July 5, 2024 • 49 mins
On this encore episode of The Middle we're asking you: do you feel a call to serve your country? Jeremy is joined by Major General (Ret.) Linda Singh and AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith. The Middle's house DJ Tolliver joins as well, plus callers from around the country. #IndependenceDay #ArmedForces #PublicService #Duty #JulyFourth #Sacrifice
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Middle is supported by Journalism Funding Partners, a nonprofit
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building connections between donors and news organizations. More information on
how you can support the Middle at Listen toothmddle dot com.
Welcome to the Middle. I'm Jeremy Hobson along with our
(00:21):
house DJ Tolliver. As always and in honor of the
fourth of July, we are going to dip into our
Middle archives for a show that I think you're going
to find perfect for this occasion. We're going to be
talking about public service and what that means to you.
There are certainly a lot of ways to serve the country.
Military service, of course, comes to mind. Roughly six percent
(00:41):
of Americans have served in some capacity in our armed forces,
more than sixteen million people. But there are other ways
to serve your country that don't involve military service. You
could be a firefighter, a police officer, a civil servant,
a teacher, a volunteer. The list goes on. So that's
our question this hour, do you feel a call to
serve your country? This program was previously recorded, so we're
(01:03):
not taking any more live calls, but you can leave
us a message at eight four four four middle. That's
eight four four four six four three three five three
Before we get to that. Last week, we asked for
your reaction to the presidential debate between President Biden and
former President Trump. Here are some of the voicemails that
came in after the show.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
My name is Mike, Eike and Lob. I live in Efforta,
Pennsylvania's Hi, my name is Mindy.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I'm calling from Lansing, Michigan.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Hi.
Speaker 5 (01:31):
This is Sam from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
HI.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
This is Anita from St.
Speaker 6 (01:35):
George, Utah.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I think the only reason why Donald Trump came up
looking even more mostly normal is.
Speaker 7 (01:41):
For the muse.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
But the debate was a sorry show of how far
this country has fallen behind on everything. Biden should be
in a nursing home and Trump should be in jail,
and those are our choices.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I have a twenty eight year old son who is
leaning through party, and I told him to watch the
debate that I thought you could judge for himself, and
I can't look him in DEI until him to vote
for Biden.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
I just watched the debate a Democrat, and after watching that,
I am very scared. Biden looked very confused, and I'm
very concerned about this country. Trump made some good points
and we were a safer country back when he was
a president, so I might be voting for him.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Thank you so much to everyone who called in and
left a message. So this hour we're asking do you
feel a call to do some public service to serve
your country That could be in the military, as a
police officer, a firefighter, a teacher, an election worker. So
let's meet our panel. From Prince George's County, Maryland, retired
Army Major General Linda Singh, former head of the Maryland
National Guard with more than three decades of military service.
(02:53):
General Singh, welcome to the Middle, Thank you so much.
And from Las Vegas, Nevada, Michael D. Smith, who is
the CEO of AmeriCorps. Michael D. Smith, Welcome to the.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Middle, Jeremy. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So before we get to the phones, I want to
hear from each of you because you both have really
interesting stories of your own about getting into public service
and general saying, I want to start with you. You got
into the military at a young age because you were
going through a very, very difficult time as a teenager.
Speaker 7 (03:23):
That's correct.
Speaker 8 (03:24):
I mean I joined the military at age seventeen because
I was homeless, I was a trouble teen sexual abuse.
Speaker 7 (03:32):
Really didn't know what I was going to.
Speaker 8 (03:34):
Do to try to get my life back on track,
and that's really hard when you're young. And I got
the amazing opportunity to run into a recruiter in the
mall for the Maryland National Guard.
Speaker 7 (03:46):
And this particular.
Speaker 8 (03:47):
Recruiter, I don't know why, I looked like the you know,
the right person, but he something made him stop me
and have a conversation. And I had not considered the military,
and I will tell you it was one of the
best choices that I made. And it's not so much
because it was You can't look at it as if
(04:07):
it was a last resort for me, because I think
there were other options. I just didn't understand the options
available to me. But this gave me an out. It
gave me a way to really get out of the
town and the environment that I was in at the time,
and it showed me what life could be like outside
of the state of Maryland. So going to Basic training
(04:29):
was the first time that I had ever gotten on
a plane, and so it really was an opportunity that
opened up doors for me much broader than I probably
would have had I just stayed where I was.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Did you find and have you found in your years
of military service that there were others like you that
got into it for the same kinds of reasons.
Speaker 8 (04:50):
So, I mean, the stories are so wide and varied,
but I think once I started telling my story, I
found more people that connected to that story, and mainly
because they may not have had the same exact path,
but I think they, you know, we could connect. I
think it was a way that you find other people
(05:12):
that may not have had a voice, and so I
start sharing my story that.
Speaker 7 (05:15):
Gives voice to a lot of folks that have a
trouble past.
Speaker 8 (05:19):
But here's what I would say is now, you know,
we see, you know, folks that join the military and
they're coming in with you know, these high level college
degrees and it's just a much different level of you know,
of service. And so what I would say is, you know,
starting my service was the military, but I continue to
(05:40):
serve in the community in.
Speaker 7 (05:42):
A wide variety of ways today.
Speaker 8 (05:46):
And I think it's for me, it's something that is
very self fulfilling, but it allows me also to contribute
very very differently to my environment, to my community, and
to others that I just, you know, wouldn't do.
Speaker 7 (05:59):
I was just working my regular job.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
What about you, Michael D. Smith, what was your first
interaction with public service?
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Well, I've been fortunate to build my whole career in
public service, start working in the nonprofit sector. And the
reason for me was I grew up in a single
parent household. My parents were both sixteen years old when
I was born. We were poor, not a whole lot
of money, but we had this rich community. My mom
sent me to my local Boys and Girls club for
what she said was cheap daycare. She just needed a
place to put her kid. But what she didn't know
(06:30):
she was getting is this village of people that loved
and lifted up and kept her son in mine. But
it was also a place where I learned how to serve.
And I didn't know it was service. You know, when
we had the monthly food distribution for the seniors and
they told me to go lift the boxes, I didn't
know that's what we were doing. I just when we
went down to the food pantry, I didn't know that's
(06:51):
what we were doing. When we were raising money. I
didn't know, but I loved it, and it was an
opportunity to give back. It was an opportunity to build skills.
Also through my church, we did a lot of that work,
and I learned at an early age that I loved it.
I love this opportunity to be of service to my community.
And I looked up to the volunteers that I met.
(07:12):
I looked up to the youth development staff that I met,
and I wanted to be like them. And at a
very early age, I decided, how do I create a
career path that was about service? And I've been really
fortunate to do that ever since.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Well, and now you're leading AmeriCorps, which has some two
hundred and fifty thousand members and volunteers. Just for people
who don't know what is AmeriCorps, what is it that
you do?
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Well, AmeriCorps is the federal agency for Volunteering in Service.
We have a simple mission, how do we strengthen communities,
transform lives in foll specific engagement through the power of
volunteering and service. We're celebrating our thirtieth birthday this year.
Since President Clinton signed the legislation to create amer Corps
and The idea was really simple back then, you know.
It was we'd never have enough money to pay all
(07:55):
of the people to do all of the things that
we need to address challenges and commit unities. But there
is something that is in this unique American spirit where
no matter how much money people have or a little
money they have, we want to take care of each other.
We want to help each other out. And there are
some people that are willing to give a year, give
two years in service to their country. And so fast
(08:16):
forward to thirty years. We now have about more than
two hundred thousand Air Corps members, the senior volunteers serving
in forty thousand locations. You may have heard of public
Allies or City Year or Teach for America. Those are
all AmeriCorps members. Those are all AmeriCorps grantees. So we
enable folks that want to do long term, continuous service
to make a difference in their communities.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Let's get to the phones in Gerald, who's in Detroit? Gerald,
Welcome to the middle Go ahead. Do you feel a
call to serve your country?
Speaker 8 (08:45):
Well?
Speaker 9 (08:45):
I do, and I did have twenty eight years in
the Air Forces and Air Force and navigator. I joined
initially just to fly, and I run to be a pilot,
but my eyes weren't good enough. But as I went along,
I found out that service for our country is the
best thing. And I belong had a theory that we
founded this country on religious freedom, and yet when the
(09:06):
Catholics showed up in a Massachusetts, they were not allowed
to stay. So that's how we got Rhode Island and
so forth, and we moved, and people kept on moving
to the West coast, and now we got to the
Pacific coast and we have to figure out how we're
going to get along.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Do you do you think that public service do you
think your military service and people that serve their country,
do you think it fosters unity?
Speaker 9 (09:31):
Yes? No, I mean right when in the military, you
find that you have to work as a team. And
that's one thing, especially as a flying everybody has a
specific job, and it could be the lowest person on
the crew rank wise, but if he's if he or
she sees something wrong, they'll call the shot and the
crew will have to respond. So but you know, I think,
(09:53):
talking to a lot of friends, the polarization that exists
in our country today, I think, in my opinion, if
I were King, I'd make everybody right out of high
school spend two years in public service or join the military,
and if they were going to go to one of
the military academies, definitely would have to go into the
military and learn what it's like to be down at
the lower levels. But it teaches you that you everybody
(10:14):
puts their shoes on the same way, skirts, antsk whatever. Yeah,
may look different, speak a different language, but you get
along because you learn you have to work as a
team and save each other.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Jerald, thank you so much for that call. And I'll
go to you General Singh on the question that Jerald
just brought up about a mandatory year of service or
two years of service for every American. What do you
think about that.
Speaker 8 (10:36):
Well, a number of years ago, I actually testified on
this particular topic, and I do believe that getting everyone
to have this level of service, and it doesn't necessarily
have to be military service, because I think most of
the time when we talk about service, it's always towards
the military. I would like to see where we do
(10:58):
institute this level of service, and you know, everyone should
have to do it right out of high school. And
you know, we already asked our high school students to
do this level service, Well not, why not continue that
and deepen that to a level that it's going to
help them to learn some more leadership skills, a different
(11:18):
you know, management skills, how you know, how you can
actually work in the community to uplift the community. And
I think when you start bringing in those types of
pieces and then having them, you know, kind of launch
their careers, it's going to give them more than.
Speaker 7 (11:33):
Just okay, well this is what it was like to
you know, kind of serve my community. It's going to
give them an ideas and what their purpose is.
Speaker 8 (11:40):
Right, So we really you know, want them to start
very early on and start figuring out where can they
actually drive purpose.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
You know, Tolliver. These days, public service is voluntary, but
it has not always been that.
