Service

Encouraging Americans to invest in their country and their communities

Every generation of Americans has heeded the call to service, especially in the face of our greatest challenges. Service is a fundamental part of what it means to be American.  It is a great part of our nation’s cultural traditions and an affirmation of our bonds of citizenship and compassion to fellow citizens. 

Senator Coons’ priorities for promoting service include:

  • Standing up for community service. Chris has long believed that those who engage in volunteerism and service to others get more out of it than they put into it. He supports continued funding of national service programs like AmeriCorps, VISTA, Senior Corps, and other that enable Americans to engage in service to their communities. These programs not only contribute to public safety, education, and housing activities in our communities, but our continued investment will leverage the work of charitable organizations, spur innovative partnerships between private and non-profit sectors, and help our economy grow.  
  • Supporting the work of AmeriCorps. As someone who founded an AmeriCorps program, Chris has seen its importance to our country firsthand. Since coming to the Senate, he has teamed up with Senator Barbara Mikulski to defend AmeriCorps from attacks on its funding. Chris passionately supports the work of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and will continue fighting efforts to eliminate it.
  • Supporting our public sector workers.  As a former County Executive and with a long history of working with public servants in local government, Chris understands the tremendous amount of hard work and dedication public sector employees put into their work.  The millions of individuals that work in government service at all levels play a vital role in meeting the needs of all Americans. Our public servants fight crime and fires, promote better health, protect the environment, teach in our schools and libraries, defend our freedoms around the world, and so much more. Chris will work hard to honor those government employees who have dedicated their lives in service to their country.