Alan Khazei
Alan Khazei
Founder
Be the Change Inc.
Alan Khazei envisions a world where all young adults will engage in a year of public service. “For me, national service makes so much sense because it gets to the root of the issue. It gets people involved at a young age so that they will learn what's going on in a direct way. It turns on what I call people's ‘justice nerves’: If you are exposed directly to an injustice or a need, you want to do something about it.” In response to his own justice nerves, Alan founded City Year, a national youth service corps, which enlists over one thousand young people a year for full-time community service, civic engagement, and leadership development. It served as a model for the federal Americorps program. Alan refers to City Year as an ”action tank” for the concept of voluntary national service, and champions its model as a means to make a year of public service a rite of passage for all American young adults. He has helped pioneer ways of bringing private sector entrepreneurial concepts to the civic sector, following the philosophy of social entrepreneurship, in which change agents bring innovative new ideas, techniques, systems, and solutions to the civic and social sectors in specific areas where society is having issues. In 2006, Alan left his position at City Year to found Be the Change, Inc and pursue a role in a new progressive movement he envisions for the future.
In 2006, Alan was selected as a fellow at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Institute of Politics. He remains vocal about the voluntary national service movement, writing pieces for The Huffington Post and Bearing Witness, as well as working with Voices for National Service to develop a comprehensive proposal for universal national service. He served on the board of directors of the Commission on National and Community Service and is a recipient of the Reebok Human Rights Award and the Jefferson Award for Public Service. Alan received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and graduated from Harvard Law School.
For more on Alan Khazei:
City Year
Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial
May 30, 2007
Enough with the 'Money Primary': Let's Move On to the Big Ideas Primary
By Alan Khazei, Huffington Post
April 7, 2007
Khazei Calls For Service Requirement
By Malcolm A. Glenn, Harvard Crimson
February 26, 2007
IAFPE Calls for More Participation in Politics
By Tusha Mittal, India New England
December 19, 2006
Prime Movers Alan Khazei and Eric Schwarz mentioned in "A Civics Lesson for the State"
A Globe Editorial, The Boston Globe
December 9, 2006
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