Washington, D.C (June 23, 2009) &ndash Yesterday, President Obama and the White House kicked off a new summer-long service initiative, United We Serve, to get all Americans to give back to their country. As a part of United We Serve, the Hip Hop Caucus is encouraging young people in urban communities to participate in service projects over the summer, to immediately impact their communities and to gain valuable experiences to help them in their lives.

Yesterday, President Obama and the White House kicked off a new summer-long service initiative, United We Serve, to get all Americans to give back to their country. As a part of United We Serve, the Hip Hop Caucus is encouraging young people in urban communities to participate in service projects over the summer, to immediately impact their communities and to gain valuable experiences to help them in their lives.

United We Serve, beginning June 21 and running through September 11, will grow into a sustained, collaborative, and focused effort to promote service as a way of life for all Americans. The Hip Hop Caucus sees this nationwide service initiative as a way to help meet growing social needs resulting from the economic downturn. The Hip Hop Caucus will be mobilizing our nearly 700,000 members across the nation to give back by participating in Opportunity Corps, a service and community development program of the Hip Hop Caucus.

"United We Serve and together we succeed, the Hip Hop Caucus is leading the way for service and volunteering in the 21st century," said Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., President of the Hip Hop Caucus.

As part of the United We Serve initiative, the Hip Hop Caucus will be launching Green the Block on August 4, 2009, a national grassroots campaign, to fight poverty and pollution at the same by creating green jobs to green our cities and transition to a clean energy economy. On, September 11, 2009, National Service Day and the culmination of United We Serve's Summer of service, the Hip Hop Caucus will coordinate Green the Block service events in cities around the country. Watch the feature segment that CNN aired about the Hip Hop Caucus Green the Block campaign.

*For more information on the Hip Hop Caucus' Opportunity Corps and United We Serve initiative visit: Hip Hop Caucus United We Serve