the state of voluntarism in America today. With your permission, I will then briefly highlight some of the accomplishments of ACTION during the 4 years since this Agency was created. Finally, I will explain how our experience has led ACTION to develop the specific changes in program authorities upon which the budget has been based, and the marked shifts in program emphasis which this budget proposes.

THE PURPOSES OF ACTION

ACTION was first created by Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1971. The Domestic Volunter Service Act of 1973 (P.L. 93–113) later provided a statutory basis for the Agency and entrusted to it the administration of several domestic volunteer programs. The act also directed the Agency to develop and support innovative programs for fulltime volunteers, for students, for the elderly, and for those with business experience. Finally, the act, together with Executive Order 11603, which assigned to ACTION a central role in the coordination of volunteer activities within the Federal Government, has placed the Agency in a position of leadership in working with other Federal agencies to develop volunteer programs and to provide for national, State, and local volunteer agencies a forum within the Government to express their needs and concerns, and where feasible, to provide technical assistance, training, and information exchange services.

Thus, we believe that ACTION has two major purposes: To develop and support a varied array of federally sponsored volunteer programs carried out through State and local public and private agencies, and also to be a focal point of expertise and advocacy within the Federal Government for encouraging and supporting the volunteer movement in America.

It is only through the combination of these two responsibilities that ACTION can serve as the catalyst for voluntarism.

ACTION is one of the smallest federal agencies. But size of budget and number of staff are not the true measure of our significance. ACTION represents a formal recognition by the National Government of a force in our society outside the structure of government-the volunteer movement.

AMERICAN VOLUNTARISM TODAY

Last year, the Bureau of the Census conducted for us a national survey of the extent and nature of voluntarism in America. We found that nearly 37 million Americans are today volunteering to perform a wide variety of social services in their own or neighboring communities. These services were valued at $34 billion.

And, of course, the national economic accounts do not afford us any measure of the most important of all payoffs of voluntarism-the encouragement of citizenship responsibility and social cohesion. The volunteer benefits from service, and so does the recipient of the service.

A part of ACTION's mission is to encourage and expand the powerful force of voluntarism. The Agency has worked to point out, encourage, and help develop many alternate means of providing volunteer services through both public and private organizations. It is ready to do more.

ACTION has developed and matured in its role as the Federal Agency for volunteer service. It has reviewed and strengthened the traditional volunteer programs, and it has tested and evaluated exciting new program concepts. It has developed the necessary structures and systems and has established effective working relationships with State and local governments and private organizations across the country. It has a well-trained staff of specialists and expertsa corps of professionals in voluntarism.

We have learned and grown, and I believe we are now at the point where we can take on even greater responsibilities and challenges as the Federal Agency for voluntary service.

We are giving priority attention to identifying the best ways ACTION can work together with the private volunteer sector and with other Federal agencies which utilize volunteers in their programs to produce a multiplier effect. My staff is exploring these questions now with both the private sector and the other Government agencies, such as HEW, LEAA, and HUD, which utilize volunteers or could utilize them.

ACTION's challenge for the future is to explore and develop the relationships, the technical information systems and the coordination systems that will enable

the public and private sectors together to make the best use of volunteer re

sources.

ACTION'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS

In the 4 years since its creation, ACTION has compiled a record of substantial accomplishment. Let me recall a few significant items.

ACTION took over several existing domestic programs, most of them in an embryonic state. The growth of these programs is indicated by the following figures. The number of sponsors of our domestic volunteer programs has grown from 470 at ACTION's creation to 1,720 this year. The number of volunteers involved in them has soared from 6,000 to 195,000 in this short period. And our national student volunteer program provides technical assistance to more than 500,000 volunteers.

New programs developed, tested and proved by ACTION, such as the program for local service and the senior companion program, have opened up new service opportunities for citizens, especially the young people and the elderly who both have so much to give. ACTION has also promoted and demonstrated the concept that our elderly citizens are a resource, not a problem, for their communities. State governments have been helped to promote and coordinate voluntarism, and local communities have been spurred to mobilize large numbers of part-time volunteers through small seed money grants.

Volunteers in traditional programs such as VISTA have undertaken important new roles as resource mobilizers to generate and broaden community support for antipoverty efforts.

Our domestic operations structure has been strengthened where it should be in the field-with 47 State offices staffed by specialists in voluntarism. The recruitment, processing and placement of domestic volunteers have been decentralized.

Some accomplishments cannot be adequately expressed in numbers. There is no way anyone can quantify a retarded child's beaming smile at the sight of his foster grandparent, or the love that grandparent feels and shows for that neglected child. Statistics can't convey the quiet drama of the moment when that child speaks his first word in years, thanks to the patience of the foster grandparent. Yet many institutions report that youngsters have taken their first steps, said their first words, fed themselves for the first time, come out of lonely shells because a foster grandparent gave them the affection and encouragement that busy staff members could not provide.

Numbers won't show the gratitude of a lonely elderly woman whose senior companion provides the warm human contact she craves and the many small services that help keep her independent and out of a nursing home. Numbers don't indicate either that senior companion's satisfaction at being needed and being able to help. Nor do they show the zest, the new lease on life, gained by retired senior volunteer program volunteers no longer retired from life, back in the mainstream of useful work again.

