TIME Release on Candidates' 9/11 Forum

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES BARACK OBAMA AND JOHN MCCAIN TO PARTICIPATE IN FORUM ON SERVICE AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT ON SEPT. 11 IN NEW YORK CITY

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FIRST JOINT APPEARANCE OF PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEES FOLLOWING THE PARTY CONVENTIONS
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FORUM KICKS OFF HISTORIC SEPT. 11-12 SERVICENATION SUMMIT

August 21, 2008 [New York, NY] – Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain will discuss in depth their views on service and civic engagement in the post-9/11 world during a primetime forum on the evening of September 11 in New York City.

The Forum is being staged by ServiceNation, a dynamic new coalition of 110 organizations that has a collective reach of some 100 million Americans and is dedicated to strengthening our democracy and solving problems through civic engagement and service. It will be the opening event of the bipartisan, Sept. 11-12, ServiceNation summit, which will launch a one year grassroots campaign to expand voluntary community and national service opportunities for all Americans; use proven service strategies to tackle some of America's most chronic social challenges; and call on all Americans to make service a bedrock ideal in our democracy

At the Forum, called “A Nation Of Service,” Senators McCain and Obama will appear on stage separately to discuss their respective visions for the role of service in America's future. Richard Stengel, Managing Editor of TIME, will moderate, and the event will be open to all broadcast networks.

“I look forward to participating in the 9/11 service forum,” said Senator Obama. “After September 11, Americans of every age, race, region and walk of life were ready to step up and answer a new call of service for their country. Making that call to service will be a central cause of my presidency, because we need the active citizenship of the American people to meet the challenges of the 21st century."

"I am pleased to be participating in the ServiceNation Summit in New York City. The Summit will be an important remembrance of those that made the ultimate sacrifice serving their country and others as we focus on how to inspire others to serve causes greater than their own self-interest through national and community service," said Senator McCain.

The Forum audience will include 9/11 family members, young Americans, military veterans, and thought leaders, and questions can be submitted by the general public at http://tinyurl.com/6jmhd5. “The Presidential Candidates' Forum will serve as a call to action for the next administration,” said Forum moderator and TIME managing editor Richard Stengel. “I hope to have candid conversations with Senators McCain and Obama about their plans for engaging more Americans in national service.”

Background on ServiceNation and the Summit:

The bipartisan September 11-12 ServiceNation Summit, will convene more than 500 distinguished leaders from American business, government and leading non-profit institutions to celebrate the ideal and power of service, and lay out a bold policy blueprint for addressing America's greatest social challenges through expanded opportunities for voluntary community and national service. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will welcome the Summit attendees when the proceedings continue the morning following the candidates Forum, on Sept. 12th, and the summit will conclude with a keynote address by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who earlier this year became the first governor to create a cabinet post dedicated to service and volunteering.

"Service is an idea whose time has come." said Alan Khazei, CEO of Be The Change, Inc. one of the four organizations--along with City Year, Civic Enterprises and Points of Light Institute--that are helping to coordinate the ServiceNation effort. "The entire Service Movement is energized by both Senators McCain and Obama making service a central theme of their respective visions for America.”

The ServiceNation Summit is being co-chaired by Caroline Kennedy; Alma Powell, Chair of America's Promise Alliance; TIME's Stengel; Vartan Gregorian, President of Carnegie Corporation of New York; Bill Novelli, CEO of AARP; and Laysha Ward, President of Community Relations and the Target Foundation. It is convened and underwritten by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York and Presented by TIME, AARP and Target. The recording artist, Usher, serves as the Youth Chair for the Summit.

Following the summit, on Sept. 27, ServiceNation will organize a national Day of Action to engage tens of thousands of Americans in events across the country that will showcase the power, potential and impact of service. To date, 891 events have been created in 50 states. The public can sign up to host, or find events to attend, at http://events.servicenation.org <http://events.servicenation.org/> .

