The People Speak is an online community of young people who want to get involved in global issues. The community engages people of all ages and backgrounds in thoughtful discussions about the value of international cooperation for the United States and the world. From September 1 to November 30 each year, The People Speak (TPS) partners organize thousands of events around the U.S. and the world to explore emerging global challenges and opportunities.
TPS started in 2003 as an initiative of the United Nations Foundation, the Open Society Institute and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. During the first year, over 3,500 events were organized in all 50 states. Since that time, there have been over 20,000 events in the U.S. and over 50 countries.
The theme for the 2006 TPS season is "Working Together with the World: What's in it for the U.S.?" Participants explore this theme related to three topics:
- Energy and global climate change
- Millennium development goals
- Peace, security, and human rights
Famous quotes containing the words the people, people and/or speak:
“The good of the people is the greatest law.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“Old age equalizes—we are aware that what is happening to us has happened to untold numbers from the beginning of time. When we are young we act as if we were the first young people in the world.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“The best hopes of any community rest upon that class of its gifted young men who are not encumbered with large possessions.... I now speak of extensive scholarship and ripe culture in science and art.... It is not large possessions, it is large expectations, or rather large hopes, that stimulate the ambition of the young.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)