Inspire to Serve Act of 2024

# Summary of "Inspire to Serve Act of 2024" This comprehensive legislation focuses on strengthening the Federal workforce and national service systems through several key initiatives: ## Federal Workforce Development - **Federal Fellowship and Scholarship Center**: Establishes a centralized platform to administer and promote fellowship/scholarship programs for attracting talent to Federal service. - **Public Service Corps**: Creates a scholarship program where students receive financial support in exchange for a 4-year civil service commitment after graduation. - **Public Service Academy Grants**: Provides grants to up to 50 institutions of higher education to develop leadership programs preparing students for public service careers. - **Pathways Program**: Establishes an Internship Program and Recent Graduates Program to provide noncompetitive hiring opportunities for students and recent graduates. ## Critical Skills and Workforce Planning - **Critical Skills List**: Requires the Department of Defense to maintain an annual list of critical skills needed (including cyber, medical, language, and STEM skills). - **Individual Ready Reserve for Critical Skills**: Creates a reserve component for personnel with critical skills who can be activated without consent. - **Cyber Talent Management**: Expands the Cyber Talent Management System to address cybersecurity workforce needs. ## Compensation and Recruitment - **Federal Interns**: Requires agencies to pay interns at least minimum wage (with exceptions for academic credit). - **Enhanced Hiring Targets**: Sets aggregate hiring targets of 30,000 by 2029 and 50,000 by 2034 for recent graduates and post-secondary students. - **Noncompetitive Appointments**: Creates pathways for noncompetitive appointments for those completing fellowships, scholarships, or internships. ## National Mobilization Modernization - **Selective Service System**: Modernizes the draft system to ensure it can mobilize personnel during national emergencies. - **National Mobilization**: Designates a lead official for national mobilization and establishes an Executive Agent for National Mobilization within the Department of Defense. - **Mobilization Exercises**: Requires regular exercises incorporating the Selective Service System into national mobilization planning. The legislation aims to build a more effective Federal workforce by creating clear pathways for students and recent graduates to enter government service, addressing critical skills gaps, and modernizing national mobilization systems to better meet current and future national security challenges.