Pop Culture Icon MTV, a cable television network whose key demographic is mainly a younger audience, is using its influence to endorse community service to high school and college students. 

The network’s popular daily video countdown show, Total Request Live, aired a series of segments entitled “The Amazing Break,” in which Spring Breakers chose goodwill over the typical beach vacation.  One segment spotlighted a United Way volunteering program in Lake Charles, in which teenagers helped rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

MTV is focusing on various issues, both home and abroad, in hopes to create the perception of community service as an admirable activity rather than as something that looks good on permanent records.  MTV’s Website – www.mtv.com/thinkmtv/ - features an alternative spring break tutorial where potential volunteers can research “close-to-home causes” and have the opportunity to explore other resources.

“There are several studies that show how young people are increasingly interested . . . in taking action,” said Ian Rowe, MTV’s V.P. of Public Affairs, “There are now a lot more tools available that make volunteer opportunities much more accessible.”

MTV also recognizes the desire of America’s youth to be social, and is emphasizing the social experience available when helping out in a community.  United Way’s volunteer program in Lake Charles provides Cajun Bands and Karaoke in the evening for its participants. 

“There’s definitely a social atmosphere,” said Brian Pham, a Baltimore native who has been volunteering in the Gulf Coast Region since the 2005 hurricanes, “United Way makes sure of that.”

In addition to TRL, United Way is reaching America’s youth through other various means. 

New Orleans native and Superbowl Champion Peyton Manning was recently a guest on Saturday Night Live, and spoofed United Way’s “Lend a Hand” Campaign.  United Way and the NFL have had a long-standing partnership promoting community service and hold events such as Hometown Huddle, in which NFL players team up with youth to volunteer within their community.

Additionally, clothing store Urban Outfitters is selling a “retro” United Way T-shirt, part of a United Way of America Public Service Campaign to help build brand recognition with the younger generation.