This past April President Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act and officially recognized September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance for the first time.  Americans will join together in service projects across all fifty states and re-commit to serving their communities.

Artists all over the country will connect their talents with community service: in New York, where I live, for example Samita Sinha and Richard Harper will build on the legacy of the Americas Project to host a community sing “to sing with your neighbors and reflect together on community, responsibility, and liberty in Queens” In Brooklyn, as part of Green the Block, a partnership between Green for All and the Hip Hop Caucus, The Source Magazine and high school youth will volunteer at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. I will be volunteering at the CHIPS soup kitchen in my neighborhood.

September 11, 2009 marks the first milestone in the United We Serve program, President Obama’s nationwide initiative to create a sustained, collaborative, and focused effort to meet community needs, led by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Corporation created http://serve.gov, a website that allows visitors to type in their zip code to find local volunteer opportunities, recruit volunteers by posting their organization’s projects, or get ideas for creating their own projects with friends, families, and neighbors. Americans for the Arts has set up a website featuring the arts at http://serve.artsusa.org.

The Arts & Democracy Project has helped to get the word out about United We Serve, recognizing that many artists have a long history of and deep commitment to community service. Many examples of this commitment are featured on this website. This community service is connected with social change and civic participation and part of reciprocal and equitable community engagement that extend over time. On the National Day of Service and Remembrance we re-commit ourselves to supporting this work and to helping the arts be a vital part of the renewal of our communities.