OKLAHOMA CITY – Newly elected National Governors Association (NGA) Chair Maryland Gov. Wes Moore Governor today delivered remarks at the 2026 NGA Summer Meeting to officially launch “Service United,” the governor’s signature campaign as chair of the bipartisan organization that represents governors across 50 states and 5 territories.
Governor Moore’s “Service United” launch remarks as delivered:
Good afternoon.
First, can we please give Taylor a huge round of applause for the extraordinary job that she just did.
I don’t know if y’all caught, but if you look at her shirt, you know it says you know Maryland Corps and Service Year Option, etc. But look at the other side, and it says leader, and that’s exactly who you are.
And, while you did an outstanding job, it’s very difficult to follow you, but we will follow you anywhere. So keep leading, because we will follow.
I’m incredibly grateful to be here and to take over the gavel for my friend Governor Stitt, who again it is so nice being here in Oklahoma. We got a chance to watch some professional bull riding. We got a chance to get some amazing cowboy boots. We got a chance to have some extraordinary meals, but also to be here with some extraordinary friends.
So, to your remarkable first lady here in Oklahoma, and also the governor’s state. Thank you for the hospitality, for the friendship, and for the leadership.
We also know this experience would not be possible without the leadership of Dr. Brandon Tatum. That yes, give him a round of applause.
To Dr. Tatum and the entire NGA team…The work that you all have continued to do to to pull us together, to keep us focused on a north star, to be able to make sure that in a time when the country needs this organization now as much as ever before, that the organization can be as strong as it ever has been.
You all have done a remarkable job, and so to you, to this entire NGA team, and also I want to give a special shout out to the Maryland team and the Maryland leadership that has helped to pull this together, and the Oklahoma team. We just want to say thank you all for your remarkable, remarkable public service.
It’s important to note, you know, I said that this gavel is heavy, and it actually is heavier than I thought it was, but that there is a weight that comes with it. There’s a weight that I know that Mike feels, Governor Braun over in Indiana, that there is something special about this organization.
This organization truly is one of one, because at a time when I know that politics can feel like a game, at a time when we know that politics, for a lot of people in our society, politics just feels like a game that a select few can win, and everyone else is going to lose.
At a time when I know that, for a lot of people, division has actually become a business model, where people actually make money on dividing us, where people actually win when other people suffer. Where we are watching people who are using media platforms not as places to educate, but as places to share personal grievances and opinions.
At a time when people are being told to ignore our past, and people are being told to hate our neighbors, at a time when people are hurting, and at a time when people are frankly exhausted, when people are not being asked to sacrifice because they think things will get better, they’re being asked to sacrifice because others enjoy watching them suffer.
At a time when many people feel like the folks in Washington know all of this, and they just simply don’t care, what this organization does, and what this gathering does, is this: is that here in Oklahoma, and here with the NGA, we are showing that there is, in fact, a different and a better way.
That our nation’s governors, my colleagues, are proving, not simply in words, but also proving in deeds that this nation is worth fighting for, and that while not everyone will end up in the same spot, we are all committed to making sure that everybody at least gets a fair shot.
Early this morning, my amazing wife Dawn and I, we had a chance to tour the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum with Governor Stitt and First Lady Sarah Stitt. We have a friend. Governor Cox of Utah, and with former Chief Justice Steven Taylor, that memorial and museum is breathtaking.
It honors those who died and those who survived, and those whose lives were changed forever. 169 people died that morning. 19 of them were children. 169 people who died in a horrific act of violence and hatred.
And while that memorial and the museum honors those who we lost that morning, it also does something very important. It talks about it and highlights the horrors of that day in April, but it also talks about the people who responded.
That when Oklahoma called for help, all of Oklahoma responded. That when Oklahoma called for help, the entire nation showed up.
FEMA deployed 11 urban search and rescue teams from across the country, to include Maryland Task Force One, a task force out of Montgomery County, and right here in Oklahoma City, extraordinary people did something extraordinarily American.
They served their neighbors. They sought to ease their pain, and they did it with the courage that this state still carries.
They didn’t ask about the person’s origin or their or their political affiliation, they did not ask what God they prayed to, or if they prayed to a God at all. They just simply said, This is a person in need, and at a time when a person needs and deserves a champion. When people were looking for champions, they said, If not me, then who? And if not now, then when?
They served. They gave that spirit of service and honor and kindness. Y’all gave it a name: the Oklahoma Standard.
The Oklahoma Standard rests on a simple idea: that when people need help, we leave no one behind. It’s the same standard that I learned when I was 17 years old, when I joined the army, that I was too young to even sign the paperwork, so my mother had to sign the paperwork for me, but after my teenage years, my mom signed whatever paperwork the army put in front of her.
But we leave no one behind.
The lesson represents a continuation of a larger mission for this great organization, where Spencer Cox, when he was chair, he asked us to Disagree Better. But when Jared Polis was the chair, he told us to get ready, educating all Americans for success. Now, when Kevin Stitt grabbed the gavel. He dared us to reignite the American dream.
So over this next year, I will ask us to lead in Service United, and to remember that in this time of political divisiveness and political vitriol-that it is, in fact, service that will save us-and I know that service is going to save us because I know it was service that saved me.
That my journey has been defined by service, whether it was service in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division, from my work as an entrepreneur in Baltimore City, helping underserved students make it to and through college. Whether it was my tenure as CEO of one of the largest poverty-fighting organizations in this country, service allowed me to meet people I otherwise would have never had a chance to meet, and to go places, both in this country and around the world, that I never even knew existed, and I did learn that service was in fact sticky.
