The success of the national-service campaign may hinge on whether community agencies and those that they serve are involved in the process. Critical areas are the use of language that people can understand; public meetings; outreach that stresses diversity; funding; planning; action context; management; training; and evaluation. (SLD)

The author's experiences in community service at a Quaker summer work camp 30 years ago taught him more about himself than about the community in which he helped. National service needs to include an organizing orientation that allows the strengths of both participants and community members to flourish. (SLD)

A major problem with the proposed approaches to national service is that they may draw attention away from the real causes of and the feasible solutions to critical problems. Community action should involve young people in sustained, long-term empowering activities, not in one-time experiences or in work that does not challenge current power…

It is vital to include youth in national-service plans. Basic approaches include putting young people on the team; putting youth on the national-corporation board; getting administrators into national-service; creating youth forums; and letting young people make decisions. (SLD)

Describes strategies to build and support coalitions for services in an era of diminished public and private resources. It becomes necessary to redefine the client, the community, and the agency or organization to develop appropriate roles for each component in the current social and economic climate. (SLD)

Benefits to the helper are important to consider in a national-service program, along with the benefits to the recipient. Some suggestions are offered to ensure reciprocity in community service. Democratizing help giving, that is making it available to the widest possible audience, could help remove some of the pitfalls associated with help…

Suggests that what is needed is a more balanced federalism which will increase local community development under special revenue sharing with a new generation of comprehensive and more responsive categorical programs. (Author/AM)

How to expand to a larger scale a working community-service program using federal money is considered. Planning time is an essential, as are a focus on program culture and technical support. Adapting programs, rather than prescribing solutions, should help in the cautious move toward a national program. (SLD)

Most drug-abuse-treatment programs fail because they have no community base, no clear social perspective, and because they rely on rehabilitated addicts lacking professional expertise and professionals isolated from the communities they serve. (JM)

Lessons worth noting from existing community-service programs include the importance of reciprocity and benefit to the volunteer; accountability to the community; youth leadership; a multigenerational approach; crossing the color line; and open mindedness. The service movement provides real possibilities for mutual advantage. (SLD)