Creative Cause wins grant to fund its "Plant Hope" pilot initiative for National and Global Youth Service Day. Sponsored by the Freddie Mac Foundation, Creative Cause was one of fifty one youth-led service projects planned for April 20-22, 2007. "The Plant Hope initiative is creative way for youth to share ways through arts and service on how they are making a difference in their communities," said Tambra Stevenson, founder of Creative Cause.

"With the rise of violence and the mental health toll on families and communities post-Katrina, youth need more creative opportunities to be actively engaged in the communities." On that day, youth will take the "Plant Hope" challenge in team projects and make large and small postcards of hope for their community that will become a part of the 2010 x 2010 goal for the fifth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Katrina survivors have relocated across America and our goal is to create a 'postcards of hope' by the community for the community showing that we will always remember what Katrina's message to be that change we wish to see. Youth can participate in the "Plant Hope" project by registering online at www.postcardsfromkatrina.com.

Most people may know our campaign like Postcards from Katrina to promote arts for healing and providing the community a voice on what Katrina means to them. We have an ambitious but achievable campaign, 2010 x 2010--collecting 2010 postcards to display on the 5th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (08.29.2010).

We want to inspire youth, teachers to artists to share their story of hope through a creative, homemade postcard--large or small. Postcards can have a powerful message and tagline like a strong public service advertisement. We believe art should be accessible to all and should be applied to causes that matter. So we encourage America's hearts to speak through art.

We also want to Plant Hope in our communities to address the mental health crisis and violence plaguing our communities as a result of several factors from economic and social shifts. So we encourage people to take the 'plant hope' challenge and let us know how they are planting hope in their communities.

We believe if a cause is important, Creative Cause will use our creativity to make it happen. In the words of the human rights leader Gandhi, Creative Cause believes that 'we are the change that we have been waiting for.' And we raise the question, what would communities around the world be like if Gandhi waited for sponsorship before starting a movement that was long time coming. And that's we Creative Cause exist...join our cause and use your creativity for the good.

Come part of the CC community of creative professionals to support, network and apply your creativity to promote social causes. If you are interested in learning about how to become a part of the Collective, email info@creativecause.org.