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June 25, 2009

National Conference on Volunteering and Service
New National-Service Adviser Discusses Her Plans

Jackie Norris, who just moved from First Lady Michelle Obama’s office to the Corporation for National and Community Service, dove into her new environment by attending this week’s big volunteering conference in San Francisco.

Ms. Norris, who left a post as the first lady’s chief of staff to become a senior adviser at the federal agency earlier this month, discussed her priorities with The Chronicle on the sidelines of the conference.

She said one will be helping the corporation develop a strategic plan for the next three to four years, when the agency will be expanding to carry out new programs authorized by the Serve America Act, as well as White House goals of getting Americans more involved in community service.

“It’s important that with the new funds, with the new programs, we really put a lot of time and energy in strategic thinking about the direction of the corporation and how we can best support the president and first lady’s call to service,” she said.

More immediately, she said, she will be working with Congress as it appropriates money for Serve America Act programs. These include an expansion of AmeriCorps, an increase in the education award given to AmeriCorps members, a new Social Innovation Fund to help nonprofit groups expand effective projects, and a Volunteer Generation Fund to help nonprofit groups recruit and manage volunteers.

Ms. Norris said she is helping to coordinate efforts between the White House and the corporation as part of a “four-legged stool” that meets regularly to discuss ways to promote community and national service. The meetings include representatives of the corporation, the first lady’s office, the White House Office of Public Engagement, and the White House Office of Social Innovation.

Among her other goals, she said: Working to help nonprofit groups prepare for the administration’s big service push and ensuring that corporation officials are their “No. 1 cheerleaders.”

While Ms. Norris, who met Michelle Obama while working on the president’s campaign in Iowa, is one step removed from the White House in her new position, she says the move was good for her family and “for my heart.”

“Anybody who knows me knows my passion is service,” she said, adding that she taught government to high-school students for five years. “Anybody I would sit down with in the service world I could sit and talk to for hours.”

Ms. Norris reports to Nicola Goren, acting chief executive of the corporation. The agency is without a permanent head after President Obama’s pick, Maria Eitel, president of the Nike Foundation, withdrew her name from consideration last month.

— Suzanne Perry

Thursday June 25, 2009 | Permalink

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