Hillary Clinton Unveils National Service Plan at Florida Events

Hillary Clinton held two rallies in Florida today with the first being in Fort Pierce. While Clinton spoke about a number of her key platform points, she introduced a new plan focused on expanding national service opportunities. She said that the plan will appeal to younger adults just out of college saying, “Studies have shown that millennials are particularly interested in volunteerism and are looking for ways to contribute to their communities. Applications to AmeriCorps positions are five times greater than the current number of slots available and the Peace Corps has seen a 32 percent increase in applications compared to the previous year.” A video of Clinton’s speech is below.

In Coral Springs, Clinton held a rally where she continued to tout her national service plan along with her broad platform. Clinton also went after Republican Donald Trump for his attacks on former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, calling a series of early morning Tweets attacking Machado “unhinged, even for him.” She then spoke about Trump’s lack of preparation for Monday night’s debate saying, “Did any of you see the debate the other night? Well, I think that it was pretty clear that there are two very different choices for our country based on two very different visions of the kind of America that we want to have. You know, my view is that we are already great and if we work together we will become even greater in the years ahead.” A video from the Coral Spring event is below.

While Clinton spoke at length about her plan for a National Service Reserve at both events, The Briefing released full details of the plan today as well. An outline of the plan is below:

• Enable local and state leaders to activate highly-motivated and well-trained volunteers to address the most pressing issues in the community
• Provide reservists with the opportunity to earn special certification for 50, 100, and 250 hours of service per year
• Work with employers to encourage them to support employees in the Reserve through initiatives like volunteer time off
• Draw on new AmeriCorps members to recruit, train, and lead the Reserve
• Dramatically expand year-long service positions, with the vision that every person who wants to serve full-time can do so
• Engage returning veterans as well as Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and other national service alumni in the Reserve as a way for them to continue to contribute to the common good
• Expand service opportunities for encore: Clinton wants to expand service opportunities for all Americans throughout their lives, with a special focus on people over age 55
• Grow Peace Corps to create additional opportunities for Americans to serve in countries around the world

For all the latest, follow our Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Also, be sure to subscribe to the campaign’s official Podcast, With Her.

News Source: The Briefing, Palm Beach Post, CBS Miami, ABC 10

Clinton Unveils Plan to Support those Living with Autism

At an event held today in Sioux City, Iowa, Hillary Clinton outlined her plan to to help families who face Autism on a daily basis. The sweeping plan includes increasing screening, improving treatments, creating partnerships for employment opportunities, and committing additional research funding to better understand Autism. During the town hall, Clinton introduced her plan, then took questions from those in attendance. In addition to discussing her plan at the event in Sioux City, Clinton also released additional details on The Briefing. An outline of her plan is below.

• Screening and Awareness
  • Boost early screening rates with a nationwide outreach campaign
  • Promote multi-sector awareness campaign
• Autism Treatment and Insurance Coverage
  • Improve access to autism services in the ACA marketplace and through private health insurance
  • Increase state compliance with Medicaid coverage requirements for children with autism and other developmental disabilities and create an autism-service-access scorecard that makes state Medicaid compliance publicly accessible
  • Work with the Department of Defense to ensure military families have full access to autism services through TRICARE
• Safety and Services for Children and Youth
  • Enact the Keeping All Students Safe Act
  • Protect children with autism from bullying in their classrooms
• Community Supports and Services for Individuals Transitioning into Adulthood
  • Launch a new Autism Works Initiative consisting of a post-graduation transition plan for every student with autism aging out of school-based services and a public-private partnership with employers
  • Combine the Autism Works Initiative with new legislation to fund employment demonstration grants for individuals with autism and other disabilities
  • Increase housing opportunities for autistic youth and adults
• Caregiving
  • Encourage all states to enact ABLE legislation and ensure consumer protection for ABLE account beneficiaries
  • Provide new support to caregivers
• Research
  • Significantly increase funding so that the government can invest more in autism research
  • Call for the first-ever adult autism prevalence and needs study
• Enforcement
  • Ensure states meet their obligations under IDEA’s Child Find Program to identify, screen, and refer children with disabilities for services
  • Ensure access to assistive technologies
  • Enforce mental health parity protections
  • Continue vigorous enforcement of Olmstead
  • Dedicate new funding to autism protection and advocacy

A video from the event is below.

For all the latest, follow our revamped Scheduled Events page and follow Clinton on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

News Source: The Briefing, Time