Grouf

"The more relationships in communities one has access to, the more options and choices one has for a full and meaningful life," said Ken Grouf '93, quoting author Jeremy Rifkin on the importance of community involvement, during a presentation Sept. 20 at Martha Van Rensselaer Hall at Cornell University.

As the founder and co-executive director of City Year New York, a member of AmeriCorps, Grouf spoke on "Someday You'll Change the World … Welcome to Someday: A Lifetime of Community Service -- How Young People Are Becoming Active Citizens and Social Entrepreneurs."

Grouf stressed the importance of being an active citizen, someone who has four important qualities: character, commitment, competency and cooperation.

"They make it a part of their daily lives. They educate others. They are committed to serving others inside and outside of their careers," said Grouf, who has inspired thousands of 17-to-24-year-olds to get involved with City Year, a community service and leadership development organization.

Beyond being an active citizen, only a few people in our society are social entrepreneurs, such as Nelson Mandela and Lance Armstrong, Grouf said. Social entrepreneurs are "practical and creative, listen well and always keep an open mind. They bring that team to life and always continue to build it," he said.

A social entrepreneur is also resilient, results-oriented and revolutionary, Grouf said as he removed his suit jacket to put on a red City Year Corps jacket. "My revolution begins with this red jacket. This jacket is about 1,000 17-to-24-year-old people who do a year of full-time community service every single year. This jacket is about the hundreds of thousands of children who have been affected by those who wear this red jacket."

An interactive panel of three City Year Corps members, Matthew Zaragoza '09; Shemariah Arki, City Year's recruitment manager; and Itai Dinour, ILR '01, chief of staff, followed the talk to answer questions about service, leadership training and personal experiences.

Erica Hartwell, HumanEcology '06, commented, "I came here to be inspired, and I am."

As a Cornell student, Grouf advocated for an on-campus, community service center, and the Public Service Center was built soon thereafter. After graduating, he helped launch Yahoo! into a well-recognized global brand. He founded the nonprofit, child-advocacy organization Students for Children, which later became Save the Children. Grouf also marketed Do Something, which awards grants to students with ideas for improving their local communities.

The talk was sponsored by the Iscol Family Program for Leadership Development in Public Service, an interdisciplinary program in the College of Human Ecology.

Theresa D'Andrea is a writer intern at the Cornell News Service.