The national service program Vista helped Gary Maxworthy move into his encore career. Maxworthy's Farm to Family project delivers free produce to low-income families in California. Photo by S. Smith for Civic Ventures.

Encore Fellowships are a central feature of both the Serve America Act of 2008, introduced by Senators Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch, and the Encore Service Act of 2008, proposed by Senators Chris Dodd and Thad Cochran, along with Kennedy.

Other innovative features in the bills would also help catalyze new solutions to major social challenges by calling Americans of all ages to serve their country and their communities. The two bills have some minor differences in approach, which will be worked out in the inevitably lengthy legislative process.

Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are both co-sponsors of the Serve America Act, and both have pledged to sign it into law if elected.

A summary of the bill (S. 1347) says Encore Fellowships are intended “to enable individuals age 50 or older to carry out 1-year service projects in areas of national need (education, health care access, clean energy, economic opportunities for the poor, or disaster response/preparedness) at eligible organizations and to receive training for full-or part-time public service in the nonprofit sector or government (provided by the eligible organization).”

Under the legislation:

• The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the umbrella agency for programs such as AmeriCorps and Vista, would select up to 10 fellows from each state, with priority to individuals with highly needed skills.
• Encore Fellows would seek placement at a nonprofit organization or government agency also approved by CNCS; fellows could also apply for an organization to be approved by CNCS.
• Organizations would get $11,000 from CNCS, which they would be expected to match, as a stipend for the fellow’s living expenses. The organizations would be expected to provide the fellow with leadership development and training. Fellows who complete their service would also get an educational award to help with tuition or student-loan repayment (and the award could be transferred to a child or grandchild).

Sen. Dodd’s Encore Service Act (S.3480) authorizes the CNCS to make grants to national nonprofit organizations and state commissions to establish encore fellowship programs. The organizations should “be engaged in meeting unmet human, educational, environmental, or public safety needs,” and demonstrate a need for encore fellows. In addition, the agencies are expected to provide training and other activities “to foster transitions to second careers in the public or nonprofit sector.”

The centerpiece of the Serve America Act is federal funding for independent organizations to create four new national services “corps” for projects in education, “healthy futures,” clean energy and “opportunity,” or economic development, all of which include opportunities for older adults.

The Encore Service Act encourages all national service programs to incorporate encore service into their activities.

The Kennedy-Hatch bill also calls for the creation of up to 25 “Innovation Fellowships” to individuals each year, “to establish innovative nonprofit organizations to address local and national challenges.” Recipients of the grants (of up to $100,000) must be national service or military veterans.

Both bills make the AmeriCorps’ education award transferable, though with limitations. The Serve America proposal allows recipients of the traditional education award to transfer only half of their award, and only to children or grandchildren. The Encore Service Act allows the award to be transferred to any body designated by the volunteer — but does not provide an educational award to encore fellows.

The new “More to Give” report, commissioned by AARP, found that transferable education awards could be a major incentive for national service. The report called for “Silver Scholarships” of $1,000 and more that would be awarded in return for a significant number of hours of service.