United States

Last week, the New York Times ran an amazing story on 2007 Echoing Green Fellow Chris Myers Asch, founder of the Public Service Academy. It seems that not only the mainstream media, but the Washington establishment are beginning to follow Chris’s lead: as of this writing, the legislation to create the Public Service Academy has 23 Senate sponsors and 123 House sponsors.

We are extremely proud of 2008 Echoing Green Fellow Josh Sommer for his work to develop effective treatments for Chordoma.  

J.B. Schramm, a 1997 Echoing Green Fellow, continues to have a year of wonderful success. After kicking off the year by being named Schwab’s United States “Social Entrepreneur of the Year,” J.B. now has an opportunity to expand the success of College Summit to even more students.

Van Jones was named a “Hero of the Environment” in the October 6, 2008 edition of Time, putting him in the company of California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger and World Toilet Organization founder Jack Sim. The article highlights the innovative blend of urban populism and environmental activism that make Jones' Green for All campaign click.

As hurricanes have pummeled the Gulf Coast over the past month, from Gustav to Ike, 2008 Echoing Green Fellow Ben Smilowitz has been doing the important, but occasionally unpopular, work of making sure federal relief agencies are doing their jobs effectively. Ben runs the Disaster Accountability Project (DAP), a new nonprofit organization that provides a platform for public pressure on FEMA and the Red Cross—a platform that simply did not exist prior to Hurricane Katrina.

The ServiceNation Summit will bring together 600 leaders from all across America to New York City, from September 11-12, to ignite a national grassroots movement supporting citizen service through new National Service Legislation. You can check out the ServiceNation Presidential Candidates Forum, which will be nationally televised on Thursday night. Top that and join the movement by participating in the national Day of Action on September 27.