Rise in Public Service Evident in 9/11 Generation

The ‘Me’ generation might soon be better known as the next great generation, according to a study published last Monday by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNS), a federal agency established in 1993 to encourage volunteer service among American citizens.

Contrary to the popular idea that college students, whose demographic is sometimes nicknamed the “Me” Generation, are not interested in public service, the study revealed that undergraduate participation in public service and volunteer programs rose 20 percent from 2002 to 2005.

The data comprises figures collected from the U.S. Census Bureau’s population surveys from 2002 to 2005, which canvassed 240,000 households. The number of college students participating in public service around the nation went from 2.7 million in 2002 to 3.3 million in 2005, according to the study.

The study’s directors attributed the rise in participation in part to the fact that these students witnessed the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath while in high school.

“We may be witnessing a new civic 9/11 generation,” said Kevin Cramer, Deputy Director for Research and Evaluation at CNS. He added that students who saw the “heroic response” of the emergency service workers at Ground Zero were spurred to action.

The same report said that the volunteering rate among college students in Massachusetts ranks 47th in the nation. At Harvard, organizations under the aegis of Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) serve 10,000 clients in the Cambridge area, according to PBHA’s web site.

Gene Corbin, executive director of PBHA, which includes 1,800 student volunteers, said that the pattern at Harvard is consistent with this national data.

“We’ve seen a steady rise in students getting involved over the past three years,” he said.

Corbin said that this generation is increasingly being known as the “next great generation” for civic commitment and volunteerism.

“Public service seems to be a large part of the college application process these days,” said David P. Slichter ’07, co-director of Boston Refugee Youth Enrichment (BRYE) Extension, an afterschool program for Vietnamese refugee youth. “There are a lot of people who show up at Harvard who have done a lot of public service in high school.”

Slichter said the main attraction of public service groups is that they are organized social networks with a community focus.

“The most successful public service groups are ones which are designed for students to hang out with each other, make friends and have a well-articulated mission,” he said.