The goal of ServiceNation (www.servicenation.org), which currently includes 110 organizations who collectively reach some 100 million Americans, is to mobilize a grassroots movement that will inspire America's leaders to expand voluntary community and national service opportunities, target Americas greatest societal challenges with proven service strategies, and promote voluntary service as a core ideal in our democracy. Facebook is the lead social media partner to help ServiceNation achieve these goals. A full list of ServiceNation coalition members can be found at: http://www.bethechangeinc.org/servicenation/about_us/organizing.

In parallel to the ServiceNation campaign, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) are currently working on new bipartisan national and community service legislation designed to expand opportunities for voluntary community and national service. One of the key goals of the Service Nation campaign is to inspire the next president and Congress to enact this legislation by September 11, 2009.

The Service Nation summit and forum will build on the momentum sparked by TIME Managing Editor Stengel's September 10, 2007 cover story --  “The Case for National Service.” Throughout the last year, TIME and TIME.com have continued to cover national service topics with a particular focus on the candidates' positions. To coincide with the Sept. 11-12 ServiceNation Summit, TIME plans to feature stories on national service and civic engagement in the issue that hits newsstands on Friday, September 12.

ServiceNation's bipartisan Summit Leadership Council includes mayors, governors, former Senators and leaders from every sector of American society (full list is available at http://tinyurl.com/6l7vju).

Major supporters--in addition to AARP, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Target and TIME—include the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, The Home Depot Foundation, Bank Of America, Case Foundation, Charina Endowment Fund, The Jenesis Group, the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, and Goldman Sachs.

Additional Quotes:

Bill Novelli, CEO of AARP
“Making a difference has been the heart of AARP for more than 50 years.  Nearly half our nearly 40 million members volunteer each year.  We're looking forward to growing that number and offering new ways to make life better for 50+ Americans.”

Vartan Gregorian, President of Carnegie Corporation: "Volunteerism is the cornerstone of American democracy, As Alexis de Tocqueville noted in his classic 1835 book, Democracy in America, the efforts of both individual Americans and citizens' associations have played a critical role in preserving and strengthening our nation.  We continue to see the proof of that dedication to service in the fact that there are more than 1.4 million nonprofit organizations in the U.S. addressing the challenges facing Americans across all social, cultural and economic levels.

"I hope the Summit will re-kindle the spirit of the 1960s, when President John F. Kennedy reminded us that, as citizens, we should not just think of ourselves but of our nation; not just of our rights but also of our responsibilities and obligations. Andrew Carnegie would certainly have agreed. He believed that with private wealth comes public obligations and that with citizenship comes service. The time has come to reaffirm those principles and, once again, to reinvigorate the spirit of service among Americans of all ages."

Laysha Ward, President of Community Relations and the Target Foundation: "We are proud to sponsor ServiceNation and its efforts to create more volunteer service opportunities for millions of Americans, In addition to our commitment to giving 5% of our income to local communities, this partnership reflects our commitment to community service and a shared focus on getting people involved in their communities."

David Paine, President and Co-Founder of MyGoodDeed: "While there is no doubt that September 11 was a defining day for America, and millions of Americans responded with their service, it is up to our generation of leaders and ordinary Americans to help define and sustain our collective response to those events. We still have an opportunity to create a stronger union bound by common sacrifice and service to others. It is my hope that this Summit and campaign for citizen service will continue us on that journey that began in the immediate aftermath of 9/11."

Michael Brown, CEO of City Year: “Young people are ready to be called upon to give a year to change the world. The Service Nation campaign will release that energy and can-do spirit to make a profound difference in communities across America.”

Michelle Nunn, CEO of Points Of Light Institute: “Now is the time to unleash the energy and entrepreneurship of a new generation of social innovators, and ServiceNation will help bring about this transformational change by putting citizens at the center of community problem-solving.”

John Bridgeland, CEO of Civic Enterprises, and former Director of the Bush White House Domestic Policy Council and Freedom Corps, “The creativity of our citizens is America's greatest untapped resource. When Americans are inspired to work together in common purpose to strengthen their communities, there is almost no problem that can't be solved, and no goal that can't be achieved.”