People who serve together oftentimes stick together regardless of background or income or political ideology. So at this moment, when people’s response to political toxicity is to lean out. Our ask is simple: lean in. Do not give up and do not give in, because my grandfather said, “Do not let someone take something from you when they never gave it to you in the first place.
At this moment, when the instinct is to retreat, we must encourage people to step forward, and I have made it my mission as governor that in Maryland we will be the state that serves.
And I’m proud to say that in Maryland, we became the first state in the country that offers a paid-year service to our high school graduates because every young person in our state deserves a chance to serve.
So after high school, our students can go to college. After high school, our students can go to trade school or apprenticeship programs. After high school, they can go onto the workforce. After high school, they can join the military. Well, now in the state of Maryland, they have another option.
You can choose to serve the state, and you can choose to make service the foundation for the rest of your life. We aren’t telling people of our state how to serve. We just want to give them the opportunity to serve. That you can serve in conservation or serve in education. You can serve our veterans. You can serve in mental health work, like Taylor. That it’s your choice. We just want to offer you the opportunity to make our world better, because our world needs it now as much as ever before.
Give young people a pathway to do something that makes their heartbeat a little bit faster, give people the opportunity to go and bridge these divides that need bridging. And, it’s a model that we know that works because it’s a model that we’ve seen in action across the country. Where Utah connects service with education and careers. Colorado uses service to protect public lands and reduce wildfire risks. Minnesota’s Reading Corps helps children to learn to read. In Connecticut, they use paid service to meet community needs with helping people to gain real-world experiences.
The programs differ because the needs are going to differ, and that’s okay. That’s what makes it personalized. And now we need to make sure we’re taking that work even further, because we know the need is national. Over 5 million young people in this country, during the ages of 16 and 24, neither working nor in school. 5 million young people who are trying to figure out where they are in this journey, and who are trying to see themselves in this larger American Dream?
And deep civic divisions make it harder for Americans to know one another, to trust one another, to solve problems together. These are not separate problems; they reinforce each other.
And young people need a chance to not just contribute, but they need a chance to understand where they can walk in their next step. That can then set them on the pace for everything that they will do next. Our communities need people who are ready to serve. Our country needs more people who understand that we still owe something to one another.
And so today, with all of you, I’m proud to launch the first pillar of the National Governors Association’s Campaign for America: Service United.
Service United is a bipartisan call to governors to create and expand paid service programs in their states. These programs will put people to work meeting urgent needs where those needs are. They will help people to build skills. They will help people to earn credentials. They will connect people with employers, and they will bring together Americans who might not otherwise even know each other.
So the promise is simple: service from all, opportunity for all.
We are launching Service United with a $10 million focus in aligned philanthropic support, and I want to thank our partners at the Andrew Carnegie Foundation and the Schultz Family Foundation for helping to seed this initial investment in the organization.
Through the Service United Fund, states can apply for grants for up to 1.5 million dollars to plan, build, or expand their programs.
So listen, I know the way governors hear things, and as any governor knows, when you just heard, wait a second, 1.5 million dollars to do what?
Yes, our states now have an opportunity to use these grants to help to build and build out programs they have within their own states, and the NGA will work directly with participating states as they build or expand those programs.
They will provide hands-on support to selected states that are ready to begin. They will bring states together to solve problems and learn from one another. We will share what worked. We will share what didn’t work, and we will focus on making sure that we can bring positive change in our communities to scale.
So over the next year, I am asking every governor in this country, Democrat and Republican, for three things. First, identify one urgent need in your state that paid service can help to meet two. Build a model to recruit and support the next generation into this work. And three, make sure that the service for that young person leads somewhere.
Term of service should help someone to earn a credential, or begin an apprenticeship, or continue their education, or find a job.
Also, importantly, find partnerships that they are going to lean on and rely on for the rest of their lives, and the NGA and our partners are here to help you all along the way.
Our long-term goal is to reach 1 million Americans serving each year within the next decade, and with the leadership and the help of this organization and our nation’s remarkable governors, we are going to get this done.
Now I know that goal is ambitious, but let’s be clear: it should be. We are governors after all, but we will not just measure that work by simply how many people sign up.
We will measure that work by our work to lend a hand to make sure that if a child is living in poverty, you don’t have to die that way. We are going to measure this work to make sure we are providing assistance to a student in need. We’re going to measure this work to make sure that we can lift up the single parent who is struggling to raise two kids. We are going to measure this work to make sure that we are creating pathways to a young man who watched his father die in front of him when he was three years old, who have felt handcuffs on his wrist when he was 11 years old, whose mother did not get her first job that gave her benefits after her husband died until he was 14 years old, but who can still now stand in front of you as the 63rd governor of the state of Maryland.
Service teaches us that you and the person beside you are the partners in working towards a common goal. Even if someone looks different or has a different belief structure, do not turn them into a caricature or into an enemy. That if we are all God’s children, then by definition we are brothers and sisters, and the only thing the Lord asks is that then we act appropriately.
So that’s why service matters. That’s why service mattered in the past. That’s why service matters in the present. That’s why service matters in the future. That’s why service will save us inside of this moment. So, as governors, as leaders, and as God’s vessels, this is our moment to make it count together.
So, thank you for this work. Thank you for the work we will do today, tomorrow, and going forward. And thank you for making sure that at a time when our nation is at pain that it is our nation’s governors and is the NGA who provide the balm that our society needs, so that the future will know that we understood the assignments and we are going to bring us into a better place.
So God bless you. Let service save us, and let’s leave no one behind in this process. Thank you all so much.
