Twenty years ago, Alan Khazei started a youth movement in Boston called City Year, a service corps that helped inspire Americorps. Alan has since moved on to take his passion for citizen engagement forward and started another organization, Be the Change, Inc that strives to get citizens participating in the conversations, discussions and debates that affect us as a democracy. One of the initial programs of this organization is ServiceNAtion.org – a movement to promote a culture of service among Americans.
ServiceNation’s first act was to organize a national forum on service on September 11 and 12 in New York. Part of the forum was a live broadcast on CNN of a Service Summit where both presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, shared their views and ideas on service in this country.
You can read about this event on the ServiceNation blog at
http://www.bethechangeinc.org/changewire/2008/09/12/time-service-brings-candidates-together/
You can see videos from this event at Youtube at:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?p=r&user=BeTheChangeInc&page=3
Barack Video
John McCain Video
In addition ServiceNation is organizing a Nationwide Day of Action on September 27th to highlight service opportunities in your community. Over a thousand events will be held all around America for people to share their experiences with service organizations and the significant impact it has had on communities. This will be followed by an Opportunities Fair which will allow citizens to connect to local service organizations. If you are a service organization or a citizen wishing to engage with a service organization, this is a great opportunity for you.
You can find out more about Day of Action events in your neighborhood at www.servicenation.org
In the Boston area, the Day of Action will be held at the Boston Common from 10 am to 3 pm. Contact Katie Visco, Boston Day of Action Coordinator, at kvisco@bethechangeinc.org for more information.
The Social Ecosystem 
The ServiceNation Day of Action on September 27 in Boston will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, just 2 blocks from the Common due to the rain that is expected for Saturday. See related post with update.