Rocking the youth vote

For about the past two years, we've been hearing that change starts with us...and it's true. Jim Wallis said recently that change doesn't happen because new presidents are elected, it happens because individuals rally behind social causes and push them to the forefront. It happened with the Civil Rights movement. It's happening with Blog Action Day (kudos to all the bloggers here participating, your stories are encouraging, touching and inspiring). And it's happening among a committed group of high school students at Manhattan's Hunter Science HS.

History teacher Kevin Froner issued a challenge to his students - register to vote, and register your friends. The result is a new non-profit called the Youth Voter Project (www.first30days.com/making-change-easier/articles/rock-the-youth-vote.html), which aims to register every 18-year-old student in the country...no small feat for a group of kids from the Bronx!

This is how change happens. Whether it's poverty, education, disease or war, doing something positive to instigate change is critical.