Congresswoman Johnson hosts experts from White House, Feeding America and United Way

Washington, DC – The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Community Reinvestment Taskforce, which Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson chairs with Congressman Danny Davis of Illinois, today hosted a briefing on community service initiatives.  The speakers were Sonal Shah, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation; Jean Yavis Jones, Senior Policy and Research Counsel for Feeding America; and Stacey D. Stewart, Executive Vice President of Community Impact Leadership and Learning at United Way Worldwide.

“We must fundamentally change the way we understand problems in our society and the way we meet the communal challenges we face,” Congresswoman Johnson said.  “President Obama has called on us to serve our communities in unique and dynamic ways, and our speakers today have extremely valuable ideas on how we can meet that challenge.”

In 2009, Congress passed and President Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which more than tripled the number of AmeriCorps volunteers and created a Social Innovation Fund to invest in ideas for new service programs.

More information about opportunities for service is available at www.serve.gov, www.servir.gov (Spanish), www.feedingamerica.org and www.liveunited.org.

###

U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson is the highest-ranking Texan on the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure and a senior member of the Science Committee. She represents the 30th Congressional District of Texas, which, includes Downtown Dallas, Fair Park, Oak Lawn, Old East Dallas, Pleasant Grove, & South Oak Cliff; all of Balch Springs, DeSoto, Hutchins, Lancaster & Wilmer and parts of Cedar Hill, Duncanville, Ferris, Glenn Heights and Ovilla.