By Edwin Ortiz for Hip Hop DX

The Hip Hop Caucus, which played an integral role in T.I.’s “Respect My Vote” campaign, has started a new global awareness tour that will teach the general public about taking part in clean energy alternatives.

Along with information provided through round tables, lectures, and rallies, entertainers such as rapper Biz Markie, R&B singer D. Woods and actress Gloria Reuben will also take part in raising awareness.

Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr., who serves as The Hip Hop Caucus’ president, explained the benefits for the people who attend one of the eight dates of the tour. “The Hip Hop Caucus Clean Energy Now! Tour will amplify and unite the voices of young people, African Americans, the Hip Hop community, and the faith community, around the critical need for clean energy jobs now and a clean energy future for our country.”

Expecting to visit several cities, including Little Rock, AR, Columbus, OH, and Washington, DC, Yearwood Jr. added, “We anticipate this tour will go a long way to educate and mobilize communities for a brighter future through policy that will reduce poverty and pollution at the same time.”

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By Reverend Yearwood for The Huffington Post

When African American voters and particularly young voters of color turned out in record numbers in 2008, their vision for change was historic. Heading into the 2010 mid-terms, there is plenty of speculation about who is not going to turn out to the polls this year, presumably because the economy is still bad, or because we have not seen enough progress from Washington. These naysayers, however, have not been talking with our communities. We were not playing around in 2008, and we are not playing around in 2010.

African American voters, according to a poll released yesterday by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, are eager to stay informed about the upcoming mid-term elections and between 74 and 80 percent of African American voters say they are very likely to vote.

Complementing the Joint Center's finding is another poll done by Frank N. Magid Associates in February of this year, which found that out of key progressive base voters - women, millennials (18 - 29 year olds), Generation X-ers, African Americans, and Latinos - African Americans are the most certain that they will be coming out to vote this fall, followed by Latinos.

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BET's Coverage of the Hip Hop Caucus Clean Energy Now! Tour event in Washington, DC:

By Sia Tiambi Barnes for IAM

In part two of a look at events organized by the Hip Hop Caucus (click here for coverage of the HHC’s response to Haiti), IAM joined President and CEO, Reverend Lennox Yearwood; DJ Biz Markie; actress Gloria Reuben; Congressman Andre Carson (D-IN); and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Lisa Jackson among others in front of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. It was the last stop on the Clean Energy Now! Bus Tour that was taken on a carbon neutral bus, included a team of college students, and was cosponsored byAlliance for Climate Protection’s Repower America campaign. HHC has adopted the green movement as one of their key platforms.

Continue reading HERE