Speaker 10 (11:53):
Way, Yeah, Jeremy. In nineteen forty, President Franklin Roosevelt instituted
the draft. Keep in mind this was a year before
the US formerly World War two, after the bombing of
Pearl Harbor. Here is FDR.
Speaker 11 (12:05):
It is a program obviously of defensive preparation and of
defensive preparation only. So the sixteen million young men who
register today, I say, the democracy is your cause.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Wow, chilling to hear that right now. By the way,
if you haven't already, please go to Listen to the
Middle dot com and make a contribution tax deductible in
any amount to the Middle and we'll be right back
with more in a minute. This is the Middle. I'm
Jeremy Hobson. If you're just tuning, in the Middle is
a national call and show. We're focused on elevating voices
from the middle geographically, politically, and philosophically. Or maybe you
(12:45):
just want to meet in the middle. This hour, we're
asking you, do you feel a call to serve your
country in the military, as an election worker, as a volunteer.
I'm joined by a retired Major General Linda Singh, formerly
head of the Maryland National Guard, and AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith.
And the phones are lighting up, so let's go to Michael,
who's in Layton, Utah. Michael, Welcome to the Middle.
Speaker 12 (13:05):
Go ahead, Hi, thanks Jeremy.
Speaker 13 (13:09):
Yeah, my name is Michael Lambert and I'm running for
office for the first time. I'm just north of sult Lacon,
Davis County, and I'm running as an unaffiliated candidate for
Davis County commissioner, and I gathered a bunch of signatures,
spent several weekends, lots of weekends and evenings trying to
gather signatures to qualify to file as an unaffiliated candidate.
(13:32):
And I, you know, I believe by partisanship and that's
why I'm going that route. And I obviously have to
get elected, but I just want to be involved. I've
got a young family and want to influence things in
our community. So that's what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
So you're not scared about how dirty politics has become
to get into that profession.
Speaker 13 (13:54):
Yeah, I am a little scared, but it feels meaningful
enough for me to try about certain issues enough. And
I care about the world that my kids are growing into.
And I'm a social worker, so that's been my career
and so I've been working more on micro levels, but
I believe in the power of macro level impact and
(14:17):
I think it's worthwhile despite some of those less appealing
sides of politics.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Well, Michael, good luck to you, and thanks for that call.
And I'm going to go to Michael D. Smith about
the question of people who are going into public service,
whether it's politics or whether it's volunteering. Are you having
any issue right now recruiting people that want to do
work with AmeriCorps.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
Well, we're excited that there's always folks that want to serve.
One of the things that happens with AmeriCorps is whenever
the job market is great and unemployment is low, it's
a little harder, right. Peace Corps used to have a
slogan that was, it's the toughest job you'll ever love,
So hard when Meta and Google and everyone is trying
to offer you signing bonuses to say, I make next
to nothing and work harder than you've ever worked before.
(15:04):
So it has been a little challenging with the job market,
but we are seeing incredible trends. And one example, we
run President Biden's American Climate Corps, which was just launched,
and we have found that in the first six weeks
of that opportunity being out on the street, fifty thousand
people expressed interest in signing up. So while it may
(15:25):
have been challenging in some moments, it's moving in the
right direction. And when we find a connection to issues
that this next generation cares about and pathways to careers,
the doors are being thrown wide open and folks are
running in.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
What about the military, General Singh, I saw that recruitment
has been down in recent years. In twenty twenty three,
the Army and the Air Force fell short of their
respective goals by around ten thousand. The Navy was down
by six thousand. What's going on do you think in
terms of recruiting people to go into the military.
Speaker 8 (15:57):
Well, I mean, I think it's the same thing that
Michael mentioned. Right, we're starting to see where we're competing
against all of the large employers, we're competing against government.
It's not just military where we're seeing things trending down.
We're seeing it also in public service, like government service.
And so I think the challenge that we all have
(16:19):
right now just across the country is really trying to
get more people interested in maybe even more people that.
Speaker 7 (16:25):
Are qualified to go.
Speaker 8 (16:27):
And I think that's the challenge for the military, is
that we find that a lot of folks are not
necessarily qualified to even go into the military, and.
Speaker 7 (16:36):
The biggest issue they have has to do with weight
and the way that they live. And so we have
to get back to really.
Speaker 8 (16:44):
Helping our young people think about exercising and eating well
and being a little bit more physically ready to go
into the military. And then for some of our males,
we're also finding that they're getting into trouble and so
if you get you know, certain types of violations early on,
(17:05):
you're not going to be able to necessarily qualify for
all of the different places that you'd like to be.
And so I think, you know, just looking at our
prequalifications is huge.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Michael.
Speaker 10 (17:16):
I know that you all have a variety of programs
that you're running an AmeriCorps, but like, is there a
profile for the kind of person who typically signs up
for AmeriCorps.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Sure, but I would love to waive it into this conversation.
We've actually been working closely with the Department of Defense
and the Selective Service. There was this National Commission on
National Military and Public Service which was launched in twenty sixteen.
Recommendations came out in twenty twenty saying we needed to
work better together. So we actually just signed an MoU
with Selective Service saying, hey, we're talking to a lot
(17:45):
of males who maybe will never see a draft fingers crossed,
but you can serve your country, So come think about AMERICRPS,
and Hey, all of those kids that are being turned
away from military service will take them, and so we
are figuring out a way to work together other saying
national service is honorable no matter what way you do it,
and so we're trying to help each other out. Oliver.
(18:06):
In terms of your question, you can be an America
member if you are eighteen or eighty, and I meet
with them all the time. If you care about education,
if you care about health, if you hear about climate,
we've got something for you. The traditional America member that's
doing the year or two of service tends to be lean,
more female, tends to be somewhere between that eighteen to
twenty four year old range. But we see folks coming
(18:28):
in at all types. Obviously, there's time of life. Younger,
you have a little bit more time, you have your family,
you have less time, and then you get a little
older and you have more time to give.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Again, let's get back to the funds and Marty, who's
in Jacksonville, Florida. Marty, welcome to the middle.
Speaker 14 (18:42):
Go ahead.
Speaker 11 (18:44):
Hey.
Speaker 15 (18:45):
So for me, I volunteer, you know with the community.
I always have for years. But when I think about
getting myself involved in like local government, that type of thing,
not interested mainly because of you know what I see,
we don't really have the same goals. So I mean,
that was a registered independent until they've done away with
(19:06):
the Independent Party in Florida, so like, you know, no
party affiliation, but it's politics just really seems very caddy
and I can't It's like nobody's getting anything done unless
it's their party. That is, I don't know nobody's can reason.
I don't really like that. So, I mean, I hate
to sound pessimistic, but I don't really see anything worth
(19:30):
getting involved with.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Well, what kind of volunteering do you do? I'm sorry,
what kind of volunteering do you do?
Speaker 16 (19:39):
Oh?
Speaker 15 (19:39):
So I volunteer at the community. I'll work with the youth,
and I do some homeless volunteering. So I've done that
for many, many years. I received a Presidential Volunteer Service
Award a couple of times, so I do a lot
of a lot of that. But as far as you know,
I do want to be involved in politics, but I'm
I'm nervous. It makes me nervous because of the clickiness
(20:03):
with it, and it seemed like we wouldn't get anything done,
we wouldn't get anything accomplished.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Marty thank you for that. Michael D. Smith. I actually
want to ask you about politics because you've mentioned a
couple of times the Climate Corp, which is one of
President Biden's initiatives. I can just imagine on some media
in this country that that would be made as a
total joke and that you have to deal with. And
I know you've had to deal with Republicans who want
to defund AmeriCorps to some degree. They haven't been successful
(20:28):
in doing that. But what about the politics of volunteering
and civil work.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
You know, you can't win everybody all the time, but
AMERICRPS is proud to have strong bipartisan support. You know,
when there had been times, for instance, where the previous
administration wasn't the biggest fan of AMERICRPS, it was Republicans
in Congress who saved the agency and actually allowed the
budget to grow. After Hurricane Katrina, we had forty thousand
(20:54):
AmeriCorps members that were in Louisiana, Mississippi for ten years.
Some of our biggest champions were Republican governors and mayors
in states where they saw a MIRACORPS members showing up
and so there's excitement, you know, some folks don't like
the word climate, but they care a whole lot about conservation.
They care a whole lot about wildfires. And so when
the folks show up in their community making a difference,
(21:15):
then politics goes out the window. And we find all
the time, like when you're rolling your sleeves up and
you're doing something to solve a problem in your community,
it allows you to see each other's humanity. And so
we know that service unites and I think that's why
we've been so fortunate to have such strong bipartisan support.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Let's go to Joseph, who's in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Joseph,
welcome to the middle Go ahead.
Speaker 16 (21:38):
Thanks for having me. So I am one of the
young people who keeps, I guess, kind of getting mentioned.
And I will say that, you know, I guess me
and my peers at least sort of do feel a
draw to service, but it's not necessarily in sort of
(22:01):
a traditional way. I think that, you know, there are
certain underlying health issues that that draw young people away
from the military as well as other things. But I
think there's also kind of an ideological disconnect that hasn't
really been said yet, where you know, a lot of
people from my generation, many people who I've spoken with,
(22:24):
feel that, you know, the US military really doesn't act
in the interest of the American people, and and so
why would I devote my time to to to serve
an organization like that. And so a lot of the
service that I see happening, I study and work in
(22:44):
kind of fields related to environmental design, and I think
that a lot of what's going on, and it's really
exciting that people people uh serving the country in kind
of new ways, engaging with communities and sort of helping
us to do the work to survive the you know,
fifty two one hundred years where our environment and our
(23:08):
climate is going to change, and all of this, you know,
could for all we know, is irrelevant.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Joseph, I want to I want to I want to
take your thought there, because you've made a pretty strong
statement there. I want to take it to General Sing.
What what do you say to that General Sing that
Joseph and feels that he and his peers don't believe
that the military is serving the American people.
Speaker 8 (23:31):
Well, I mean so I think it takes really all
types of individuals to find out, you know, what is
going to really draw their attention. And when you think
about the military and what we're doing, I mean, we
are serving on behalf of the people very differently, and
I think it's challenging for individuals that have not really
(23:54):
had to make these hard, tough decisions about whether or
not we go to this kind of whether or not
we get involved in the in.
Speaker 7 (24:02):
The next you know, war or the next conflict. I
think it's really really hard.
Speaker 8 (24:08):
To kind of just do the broad statement to say
that we're not fighting on behalf of the American people.
It is really you know, the things that we do,
not just in the military, but even you know, some
of the crazy politics that is out there right like
our crazy politicians. It is it is the fight that
we are trying to do to ensure that we can
(24:28):
remain a free country. And so whether we kind of
agree on that, you know, that.
Speaker 7 (24:33):
Level or not.
