this job, working with americorps, gave me a way out. it gave me a chance to do what i want to do, and at the same time, gain financial stability and independence. through the americorps program, they allow you to not only defer your loans until after you have finished your term, but they also give you the eli siegel award, which is approximately $5,000 to use towards repaying loans or to further your education that, along with the sense of community based scholarship and service, encourages people to want to join the americorps program. it's a great experience. why sit around and wait for someone else to step in and intervene and meet the needs, the domestic needs of the people when you can do it yourself. it makes you feel like you're actually... actually making a difference. >> suzanne: that's "nightly business report" for friday, april 1. i'm suzanne pratt. goodnight everyone and you too tom. >> tom: good night, suzanne. i'm tom hudson. have a great weekend everyone.. we hope to see all of you again next week. "nightly business repor

the americorps program is now one which has had a tremendous impact. it enables 75,000 americans annually to serve via americorps with a very wide range of programs, programs where the funding is raised and its focus is directed by state-by-state commissions of volunteers, community leaders, who help identify the best and most appropriate, most effective partners for this federally funded program that is also matched one to one from dollars from the local community. so far more than 60 million hours of community service annually has been provided by americorps members. we will, -- while in delaware the volunteer fire service is one of the strongest parts of that long and proud history of our state, there are more than 88 volunteer fire companies in our state. they provide the vast majority of fire suppression service for our communities. and they faced a real problem when i became county executive. a steady loss in membership, as working-class families were under more and more pressure, more folks, both parents are working, they're under more stresses,

not volunteers, but volunteer service, you know, an americorps member who helps teach reading or mentoring in a new york city public high school or habitat for humanity or teach for america. those places -- those organizations have a place. so i did it for a long time trying to create bipartisan consensus under -- tried to convince democrats that these young adults shouldn't be out on liberal causes and convince republicans that they're part of the civic society and the civic fabric and if there was a place where the right and left could meet, i wanted to prove it. now -- and i would say under the -- under both presidents bush and obama, we had created one of the truly bipartisan organizations that was respectful of civic communities. and so i stayed. >> how many presidents overall have you worked for? >> well, i -- those are the two i worked for. i've been fortunate enough -- you know, i've been around in politics long enough to have been invited here and there to do -- i was on -- president reagan pointed me to the missing and exploited children's board and first president bush -- i was

>> americorps this up. there may be others. i'm happy to provide details on programs that benefit san franciscans but do not flow directly through san francisco's budget. supervisor chu: that would be great. i know we have item 3 also, which is a resolution. would you like to present that item as well? >> i think mr. chu from the mayor's office of housing is here to address that issue. >> good afternoon, director of community development from the mayor's office of housing. i think you have heard the description of the possible cuts. let me give you a little bit of the latest update we have from our partners, the national community development association. they have been working, trying to have meetings with each and every senator because that is where we feel we may have to focus to save this program. in their meetings with the senators, they had discovered that many of the newest senators were unaware that cdbg supported any services in their state. the educational process, i think, was useful. however, while many of the senat

an americorps member who helps teach reading our mentoring in an new york city high school, or habitat for humanity, or teach for america, those organizations have a place. i tried to create a bipartisan consensus and convince democrats that these young adults should be out on liberal causes. if there is a place where there it right and left in me, i wanted to prove it. under both presidents bush and obama, we created a true buyout -- bipartisan organization. >> how many presidents have you worked for? >> i have been fortunate enough to have been invited here and there -- president reagan pointed me to the missing and exploited children's board. there are not too many republican mayors, so you tend to get included in thanks just by number. i have been fortunate to see a lot of really great people. >> what did you see up close with george w. bush that either impressed you, or what is your overall opinion of his presidency? >> i am just a local mayor, so i don't want to evaluate his presidency. i was fortunate enough to be able to help on domestic policy, and i was pleased that he follow

one of the programs the republicans have targeted for cuts is an outfit called americorps, and these kids working for college credit and working to get this experience as is spare on the's purse, the baptist disaster relief squads that they send down, the men nights. yes, there's a lot of stuff that people do. and you know, you can't -- to thin this out somewhat, i'm not a native-born, but i've been here all my life, you know, don't mistake the force by one-three. there's a lot of good people here. there's a lot of love for the country and some of us may be misdecided to think they can do it all on their own but they are in shock, a lot of us are. but all of us southerners are going to do everything we can but we do need the government to respond. and i got to tell you, the americorps guys, that's a hell of a program, and i sure hope they don't cut it. host: there's a story in "the new york times" talking about the u.s. in terms of shrinking according to the u.s. census that was taken. the population in land area. it said according to the census bureau the land area peaked in 1940 at

tenure as ceo of the corporation for international and community service, the federal agency overseeing americorps, vista, a senior court, and other national service programs. after seven years and a well, time warner, and america online. thank you very much for being here. david, the stage is yours. >> terrific. so, thank you all for joining us. before we get going on really would like to ask our panelists, our audience to think alison young for putting all this together along with hugh allen who is they're actually taking pictures as well. thank you. [applause] and last night we got started so nicely with a preview of the upcoming movie, a series prohibition. we got to meet with ken burns and lynn novick who are putting that together. they put a lot of the questions that were facing in sort of a historical context using prohibition as a case study. one of the questions that seem to be percolating through all of the folks that are coming for this great weekend is why is this becoming such an important issue for america now? we are facing some of the toughest issues that we have faced in decades.