Jimmy Kimmel, Chelsea Clinton ask youth to 'Serve A Year'

HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Chelsea Clinton and Jimmy Kimmel teamed up Monday to encourage young Americans to spend a year serving their communities.

"It's great to see so many people, especially young people, dedicating yourselves to public service because you care about people and not because a court ordered you to," Kimmel joked at the national launch of the "Serve A Year" initiative.

The three-year campaign brings together Hollywood stars, business executives and the tech world to inspire young people to make serving a year in national service as common as getting a high school education.

"We very much hope that 'Serve A Year' will become as common as answering any other questions, whether it's about your favorite selfie or where you went to high school or where you went to college," Clinton said.

The campaign hopes to tackle big issues, like hunger, poverty and homelessness with the untapped resource.

"The goal of this mission is essentially to put less focus on yourself and put more focus on others," Kimmel said. "Did you know that before selfies... people used to take pictures of other people?"

Zach Maurin, executive director of ServiceNation, said the year of service comes with a paycheck and a scholarship.

"This is about giving them the skills and experiences they need, so they can support themselves while they're helping to change peoples' lives," Maurin said.

Raisa Ma, a third year AmeriCorps member, said the experience is a win-win for everyone involved.

"You have nothing to lose and so much to gain from this experience. Not only are you going to be giving back to your community, but you're going to be able to develop yourself professionally and personally and really find what it is you want to do in the long run," said Ma, a Shriver Corps Program Fellow with LIFT Los Angeles.