Speaker 8 (24:34):
But it's also the young people who are doing their
duty in very different ways, right like just you know,
like he mentioned that they're out you know, taking care
of things very differently. We need that as well, So
we can't really say that everybody has to fit into
this one cycle.
Speaker 7 (24:51):
What I would just love to see.
Speaker 8 (24:53):
Is people just continue to serve in what they're passionate
about and then allow that to come through, because that's
what makes our country what it is.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Let's go to Christopher who's in Saint Petersburg, Florida. And
again our number is eight four four four Middle. That's
a four four four six four three three five three
Christopher in Saint Petersburg. Welcome to the Middle.
Speaker 17 (25:15):
Well, thank you for having me. So about twelve years ago,
I graduated college and I tried to join the Navy.
They were going to have me be like a like
a sub mariner. I wanted to be like like an astronaut,
but I couldn't do that, so being underwater seem like
the closest thing. I ended up not being able to
actually join because I have a spine like a her
(25:37):
needed disc and so I didn't pass the the medical exam.
So another way that I that I think that I
found to be able to serve as I went and
I taught English in Japan for a little while. And
I know that's not quite the same as as like
military service or or something like that, but it was
it did give me an opportunity to spread at least
(26:00):
I think anyway, like American culture and sort of making
that cultural connection between you know, and I was in
rural Japan too, so it was like I was the
first like white person that anybody had seen there, and
it was pretty awesome to be able to share that, like, well,
this is how things happen in America compared to Iwadeshi Japan.
(26:22):
And so that's sort of my call to serve the country,
if you want to call it though.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
That's great, Christopher, thank you for sharing that. Michael D. Smith,
your thoughts on that. I'm sure that you've talked to
a lot of young people who have done exactly what
Christopher has done.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Service comes in many different forms. We actually have something
called the Harris Wofford Award, who is named for the
person that was both the CEO of AmeriCorps and helped
create amer Corps and help Sergeant try or create Peace
Corps scause we have a lot of folks that serve
in both Peace Corps and AmeriCorps. People who have a
heart of service want to serve. I was just with
someone who was in the Air Force for thirty years
and now is now serving as an AmeriCorps member here
(27:00):
in Nevada, and so we love it. Go serve your country.
Serve through the Military Server, broad Serve and Peace Corps.
Served through AMERICRPS. It is all service and it is
all honorable.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Let's get another call in here. Charles is in Houston, Texas. Charles,
welcome to the middle Go ahead.
Speaker 12 (27:19):
Thank you for having me. Excuse me, well myself, I
am a member currently a member of the United States
Navy Reserve, twenty three years of service. Are currently at
the rank of Pindic Commander. Come from a family of
those who have served in uniform, father relatives, other extended relatives. Currently,
(27:43):
my oldest son is a member of the Texas National
Guard and also while Utense College, he's also a member
of the Army ROTC. But just to say, I think
a color that was a little while ago that said
that he didn't see how the United States Military it's
serving the American public. However, I would say that the
(28:07):
military dot for everyone. However service is and he as
well as anyone else, just needs to find that fit.
And I think the general had mentioned that earlier. But
everyone just needs to find their fit and find a
way to serve at whatever level that they can find.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Charles, thank you and thank you for your service. And
I also love when one caller talks about what another
caller said, it's the beauty of live radio. General sing
you so your thoughts on Charles No, well.
Speaker 7 (28:44):
So, yes, thank you for your service.
Speaker 8 (28:45):
And I and I think what we're also hearing from
from Charles is that he has a family of service,
and we're.
Speaker 7 (28:52):
Starting to see that we don't have those.
Speaker 8 (28:55):
Traditions a lot, right, Like I didn't come necessarily from
a family of deep, deep service, at least not from
my parents' side and I and so having that connectivity,
I think is what.
Speaker 7 (29:07):
You also typically see.
Speaker 8 (29:08):
We're a family, you know, kind of generational going into
the military, and we would love to.
Speaker 7 (29:14):
See that a lot more. But just the whole thing
of service.
Speaker 8 (29:19):
That to me is the underlying piece, right, like, how
can you serve if that means going out and volunteering it,
you know, whether it's with AmeriCorps.
Speaker 7 (29:30):
Peace Corps, Easter.
Speaker 8 (29:32):
Seals, going down to your local soup kitchen and literally
if you just want to go out and pick up
trash along the side of the road and you know,
have the name out there, right like, that is service.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
You know, Tolliver, one thing that we have seen recently
is kind of disturbing. Is an effort to go after
ordinary people who serve the public as election workers.
Speaker 10 (29:56):
Yeah, listen here to Ruby Freeman, who is an election
worker in Georgia in twenty twenty and was targeted by
people including Rudy Giuliani, who was ordered to pay nearly
one hundred and fifty million dollars for defaming her.
Speaker 18 (30:06):
I can never move back into the house that I
called home. I will always have to be careful about where.
Speaker 7 (30:16):
I go and who I choose to share my name with.
Speaker 18 (30:22):
I miss my home, I miss my neighbors, and I
miss my name.
Speaker 10 (30:30):
Wow powerful. By the way, three out of four election
officials say threats have increased in recent years, and one
in six has been threatened. That's according to a survey
from the Brennan Center for Justice.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
It's so so awful. We will be back with more
of your calls in a minute. On the middle. This
is the Middle. I'm Jeremy Hobson. We're asking you this hour,
do you feel a call to serve your country. We're
joined this hour by AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith and
retired Major General Linda Singh, former head of the Maryland
National Guard. Before we go back to the owns, one
(31:00):
of our listeners, Paula from Cheyenne, Wyoming, sent us a
voice memo about her call to public service. Take a listen.
Speaker 14 (31:07):
I have felt the urge many times to serve my country.
I've really been doing that since I got out of
graduate school, when I went to the Peace Corps for
three years. Then I came back and I taught. But
recently I've been feeling the urge to do something locally,
so I have looked in to teach for America. Not
usual for a person who's been teaching for thirty years
(31:29):
in a school district in overseas to do something like that,
but I just think that the only way to make
our country better is to try to raise critical thinkers
and have people that will see things from more than
one viewpoint and try their hardest to have that inspiration
to improve the country as well.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
I love that she sent us that. Well, Walking Michael
de Smith, do you see a lot of that career
professionals going back later in life to volunteer in that way.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Yes, we've actually seen certainly more of it. During the pandemic.
We were actually just with a Congresswoman Chrissy Hulihan from
Pennsylvania who was a veteran and when she was forty
five years old, she decided she wanted to do more
in her community, and so she became a teacher for
America AmeriCorps member. And so you do see these sorts
of things happening all the time. I was, actually, we're
(32:17):
here in Nevada for our Tribal Nations gathering and visiting
some other sites. I was with three AmeriCorps members today
who are in their thirties and above who have children
and families and are using an America as an opportunity
to either help them with their education or change career paths.
And so it's a great opportunity, Paula, do it. Become
a teacher for America Americorp Member. It will be it
(32:38):
will help you and you'll get a little additional money
for school, and it will be great. You won't regret it.
Speaker 7 (32:43):
All.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Right, let's go to the phones and Janice, who's in Barrington,
Rhode Island. Hi, Janis, welcome to the middle Hi.
Speaker 19 (32:50):
Thanks. Yeah, So I'm calling because I was the executive
director of a nonprofit in Providence, Rhode Island for years,
and for oh fifteen years at least, we had an
AmeriCorps program. And I am a huge supporter of AmeriCorps,
(33:11):
mister Smith, but I do want to point out that
the burden on the administrative end of running a program
like that in an organization is tremendous, and the organization
has to commit to a rather large burden of reporting
(33:43):
of you know, so there's that that I think it
sounds like, oh, free volunteers. Well no, it isn't free volunteers.
Speaker 20 (33:53):
It is not.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Jennis, thank you, Michael D. Smith, the administer the red tape.
Do you hear about that a lot?
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Jennis, I wasn't expecting to hear that on the middle,
But I'm glad that you love AMERICRPS. It is something
that we actually we've hired our first ever chief Modernization
Officer and we are working hard to modernize this thirty
year old agency and make it simpler. We are a
federal agency, we have an inspector General. There have to
be background checks, there are checks and balances. So it's
(34:20):
you know, if you are a tiny little nonprofit maybe
not starting with amer Corps. That's why we love to
see a lot of cities, they serve as an intermediary
and then disperse AmeriCorps members to different places. A lot
of universities play that role as well, So that's a
good way to start if you're a small nonprofit. While
we work hard to make it simpler and easier for
folks that want to administer AmeriCorps programs.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Let's go to Derek, who's in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Hi, Derek,
welcome to the Middle.
Speaker 21 (34:48):
Hi, thank you for taking my call. I think this
is a really great conversation, and I am one of
the people that actually has been or tried to be
a part of both sides here. So I come from
a very strong military family. Everybody at least on my
(35:09):
dad's side was Navy, and I had also applied for
Peace Corps during my college years, and so I tried
to participate in both of those and ultimately decided that
my best contribution to my community was to do what
(35:30):
I'm interested in and what I'm good at, which is
doing the research. And about fifteen years later now I'm
doing research to help perhaps legislation at the state level
and feel really really good about that. I mainly called
(35:51):
in because I wanted to say that there is a
very very strong need and desire amongst millennials gen Z
to participate and to contribute and to be a part
of this national ethos that you know, likened to the
(36:14):
John Kennedy speech. Yeah, and if it's not military, if
it's not peace Corps, I think we need some sort
of return to that to provide options beyond those two things,
because I do feel like there's a very strong need
to participate. And yeah, so yeah, thank.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
You, Derek, thank you so much. Linda sing He brings
up millennials Generation Z. Do you notice a generational difference
in terms of willingness, let's say, just to join the military.
Speaker 8 (36:47):
I mean, there's a huge difference today versus when I
came in. And I don't think people realize how long
ago that was. But when I came in, it wasn't
too long ago. Too long after women were allowed to
actually join the military, and so I think, you know,
just the mindset is completely different. But what I love,
because I work in the community all the time with
(37:10):
a multi generation of types of individuals.
Speaker 7 (37:13):
But what I love is the thinking.
Speaker 8 (37:15):
That I get from our young people and you know,
working beside them in different types of organizations, whether it's at.
Speaker 7 (37:21):
The state level, because I do state level.
Speaker 8 (37:24):
I'm you know, still engage supporting militaries, still doing nonprofits,
and so what I love is just looking at their
energy and when something excites them and they really really engage,
we get like infinite possibilities from them. And that's it
just makes me smile because after spending a week with
(37:46):
a bunch of entrepreneurs and it just really is re
invigorating to be able to see that.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Let's go to Gabrielle, who's in Chicago. Gabrielle, welcome to
the middle Go.
