Archive for December, 2008
can’t wait to march
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 11, 2008
Presidential Inaugural Parade to Include Peace Corps and AmeriCorps Alumni
Commitment to Community Service Highlighted by Parade Participants, National Day of Service
WASHINGTON - Today, in keeping with its commitment to hold inaugural events that celebrate our common values and reflect our nation’s history of community service, President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s Inaugural Committee officially extended an offer to the Peace Corps Community and AmeriCorps Alums to march in the 56th Inaugural Parade. Members of these service organizations will join representatives from across the country and our Armed Forces in the historic parade down Pennsylvania Avenue following President-elect Obama’s swearing-in ceremony on the steps of the Capitol.
“These organizations embody the best of our nation’s history, diversity and commitment to service,” said President-elect Obama. “Vice President-elect Biden and I are proud to have them join us in the parade.”
On Monday, January 19th, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the President-elect and Vice President-elect and their families will join Americans across the nation as they participate in activities dedicated to serving others in their communities. In 1994, Congress passed legislation designating the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday as a national day of community service, and the Presidential Inaugural Committee will be working to encourage participation in service projects nationwide to honor the legacy of Dr. King..
Organizations wishing to participate in the parade submitted an application to the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee (AFIC), which then assisted the Presidential Inaugural Committee in reviewing all of the groups’ applications. All told, 1,382 organizations applied to participate, setting a new standard for interest in marching in the parade.
The Peace Corps Community will include members who served with the corps in the 1960s to the present. Marchers will carry the flags of the countries that Peace Corps have served over the years. AmeriCorps Alums will include some of the millions of alumni of national service in this country since John F. Kennedy’s call to service and the conception of VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) in 1961.
In addition to these groups, a number of other parade participants also participate in active community service programs. For instance, the Boy Scouts of America Troop 358 from Philadelphia has been serving members of their community for over 55 years, the Jesse White Tumbling Team from Illinois was founded in 1959 to create “hope” for troubled youth, and the Warren County Sheriff’s Office Prevention Partnership from Kentucky raises and distributes money to community groups and programs that help kids stay away from drugs and violence.
The Presidential Inaugural Committee was assisted in its selection process by a group of experienced military musicians, who utilized their expertise to help assess the presentation skills of marching bands, musical acts and drill teams.
All participants in the Inaugural Parade are responsible for paying for their own lodging and transportation to and from Washington, D.C. The Committee has been working closely with area governments and civic organizations to facilitate access to affordable accommodations and would like to encourage citizens from across the country to reach out and help the Peace Corps Community and AmeriCorps Alums raise the necessary resources to participate in this historic event.
If you are interested in finding out more about supporting the AmeriCorps Alums and their participation in the 56th Inaugural Parade, please go to americorpsalums.org.
If you are interested in finding out more about supporting the Peace Corps Community and their participation in the 56th Inaugural Parade, please contact Anne Baker at 202.293.7728 or npca@rpcv.org.
Regularly updated information will be provided to the public and the media on our website, www.pic2009.org.
PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURAL PARADE
Contact: PIC Communications Office
202.203.1700
obama’s innovation working group
I was pleased to see (as mentioned in the December 2nd Chronicle of Philanthropy) that my old colleague Paul Schmitz, CEO of Public Allies is on this working group advising Obama.
“Two Charity Heads Among Leaders Advising Obama on Innovation
Two charity leaders have been appointed to a group of more than 30 people that has been asked to help the incoming Obama administration devise an “innovation agenda.”
They are: Cheryl Dorsey, president of Echoing Green, in New York, which provides fellowships to entrepreneurial nonprofit leaders; and Paul Schmitz, president of Public Allies, in Milwaukee, which trains young people for nonprofit and public-service careers.
Their group — the Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform Policy Working Group — will recommend ways to modernize government; use technology to expand the economy and solve pressing national problems; and promote “active citizenship” and government partnerships with civil-society organizations, according to the Obama transition project’s Web site.
President-elect Barack Obama has special ties to Public Allies: he served on its founding board, and his wife, Michelle, opened the group’s Chicago office in 1993. (See The Chronicle’s article about the organization and its ties to the Obamas.)
The working group also includes Michele Jolin, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, in Washington, who has publicly advocated creating a White House Office of Social Entrepreneurship. She made the proposal in a chapter of a “progressive blueprint” that was co-published last month by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the liberal think tank’s advocacy arm. She said it would give innovative nonprofit leaders a “greater voice in the public policy debates of the day.”
Howard W. Buffett, the grandson of Warren Buffett, the investor and philanthropist, is another member of the group. Mr. Buffett is an adviser to the United Nations Office for Partnerships, which promotes alliances between the UN, foundations, and businesses, and head of Cliffspringer, his own strategic-advisory group. His father, Howard G. Buffett, runs a foundation in Decatur, Ill.
Sonal Shah, head of global development at Google.org, the search-engine company’s philanthropic arm, co-chairs the group, along with Blair Levin, managing director of Stifel Nicolaus, a financial-services firm; and Julius Genachowski, co-founder of Rock Creek Ventures, a new-media investment company.
The working group is divided into four committees: Innovation and government, innovation and national priorities, innovation and science, and innovation and civil society. Spokesmen for the Obama transition team declined to say who would serve on the committees or give any other information beyond what appears on the Web site.
On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama said he would expand national-service programs, establish a Social Entrepreneurship Agency to coordinate federal programs that help innovative charities, and create new funds to stimulate entrepreneurial social projects.”
