The Franklin Project at The Aspen Institute Announces 2014 Summit on National Service at Gettysburg

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Franklin Project at the Aspen Institute announces its summit on national service, the 2014 Summit at Gettysburg: Our Unfinished Work, from June 4-6 in Gettysburg, PA. The Franklin Project together with the National Conference on Citizenship, ServiceNation, and Voices for National Service, is convening leaders from across our country's public, private, and civic institutions for this invitation-only event that will seek to awaken a new citizenship in the country, grounded in a "service year" as a rite of passage for all 18 to 28 year olds. The summit will bring together 300 outstanding participants from the private sector, higher education, government, the military, faith communities, philanthropy, and nonprofit organizations to be active participants in this action-forcing Summit, where commitments from various sectors will emerge.

"All young Americans should have the opportunity to serve their country. Many agree with the idea on principle; we aim to leave Gettysburg with a roadmap to make it achievable," said General Stan McChrystal, Chair of the Franklin Project Leadership Council.

Speakers include:

Franklin Project Leadership Council Chair General (Ret.) Stanley McChrystal; Vice-Chair of the Clinton Foundation Chelsea Clinton; CEO & Co-Founder of Global Health Corps Barbara Bush; CNN Senior Political Analyst David Gergen; Co-host of CNN's Crossfire S.E. Cupp; Washington Post Columnist E.J. Dionne; Author and Former Senior Editor of Newsweek Jonathan Alter; CNN Political Contributor Paul Begala;Washington Post Columnist Michael Gerson; US Army Captain (Ret.) and Author Wes Moore; Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Cisco Tae Yoo; Chairman & CEO of Special OlympicsTim Shriver;Chief Marketing Officer at eBayRichelle Parham;Chief Diversity Officer and Senior Vice President at Time Warner, Lisa Garcia Quiroz;Vice President at Google[x]Megan Smith;Head of Social Impact at LinkedIn Meg Garlinghouse;President of Be the Change Rob Gordon;US President United Way WorldwideStacey Stewart;CEO of Catholic Charities Rev. Larry Snyder;Former US Secretary of TransportationRay LaHood;CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service Wendy Spencer; Former Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and chair Forum for Community Solutions Melody Barnes; Former Member of the US House of Representatives Harold Ford, Jr.; Mayor of Flint, MI Dayne Walling; Former US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings; Former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army General (Ret.) Peter Chiarelli; Former Chairman of the FCC Michael Powell; and President & CEO of the Aspen Institute Walter Isaacson.

Sponsors of the Franklin Project and the Gettysburg Summit include: Mike and Jackie Bezos, the Resnick Family Foundation, JPMorgan Chase & Co., the MacArthur Foundation, Laura & Gary Lauder, the Tisch Illumination Fund, Julie Fisher Cummings, and Mike Gridley.

For general information and updates on the event, please visit: http://www.aspeninstitute.org/events/2014/06/04/summit-gettysburg-our-unfinished-work

Event updates will also be posted on Twitter at @FranklinProj & @AspenInstitute.

The event will be livestreamed from June 4-6 on the Aspen Institute website: http://www.aspeninstitute.org/events/live and on The Huffington Post Aspen Institute channel: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/huffpost-aspen-institute/.

For any other inquiries related to the event, please contact Yasmeen Shaheen-McConnell, Program Manager for The Franklin Project at [email protected] or Adam Coretz, Project Coordinator for the Franklin Project, at [email protected].

About The Aspen Institute

The Franklin Project is a new venture by the Aspen Institute, which envisions a future where a year of fulltime national service—a service year—is a cultural expectation, a common opportunity, and a civic rite of passage for every young American. A young person would discharge his or her national service obligation by either serving in the military or as a civilian by completing a fulltime service year through programs such as Teach for America, AmeriCorps or the Peace Corps. For a service year, a small living allowance is provided, so that all young Americans have opportunities to serve. The service year would be completed at some point between the ages of 18-28.

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute is based in Washington, DC; Aspen, Colorado; and on the Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. It also has offices in New York City and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.

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SOURCE The Aspen Institute