Speaker 6 (37:56):
Ahead, thanks so much, and actually I'm really excited by
what was just said. I have led a number of
nonprofits and worked with young people for decades. One of
the things that troubles me sometimes is that when we
talk about service, I think we often overlook the role
(38:16):
that youth organizing and organizing outside of these formal structures
is really playing to essentially make our country better. So,
whether that's Standing Rock or here in Chicago a group
like Good Kids Mad City, I feel like sometimes the
structures we have, which are so critical, like the ones
we've been talking about, missed the opportunity to also recognize
(38:40):
and partner with organizing that's happening on the ground. And
I think that's all the way from teens who organize
protests or what's happening on college campuses, and so I
just would love to have us think about service in
terms of maybe it's through formal structures, but if we
care about service, how might we connect these structures and
(39:03):
incorporate the informal work that's happening through youth organizing. And
thank you so much for this conversation.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Thank you, Gabrielle, Michael D. Smith.
Speaker 4 (39:15):
Your thoughts well, Okay, I think this country only works
with a good, strong inside outside game. You're going to
need people that are trying to reform the system from
the inside, and you're going to need people that are
holding up a mirror and forcing and demanding change from
the outside. You're going to need a Nelson and a
Wendy Wendy. You're going to need a Martin and a
Malcolm and so all of that is valuable, and I
(39:35):
think we only see the progress that we want to
see when you have both of those forces working together.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
Tolliver, some people are writing in online and listen to
the middle dot Com absolutely.
Speaker 10 (39:44):
Tony and Illinois says as a first generation American, getting
drafted helped me feel like I belonged the discipline required,
positively affecting my life thereafter. But I would say, there
are a great many powerful people who fear the power
of the people, and so they actively work against universe
and military service. They'd rather we concentrate on working for
them and making them rich.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Scandalous, Uh, General Singh, do you think that the all
volunteer Force? Of course, nobody's going to say they want
the draft right now. I guess back to maybe some
people would say that they want the draft. But do
you think that the all volunteer force works in terms
of making sure that we have a diversity of people,
economic diversity, all kinds of diversity of people going into
the military and serving their country in that way?
Speaker 8 (40:24):
Absolutely, because when we look at the all Volunteer Force,
we get people from all shapes walks in life, gender background,
And I think if we look at still how the
legislation is structured for draft, we would not get that right.
Speaker 7 (40:40):
So the draft still is.
Speaker 8 (40:42):
Not focused on drafting women for say, so as long
as we have the all Volunteer.
Speaker 7 (40:47):
Force, it allows us to be able to get the.
Speaker 8 (40:50):
Best talent and you know, from every single community.
Speaker 7 (40:55):
And that's what I think is the biggest thing.
Speaker 8 (40:59):
I think if we don't stay in that direction, my
fear would be is that we start becoming our grandpa's army,
I mean, or Navy or Air Force.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
Right, So Brendan in Kanki Kee, Illinois is with us,
Hi Brandan, Welcome to the middle Hi go ahead. Oh yeah.
Speaker 22 (41:20):
I just wanted to echo some of what's already been
said about getting involved and organizing, because it was stated
that MLK Junior was a great servant and he was
calling for the change of a lot of systems. So
in my opinion, it seems that getting involved in movement
organizations and getting involved in community organizations locally is the
(41:45):
most important thing you can do to make a positive
impact in the world.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Just are you? Are you involved in in community organizations?
Speaker 8 (41:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 22 (41:55):
I don't want to go into specifics, but I organized
and I've just seen that in every city across the
country there's already going to be these organizations and other
nonprofits as well that you can get involved with. Be
also have to be careful with nonprofits because we kind
of focus on getting more grant money, and there can
be a that can sort of limit some of our
(42:19):
ability to build power.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
Brendan, thank you for that. And I will say, by
the way, I now know how difficult it is to
get grant money, so I totally respect people.
Speaker 4 (42:29):
That have to do that for all of the show.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Let's go to Mark, who's in Houston, Texas. Mark, go ahead,
welcome to the Middle.
Speaker 20 (42:40):
Fantastic program, first time caller. I just wanted to share
that I came from a family and generations who served
their country, and my grandfather served in World War One,
my uncle served in World War Two, served in the
(43:01):
Korean War, and I served in the Go War as
a United States Navy sub mariner. And just want to
let you know that that had an influence of bearing
on me serving my country. And I also want to
let you know that I served in the AMERICRPS Vista
after I got my MBA wow, and now I work
(43:24):
for a federal agency that helped small businesses called the SBA,
and I just wanted to share those comments. Wow, I
was up there.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
Well, thank you for a lifetime of service. Mark. That's awesome.
Michael D. Smith, what about the sort of generational thing
that he brings up their families that get into the military,
and then that continues on through the generations, and then
even he goes into Americorp Vista at a later age.
Speaker 4 (43:51):
Well, Mark, thank you for your service. Thank your ancestors
and generations before for their service. We see this all
the time. We've got fifteen thousand veterans that are serving
today as AmeriCorps members, and in turn, we're serving about
two hundred and fifty thousand veterans in military families. So
when there's a heart of service, it just keeps reciprocating.
And what I love too about what you said with
(44:13):
Mark speaking to one of your other carllers, AmeriCorps Vista
is a way where if you don't want to do
direct service, if you love research and evaluation, if you
love marketing and fundraising and communications, you can be an
AmeriCorps member that's helping to build capacity and not necessarily
being on the front lines doing direct service. But yeah,
Mark demonstrates this generational thing that we see all the time.
(44:34):
Thanks Mark.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
I think we have time for one more call, and
I'm going to go to Paul, who is outside Minneapolis. Paul,
welcome to the Middle.
Speaker 23 (44:42):
Go ahead, hi that you're squeezing me in.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 12 (44:47):
Conversation.
Speaker 23 (44:49):
When I graduated from college in nineteen seventy, it was
Vietnam or the Peace Corps. And for me that was
an easy decision because I wanted to see the world
without a gun. And I became a teacher, came home,
got a teaching certificate, and I've been involved in nonprofits
and hunger poverty. Now I just got back from DC
where we lobby Congress once a year for Peace Corps reauthorization,
(45:12):
and then I go back in June with the Citizens'
Climate Lobby working on climate solutions, bipartisan. Bringing people together
in the community is where it all starts. And you know,
Peace Corps talks about the domestic dividend, like what happens
to volunteers when they come home. Most of eighty six
percent of the studies say that they stay very engaged
(45:35):
in their community. So it's a big conversation.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Well, thank you very much for that call, Paul. We
squeezed you in there and litising By the way, did
you ever consider going into the Peace Corps instead of
into the military.
Speaker 7 (45:50):
I didn't even know, Okay, So I grew up in
the country.
Speaker 8 (45:52):
I didn't grow up in the city, and maybe you
can say that I had a very small mind at
that point. I think I really did, and so verse
only was you know what was in front of me,
and so I didn't I didn't even learn about the
Peace Corps until much later, but I was part of
the Youth Conservation Corps very early on. I spent a
(46:13):
summer with the Youth Youth Conservation Corps. And so I
just think sometimes it's a matter of where you come
from and what you're exposed to. And what I love
about this conversation is, I think we've talked about so
many different things in terms of service. It's helping people
to see that you can really find a place to
serve anywhere, whether it's government, military, with AmeriCorps, Peace Corps,
(46:35):
there's so many places.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
Yeah, Yeah, Michael D. Smith. Actually I wonder, you know,
as you listen to these calls coming in. I'm sure
you talk to people all the time who are volunteers,
but anything surprise you in the in the calls that
you've heard this hour.
Speaker 4 (46:49):
You know, I just think it reinforces what I already
know spending. You know, we're headquartered in Washington, and you've
spent a lot of time with folks that are feeling
concerned about the state of the American democracy and how polarization.
And I tell folks all the time, come on the
road with me, and when you see the rubber hitting
the road, Americans get tough, when the get tougher, when
they're going gets tough, and they take care of one another.
(47:11):
And so you know, the General said it, I am AmeriCorps.
I think it's like a cheesecake factory menu. We've got
something for everybody, and if you want to come in
and get involved, we can figure out a way to
put your talents to use and service of our country.
Speaker 1 (47:26):
Well, the thing that we like to do at the
end of the middle, just in case the topic got
too heavy, is to bring Tolliver in for a quiz
for our guests. So now we have a one question
quiz for both of you. Tolliver, the Flora's yours.
Speaker 10 (47:36):
I'm still thinking about the cheesecake factory.
Speaker 21 (47:39):
Okay.
Speaker 10 (47:39):
So, according to Census dot gov, which state has the
highest rate of volunteerism and civic engagement Illinois, Nebraska, New York,
or Utah.
Speaker 1 (47:49):
Either one of you.
Speaker 4 (47:51):
We we run that study. So that's totally I know
the answer to that.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
Illinois, Nebraska, New York or Utah. General sing what do
you think?
Speaker 8 (48:02):
Oh, I'm going to beause I haven't looked at the study,
so I'm going to say Illinois.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
And Michael D. Smith.
Speaker 4 (48:08):
The answer is it's Utah. It is they love.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
To volunteer in Utah.
Speaker 12 (48:12):
They do.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
I'm just there.
Speaker 12 (48:13):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
Well, I want to thank my guests, retired Major General
Linda Singh, who led the Maryland National Guard. Her book
is called Moments of Choice, My Path to Leadership. General Singh,
thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 7 (48:24):
Thank you so much, Jeremy, and.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
Also AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith, thank you so much
for joining us as well.
Speaker 4 (48:32):
Thank you, Jeremy, Thank you, Tolliver, Thank you, General.
Speaker 1 (48:35):
And next week on the show, we're going to be
looking at phone addiction. Smartphones have become such an essential
part of all of our lives, but when that dependence
turns into a digital addiction. What then We're asking you,
are you addicted to your phone? I'm guessing the answer
is yes, and if so, what are you doing about it?
You can call us at eight four four four six four, three,
(48:56):
three five three are right in a Listen to the
Middle dot com and while you're there, sign up for
our weekly newsletter unless it feeds your phone addiction, in
which case, don't sign up for a weekly newsletter. The
Middle is brought to you by Longnook Media, distributed by
Illinois Public Media in Urbana, Illinois, and produced by Joanne Jennings,
Harrison Patino, John Barth, and Danny Alexander. Our technical director
is Jason Kroft. Our theme music was composed by Andrew Haig.
(49:19):
Thanks to Nashville Public Radio, iHeartMedia and the more than
four hundred and ten public radio stations making it possible
for people across the country to listen to the Middle,
I'm Jeremy Hobson, Happy and safe Independence Day to you,
and I'll talk to you next week.
