerbridge is "good for students without real financial needs, but for students with significant needs, it is not really a viable option."

History of the Program

Largely based on the City Year program in Boston, a bill funding Americorps was the first piece of major legislation Clinton got passed by Congress.

Clinton recently hailed the program as the way to "make the connection between ideas and the real world of need out there beyond the ivory towers of academia, to make a connection between earning an education and advancing the quality of life for others who may not have it."