For the past few weeks, numerous dedicated youth have submitted photos to the OpportunityNation website to represent their American dreams and their American realities. And wow, did we learn a great deal about what young people are seeing.

When I told people I was working at an organization called “Be The Change,” their response was always the same - “You would!” My tango with social change work has been a consistent one-two step for the past five or so years, and it seems as though it all coalesced when I chose to intern at Be The Change, Inc.

In 2009, the Economic Mobility Project launched a national poll that works to identify how most Americans view their prospects for economic mobility. What’s more, results of the poll might be considered surprising.

At its center, OpportunityNation is working to increase economic opportunity and mobility in America. That’s why we’re sharing this infographic from the fantastic website/magazine Good, who we’ve blogged about before.

Be the Change announced on Thursday that, following a national search, Kevin Jennings will succeed Alan Khazei as President and CEO. Mr. Jennings will officially begin his new role on July 25, 2011.

On June 14, thirteen volunteers will commit to an epic bicycle journey across America, as they venture 3,400 miles coast-to-coast from Oregon to New Jersey for the LVs Ride. They have committed to this ride because they want to put the spotlight on the severe barriers to opportunity that exist within America.

Many people (and especially all of us here at BTC) love finding new reasons to be inspired, and one way we do that is by learning about great people who are doing amazing things. That’s why we were excited to see the 2011 TIME 100 – a list of 100 people who TIME’s editors have chosen as the world’s most influential.

Every night in America, at least 107,000 veterans sleep on the streets. Very few Americans know that one out of every three homeless adults has served in our military -- often during times of war. This means those who have served in defense of our country make up a disproportionate share of those who fall into homelessness.

For the past few weeks, I have been spending a lot of my spare time working to organize my friends, peers, and community to save service in America. When it comes down to it, my motivation for saving service is to save the programs that make America a better place for the people who need it the most. It’s to ensure the opportunity these programs create - the jobs, the community building, the human compassion - continues.

The Poetry Slam on Opportunity and the American Dream was a special listening session that celebrated the creativity and talent of Los Angeles youth.