The Middle is supported by Journalism Funding Partners, a nonprofit
organization striving to increase the sustainability of local journalism by
building connections between donors and news organizations. More information on
how you can support the Middle at Listen toothmddle dot com.
Welcome to the Middle. I'm Jeremy Hobson along with our
(00:21):
house DJ Tolliver. As always and in honor of the
fourth of July, we are going to dip into our
Middle archives for a show that I think you're going
to find perfect for this occasion. We're going to be
talking about public service and what that means to you.
There are certainly a lot of ways to serve the country.
Military service, of course, comes to mind. Roughly six percent
(00:41):
of Americans have served in some capacity in our armed forces,
more than sixteen million people. But there are other ways
to serve your country that don't involve military service. You
could be a firefighter, a police officer, a civil servant,
a teacher, a volunteer. The list goes on. So that's
our question this hour, do you feel a call to
serve your country? This program was previously recorded, so we're
(01:03):
not taking any more live calls, but you can leave
us a message at eight four four four middle. That's
eight four four four six four three three five three
Before we get to that. Last week, we asked for
your reaction to the presidential debate between President Biden and
former President Trump. Here are some of the voicemails that
came in after the show.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
My name is Mike, Eike and Lob. I live in Efforta,
Pennsylvania's Hi, my name is Mindy.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I'm calling from Lansing, Michigan.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Hi.
Speaker 5 (01:31):
This is Sam from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
HI.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
This is Anita from St.
Speaker 6 (01:35):
George, Utah.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
I think the only reason why Donald Trump came up
looking even more mostly normal is.
Speaker 7 (01:41):
For the muse.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
But the debate was a sorry show of how far
this country has fallen behind on everything. Biden should be
in a nursing home and Trump should be in jail,
and those are our choices.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I have a twenty eight year old son who is
leaning through party, and I told him to watch the
debate that I thought you could judge for himself, and
I can't look him in DEI until him to vote
for Biden.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
I just watched the debate a Democrat, and after watching that,
I am very scared. Biden looked very confused, and I'm
very concerned about this country. Trump made some good points
and we were a safer country back when he was
a president, so I might be voting for him.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Thank you so much to everyone who called in and
left a message. So this hour we're asking do you
feel a call to do some public service to serve
your country That could be in the military, as a
police officer, a firefighter, a teacher, an election worker. So
let's meet our panel. From Prince George's County, Maryland, retired
Army Major General Linda Singh, former head of the Maryland
National Guard with more than three decades of military service.
(02:53):
General Singh, welcome to the Middle, Thank you so much.
And from Las Vegas, Nevada, Michael D. Smith, who is
the CEO of AmeriCorps. Michael D. Smith, Welcome to the.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Middle, Jeremy. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So before we get to the phones, I want to
hear from each of you because you both have really
interesting stories of your own about getting into public service
and general saying, I want to start with you. You got
into the military at a young age because you were
going through a very, very difficult time as a teenager.
Speaker 7 (03:23):
That's correct.
Speaker 8 (03:24):
I mean I joined the military at age seventeen because
I was homeless, I was a trouble teen sexual abuse.
Speaker 7 (03:32):
Really didn't know what I was going to.
Speaker 8 (03:34):
Do to try to get my life back on track,
and that's really hard when you're young. And I got
the amazing opportunity to run into a recruiter in the
mall for the Maryland National Guard.
Speaker 7 (03:46):
And this particular.
Speaker 8 (03:47):
Recruiter, I don't know why, I looked like the you know,
the right person, but he something made him stop me
and have a conversation. And I had not considered the military,
and I will tell you it was one of the
best choices that I made. And it's not so much
because it was You can't look at it as if
(04:07):
it was a last resort for me, because I think
there were other options. I just didn't understand the options
available to me. But this gave me an out. It
gave me a way to really get out of the
town and the environment that I was in at the time,
and it showed me what life could be like outside
of the state of Maryland. So going to Basic training
(04:29):
was the first time that I had ever gotten on
a plane, and so it really was an opportunity that
opened up doors for me much broader than I probably
would have had I just stayed where I was.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Did you find and have you found in your years
of military service that there were others like you that
got into it for the same kinds of reasons.
Speaker 8 (04:50):
So, I mean, the stories are so wide and varied,
but I think once I started telling my story, I
found more people that connected to that story, and mainly
because they may not have had the same exact path,
but I think they, you know, we could connect. I
think it was a way that you find other people
(05:12):
that may not have had a voice, and so I
start sharing my story that.
Speaker 7 (05:15):
Gives voice to a lot of folks that have a
trouble past.
Speaker 8 (05:19):
But here's what I would say is now, you know,
we see, you know, folks that join the military and
they're coming in with you know, these high level college
degrees and it's just a much different level of you know,
of service. And so what I would say is, you know,
starting my service was the military, but I continue to
(05:40):
serve in the community in.
Speaker 7 (05:42):
A wide variety of ways today.
Speaker 8 (05:46):
And I think it's for me, it's something that is
very self fulfilling, but it allows me also to contribute
very very differently to my environment, to my community, and
to others that I just, you know, wouldn't do.
Speaker 7 (05:59):
I was just working my regular job.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
What about you, Michael D. Smith, what was your first
interaction with public service?
Speaker 4 (06:08):
Well, I've been fortunate to build my whole career in
public service, start working in the nonprofit sector. And the
reason for me was I grew up in a single
parent household. My parents were both sixteen years old when
I was born. We were poor, not a whole lot
of money, but we had this rich community. My mom
sent me to my local Boys and Girls club for
what she said was cheap daycare. She just needed a
place to put her kid. But what she didn't know
(06:30):
she was getting is this village of people that loved
and lifted up and kept her son in mine. But
it was also a place where I learned how to serve.
And I didn't know it was service. You know, when
we had the monthly food distribution for the seniors and
they told me to go lift the boxes, I didn't
know that's what we were doing. I just when we
went down to the food pantry, I didn't know that's
(06:51):
what we were doing. When we were raising money. I
didn't know, but I loved it, and it was an
opportunity to give back. It was an opportunity to build skills.
Also through my church, we did a lot of that work,
and I learned at an early age that I loved it.
I love this opportunity to be of service to my community.
And I looked up to the volunteers that I met.
(07:12):
I looked up to the youth development staff that I met,
and I wanted to be like them. And at a
very early age, I decided, how do I create a
career path that was about service? And I've been really
fortunate to do that ever since.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Well, and now you're leading AmeriCorps, which has some two
hundred and fifty thousand members and volunteers. Just for people
who don't know what is AmeriCorps, what is it that
you do?
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Well, AmeriCorps is the federal agency for Volunteering in Service.
We have a simple mission, how do we strengthen communities,
transform lives in foll specific engagement through the power of
volunteering and service. We're celebrating our thirtieth birthday this year.
Since President Clinton signed the legislation to create amer Corps
and The idea was really simple back then, you know.
It was we'd never have enough money to pay all
(07:55):
of the people to do all of the things that
we need to address challenges and commit unities. But there
is something that is in this unique American spirit where
no matter how much money people have or a little
money they have, we want to take care of each other.
We want to help each other out. And there are
some people that are willing to give a year, give
two years in service to their country. And so fast
(08:16):
forward to thirty years. We now have about more than
two hundred thousand Air Corps members, the senior volunteers serving
in forty thousand locations. You may have heard of public
Allies or City Year or Teach for America. Those are
all AmeriCorps members. Those are all AmeriCorps grantees. So we
enable folks that want to do long term, continuous service
to make a difference in their communities.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Let's get to the phones in Gerald, who's in Detroit? Gerald,
Welcome to the middle Go ahead. Do you feel a
call to serve your country?
Speaker 8 (08:45):
Well?
Speaker 9 (08:45):
I do, and I did have twenty eight years in
the Air Forces and Air Force and navigator. I joined
initially just to fly, and I run to be a pilot,
but my eyes weren't good enough. But as I went along,
I found out that service for our country is the
best thing. And I belong had a theory that we
founded this country on religious freedom, and yet when the
(09:06):
Catholics showed up in a Massachusetts, they were not allowed
to stay. So that's how we got Rhode Island and
so forth, and we moved, and people kept on moving
to the West coast, and now we got to the
Pacific coast and we have to figure out how we're
going to get along.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Do you do you think that public service do you
think your military service and people that serve their country,
do you think it fosters unity?
Speaker 9 (09:31):
Yes? No, I mean right when in the military, you
find that you have to work as a team. And
that's one thing, especially as a flying everybody has a
specific job, and it could be the lowest person on
the crew rank wise, but if he's if he or
she sees something wrong, they'll call the shot and the
crew will have to respond. So but you know, I think,
(09:53):
talking to a lot of friends, the polarization that exists
in our country today, I think, in my opinion, if
I were King, I'd make everybody right out of high
school spend two years in public service or join the military,
and if they were going to go to one of
the military academies, definitely would have to go into the
military and learn what it's like to be down at
the lower levels. But it teaches you that you everybody
(10:14):
puts their shoes on the same way, skirts, antsk whatever. Yeah,
may look different, speak a different language, but you get
along because you learn you have to work as a
team and save each other.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Jerald, thank you so much for that call. And I'll
go to you General Singh on the question that Jerald
just brought up about a mandatory year of service or
two years of service for every American. What do you
think about that.
Speaker 8 (10:36):
Well, a number of years ago, I actually testified on
this particular topic, and I do believe that getting everyone
to have this level of service, and it doesn't necessarily
have to be military service, because I think most of
the time when we talk about service, it's always towards
the military. I would like to see where we do
(10:58):
institute this level of service, and you know, everyone should
have to do it right out of high school. And
you know, we already asked our high school students to
do this level service, Well not, why not continue that
and deepen that to a level that it's going to
help them to learn some more leadership skills, a different
(11:18):
you know, management skills, how you know, how you can
actually work in the community to uplift the community. And
I think when you start bringing in those types of
pieces and then having them, you know, kind of launch
their careers, it's going to give them more than.
Speaker 7 (11:33):
Just okay, well this is what it was like to
you know, kind of serve my community. It's going to
give them an ideas and what their purpose is.
Speaker 8 (11:40):
Right, So we really you know, want them to start
very early on and start figuring out where can they
actually drive purpose.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
You know, Tolliver. These days, public service is voluntary, but
it has not always been that.
Speaker 10 (11:53):
Way, Yeah, Jeremy. In nineteen forty, President Franklin Roosevelt instituted
the draft. Keep in mind this was a year before
the US formerly World War two, after the bombing of
Pearl Harbor. Here is FDR.
