Searching for America's Best Youth Civic Involvement Organization

Vote for the Capitol Advantage Youth Involvement Award by July 10

The youth organization with the most votes by July 10th will win the Capitol Advantage Youth Involvement Award and an 18-month subscription to Capwiz™, the leading suite of online advocacy and election tools. Capitol Advantage is sponsoring the contest to celebrate its 18th birthday and to encourage civic involvement by American citizens aged 18-to-25. The public can learn about the candidates and vote for the winner by going to Congress.org and clicking on the "Vote Now" graphic.

FAIRFAX, VA (June 30, 2004) - Capitol Advantage, the leading provider of online advocacy tools, today announced the opportunity to vote for "America's Best Youth Civic Involvement Organization." Celebrating its 18th birthday, Capitol Advantage is sponsoring this contest to encourage civic involvement by U.S. citizens aged 18 to 25.

Voting, which will run until July 10, 2004, is open to anyone interested. Simply go to Capitol Advantage's public service site Congress.org and click on the "Vote Now" graphic. The winning organization will be announced in July, and will receive an 18-month subscription to Capitol Advantage's Capwiz™ suite of online advocacy and election tools, valued at $25,000.

Why is this important? In 1972, 50 percent of the 18-to-24-year-olds in America cast ballots. In 2000, 32 percent of these young voters voted. That means that over 4.7 million voting-age representatives of Generation Y were eligible to vote in 2000 but decided not to do so.

"Just like other habits, choosing to speak out on public policy issues is a habit that develops early in life. If you get involved civically and vote at an early age, then chances are you'll continue the habit," said Bob Hansan, founder and president of Capitol Advantage. "I'm constantly amazed that younger Americans don't realize how much their opinion and votes do count."

"We're pleased to have seven very strong groups competing for this award," Hansan continues. "I'm looking forward to seeing how the winning organization uses Capwiz™ to show youth how easy it is to express opinions to their own elected officials and the media. In fact, several other national youth-oriented organizations are using Capwiz™ effectively to engage the 18-to-25 age group including the National Youth Advocacy Coalition, Your Vote Your Choice, YouthBuild USA and YouthNoise."

"Aside from voting," continues Hansan, "we hope that the public will continue to use Congress.org and the other youth-oriented sites extensively to help citizens of all ages get involved.

For more information, call Susan Berger at 703.289.4670 x162 or send an e-mail to susan@capitoladvantage.com

Information about the contest can be found at Congress.org

About Capitol Advantage
Capitol Advantage is the nation's premier provider of grassroots solutions for corporations, nonprofit groups, associations, educational institutions, and other organizations. Founded in 1986, Capitol Advantage provides grassroots advocacy products and services to more than 1,200 organizations, including some of the nation's largest and most respected portals and media companies as well as trade associations, nonprofit organizations and corporations.

For more information, please contact:

Susan Berger
Sr. Director of Marketing
Capitol Advantage, LLC
703-289-4670 x162
susan@capitoladvantage.com