Our Mission and Guiding Principles
The mission of CNCS is to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering. As we pursue our goals, we are guided by the following principles:
Put the needs of local communities first. Strengthen the public-private partnerships that underpin all of our programs. Use our programs to build stronger, more effi
cient, and more sustainable community networks capable of mobilizing volunteers to address local needs, including disaster preparedness and response. Measure and continually improve our programs' benefits to service beneficiaries, participants, community organizations, and our national culture of service. Build collaborations wherever possible across our programs and with other federal programs. Help rural and economically distressed communities obtain access to public and private resources. Support diverse organizations, including faith-based and other community organizations, minority colleges, and disability organizations. Use service-learning principles to put volunteer and service activities into an appropriate context that stimulates life-long civic engagement. Support continued civic engagement, leadership, and public service careers for our programs' participants and community volunteers.