Speaker 11 (12:05):
It is a program obviously of defensive preparation and of
defensive preparation only. So the sixteen million young men who
register today, I say, the democracy is your cause.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Wow, chilling to hear that right now. By the way,
if you haven't already, please go to Listen to the
Middle dot com and make a contribution tax deductible in
any amount to the Middle and we'll be right back
with more in a minute. This is the Middle. I'm
Jeremy Hobson. If you're just tuning, in the Middle is
a national call and show. We're focused on elevating voices
from the middle geographically, politically, and philosophically. Or maybe you
(12:45):
just want to meet in the middle. This hour, we're
asking you, do you feel a call to serve your
country in the military, as an election worker, as a volunteer.
I'm joined by a retired Major General Linda Singh, formerly
head of the Maryland National Guard, and AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith.
And the phones are lighting up, so let's go to Michael,
who's in Layton, Utah. Michael, Welcome to the Middle.
Speaker 12 (13:05):
Go ahead, Hi, thanks Jeremy.
Speaker 13 (13:09):
Yeah, my name is Michael Lambert and I'm running for
office for the first time. I'm just north of sult Lacon,
Davis County, and I'm running as an unaffiliated candidate for
Davis County commissioner, and I gathered a bunch of signatures,
spent several weekends, lots of weekends and evenings trying to
gather signatures to qualify to file as an unaffiliated candidate.
(13:32):
And I, you know, I believe by partisanship and that's
why I'm going that route. And I obviously have to
get elected, but I just want to be involved. I've
got a young family and want to influence things in
our community. So that's what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
So you're not scared about how dirty politics has become
to get into that profession.
Speaker 13 (13:54):
Yeah, I am a little scared, but it feels meaningful
enough for me to try about certain issues enough. And
I care about the world that my kids are growing into.
And I'm a social worker, so that's been my career
and so I've been working more on micro levels, but
I believe in the power of macro level impact and
(14:17):
I think it's worthwhile despite some of those less appealing
sides of politics.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Well, Michael, good luck to you, and thanks for that call.
And I'm going to go to Michael D. Smith about
the question of people who are going into public service,
whether it's politics or whether it's volunteering. Are you having
any issue right now recruiting people that want to do
work with AmeriCorps.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
Well, we're excited that there's always folks that want to serve.
One of the things that happens with AmeriCorps is whenever
the job market is great and unemployment is low, it's
a little harder, right. Peace Corps used to have a
slogan that was, it's the toughest job you'll ever love,
So hard when Meta and Google and everyone is trying
to offer you signing bonuses to say, I make next
to nothing and work harder than you've ever worked before.
(15:04):
So it has been a little challenging with the job market,
but we are seeing incredible trends. And one example, we
run President Biden's American Climate Corps, which was just launched,
and we have found that in the first six weeks
of that opportunity being out on the street, fifty thousand
people expressed interest in signing up. So while it may
(15:25):
have been challenging in some moments, it's moving in the
right direction. And when we find a connection to issues
that this next generation cares about and pathways to careers,
the doors are being thrown wide open and folks are
running in.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
What about the military, General Singh, I saw that recruitment
has been down in recent years. In twenty twenty three,
the Army and the Air Force fell short of their
respective goals by around ten thousand. The Navy was down
by six thousand. What's going on do you think in
terms of recruiting people to go into the military.
Speaker 8 (15:57):
Well, I mean, I think it's the same thing that
Michael mentioned. Right, we're starting to see where we're competing
against all of the large employers, we're competing against government.
It's not just military where we're seeing things trending down.
We're seeing it also in public service, like government service.
And so I think the challenge that we all have
(16:19):
right now just across the country is really trying to
get more people interested in maybe even more people that.
Speaker 7 (16:25):
Are qualified to go.
Speaker 8 (16:27):
And I think that's the challenge for the military, is
that we find that a lot of folks are not
necessarily qualified to even go into the military, and.
Speaker 7 (16:36):
The biggest issue they have has to do with weight
and the way that they live. And so we have
to get back to really.
Speaker 8 (16:44):
Helping our young people think about exercising and eating well
and being a little bit more physically ready to go
into the military. And then for some of our males,
we're also finding that they're getting into trouble and so
if you get you know, certain types of violations early on,
(17:05):
you're not going to be able to necessarily qualify for
all of the different places that you'd like to be.
And so I think, you know, just looking at our
prequalifications is huge.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Michael.
Speaker 10 (17:16):
I know that you all have a variety of programs
that you're running an AmeriCorps, but like, is there a
profile for the kind of person who typically signs up
for AmeriCorps.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Sure, but I would love to waive it into this conversation.
We've actually been working closely with the Department of Defense
and the Selective Service. There was this National Commission on
National Military and Public Service which was launched in twenty sixteen.
Recommendations came out in twenty twenty saying we needed to
work better together. So we actually just signed an MoU
with Selective Service saying, hey, we're talking to a lot
(17:45):
of males who maybe will never see a draft fingers crossed,
but you can serve your country, So come think about AMERICRPS,
and Hey, all of those kids that are being turned
away from military service will take them, and so we
are figuring out a way to work together other saying
national service is honorable no matter what way you do it,
and so we're trying to help each other out. Oliver.
(18:06):
In terms of your question, you can be an America
member if you are eighteen or eighty, and I meet
with them all the time. If you care about education,
if you care about health, if you hear about climate,
we've got something for you. The traditional America member that's
doing the year or two of service tends to be lean,
more female, tends to be somewhere between that eighteen to
twenty four year old range. But we see folks coming
(18:28):
in at all types. Obviously, there's time of life. Younger,
you have a little bit more time, you have your family,
you have less time, and then you get a little
older and you have more time to give.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Again, let's get back to the funds and Marty, who's
in Jacksonville, Florida. Marty, welcome to the middle.
Speaker 14 (18:42):
Go ahead.
Speaker 11 (18:44):
Hey.
Speaker 15 (18:45):
So for me, I volunteer, you know with the community.
I always have for years. But when I think about
getting myself involved in like local government, that type of thing,
not interested mainly because of you know what I see,
we don't really have the same goals. So I mean,
that was a registered independent until they've done away with
(19:06):
the Independent Party in Florida, so like, you know, no
party affiliation, but it's politics just really seems very caddy
and I can't It's like nobody's getting anything done unless
it's their party. That is, I don't know nobody's can reason.
I don't really like that. So, I mean, I hate
to sound pessimistic, but I don't really see anything worth
(19:30):
getting involved with.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
Well, what kind of volunteering do you do? I'm sorry,
what kind of volunteering do you do?
Speaker 16 (19:39):
Oh?
Speaker 15 (19:39):
So I volunteer at the community. I'll work with the youth,
and I do some homeless volunteering. So I've done that
for many, many years. I received a Presidential Volunteer Service
Award a couple of times, so I do a lot
of a lot of that. But as far as you know,
I do want to be involved in politics, but I'm
I'm nervous. It makes me nervous because of the clickiness
(20:03):
with it, and it seemed like we wouldn't get anything done,
we wouldn't get anything accomplished.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Marty thank you for that. Michael D. Smith. I actually
want to ask you about politics because you've mentioned a
couple of times the Climate Corp, which is one of
President Biden's initiatives. I can just imagine on some media
in this country that that would be made as a
total joke and that you have to deal with. And
I know you've had to deal with Republicans who want
to defund AmeriCorps to some degree. They haven't been successful
(20:28):
in doing that. But what about the politics of volunteering
and civil work.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
You know, you can't win everybody all the time, but
AMERICRPS is proud to have strong bipartisan support. You know,
when there had been times, for instance, where the previous
administration wasn't the biggest fan of AMERICRPS, it was Republicans
in Congress who saved the agency and actually allowed the
budget to grow. After Hurricane Katrina, we had forty thousand
(20:54):
AmeriCorps members that were in Louisiana, Mississippi for ten years.
Some of our biggest champions were Republican governors and mayors
in states where they saw a MIRACORPS members showing up
and so there's excitement, you know, some folks don't like
the word climate, but they care a whole lot about conservation.
They care a whole lot about wildfires. And so when
the folks show up in their community making a difference,
(21:15):
then politics goes out the window. And we find all
the time, like when you're rolling your sleeves up and
you're doing something to solve a problem in your community,
it allows you to see each other's humanity. And so
we know that service unites and I think that's why
we've been so fortunate to have such strong bipartisan support.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Let's go to Joseph, who's in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Joseph,
welcome to the middle Go ahead.
Speaker 16 (21:38):
Thanks for having me. So I am one of the
young people who keeps, I guess, kind of getting mentioned.
And I will say that, you know, I guess me
and my peers at least sort of do feel a
draw to service, but it's not necessarily in sort of
(22:01):
a traditional way. I think that, you know, there are
certain underlying health issues that that draw young people away
from the military as well as other things. But I
think there's also kind of an ideological disconnect that hasn't
really been said yet, where you know, a lot of
people from my generation, many people who I've spoken with,
(22:24):
feel that, you know, the US military really doesn't act
in the interest of the American people, and and so
why would I devote my time to to to serve
an organization like that. And so a lot of the
service that I see happening, I study and work in
(22:44):
kind of fields related to environmental design, and I think
that a lot of what's going on, and it's really
exciting that people people uh serving the country in kind
of new ways, engaging with communities and sort of helping
us to do the work to survive the you know,
fifty two one hundred years where our environment and our
(23:08):
climate is going to change, and all of this, you know,
could for all we know, is irrelevant.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Joseph, I want to I want to I want to
take your thought there, because you've made a pretty strong
statement there. I want to take it to General Sing.
What what do you say to that General Sing that
Joseph and feels that he and his peers don't believe
that the military is serving the American people.
Speaker 8 (23:31):
Well, I mean so I think it takes really all
types of individuals to find out, you know, what is
going to really draw their attention. And when you think
about the military and what we're doing, I mean, we
are serving on behalf of the people very differently, and
I think it's challenging for individuals that have not really
(23:54):
had to make these hard, tough decisions about whether or
not we go to this kind of whether or not
we get involved in the in.
Speaker 7 (24:02):
The next you know, war or the next conflict. I
think it's really really hard.
Speaker 8 (24:08):
To kind of just do the broad statement to say
that we're not fighting on behalf of the American people.
It is really you know, the things that we do,
not just in the military, but even you know, some
of the crazy politics that is out there right like
our crazy politicians. It is it is the fight that
we are trying to do to ensure that we can
(24:28):
remain a free country. And so whether we kind of
agree on that, you know, that.
Speaker 7 (24:33):
Level or not.
Speaker 8 (24:34):
But it's also the young people who are doing their
duty in very different ways, right like just you know,
like he mentioned that they're out you know, taking care
of things very differently. We need that as well, So
we can't really say that everybody has to fit into
this one cycle.
