Melody Barnes revealed some new ideas about the youth unemployment problem at the Aspen Ideas Festival.
Barnes, who served as President Obama's former Director of the Domestic Policy Council, joined HuffPost on Friday to discuss the transformative impact of service on young people.
Barnes mentioned that engaging in community and national service is not only a way to help others, but is also an avenue for disconnected youth to discover more job opportunities and feel empowered in their job search.
"It is a clear pathway -- and research has shown this -- for young men and young women who have not finished their education, not gone to high school, not engaged in a labor market. They go through these service programs and they are transformed," she told Ahmed Shihab-Eldin of HuffPost Live. "They become more civically engaged; they find jobs and opportunities. It’s amazing."
Barnes currently works as the Chair of the Aspen Institute's Forum for Community Solutions, which works with nonprofits, corporate leaders and philanthropists to maximize the collective impact of various community service initiatives.
This video is part of a series of interviews with speakers, attendees and panelists at The Aspen Ideas Festival, produced by The Huffington Post in conjunction with The Aspen Institute. For more videos from the series, click here. For more information about The Aspen Institute, click here.
Watch the full interview here, and then check out real-time tweets from the National Service Summit here:
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