Hot on the heels of in which he urged youth to “start making your mark,” comes generationOn‘s Make Your Mark Week.

Celebrated annually during the third week of October, Make Your Mark Week (formerly Kids Care Week) inspires and mobilizes youth to use their energy, ingenuity and compassion to “make their mark on the world” through hands-on service.

Youth pledge to do simple acts or service projects relating to animals, the environment, hunger, homelessness, and literacy.

This year there are some major innovations to Make Your Mark Week, innovations that synergize with the President’s back-to-school message in 3 big ways.

1.   “Nothing inspires me more than knowing that young people all across the country are already making their marks… ” Said President Obama in his address, going on to talk about generationOn Youth Advisory Council member Jake Bernstein. Like President Obama we love sharing stories about youth doing extraordinary things—things that leave even the generationOn staff saying, “How did they do that?” So, for Make Your Mark Week, we’ve created:

Face-to-face Book: written for teens by teens, this resource provides tangible tools and applicable advice on how to start your own nonprofit, overcome age-discrimination, get funding, and so much more.

2. “A lot of times young people may have better ideas than us old people do anyway.” We couldn’t agree more, and that’s why we give youth the option to:

Do Your Own Thing: a platform under each issue area for kids to share and pledge their own simple acts. We provide them with their own toolkits for putting those ideas into action. Even the project ideas we’ve provided have come from our inspiring kids and teens.

3. “Issues that used to stay confined to hallways or locker rooms are now finding their way onto Facebook and Twitter.” Indeed, we’ve joined teens where they congregate online.

Social Media: Young people can pledge their acts via and we’ve harnessed the hashtag to bring together teens, teachers, parents, and organizations in conversation on .

We, of course, continue to offer our tried and true methods of issue-based education including: compassion education stories for young children and fact sheets for kids and teens. This year, they are updated and newly named: Read Into Action Stories and Brain Food. They can be used and shared by youth directly.

Excited by our innovations? We are too! Here’s how to get involved:

• Check out our new resources for kids and teens.
• Encourage the youth in your life to pledge now to make their mark between October 16-22.
• Share the movement on and (#MakeYourMark)!