Speaker 7 (24:51):
What I would just love to see.
Speaker 8 (24:53):
Is people just continue to serve in what they're passionate
about and then allow that to come through, because that's
what makes our country what it is.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Let's go to Christopher who's in Saint Petersburg, Florida. And
again our number is eight four four four Middle. That's
a four four four six four three three five three
Christopher in Saint Petersburg. Welcome to the Middle.
Speaker 17 (25:15):
Well, thank you for having me. So about twelve years ago,
I graduated college and I tried to join the Navy.
They were going to have me be like a like
a sub mariner. I wanted to be like like an astronaut,
but I couldn't do that, so being underwater seem like
the closest thing. I ended up not being able to
actually join because I have a spine like a her
(25:37):
needed disc and so I didn't pass the the medical exam.
So another way that I that I think that I
found to be able to serve as I went and
I taught English in Japan for a little while. And
I know that's not quite the same as as like
military service or or something like that, but it was
it did give me an opportunity to spread at least
(26:00):
I think anyway, like American culture and sort of making
that cultural connection between you know, and I was in
rural Japan too, so it was like I was the
first like white person that anybody had seen there, and
it was pretty awesome to be able to share that, like, well,
this is how things happen in America compared to Iwadeshi Japan.
(26:22):
And so that's sort of my call to serve the country,
if you want to call it though.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
That's great, Christopher, thank you for sharing that. Michael D. Smith,
your thoughts on that. I'm sure that you've talked to
a lot of young people who have done exactly what
Christopher has done.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Service comes in many different forms. We actually have something
called the Harris Wofford Award, who is named for the
person that was both the CEO of AmeriCorps and helped
create amer Corps and help Sergeant try or create Peace
Corps scause we have a lot of folks that serve
in both Peace Corps and AmeriCorps. People who have a
heart of service want to serve. I was just with
someone who was in the Air Force for thirty years
and now is now serving as an AmeriCorps member here
(27:00):
in Nevada, and so we love it. Go serve your country.
Serve through the Military Server, broad Serve and Peace Corps.
Served through AMERICRPS. It is all service and it is
all honorable.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Let's get another call in here. Charles is in Houston, Texas. Charles,
welcome to the middle Go ahead.
Speaker 12 (27:19):
Thank you for having me. Excuse me, well myself, I
am a member currently a member of the United States
Navy Reserve, twenty three years of service. Are currently at
the rank of Pindic Commander. Come from a family of
those who have served in uniform, father relatives, other extended relatives. Currently,
(27:43):
my oldest son is a member of the Texas National
Guard and also while Utense College, he's also a member
of the Army ROTC. But just to say, I think
a color that was a little while ago that said
that he didn't see how the United States Military it's
serving the American public. However, I would say that the
(28:07):
military dot for everyone. However service is and he as
well as anyone else, just needs to find that fit.
And I think the general had mentioned that earlier. But
everyone just needs to find their fit and find a
way to serve at whatever level that they can find.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Charles, thank you and thank you for your service. And
I also love when one caller talks about what another
caller said, it's the beauty of live radio. General sing
you so your thoughts on Charles No, well.
Speaker 7 (28:44):
So, yes, thank you for your service.
Speaker 8 (28:45):
And I and I think what we're also hearing from
from Charles is that he has a family of service,
and we're.
Speaker 7 (28:52):
Starting to see that we don't have those.
Speaker 8 (28:55):
Traditions a lot, right, Like I didn't come necessarily from
a family of deep, deep service, at least not from
my parents' side and I and so having that connectivity,
I think is what.
Speaker 7 (29:07):
You also typically see.
Speaker 8 (29:08):
We're a family, you know, kind of generational going into
the military, and we would love to.
Speaker 7 (29:14):
See that a lot more. But just the whole thing
of service.
Speaker 8 (29:19):
That to me is the underlying piece, right, like, how
can you serve if that means going out and volunteering it,
you know, whether it's with AmeriCorps.
Speaker 7 (29:30):
Peace Corps, Easter.
Speaker 8 (29:32):
Seals, going down to your local soup kitchen and literally
if you just want to go out and pick up
trash along the side of the road and you know,
have the name out there, right like, that is service.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
You know, Tolliver, one thing that we have seen recently
is kind of disturbing. Is an effort to go after
ordinary people who serve the public as election workers.
Speaker 10 (29:56):
Yeah, listen here to Ruby Freeman, who is an election
worker in Georgia in twenty twenty and was targeted by
people including Rudy Giuliani, who was ordered to pay nearly
one hundred and fifty million dollars for defaming her.
Speaker 18 (30:06):
I can never move back into the house that I
called home. I will always have to be careful about where.
Speaker 7 (30:16):
I go and who I choose to share my name with.
Speaker 18 (30:22):
I miss my home, I miss my neighbors, and I
miss my name.
Speaker 10 (30:30):
Wow powerful. By the way, three out of four election
officials say threats have increased in recent years, and one
in six has been threatened. That's according to a survey
from the Brennan Center for Justice.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
It's so so awful. We will be back with more
of your calls in a minute. On the middle. This
is the Middle. I'm Jeremy Hobson. We're asking you this hour,
do you feel a call to serve your country. We're
joined this hour by AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith and
retired Major General Linda Singh, former head of the Maryland
National Guard. Before we go back to the owns, one
(31:00):
of our listeners, Paula from Cheyenne, Wyoming, sent us a
voice memo about her call to public service. Take a listen.
Speaker 14 (31:07):
I have felt the urge many times to serve my country.
I've really been doing that since I got out of
graduate school, when I went to the Peace Corps for
three years. Then I came back and I taught. But
recently I've been feeling the urge to do something locally,
so I have looked in to teach for America. Not
usual for a person who's been teaching for thirty years
(31:29):
in a school district in overseas to do something like that,
but I just think that the only way to make
our country better is to try to raise critical thinkers
and have people that will see things from more than
one viewpoint and try their hardest to have that inspiration
to improve the country as well.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
I love that she sent us that. Well, Walking Michael
de Smith, do you see a lot of that career
professionals going back later in life to volunteer in that way.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Yes, we've actually seen certainly more of it. During the pandemic.
We were actually just with a Congresswoman Chrissy Hulihan from
Pennsylvania who was a veteran and when she was forty
five years old, she decided she wanted to do more
in her community, and so she became a teacher for
America AmeriCorps member. And so you do see these sorts
of things happening all the time. I was, actually, we're
(32:17):
here in Nevada for our Tribal Nations gathering and visiting
some other sites. I was with three AmeriCorps members today
who are in their thirties and above who have children
and families and are using an America as an opportunity
to either help them with their education or change career paths.
And so it's a great opportunity, Paula, do it. Become
a teacher for America Americorp Member. It will be it
(32:38):
will help you and you'll get a little additional money
for school, and it will be great. You won't regret it.
Speaker 7 (32:43):
All.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Right, let's go to the phones and Janice, who's in Barrington,
Rhode Island. Hi, Janis, welcome to the middle Hi.
Speaker 19 (32:50):
Thanks. Yeah, So I'm calling because I was the executive
director of a nonprofit in Providence, Rhode Island for years,
and for oh fifteen years at least, we had an
AmeriCorps program. And I am a huge supporter of AmeriCorps,
(33:11):
mister Smith, but I do want to point out that
the burden on the administrative end of running a program
like that in an organization is tremendous, and the organization
has to commit to a rather large burden of reporting
(33:43):
of you know, so there's that that I think it
sounds like, oh, free volunteers. Well no, it isn't free volunteers.
Speaker 20 (33:53):
It is not.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Jennis, thank you, Michael D. Smith, the administer the red tape.
Do you hear about that a lot?
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Jennis, I wasn't expecting to hear that on the middle,
But I'm glad that you love AMERICRPS. It is something
that we actually we've hired our first ever chief Modernization
Officer and we are working hard to modernize this thirty
year old agency and make it simpler. We are a
federal agency, we have an inspector General. There have to
be background checks, there are checks and balances. So it's
(34:20):
you know, if you are a tiny little nonprofit maybe
not starting with amer Corps. That's why we love to
see a lot of cities, they serve as an intermediary
and then disperse AmeriCorps members to different places. A lot
of universities play that role as well, So that's a
good way to start if you're a small nonprofit. While
we work hard to make it simpler and easier for
folks that want to administer AmeriCorps programs.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
Let's go to Derek, who's in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Hi, Derek,
welcome to the Middle.
Speaker 21 (34:48):
Hi, thank you for taking my call. I think this
is a really great conversation, and I am one of
the people that actually has been or tried to be
a part of both sides here. So I come from
a very strong military family. Everybody at least on my
(35:09):
dad's side was Navy, and I had also applied for
Peace Corps during my college years, and so I tried
to participate in both of those and ultimately decided that
my best contribution to my community was to do what
(35:30):
I'm interested in and what I'm good at, which is
doing the research. And about fifteen years later now I'm
doing research to help perhaps legislation at the state level
and feel really really good about that. I mainly called
(35:51):
in because I wanted to say that there is a
very very strong need and desire amongst millennials gen Z
to participate and to contribute and to be a part
of this national ethos that you know, likened to the
(36:14):
John Kennedy speech. Yeah, and if it's not military, if
it's not peace Corps, I think we need some sort
of return to that to provide options beyond those two things,
because I do feel like there's a very strong need
to participate. And yeah, so yeah, thank.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
You, Derek, thank you so much. Linda sing He brings
up millennials Generation Z. Do you notice a generational difference
in terms of willingness, let's say, just to join the military.
Speaker 8 (36:47):
I mean, there's a huge difference today versus when I
came in. And I don't think people realize how long
ago that was. But when I came in, it wasn't
too long ago. Too long after women were allowed to
actually join the military, and so I think, you know,
just the mindset is completely different. But what I love,
because I work in the community all the time with
(37:10):
a multi generation of types of individuals.
Speaker 7 (37:13):
But what I love is the thinking.
Speaker 8 (37:15):
That I get from our young people and you know,
working beside them in different types of organizations, whether it's at.
Speaker 7 (37:21):
The state level, because I do state level.
Speaker 8 (37:24):
I'm you know, still engage supporting militaries, still doing nonprofits,
and so what I love is just looking at their
energy and when something excites them and they really really engage,
we get like infinite possibilities from them. And that's it
just makes me smile because after spending a week with
(37:46):
a bunch of entrepreneurs and it just really is re
invigorating to be able to see that.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Let's go to Gabrielle, who's in Chicago. Gabrielle, welcome to
the middle Go.
