AmeriCorps veteran Michael D. Smith tells All-America City audience service heals communities and individuals

Michael D. Smith, president and CEO of the national nonprofit Eckerd Connects and former CEO of AmeriCorps, delivered the All-America City keynote focused on service and volunteerism, arguing that service strengthens communities and individuals alike.

“By helping others, you help yourself,” Smith said, citing research and national leadership that frames volunteering as a public-health and civic-strengthening activity. He referenced the U.S. surgeon general’s comment that volunteering can help address loneliness and youth mental-health challenges.

Smith described a range of volunteer-driven projects and programs that scaled local impact: youth-led mutual-aid networks during the COVID-19 pandemic, service-driven climate-action efforts, AmeriCorps initiatives linking young people to jobs and civic engagement, and Second Chance Pell, a higher-education pilot for incarcerated learners he helped launch in the White House.

He told personal stories from his upbringing and public-service career, including mentors at the Boys & Girls Club and a foster-grandparent program that pairs older volunteers with children in schools. Smith connected those anecdotes to broader program outcomes such as volunteer retention, improved health measures among volunteers, and community resilience.

Smith urged older leaders to “clear a pathway” for young people to lead now, and he celebrated the array of local volunteer efforts showcased at the awards, from large tree-planting drives to youth-led neighborhood cleanups.

The remarks combined policy framing, evidence about volunteer benefits, and personal testimony intended to encourage civic service as a practical response to civic stress and local problems.