Entertainment Industry Foundation, Mayors From All Over the U.S. Kick Off Two Major...

Entertainment Industry Foundation, Mayors From All Over the U.S. Kick Off Two
Major Initiatives Encouraging Volunteerism
UNPRECEDENTED BLOCK OF TV PROGRAMMING IS FIRST WAVE OF MULTI-YEAR "I
PARTICIPATE" CAMPAIGN

NEW YORK, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- 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: Children and
Education, Community Health and Wellness, Financial Security,
Environmental Conservation, and Support for Veterans and 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 and 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; and,

-- grants from the Entertainment Industry Foundation to key volunteer
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 them--and 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
pool--in front and behind the camera--to 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.org), and UnitedHealthcare
(www.unitedhealthgroup.com/main/SocialResponsibility.aspx). 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 and 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 entertainment industry, and has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars
to support programs addressing critical health, education and social issues.
For more information, please visit www.EIFoundation.org.

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

SOURCE Entertainment Industry Foundation

Media, Tom Chiodo of Rubenstein Communications for EIF/I Participate,
+1-212-843-8289, tchiodo@rubenstein.com; or Jim Anderson of City Hall,
+1-212-788-3245, janderson@cityhall.nyc.gov