U. alum to work in Bush's Light program

1990 University graduate Joelle Roberts was chosen as one of seven people to serve as an ambassador for Youth Engaged in Service, a division of the Points of Light Foundation which President Bush helped to found. As a YES Ambassador, 23-year-old Rogers' efforts will be geared toward the mobilization of youth between the ages of five and 25 in the fight against problems such as poverty, illiteracy, drug abuse, and hunger. Rogers said to accomplish this the group will act as a catalyst to youth service by making presentations and giving workshops on how to form community outreach programs and develop service. She and the other YES Ambassadors will also use the forums of television, radio and newspaper to make their efforts known. The YES program not only helps give ideas of how youth service can help communities, but it also thrives on ideas of others within the general public, she said. YES then mobilizes these idea with financial help. Rogers, a history major while at the University, applied to the program because of a "great need [for community service] exists." She has worked with the Benjamin Franklin Public Service Program and is currently a member of the American Jewish Congress Issues Forum Committee for Philadelphia. Before becoming a member of YES, she was part of the West Philadelphia Improvement Corps, where she was a senior administrator. The Points of Light Foundation was created in May of 1990 as a result of President Bush's call for national participation in community service. As a University student, Rogers studied abroad for a semester at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria where she obtained a "totally different perspective" of her life and the world. She said the United States and Nigeria have "very similar problems." Rogers said that although she believes that poverty, homelessness and illiteracy are worldwide problems, she is taking direct steps to solve the problems in this country, specifically in Pennsylvania. "There is a discrepancy between those with money and those without," she said, "I'm amazed with the resources we have." Rogers said she believes there are plenty of resources -- both human and natural -- to solve the problems this world holds. Rogers feels that "youth participation[in community service] means building youth leaders." Education is one of the keys to solving the problems of this country and she enjoys the fact that the YES program makes a tie between service and education, Rogers added. Public awareness of the problems in this country and advocating youth participation in community service are important elements in improving conditions in this country, she said.

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