Those old saws of making lemonade from lemons and overused words such as proactive do have their place. In March of this year, I informed the NASPA membership that NASPA was participating in a working group with other higher education associations led by NAICU to increase the awareness of the external community, particularly the legislative and executive branches of our government, of the community service contributions our colleges and universities make. Our objective was also to make sure that the entire campus community would participate in community service and not just a selected group of work study students. I asked your opinion on proposals about legislation on college work study and community service, and you were terrific in providing me with the facts on the impact this would have on your campuses. I took this information to the working group and as a result, the working group has created a response that will accomplish both objectives mentioned above. As you may recall, in last week's NetResults we asked you to complete the brief online survey that was part of an assessment on the current status of community service initiatives.

This fall a broad alliance of higher education associations in conjunction with Campus Compact is launching CampusCares: Solutions for Stronger Communities. The initiative will identify and encourage involvement of students, faculty, staff, and administration in service. We need your participation in this national initiative. I have pledged NASPA's support in the fall kick-off. Please go to the CampusCares website to get ideas on how to heighten visibility of service activities on your campus to contribute your program(s) to the growing list of resources for others. Even though this initiative is being launched this fall, I encourage you to continue to publicize your campus service events throughout the academic year. When you determine what you will do to participate in this national initiative, please let me know so we can highlight you and your service event in NASPA news through the Forum and on the NASPA website.

Thank you for all you do to show that campuses do care and are committed to the larger community. If you have questions or are interested in becoming a "kickoff" site for the CampusCares initiative early this fall, please call Beth Beck or me in the NASPA office 202/265-7500 or email Beth at bbeck@naspa.org.