Speaker 6 (37:56):
Ahead, thanks so much, and actually I'm really excited by
what was just said. I have led a number of
nonprofits and worked with young people for decades. One of
the things that troubles me sometimes is that when we
talk about service, I think we often overlook the role
(38:16):
that youth organizing and organizing outside of these formal structures
is really playing to essentially make our country better. So,
whether that's Standing Rock or here in Chicago a group
like Good Kids Mad City, I feel like sometimes the
structures we have, which are so critical, like the ones
we've been talking about, missed the opportunity to also recognize
(38:40):
and partner with organizing that's happening on the ground. And
I think that's all the way from teens who organize
protests or what's happening on college campuses, and so I
just would love to have us think about service in
terms of maybe it's through formal structures, but if we
care about service, how might we connect these structures and
(39:03):
incorporate the informal work that's happening through youth organizing. And
thank you so much for this conversation.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Thank you, Gabrielle, Michael D. Smith.
Speaker 4 (39:15):
Your thoughts well, Okay, I think this country only works
with a good, strong inside outside game. You're going to
need people that are trying to reform the system from
the inside, and you're going to need people that are
holding up a mirror and forcing and demanding change from
the outside. You're going to need a Nelson and a
Wendy Wendy. You're going to need a Martin and a
Malcolm and so all of that is valuable, and I
(39:35):
think we only see the progress that we want to
see when you have both of those forces working together.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
Tolliver, some people are writing in online and listen to
the middle dot Com absolutely.
Speaker 10 (39:44):
Tony and Illinois says as a first generation American, getting
drafted helped me feel like I belonged the discipline required,
positively affecting my life thereafter. But I would say, there
are a great many powerful people who fear the power
of the people, and so they actively work against universe
and military service. They'd rather we concentrate on working for
them and making them rich.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Scandalous, Uh, General Singh, do you think that the all
volunteer Force? Of course, nobody's going to say they want
the draft right now. I guess back to maybe some
people would say that they want the draft. But do
you think that the all volunteer force works in terms
of making sure that we have a diversity of people,
economic diversity, all kinds of diversity of people going into
the military and serving their country in that way?
Speaker 8 (40:24):
Absolutely, because when we look at the all Volunteer Force,
we get people from all shapes walks in life, gender background,
And I think if we look at still how the
legislation is structured for draft, we would not get that right.
Speaker 7 (40:40):
So the draft still is.
Speaker 8 (40:42):
Not focused on drafting women for say, so as long
as we have the all Volunteer.
Speaker 7 (40:47):
Force, it allows us to be able to get the.
Speaker 8 (40:50):
Best talent and you know, from every single community.
Speaker 7 (40:55):
And that's what I think is the biggest thing.
Speaker 8 (40:59):
I think if we don't stay in that direction, my
fear would be is that we start becoming our grandpa's army,
I mean, or Navy or Air Force.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
Right, So Brendan in Kanki Kee, Illinois is with us,
Hi Brandan, Welcome to the middle Hi go ahead. Oh yeah.
Speaker 22 (41:20):
I just wanted to echo some of what's already been
said about getting involved and organizing, because it was stated
that MLK Junior was a great servant and he was
calling for the change of a lot of systems. So
in my opinion, it seems that getting involved in movement
organizations and getting involved in community organizations locally is the
(41:45):
most important thing you can do to make a positive
impact in the world.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Just are you? Are you involved in in community organizations?
Speaker 8 (41:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 22 (41:55):
I don't want to go into specifics, but I organized
and I've just seen that in every city across the
country there's already going to be these organizations and other
nonprofits as well that you can get involved with. Be
also have to be careful with nonprofits because we kind
of focus on getting more grant money, and there can
be a that can sort of limit some of our
(42:19):
ability to build power.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
Brendan, thank you for that. And I will say, by
the way, I now know how difficult it is to
get grant money, so I totally respect people.
Speaker 4 (42:29):
That have to do that for all of the show.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
Let's go to Mark, who's in Houston, Texas. Mark, go ahead,
welcome to the Middle.
Speaker 20 (42:40):
Fantastic program, first time caller. I just wanted to share
that I came from a family and generations who served
their country, and my grandfather served in World War One,
my uncle served in World War Two, served in the
(43:01):
Korean War, and I served in the Go War as
a United States Navy sub mariner. And just want to
let you know that that had an influence of bearing
on me serving my country. And I also want to
let you know that I served in the AMERICRPS Vista
after I got my MBA wow, and now I work
(43:24):
for a federal agency that helped small businesses called the SBA,
and I just wanted to share those comments. Wow, I
was up there.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
Well, thank you for a lifetime of service. Mark. That's awesome.
Michael D. Smith, what about the sort of generational thing
that he brings up their families that get into the military,
and then that continues on through the generations, and then
even he goes into Americorp Vista at a later age.
Speaker 4 (43:51):
Well, Mark, thank you for your service. Thank your ancestors
and generations before for their service. We see this all
the time. We've got fifteen thousand veterans that are serving
today as AmeriCorps members, and in turn, we're serving about
two hundred and fifty thousand veterans in military families. So
when there's a heart of service, it just keeps reciprocating.
And what I love too about what you said with
(44:13):
Mark speaking to one of your other carllers, AmeriCorps Vista
is a way where if you don't want to do
direct service, if you love research and evaluation, if you
love marketing and fundraising and communications, you can be an
AmeriCorps member that's helping to build capacity and not necessarily
being on the front lines doing direct service. But yeah,
Mark demonstrates this generational thing that we see all the time.
(44:34):
Thanks Mark.
Speaker 1 (44:35):
I think we have time for one more call, and
I'm going to go to Paul, who is outside Minneapolis. Paul,
welcome to the Middle.
Speaker 23 (44:42):
Go ahead, hi that you're squeezing me in.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 12 (44:47):
Conversation.
Speaker 23 (44:49):
When I graduated from college in nineteen seventy, it was
Vietnam or the Peace Corps. And for me that was
an easy decision because I wanted to see the world
without a gun. And I became a teacher, came home,
got a teaching certificate, and I've been involved in nonprofits
and hunger poverty. Now I just got back from DC
where we lobby Congress once a year for Peace Corps reauthorization,
(45:12):
and then I go back in June with the Citizens'
Climate Lobby working on climate solutions, bipartisan. Bringing people together
in the community is where it all starts. And you know,
Peace Corps talks about the domestic dividend, like what happens
to volunteers when they come home. Most of eighty six
percent of the studies say that they stay very engaged
(45:35):
in their community. So it's a big conversation.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Well, thank you very much for that call, Paul. We
squeezed you in there and litising By the way, did
you ever consider going into the Peace Corps instead of
into the military.
Speaker 7 (45:50):
I didn't even know, Okay, So I grew up in
the country.
Speaker 8 (45:52):
I didn't grow up in the city, and maybe you
can say that I had a very small mind at
that point. I think I really did, and so verse
only was you know what was in front of me,
and so I didn't I didn't even learn about the
Peace Corps until much later, but I was part of
the Youth Conservation Corps very early on. I spent a
(46:13):
summer with the Youth Youth Conservation Corps. And so I
just think sometimes it's a matter of where you come
from and what you're exposed to. And what I love
about this conversation is, I think we've talked about so
many different things in terms of service. It's helping people
to see that you can really find a place to
serve anywhere, whether it's government, military, with AmeriCorps, Peace Corps,
(46:35):
there's so many places.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
Yeah, Yeah, Michael D. Smith. Actually I wonder, you know,
as you listen to these calls coming in. I'm sure
you talk to people all the time who are volunteers,
but anything surprise you in the in the calls that
you've heard this hour.
Speaker 4 (46:49):
You know, I just think it reinforces what I already
know spending. You know, we're headquartered in Washington, and you've
spent a lot of time with folks that are feeling
concerned about the state of the American democracy and how polarization.
And I tell folks all the time, come on the
road with me, and when you see the rubber hitting
the road, Americans get tough, when the get tougher, when
they're going gets tough, and they take care of one another.
(47:11):
And so you know, the General said it, I am AmeriCorps.
I think it's like a cheesecake factory menu. We've got
something for everybody, and if you want to come in
and get involved, we can figure out a way to
put your talents to use and service of our country.
Speaker 1 (47:26):
Well, the thing that we like to do at the
end of the middle, just in case the topic got
too heavy, is to bring Tolliver in for a quiz
for our guests. So now we have a one question
quiz for both of you. Tolliver, the Flora's yours.
Speaker 10 (47:36):
I'm still thinking about the cheesecake factory.
Speaker 21 (47:39):
Okay.
Speaker 10 (47:39):
So, according to Census dot gov, which state has the
highest rate of volunteerism and civic engagement Illinois, Nebraska, New York,
or Utah.
Speaker 1 (47:49):
Either one of you.
Speaker 4 (47:51):
We we run that study. So that's totally I know
the answer to that.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
Illinois, Nebraska, New York or Utah. General sing what do
you think?
Speaker 8 (48:02):
Oh, I'm going to beause I haven't looked at the study,
so I'm going to say Illinois.
Speaker 1 (48:07):
And Michael D. Smith.
Speaker 4 (48:08):
The answer is it's Utah. It is they love.
Speaker 1 (48:11):
To volunteer in Utah.
Speaker 12 (48:12):
They do.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
I'm just there.
Speaker 12 (48:13):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
Well, I want to thank my guests, retired Major General
Linda Singh, who led the Maryland National Guard. Her book
is called Moments of Choice, My Path to Leadership. General Singh,
thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 7 (48:24):
Thank you so much, Jeremy, and.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
Also AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith, thank you so much
for joining us as well.
Speaker 4 (48:32):
Thank you, Jeremy, Thank you, Tolliver, Thank you, General.
Speaker 1 (48:35):
And next week on the show, we're going to be
looking at phone addiction. Smartphones have become such an essential
part of all of our lives, but when that dependence
turns into a digital addiction. What then We're asking you,
are you addicted to your phone? I'm guessing the answer
is yes, and if so, what are you doing about it?
You can call us at eight four four four six four, three,
(48:56):
three five three are right in a Listen to the
Middle dot com and while you're there, sign up for
our weekly newsletter unless it feeds your phone addiction, in
which case, don't sign up for a weekly newsletter. The
Middle is brought to you by Longnook Media, distributed by
Illinois Public Media in Urbana, Illinois, and produced by Joanne Jennings,
Harrison Patino, John Barth, and Danny Alexander. Our technical director
is Jason Kroft. Our theme music was composed by Andrew Haig.
(49:19):
Thanks to Nashville Public Radio, iHeartMedia and the more than
four hundred and ten public radio stations making it possible
for people across the country to listen to the Middle,
I'm Jeremy Hobson, Happy and safe Independence Day to you,
and I'll talk to you next week.
Host
Jeremy Hobson
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