Who can measure the new hope felt by a migrant family whose children are getting schooling and health care from VISTA volunteers? Or the hope felt by the newly arrived Vietnamese refugee being helped by a program for local service volunteer through the bewildering process of relocation and readjustment? Who tracks the progress made by a school child thanks to the tutoring of a youth challenge program volunteer?

Naturally, I'm proudest of our program accomplishments. However, our management achievements in the past 2 years have been important, and I would like to bring some of them to your attention.

We have developed an integrated programing and training system, established a domestic operations field structure based on 47 State offices, and five service centers to recruit, process, and place volunteers on a decentralized basis.

I would like to cite another accomplishment which manifests ACTION's commitment to providing equal employment and advancement opportunities for women and minorities. Our employment of women and minorities in higher level jobs is more than double and triple the rate in the Federal Government as a whole. The following statistics tell the story:

PERCENTAGE OF HIGHER LEVEL POSITIONS HELD BY WOMEN AND MINORITIES

The appropriation requested for our domestic programs in roughly 10 percent below the level set in the fiscal year 1976 appropriation bill passed by the Congress. Nevertheless, we will increase the number of volunteers and improve the quality of the programs.

In the VISTA program we are asking for authority to improve cooperative planning with communities by greater use of cost sharing, and the utilization of grants. The older American volunteer programs will be expanded. New initiatives to bring volunteer resources to bear on criminal justice problems will be pursued. Emphasis will be placed on efforts to stimulate and assist voluntarism in the private sector.

1. General Summary

ACTION is requesting an appropriation of $93,902,000 for fiscal year 1977 to carry on ACTION's domestic operations. The request is $9,364,000 below the fiscal year 1976 level.

We propose increased funding for older Americans volunteer programs, $55,300,000, an increase of $4.9 million from the fiscal year 1976 level of $50,392,000.

We will be able to reduce funding for the following activities :

For VISTA, $13,600,000, $8.7 million below the fiscal year 1976 level of $22,300,000.

For service learning programs, $4,400,000, a decrease of $2.9 million from the fiscal year 1976 level of $7,251,000.

For special volunteer programs, $2 million, a decrease of $1.8 million from the previous fiscal year's level of $3,811,000.

For ACTION's administrative support costs, $18,602,000, a decrease of $1.4 million from the $19,993,000 fiscal year 1976 level.

The appropriation request will support an estimated 225,000 volunteers, an increase of about 30,000 over the volunteers we plan to support in fiscal year 1976. There will be increases in the number of volunteers in the retired senior volunteer program, the foster grandparent program, the senior companion program, and the youth challenge program. There will be decreases in VISTA and the university year for ACTION.

2. Rationale for the Allocation of Budget Resources

The decisions on our request for resources are influenced by two major considerations.

First was the clearly expressed desire of both the President and the Congress for fuller development of our programs for older Americans. Expansion of these programs is justified by the extraordinary successes which they have achieved and the unmet need among those whom they serve.

A second major consideration which influenced decisions on the allocation of our funds was a desire to squeeze out of each Federal dollar the maximum return in volunteer service. This leads us to reduce numbers of volunteers who are fully supported by Federal funds in favor of volunteers who are part time or whose support costs are shared by other levels of government or by private or

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ganizations. This leads us to reduce the number of stipended volunteers in favor of volunteers who receive no stipend. This leads us also to place emphasis on using dollars for servicing private voluntarism to foster growth in numbers and in effectiveness.

I am proud of all our established programs. However, I recognize that ACTION's budget must be designed in the light of economic conditions and of other claims on Federal funds.

1. Older Americans

PROGRAM BUDGET REQUESTS

The older Americans volunteer programs have flourished under ACTION's stewardship. By June 30, 1976, there will be 170,000 older Americans giving parttime service to their communities through the retired senior volunteer program, compared with the 150,000 RSVP volunteers enrolled last June. There will be 1,160 senior companions, up from 1,000 last June. The foster grandparent program, which marked a decade of service to children last year, will have 13,600 volunteers in June, the same level as of June 1975.

Some of you may have met the extraordinary foster grandparents who were here in Washington last September to be honored by the President for 10 years of service in the original foster grandparent projects. This program has been widely acclaimed. We propose to add 3,300 volunteers and $5,653,000 for this program in fiscal year 1977.

Our experience with the first 18 senior companion projects over the past 20 months indicates a successful beginning to this program involving low-income older Americans in service to adults, particularly other older persons. We plan to add 1,400 volunteers and 22 new projects in fiscal year 1977.

Expansion of the older American volunteer program is a priority of ACTION in the fiscal year ahead. The requests for these programs include an increased allowance for transportation costs. We carefully considered other adjustments in volunteer benefits but providing service opportunities to as many older persons as possible took precedence over increased stipends or other volunteer benefits.

2. VISTA

VISTA also celebrated an anniversary last year-its 10th year of distinguished service in local anti-poverty efforts.

