What’s happening?  Our nation faces the largest budget cuts ever to education and national service programs. The U.S. House of Representatives has proposed deep cuts to domestic programs for the upcoming federal fiscal year.  These and other programs also face more than 9% in additional cuts if spending reductions ordered in the budget deal and debt ceiling agreement reached in Congress last summer go forward. This could cause crippling cuts in services to students and schools across the country. Click here to read more about the House budget threat and sequestration. How can I help? Here is how you can take action and engage Congress to save funding for education and service programs which provide vital capacity and services to schools through nonprofit, community partner organizations like Citizen Schools: Sign the “Stop the Cuts!” petition—The Committee for Education Funding (CEF), a coalition of education groups working together to secure adequate federal support for our nation’s educational system, is in the midst of a campaign to stop the substantial proposed cuts to education funding, which threaten the stability of our education system and economy. For more information on the cuts, read here.

Take Action with Save Service: The Save Service in America campaign is working to ensure policy makers preserve national service programs, such as AmeriCorps. The campaign’s efforts led by constituents across the country saved national service programs from budget cuts (and elimination) last fiscal year, and we need to continue the momentum! Click here to sign up for action alerts, tweet, send an e-letter to Congress, and share your story of service with a local paper. May 1^st -3^rd, 2012 Citizen Schools supporters throughout Citizen Schools’ eight regions participated in the Save Service “District Day”—joining forces with other service-oriented organizations and volunteers to visit local US Congressional offices in their districts and share stories and results of the positive impact service has on schools and communities.