Today, as HuffPost and AOL unite to launch the Huffington Post Media Group, we're celebrating by making a statement about the importance of giving back and helping others.
Led by HuffPost Impact –- The Huffington Post's section devoted to service, causes, and volunteering -- every HuffPost section is featuring a group or individual who is taking action and inspiring others during these challenging times. Like the rest of the world, our hearts and minds are also focused on Japan, and we've created a resource page for everyone wishing to support the emergency relief efforts.
And we're thrilled to announce that Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, is joining the Huffington Post Media Group as Strategic Adviser For Social Impact. Stone will help the company to create innovative social impact and cause-based initiatives.
AOL/Huffington Post Media Group has also issued a 30-day Service Challenge to every one of its employees worldwide, encouraging them to give their time to non-profits in their local communities and organizing volunteer events in 16 cities.
We hope you'll join us in utilizing the power of online journalism to help people get involved, work together, and bring about real change.
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John Legend is one entertainer using his celebrity for a great cause. His Show Me Campaign uses education reform to break the poverty cycle. The charity takes its name from Legend's song "Show Me" (listen below) and has advocated for equal access to quality education and higher education rates in struggling school systems since 2007.
You can donate to the cause here.
Legend is a Huffington Post blogger who wrote about the nation's failing schools and how we might start to fix them in a post last year:
Many of our schools are literally and figuratively crumbling. They aren't providing American children with the quality education that is the fundamental right of every citizen.
So what do we do? Give up? Move to Finland (#1 across the board)? Canada (#2 in reading and science)? Shrug our shoulders and blame the kids and their parents? No, we can't afford to do that. Ensuring that ALL American children can access a quality education is the civil rights issue of our time. We cannot stand idly by and allow this institutionalized inequality to continue.
Legend also sits on the boards of Teach for America, The Education Equality Project and the Harlem Village Academies, high-performing NYC charter schools that Mayor Bloomberg has called "a model of excellence." Donate to the Show Me Campaign here.
LISTEN: