January 15, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
President-elect Barack Obama has made a point of promoting national service—and he will give it another boost at next week’s Inaugural parade.
AmeriCorps Alums, a group in Atlanta that connects former participants in the service program, has been selected to march in the parade that follows the swearing-in ceremony on January 20. It is one of the few groups that aren’t a marching band or a military or law-enforcement group.
Amity Tripp, the group’s executive director, says 150 AmeriCorps alumni from around the country will march, along with a few VIPs, including David Eisner, the former chief executive of the Corporation for National and Community Service. So many alumni wanted to participate that the group had to hold a lottery, she says.
Marchers won’t be decked in fancy uniforms like many of the other participants, but they will l carry state flags and wear jackets with the AmeriCorps Alums logo, Ms. Tripp says.
A Peace Corps group will also march in the parade, as will Special Olympics, the charity that sponsors athletic contests for people with intellectual disabilities.
