The US government needs talented, educated individuals to perform essential functions. During the next five years, almost one-third of the government’s top scientists, engineers, mathematicians, economists and other specialized professionals will be eligible for retirement, packing up their desks and moving on to the next stage of their lives. Who will replace them in the job market?
The government will need to hire more than 193,000 new employees. However, the number of applicants needed to replace these federal workers is dwindling.
The Roosevelt Scholars Act is a bill currently circulating Capitol Hill designed to help address this shortage of workers. Introduced last July by David Price of North Carolina, The Roosevelt Scholars Act seeks to revitalize the government by recruiting the nation’s best and brightest to fill these crucial occupations. By creating an elite scholarship program to fund graduate-level study in exchange for civil commitment, the program seeks to create a new, high-performing workforce dedicated to public service.
Modeled after the military’s ROTC program, the Roosevelt Scholars Act will create a scholarship program for people pursuing degrees in areas of high skill and need, or “mission-critical” areas. It will establish a foundation award for up to $60,000 in tuition per year, for a maximum of five years, for students completing degrees in engineering, medicine and public health, foreign languages, information technology and law.
Scholarship recipients will be required to complete an internship with a federal agency in addition to serving as a federal service ambassador at his or her college or university. Upon graduation, the scholar will then work with a federal government agency for three to five years, depending on the duration of the degree program.
Learn more about the Roosevelt Scholars Act and sign a petition online expressing your support. Ultimately, the Roosevelt Scholars program would help restore prestige to federal service by raising awareness about federal opportunities and rebranding the government as a place where the best and brightest go to make a difference.
For more information go to Roosevelt Scholars, sign the petition, and encourage your peers and student leaders and faculty to support the Act.