Clinton Global Initiative Teams Up With MTV to Engage College Students in Global Action

Clinton Global Initiative Teams Up With MTV to Engage College Students in Global Action

Bono and Chris Rock Announce ONE Campus Challenge

'MTV and CGI Present: Giving - Live at the Apollo,' with Live Performances from Alicia Keys, Shakira and Wyclef, plus Roundtable Discussion on Youth Activism, Premieres October 12th at 8pm on MTV and Available on Demand at Think.MTV.com

NEW YORK, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- At a star-studded event, The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) and MTV joined forces to announce the launch of CGI-U, a program that will engage college students in CGI's mission to solve some of the world's most pressing problems. The event, "Giving - Live at the Apollo," held at the historic Apollo Theater, featured former President Bill Clinton, MTV president Christina Norman, Bono, Chris Rock, Alicia Keys, Shakira and MTV News correspondent Sway in a panel discussion on the importance of youth involvement in addressing global challenges. In honor of the night's event, award-winning artists Alicia Keys, Shakira and Wyclef Jean also delivered show stopping live performances.

"Today's generation of young people hold more power than any generation before them to make a positive impact on the world," President Clinton said. "It is my hope that through CGI-U we can harness this power to improve the lives of people around the globe and build a stronger future for us all."

"College students are a potent force for positive social change, and we're thrilled to join with The Clinton Global Initiative to stimulate even greater civic participation on campus and worldwide," said Christina Norman, President, MTV. "We will offer up the full breadth of our platforms -- including MTV, Think.MTV.com, mtvU, MTV Tr3s and more -- to support CGI-U and empower students with new means for change."

The first CGI-U meeting is planned for early next year at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. CGI-U will be modeled after the successful structure of the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting, a conference held each September in New York City that brings together more than one thousand world leaders, business executives, heads of nonprofits, academics and media personalities. This year's CGI, which took place from September 26th - 28th, resulted in a historic number of member commitments that will impact millions of lives across the globe.

During the panel discussion, Bono and Chris Rock launched the ONE Campaign Campus Challenge, which will educate college students around the country about global poverty and preventable disease, and -- most importantly -- what they can do to save lives around the world. Students will have a new challenge each week, building to a special grand prize next spring at the winning campus. As they get educated and involved on the issues, students will earn points for their schools. Also, Alicia Keys and KCA: College (KCACollege.com) announced the Good Cents Initiative, a new program challenging college students nationwide to tack on just pennies to their daily transactions -- be it for coffee, digital music or the cell phone bill -- to help provide families and children with life-saving AIDS medicines.

"Giving - Live at the Apollo" was streamed live on Think.MTV.com, ONE.org and keepachildalive.org and is available on-demand now on Think.MTV.com. The panel discussion and live performances will be featured in a special broadcast that premieres on MTV Friday, October 12th at 8pm ET, and later air on mtvU and MTV Tr3s. The MTV broadcast will also feature the world debut of the new ONE spot, "Our ONE Challenge," showing America's young people that their united voices can change the world.

Each of the artists involved in the evening's event are personally dedicated to organizations and causes that are striving to effect positive change in the world. Bono works with ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History (one.org), a coalition of more than 2.4 million Americans banded together to end extreme global poverty and preventable disease; Alicia Keys is an active supporter of "Keep a Child Alive," which provides life-saving AIDS medicines directly to children and families with HIV/AIDS in Africa; Shakira backs ALAS ("Wings" - fundacionalas.org), a coalition of artists, intellectuals and entrepreneurs dedicated to improving the health and education of Latin American children; and Wyclef founded Yele Haiti, a non- political movement providing resources and inspiration to help improve education, health, environment and community development in Haiti.

Photos from the event are available from Getty Images, the Associated Press and Reuters. An EPK is available on request.

The Clinton Global Initiative is a non-partisan catalyst for action bringing together a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges.

thinkMTV is the umbrella for MTV's on-air, off-air and online pro-social campaigns that engage, educate and encourage young people to take action on some of the biggest challenges facing their generation. The backbone for MTV's pro-social efforts is Think.MTV.com, a new online community where young people, their friends and some of the biggest names in pop culture come together to effect positive social change.

The Think Community is dynamic, multimedia-driven and enables youth to easily learn more about the issues that matter to them most, share their opinions -- via uploaded online videos, podcasts and blogs -- and connect with others to make a difference. The site is one of the only to reward members for positive actions taken online or off, serving up chances to hang out with socially conscious celebs, access to exclusive MTV events, exposure on MTV and other national media outlets, as well as grants, scholarships and more. Think.MTV.com was built with the help of financial support and expertise from founding partners the Case Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Goldhirsh Foundation and MCJ Amelior Foundation. For more information or to build a profile and become involved, visit Think.MTV.com.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: MTV Networks

CONTACT: Jason Rzepka, +1-212-654-7198, Jason.Rzepka@mtvstaff.com,
Noelle Llewellyn, +1-212-846-7166, Noelle.Llewellyn@mtvstaff.com, both of MTV;
or Press Office, Clinton Foundation, +1-212-348-0360

Web site: http://www.mtv.com/
http://www.one.org/
http://www.fundacionalas.org/
http://www.think.mtv.com/
http://www.keepachildalive.org/

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Profile: International Entertainment