September 10, 2009
NEW YORK, NY ---
UNPRECEDENTED BLOCK OF TV
PROGRAMMING IS FIRST WAVE OF MULTI-YEAR "I PARTICIPATE" CAMPAIGN
From
October 19-25, More Than 60 Network TV Shows To Spotlight The Power and
Personal Benefits of Service
Celebrities,
"Cities of Service" Founding Mayors, Volunteer Groups and Major
League Baseball Players Gather in Times Square to Launch
Today in the heart of Times Square,
actors and executives representing the Entertainment Industry Foundation (or
EIF, the entertainment community's collective charitable organization) joined
New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and 15 mayors from around the country,
numerous celebrities, and key service groups to launch two new initiatives
aimed at fostering a new era of volunteerism: EIF's I PARTICIPATE and the
mayors' Cities of Service coalition.
EIF is mobilizing the entire
entertainment community around the ground-breaking, multi-year I PARTICIPATE,
which will promote a new way of thinking about service and seek to persuade
millions more Americans to volunteer regularly. To jumpstart the campaign,
Entertainment Industry President and CEO Lisa Paulsen, Tyler Perry and Ashton
Kutcher announced its 2009 centerpiece: a week-long television event running
from October 19th to the 25th, when America’s most-loved TV shows on ABC, CBS, FOX
and NBC and other broadcast networks will spotlight service through scripted
programming, segments and PSAs with inspirational messages and storylines about
volunteerism. Randy Jackson (FOX), Christine Baranski (CBS), Tim Daly (ABC) and
Michelle Trachtenberg (NBC) also participated in the announcement.
"Most people know that
volunteering can have an enormous, positive impact on their communities, but
they often don’t realize how much volunteering benefits the person who does
it," said Lisa Paulsen, president and CEO of EIF. "We're trying to
broaden the collective national conversation about service; volunteering is
rewarding, but it's also energizing and fun. It can even be a great way to meet
people."
"We think hearing that from the
cast members and characters on shows like Mercy, American Idol, Private
Practice, Ugly Betty and The Good Wife will help millions of viewers
consider volunteerism," said Tony Award Winner Bernadette Peters. "I
think it’s important to help people and causes that need our help. The I
Participate campaign will ultimately involve all segments of the entertainment
community including film studios, the recording industry, Broadway and
others."
Emceeing the event in Times Square
was New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who earlier in the day convened a
meeting of his counterparts from around the country, including Atlanta Mayor
Shirley Franklin, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley,
Dublin, OH Mayor Marilee Chinnici-Zuercher, Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton, Los
Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, Newark Mayor
Cory Booker, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl,
Providence Mayor David Cicilline, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, Trenton Mayor
Doug Palmer, Vicksburg, MS Mayor Paul Winfield, Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian
Fenty, and West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel, to launch a volunteerism
initiative called "Cities of Service."
"Today is an exciting day for
service in America," said Mayor Bloomberg. "These two distinct
initiatives - bound by their common commitment to increase community service
and volunteerism in America - represent a significant step in realizing the
goals of the bipartisan Edward M Kennedy Serve America Act. The Entertainment
Industry Foundation's I Participate Campaign will animate the public to
find more ways to give back. And the Cities of Service coalition will
harness that newfound energy and put it to good use."
"These two efforts complement
each other superbly," said Paulsen. "Through I PARTICIPATE, the
entertainment community will generate new enthusiasm about volunteering, and
when people look for ways to do that in their own communities, the Cities of
Service coalition will provide them."
Demonstrating the power of social
media activism, Ashton Kutcher joined Mayor Bloomberg and those gathered at
Times Square, sending a message to his 3.5 million Twitter followers, urging
them to volunteer on September 11th as a way to honor the memory of the victims
of the terrorist attacks. A giant screen in the Square projected Kutcher's
request, "2Day, I activate my citizenship by participating. I Participate!
Do u? www.iparticipate.org", and some of the instantaneous replies to it
as they began to pour in.
Other elements of the EIF I
PARTICIPATE initiative include:
- a dedicated website IParticipate.org, designed
to make it easier than ever before for millions of Americans to find
volunteer opportunities in their local communities across five key areas
of service: Wellness, Community Health, Financial Security, Environmental
Conservation, and Support for Military Families. The website features
calendars of events, maps, digital tool kits and uses the power of social
networking vehicles like Facebook, making it simple for individuals not
only to volunteer, but to recruit friends to join them;
- a series of celebrity-driven public service
announcements that will reinforce the importance of volunteerism and
supporting causes like Welcome Back Veterans. Blythe Danner, Gwyneth
Paltrow, Matthew McConaughey, are among the performers featured in the
PSAs, which filmmaker Jesse Dylan with his agency FreeForm is directing
and producing. Dylan works with Bono’s "Red" and "One"
campaigns and also directed will.i.am's iconic "Yes, We Can" video.