Although a budget reduction from the fiscal year 1976 level is proposed, the reduction in volunteers in the VISTA program will not be drastic. In terms of volunteer years of service, there will be a cutback of 25 percent. However, we intend to improve the program in several ways.

Two of our demonstration programs-the Program for local Service and the ACTION Cooperative Volunteer Program-are to be terminated in fiscal year 1977. Improved techniques learned from these programs for providing voluntarism by grants and by cost sharing are being incorporated into the VISTA program. Through sharing the cost of some VISTA volunteers with local sponsors instead of providing full support from Federal funds, we shall be able to field more volunteers for a given amount of Federal dollars. Also, through the mechanism of providing grants to local sponsors who will assume some of the administrative costs, the cost of some other VISTA volunteers to the federal treasury will be decreased.

Another new development in VISTA is the volunteer resource specialist concept. Under this concept, the volunteer serves as a resource mobilizer, helping the sponsor and the community to generate the part-time community volunteers, the dollars and the material support needed to combat local problems. I believe that this is the way of the future for the full-time volunteer: a catalyst and mobilizer, rather than one who provides direct one-to-one services. In this role, the activity of the VISTA volunteer can swell the ranks of volunteers in the private sector.

The effectiveness of the VISTA volunteer as a resource specialist has been demonstrated, notably in Florida. There, 68 VISTA resource specialists working in the Division of Youth Services of the State Department of Health and Rehabilitation are recruiting 8,000 part-time volunteers to assist juveniles on the occasion of their first encounter with legal authorities. In a single month last year, 1,912 of these volunteers contributed 84,000 hours of service in detention homes, group treatment centers, and training schools.

The budget request will support 3,162 VISTA volunteer work years of which 80 percent of this service will result from traditional, directly administered, and

wholly federally funded VISTA projects and the remainder through a combination of cost-shared, directly administered VISTA projects, and VISTA grants. This budget assumes no increases in stipends or direct volunteer allowances in fiscal year 1977.

VISTA's antipoverty focus will continue. It also will be strengthened by emphasis on the volunteer resource mobilization role. Because unemployment has severe impact in poverty communities, we shall intensify our recruitment of volunteers from the local poverty community.

Public Law 93-113 requires a level of expenditure for the VISTA program which is above our budget request for fiscal year 1977. However, we are asking the Congress to eliminate this provision and permit the use of the cost-sharing and grant mechanism. Sharing of direct support costs will stretch the Federal dollar. Grant authority will allow economies of scale in programing. Both will give us a sound basis for joint community planning.

3. Service Learning Programs

The Service Learning programs' request is based on our proposed modification of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 to eliminate the requirement that 90 percent of Service Learning funds go to the University Year for ACTION. Given ACTION's mandate to mobilize citizen volunteers, and given budget realities, we believe we must provide greater resources to those Service Learning activities which can mobilize and support the largest number of volunteers through a modest investment of Federal funds.

This has led us to the decision to enlarge the Youth Challenge program, which provides part-time antipoverty service opportunities to young people and to expand technical assistance to student volunteer programs in high schools and colleges through the National Student Volunteer program.

The Youth Challenge program has been tested in 25 communities. Preliminary evaluations indicate that it is a creative, effective approach to mobilizing young men and women to meet community needs while tying this experience to their education.

One of the most successful projects is sponsored by the public school system of Richland, Wash. There, 200 student volunteers are providing service for 21 community agencies, working especially with the physically and mentally handicapped. Richland's high schools offer academic credit for this volunteer service. Additional funding for 'the National Student Volunteer program will support a higher level of technical assistance to some 2,600 independent high school and college volunteer programs which involve close to a half million student volunteers. At present, NSVP provides these volunteer programs with consultant services, training workshops, how-to-do-it manuals, publications, and other technical assistance on a budget of $325,000 and with a staff of four. This operation is the prototype for the technical assistance role ACTION should play in the non-Federal volunteer arena.

The University Year for ACTION program will be reduced. The number of participating education institutions will decline from 63 in fiscal year 1976 to 35 in fiscal year 1977. The volunteer years of service will drop from 1,853 in the current fiscal year to 934 next year. Reallocation of resources within the Service Learning programs, from the University Year for ACTION program to Youth Challenge and National Student Volunteer programs, will require amendment of part B to title I of our existing legislation to reduce the present funding formula as we have proposed.

4. Special Volunteer Programs

You know of my conviction that ACTION must be an innovating, experimenting agency testing new approaches to the mobilization of volunteer resources. We have used the funds for the Special Volunteer programs to plan, demonstrate, and evaluate exciting new concepts in voluntarism. In fiscal year 1976, I can report a number of major accomplishments:

By yearend, we will have statewide volunteer coordinators in 32 States. Through evaluations and the testimony of the Governors and citizens of these States, we have learned that this program is meeting and exceeding its goals.

The Mini-Grant program, which provides small seed money grants of $5,000 or less to community groups, will distribute an estimated $500,000 this year. In fiscal year 1977, a program of $300,000 is proposed and a reduction of 71 grants from the levels of the current fiscal year.