N MARCH, RETIRED ARMY GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL visited the cam- pus of the University of New Hampshire, sowing the seeds for his passion project. Working the crowd at the university’s law

school, he reminded those in attendance that this election cycle off ers an opportunity to con- front presidential hopefuls and demand they say whether they support the idea that every Ameri- can should be able to participate in a year of pub- lic service for the nation.

“Over the next generation, we will need to come together to solve some big problems,” McChrystal said. “We’ll only do that if we have citizens who are well-versed in working together across all the lines that divide us. … A system of vol- untary universal national service is an opportunity to shape Americans today so we can come together to solve big problems tomorrow. I be- lieve that the next step in the Ameri- can experiment is the expectation of a year or more of service.” Hoping to build support for his

most visible public stance since his days commanding U.S. forces in Af- ghanistan, McChrystal spoke as a representative of the Franklin Project, an advocacy organization within the Aspen Institute calling for the expan- sion of opportunities for Americans, young and old alike, to spend one year serving communities throughout the country. These opportunities take on many diff erent faces — from working with Habitat for Humanity to build homes in rural North Carolina to tak- ing an AmeriCorps position to teach inner-city youth in Detroit. While many of these positions are federally funded, supporters point out that they invest human capital directly into civic institutions that strengthen local

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communities and promote an entre- preneurial way of dealing with local and national problems. The goal of the Franklin Project

is to make participation in these pro- grams a rite of passage — a cultural expectation for every American. Along with their allies, the Franklin Project is looking to expand these types of op- portunities to the tune of 1 million an- nual positions by 2023, about a 10-fold increase above what is available today.

A growing movement “If you look at what’s transforma- tional about military service,” says Jason Mangone, director of the Franklin Project and a former in- fantry offi cer in the Marine Corps who served three deployments in Iraq, the Middle East, and Haiti, “it’s working in a team with a bunch of people who are diff erent than you toward a common end that is greater than personal gain. That kind of experience doesn’t mean that you have to wear camoufl age and hold a weapon.”

The main priorities of the Frank-

lin Project, he says, are both to cre- ate more service-year opportunities and to put pressure on presidential candidates and members of Con- gress to announce whether or not

they support the expansion of these positions, along with the concept of voluntary, universal service. Toward that end, the Franklin Project will be organizing events similar to its eff ort in New Hampshire all over the country, ramping up as attention on the presidential election increases. Mangone is confi dent the project can glean commitments of support from diff erent candidates, since the idea has gained popularity over the years. For example, Mangone and the Franklin Project — named after founding father and public servant Benjamin Franklin — are part of the Service Year Alliance, a collaborative group that also includes ServiceNa- tion, Voices for National Service, and the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC). All share a goal of rapidly expanding service-year op- portunities in the U.S. One of Mangone’s primary part- ners is Zach Maurin, executive director of ServiceNation. After graduating high school, Maurin joined the popular AmeriCorps pro- gram City Year and worked in inner- city schools in Boston. Maurin says one of the main ad-

vantages of a service year is college graduates and veterans alike can participate, pursuing diff erent op- portunities. With open positions in the private, public, and nonprofi t sectors, these jobs can allow veter- ans to pursue diff erent careers after returning home, with new experi- ence in fi elds that would otherwise be diffi cult to attain. “I am deeply convinced that if we scaled this idea, we would be living in a diff erent country,” Maurin says. “As a people, we’re largely discon- nected to the work of military mem- bers and their families. Imagine if you were a young college graduate taking a year to serve at City Year or AmeriCorps, and you worked side- by-side solving problems with veter- ans. Imagine the power of that.”