Global Citizen is non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting civic engagement, community volunteering, civic responsibility, and sustained active citizenship among diverse groups, particularly young people. Global Citizen promotes democracy building, voter education and participation, locally and globally. Global Citizen brings together people of all ages and backgrounds to build diverse partnerships through serving others, thus realizing how much more we have in common than our difference.
Programs run by Global Citizen include the Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther
King Day of Service, the largest King Day event in the nation and MLK365,
which promotes year-round volunteer service and civic engagement. We provide a range
of services, including: technical training and assistance to organizations interested
in hosting King Day of Service projects, tracking all King Day of Service projects
and volunteers throughout the region, and matching interested groups and individuals
with volunteer project opportunities. Global Citizen supports organizations
and individuals to continue active citizenship throughout the year.
Todd Bernstein, President
of Global Citizen, has devoted his career to public service. In 1995, after working for fifteen years at all levels in government and in politics, he started Global Citizen, a non-profit organization, which promotes volunteer service and sustainable civic engagement. In 1994, as state director for then Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Harris Wofford, Bernstein helped Wofford and Atlanta Congressman John Lewis start the National King Day of Service through federal legislation. In 1996, he founded in Philadelphia the nation's first and largest King Day of Service and has served as its director for the last fifteen years. From 2006-2008, he was director of the King Day of Service National Expansion Initiative through the Corporation for National and Community Service in Washington, D.C. In 2008, Bernstein started MLK365, a Global Citizen program, which provides year-round service opportunities, workshops, and helps design and implement sustainable volunteer programs, particularly for businesses. A graduate of Ithaca College, he studied for his Masters of Government Administration degree at the University of Pennsylvania's Fels Center of Government.
Victoria Ford, Vice President and Director of Operations of Global Citizen, has over a decade of experience in the nonprofit and civic sector. Prior to joining the staff of Global Citizen, Victoria served as Policy Manager for the Citizens League, a volunteer-based public policy and civic engagement organization based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Her work at the Citizens League focused on developing new strategies to engage ordinary citizens in public decision-making. Previously, as a research assistant with the Center for Democracy and Civil Society, Victoria studied techniques to increase volunteering. Today, in addition to her work with Global Citizen, Victoria serves on the Ernesta Drinker Ballard Book Prize Committee of Women’s Way and as a writer for the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal. Victoria holds a Master of Public Policy with a concentration in Nonprofit Management & Leadership from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography from the University of Minnesota.
Rachel Turner, Outreach & Programs Manager, joins Global Citizen after serving for two years in AmeriCorps as an AmeriCorps National member and AmeriCorps VISTA member respectively. As Outreach & Programs Manager, she creates and manages sustainable, year-round volunteer programming for the MLK365 program and corporate volunteer groups. For the King Day of Service initiative, she manages the outreach and registration process for the hundreds of organizations and thousands of volunteers that participate throughout the tri-state area. Rachel also serves as the current Chapter Leader of the Philadelphia AmeriCorps Alumni Chapter. She is a 2007 graduate of Temple University's College of the Liberal Arts and graduated Cum Laude with a BA in English.
Every year, tireless volunteers log hundreds of hours in our office in December
and January, helping to answer questions, register volunteers, and support MLK Day
of Service staff. In addition, volunteers assist us with the bundling of over 50,000 T-shirts that are distributed around the region to participating host organizations.
The organizing efforts and devotion of these volunteers in promoting Dr. King's
legacy of citizen action help to make the Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King
Day of Service the largest and most successful King Day of Service event in the
For more information about the Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service,
email mlkdayofservice@globalcitizen.us.com or call 215-665-2475.
For more information about Global Citizen, email tbernstein@globalcitizen.us.com
or call 215-242-9070.