- grants from the Entertainment Industry Foundation to
key volunteers organizations to help build capacity to accept, train and
deploy volunteers.
"The ability to both entertain
and inform is one of the hallmarks of a broadcast network," says Nina
Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment. "Integrating messages of
volunteerism and service into America’s favorite television shows can have a
powerful and lasting impact that benefits both the audience and the country at
large." NBC president Angela Bromstad agrees. "The week of volunteer-themed
programming in October provides an opportunity for the networks to tap the
power of television," she says. The ultimate goal, says Stephen McPherson,
president of ABC Entertainment is "to get people thinking about what they
can do in terms of volunteering, and then to act on that." "The most
satisfying result for us is when our programs entertain viewers as well as
inform themundefinedand maybe even call them to action," FOX Entertainment
president Kevin Reilly points out. "And that’s what we’re looking to do by
supporting EIF’s initiative. We are calling on our talent poolundefinedin front and
behind the cameraundefinedto get involved." The day began with ABC, CBS, FOX and
NBC morning shows all broadcasting interviews from Gracie Mansion during the
Cities of Service Summit.
Leading companies and organizations
that have joined EIF in supporting I PARTICIPATE include AARP’s Create The Good
volunteer network (www.CreateTheGood.org), Medco Health Solutions
and its "Give Health a Hand" program (www.GiveHealthAHand.org),
Major League Baseball and its "Welcome Back Veterans" initiative (www.WelcomeBackVeterans.orga>), and
UnitedHealthcare (www.UnitedHealthGroup.com). These organizations
will engage their employees all over the country in grassroots service efforts.
The rate at which Americans volunteer
regularly has not increased in 40 years and has generally remained around 26%,
according to a survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nearly
half of all people who currently volunteer started because they were asked by
someone they know.
Celebrities who participated in the
Times Square event include: Ashton Kutcher, Tyler Perry, Randy Jackson,
Christine Baranski, Fran Drescher, Sway Calloway, Kenneth Cole, Rocco
DiSpirito, Kelley Menighan Hensley, Bernadette Peters, Cameron Mathison, Tim
Daly, Lee Ann Womack, Constantine Maroulis, Jeff Francoeur, Al Leiter.
Service organizations who
participated in the Times Square event include: HandsOn Network, NYC Civic
Corps, and Service Nation.
Network shows that will feature
volunteerism in some way during the week of Oct 19th include:
ABC
All My Children, America's Funniest Home Videos, Brothers and Sisters, Castle,
Cougar Town, Dancing With The Stars, Desperate Housewives, Extreme Makeover:
Home Edition, Flash Forward, General Hospital, Good Morning America, Grey's
Anatomy, Hank, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Modern Family, One Life To Live, Private
Practice, The Forgotten, The Middle, The View, Ugly Betty
CBS
Cold Case, Criminal Minds, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Gary Unmarried, Ghost
Whisperer, Numb3rs
FOX
America's Most Wanted, Bones, Brothers, COPS, So You Think You Can Dance, Til
Death
NBC
30 Rock, Access Hollywood, Community, Days of Our Lives, Heroes, Parks and
Recreation, The Biggest Loser, The Office, Today Show
#
# #
About Entertainment Industry
Foundation
The Entertainment Industry Foundation is the leading charitable organization of
entertianment industry, and has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars to
support programs addressing critical health, education and social issues.
About Cities of Service
Cities of Service is a bi-partisan coalition of large and small city mayors
from across the country who will work to engage millions more Americans in a
new era of service. Founded in New York City on September 10, the coalition and
its member cities will respond to the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act's
historic call to action by finding new and innovative ways to harness the power
of volunteers to help solve pressing local challenges. Additional information
about the coalition can be found at www.citiesofservice.org
#
# #
Media Contacts
Tom Chiodo
Rubenstein Communications for EIF/I Participate
212-843-8289
tchiodo@rubenstein.com
Jim Anderson
City Hall
212-788-3245
janderson@cityhall.nyc.gov