Just cause.

• Position: Letter to the Editor

Here in El Paso, Texas, we too are wondering what happened to President Bush's pledge to expand national service ("What Ever Happened to National Service?" by Richard Just, March). Our Ameri-Corps program had a January 2003 start date--we have yet to enroll members. We were caught in the middle of the freeze on Ameri-Corps member enrollment and still haven't been told if indeed we will be able to enroll members and begin providing services to address the needs of hundreds of youth in our community.

SANDRA BRAHAM El Paso, Texas I am proud to be able to address the question Richard Just poses. National service--or at least participation in service nationally--is alive and well with National Student Partnerships (NSP), where university student volunteers run drop-in centers in nine cities around the country, helping disadvantaged residents gain access to critical employment, social, and human services within their community. Since 1998, the organization has grown from the founders' ambitious idea--recruiting Yale University students to...