October 2nd 2007
Bill Clinton and Bono Inspire Giving For A New Generation
Filed under: donations, events: nyc — paige @ 9:53 am
After reaching landmark commitment levels at the third annual Clinton Global Initiative summit this past week in New York, Bill Clinton found some time to celebrate and announce a new CGI event targeted towards youth. Bono, Chris Rock, Shakira, and Alicia Keys all joined the former President at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre to announce Clinton Global Initiative’s first youth summit, called CGI U, planned for next year at Tulane University in New Orleans. The new initiative is designed to engage college and university students on some of the most pressing issues facing the world today. CGI U will challenge young people to take action by making commitments on the issues that concern them the most.
According to a Washington Post article, “what we are trying to do is make activism cool again for kids,” Rock said. The former president and the other superstar panelists took questions from the audience before giving up the stage to performances by hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean and soulful singer Keyes.
Shakira announced a contribution of 40 million to help ALAS, a coalition of artists and intellectuals committed to social change in Latin America. Evidently, this week’s CGI event resulted in commitment levels from celebrities, heads of states, and business executives to reach historic levels that will impact:
- 8.5 million out-of-school children will be enabled to enroll in school for the first time.
- 50 million people will have access to treatment of neglected tropical diseases.
- 170,031,331 acres of forest will be protected or restored.
- 11.2 million people will be empowered with increased access to sustainable incomes
Via a partnership with MTV and Bill Clinton’s amazing leadership, CGI U potentially could catapult an entirely new generation to a level of giving that will tackle the issues of sustainable development, climate change and poverty in the most impactful ways. Check out the full press release here.
A really great organization making activism cool for young people is:
http://www.greencorps.org
[…] mean who doesn’t want to see Bill back in the White House, especially with all of his recent socially global and climate driven initiatives. Regardless, the campaign is truly heating up and while at the end of the day it is about […]