After 3 Years, "America's Promise" Continues

By Jeff Archer

Greensboro. N.C.

Radio, television, and print journalists are packed into the library here at Jackson Middle School, putting a new twist on the words "media center."

But this is a big day for the local community, so the frenzy doesn't bother them. Retired U.S. Army Gen. Colin L. Powell—the overwhelmingly popular former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—has come to review the soldiers in his latest campaign. For the past three years, Mr. Powell has chaired America's Promise—The Alliance for Youth, which promotes volunteerism in the name of children.

Around wooden tables normally occupied by students hunched over their homework, community leaders tick off their successes: for example, the jump from 24 to 60 volunteer centers in North Carolina over the past two years and the annual addition of 20,000 youngsters participating in the state's...