May 1, 2003

Community Solutions, Inc. (CSI), Generation Xcel's parent entity, announced plans today to launch a summer community service campaign that will impact underserved youth in New York City, Akron Ohio and New England in July 2003.

Called Chain Reaction, the initiative mobilizes young people who are motivated to set off a chain reaction of service across their communities. Chain Reaction will organize three week-long projects for high school students from around the country in:

Chain Reaction will follow the Adopt-A-Building model Xcel developed in June 2002 where teams of young people "adopt" certain buildings, blocks, neighborhoods, or communities, as the case may be in a given area, and perform random acts of kindness or other community service projects over the course of a week.

The program is being coordinated out of CSI's Maryland office under the direction of Matt Stevens. A fifteen year veteran of youth work, and a pioneer in faith-based youth outreach, Matt brings to CSI a national reputation and extensive network of youth agency partners.

Matt is also supervising the development of YW8-2-XL (Why Wait to Excel?), a college and career prep curriculum that teaches teens how to design a career around what they love to do. The pilot program will debut in Fall 2003.

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For more information about Chain Reaction 2003, download the flier or visit the Chain Reaction website.

Read an article about Chain Reaction from the Haverhill Eagle-Tribune Newspaper.