Angie Craig: “Congress established the highly successful Congressional Award in 1979 to recognize initiative, achievement, and service…”

“Congress established the highly successful Congressional Award in 1979 to recognize initiative, achievement, and service in young people. The Congressional Award is the U.S. Congress' award for young Americans. It is nonpartisan, voluntary, and noncompetitive. The award enjoys broad bipartisan support. This excellent program has grown by more than 3,000 participants during fiscal year 2003, and currently, there are some 14,750 active participants from across the nation. In the past, the Congressional Award Program has been able to sustain itself. Because of the tremendous growth of this program, its resources have been stretched to the breaking point. After the events of 9/11 and the recent recession, patterns of charitable giving have changed and this program, like many worthy causes, has had an extremely difficult time maintaining earlier levels of contributions, much less accommodating its rapid growth.”