"Be the Change Inaugural Ball" Will Celebrate Community Service

November 26, 2008

"Be the Change Inaugural Ball" Will Celebrate Community Service

ServiceNation, a coalition of nonprofit groups that is promoting community and national service, and MTV, the music cable-television network, plan to hold an inaugural ball to celebrate the high turnout of young voters in the presidential election and highlight young people who are volunteering for social causes.

The “Be the Change Inaugural Ball,” which MTV plans to broadcast live on the evening of January 20, will feature performers, celebrities, government officials, and hundreds of young volunteers, the two organizations said in a statement.

The event, which will be held in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, will include live broadcasts from locations around the world where young people are participating in community-service projects. MTV said it will also broadcast stories about young volunteers every day from January 1 through Inauguration Day.

The time of the event has not yet been set.

An estimated 23 million people under age 30 voted in the November presidential election, an increase of 3.4 million over 2004, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. Estimated turnout rose to between 52 percent and 53 percent for that age group, an increase of four or five percentage points over 2004, the center found.

More than two thirds of young voters cast their ballots for the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the center said.

— Suzanne Perry

Comments

At a time when the vast majority of young people — college graduates included — are grossly ignorant of the important issues of the day, it’s difficult to see the merit of encouraging more of them to vote. No doubt community organizing can serve some useful purposes, but “getting out the vote” and agitating for unearned government freebies aren’t among them.

— Jeff Steele Dec 1, 05:50 AM #
Jeff, that’s also an argument for not encouraging anyone to vote if people are “grossly ignorant”. Young people are often the most educated voters (despite some outliers). Community organizing isn’t the point; what is the real objective (to the best of my understanding) is to encourage youth (as well as older people, I think) to volunteer in their communities and start making real changes. I don’t know where in this article you saw anything about government freebies, and what would make you believe young people would want “freebies” any more than your generation.

— Alexa Dec 1, 10:04 AM #

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