Today’s blog post comes from Communities In Schools’ Executive Vice President of Marketing and Communications Mike Bento.
If you hear this message, wherever you stand
I’m calling every woman, calling every man
We’re the generation
We can’t afford to wait
The future started yesterday and we’re already late
~John Legend, If You’re Out There
Today Communities In Schools, in partnership with P&G Give EDUCATION and John Legend, is launching a massive campaign asking the American public to get involved in ensuring that more than 1.3 million young people achieve in school and succeed in life.
At noon, in New York City, we announced a groundbreaking partnership to engage the American public in our work, and gave them a simple way to make a contribution through the purchase of more than 30 P&G products featured in the July 31st brandSAVER®, delivered to more than 56 million homes.
I can’t tell you how exciting it was today seeing the premiere of a television ad featuring John Legend, along with six graduates from Communities In Schools of Newark. Look for that ad in the coming days, and go online through Facebook to the P&G myGIVE page, to see more video with John Legend and our students.
Oh I was looking for a song to sing
I searched for a leader
But the leader was me
We were looking for the world to change
We can be heroes
These lyrics describe Communities In Schools perfectly. In all of our affiliates, you meet ordinary folks doing extraordinary work. Site coordinators who are leaders, and who love young people into change, so that they can be leaders themselves. Executive directors, board members and volunteers who looked around and realized if the world was going to change, they were going to have to do it. They are truly heroes. And over the past few months, our student alumni have begun organizing themselves into a network – to support each other and to give back to the young people coming behind them. It’s a new generation of leaders, thanks to the love and commitment of more than 4,600 full-time staff and 57,000 volunteers in 200 communities across America.
The great thing about P&G Give EDUCATION is that it gives millions of Americans an easy way to be leaders and heroes themselves. It starts with redeeming a coupon, and then getting involved through the Communities In Schools and P&G myGIVE Facebook pages, and then maybe becoming a volunteer in a local Communities In Schools affiliate. Before you know it, you’re a hero, the kind they write songs about.
We’re the generation
We can’t afford to wait
The future started yesterday and we’re already late.