Chicago rapper Common has announced the launch of The Common Ground Foundation Inc., a San Francisco based global initiative to educate and empower urban and disadvantaged youth.
The rapper’s foundation will also focus on HIV/AIDS prevention programs targeting youth in communities around the world, specifically Africa.
“I always believed that if we started with the youth then we would be planting the seeds for our future to blossom,” Common said in a statement released today (October 9).
The foundation’s national and global programs will be directed by Jodie Blum, a 12-year-veteran of event production, specializing in nonprofit consulting and fundraising for world leaders, celebrities and professional athletes.
The foundation came to fruition after several years of planning.
Common revealed details about the Common Ground Foundation to AllHipHop.com in December of 2004.
“I feel that it’s my duty to speak out on conscious matters that are affecting our community a lot, because I know that I do have a voice,” Common said in a previous interview with AllHipHop.com. “It’s a platform for millions to hear me speak. Why not speak? It might save a life.”
Common will star opposite Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe in the upcoming flick American Gangster, which hits theaters in November.
For more information visit http://www.commongroundfoundation.org