Ted Kennedy’s Call to Service (And How I Got Into Harvard)

It’s not wholly surprising, given the current political climate, that Ted Kennedy’s legacy has been framed by the mass media in relation to healthcare reform. But Kennedy’s political and public impact reached far beyond bipartisan policy legislation. For me at least, Kennedy’s most powerful (and, successful) leadership came in the form of support for service and collective social change.

Following his death, Be The Change founder/City Year co-founder/potential candidate for Kennedy’s vacant senate seat Alan Khazei offered a moving tribute that highlighted Kennedy’s influence on nationwide opportunities for service and civic engagement. In part, Khazei wrote:

Senator Kennedy is the true godfather of the service movement. Without his tireless commitment, this movement as it thrives today never would have come about. He indelibly changed the fabric of America by not just inspiring, but personally enabling millions of citizens to give their time and skills to improve their communities and country. Through his visionary and bipartisan leadership in authoring the National and Community Service Act of 1990, the legislation that created AmeriCorps in 1993, and most recently with his good friend Senator Orrin Hatch, the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act of 2009, he created the infrastructure that empowers people all across our nation to put their energy and idealism to work addressing critical social needs.

While Kennedy’s service-oriented community development legislation continues to empower and invigorate communities across the country, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the personal impact these organizations had on my own life.

In the summer of 2006, I received a community-based research fellowship through the University of Michigan. The fellowship paired me with a non-profit community development corporation in Detroit, where I created and administered a neighborhood-wide survey. But the non-profit didn’t foot the bill for my services. Nor did Michigan. Instead, my research was subsidized by funds from AmeriCorps. In fact, two other Michigan students also worked at this particular non-profit for the summer, and both were funded by AmeriCorps. One was a graduate student in urban planning, and catalogued the non-profit’s real estate holdings. The other, an undergraduate student in Michigan’s business school, created and organized the Northwest Detroit Farmer’s Market, now in its third year of operation. If you know anything about Detroit, you know how monumental it is to offer fresh produce to the city’s residents. And all this work was made possible by AmeriCorps funding.

My research with the non-profit later became my research on the non-profit, forming the basis for my senior Honors thesis. That research became the basis for my applications to graduate school, which led me to Harvard where I study inequality and public policy. So in a Kevin Bacon-esque “six degrees of social justice separation,” Ted Kennedy helped me get into Harvard.

On a larger sociological level, Kennedy’s commitment to government-funded service organizations and legislation influences two related, critical components of urban poverty: civic engagement and social organization. When work disappears from central cities, as Harvard sociologist William Julius Wilson has so brilliantly argued, the rhythm and pulse of neighborhoods are disrupted. A lack of employment opportunities not only influences neighborhood economic stability, but it also removes valuable role models from day-to-day urban life. Social organization—the kind of informal rules and regulations that act as social control mechanisms and structure interpersonal interactions—is undermined when men and women don’t work regular, consistent hours.

Moreover neighborhood poverty, in part influenced by the aforementioned lack of employment opportunities, often reduces levels of civic engagement. Low levels of civic engagement often means less community cohesion and cooperation, which suppresses political power and places formidable barriers against paths to upward mobility. But organizations like AmeriCorps and other service groups empower impoverished neighborhoods and encourage active civic engagement—powerful mechanisms that help reduce inequality.

To be sure, service organizations like AmeriCorps are not without their conservative critics. But that’s probably just a testament to their continued relevance and effectiveness in bringing about social change. It’s also a testament to Ted Kennedy’s lasting legacy, one that stretches far beyond the fight for healthcare reform.

I Put On For My City

As a graduate student, my scholarly “career” is largely based on pointing out everything that’s wrong with the world. I dissect every little intricacy of U.S. public policy, deride American culture for its excesses, and lambast other scholars for “unconvincing” arguments. Rarely do I get an opportunity to point out what’s good in the world, which social policies work, and which scholars impress me.

Two recent articles in the Detroit Free Press have given me a reason to rejoice in the prospects of positive civic engagement—that is, something good to write about. On April 15th of this year, the Free Press ran an article on Bryan Barnhill, a Detroit native and recent Harvard graduate. Upon graduation with a degree in government, Bryan had numerous job offers throughout the East Coast. Nevertheless, he was committed to return home to Detroit. Quoted in the Free Press, he said

"I was inundated with the negative press going on in Detroit, and I was also being inspired by the political and social transformation that was happening in our country with the election of Barack Obama. I'm not prepared to take flight and leave Detroit, because where there is crisis, there is opportunity [emphasis added].”

Yet, Bryan couldn’t find a job anywhere in the city. Attempts to contact city agencies specializing in urban planning, real estate, and politics all failed. Here is a young man with dedication, drive, and commitment, unable to find a job in a city that needs his knowledge and expertise most.

This past Friday’s Free Press ran a follow-up on the newly employed young man. After the original article ran last month, Bryan received countless job offers and even a few pleas to run for City Council. Today, Bryan begins work at Southwest Solutions, a non-profit organization focusing on psychiatric counseling to mentally ill people in conjunction with community organizing and real estate development. Bryan’s specific duties include housing and real estate programs, and he is excited about his new job. I have to say, I’m excited too.

Bryan represents everything that is courageous about Detroit, everything that is valued at Harvard, and everything that we as a nation expect from our young people. This is the kind of non-tangible, non-measurable action we need, beyond bricks and mortar housing and resources. His commitment to his city—a city in need—is unparalleled and commendable. I, for one, wish him all the success in the world.

We need more Bryan Barnhills in Detroit. Hell, we need more Bryan Barnhills everywhere.