Gov. Jay Inslee awarded 2016 State Service Leadership Award

“Gov. Inslee has been a tremendous leader on the state and national level advocating for national service and volunteering,” Kaira Esgate, CEO of America’s Service Commissions, said. “One of the first bills he supported as a member of Congress was the National Service Trust Act of 1993 that created AmeriCorps. Since being elected governor, he and first lady Trudi Inslee have hosted the Governor’s Volunteer Service Awards in the Executive Residence and recognized more than 200 community volunteers.” 

“Volunteer service strengthens communities and is an essential part of the solutions to challenges we face in our state and our country,” Inslee said. “Serve Washington, our state service commission, is doing critical, valuable work to meet the needs of our residents while improving communities in every corner of the state.”

The 2016 award recipients are:

• State Service Leadership Award: Gov. Jay Inslee (Washington)
• Friend of America’s Service Commissions: Sen. Thad Cochran (Mississippi)
• Outstanding Commission Staff: Emily Steinberg (Texas)
• Outstanding Commissioner: John Albright (Missouri)
• Outstanding Commissioner: Carolyn Bloodworth (Michigan)
• Outstanding Service Program: AmeriCorps Urban Safety (Michigan)

About America’s Service Commissions

America’s Service Commissions is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization representing and promoting the 52 governor-appointed state service commissions across the United States and territories with the mission to advance national service, volunteerism and the network of state service commissions. State service commissions are governor-appointed public agencies or nonprofit organizations composed of more than 1,110 commissioners — private citizens leading the nation's service movement and administering 78 percent of the federal AmeriCorps funds to address pressing community needs. Learn more:www.statecommissions.org. 

About Serve Washington

Serve Washington advances national service, volunteerism and civic engagement to improve lives; expands opportunity to meet the local critical needs of residents of Washington; and strengthens community capacity while creating healthy and resilient communities.