Just yesterday, Hip Hop mogul and activist Russell Simmons hosted a one-day affair aimed at helping the troubled youth of America. Keeping the Promise to Our Children brought together legislators and A-list celebrities alike in advocating causes like foster care, education, and healthcare that hinder many households and youth from achieving their highest potential.

Actors Terrence Howard and Gabrielle Union were in attendance. While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi supported the event’s efforts, saying that, “Intervening in the lives of these young people, giving them a sense of dignity and worth, providing them with more opportunities, therefore, is one of the most important things you can do, not just for them, which is the most important thing, but for the strength of our country.”

The event was organized by Daphna Ziman who is an adoptive mother and a former product of the foster care system. As founder of Uniting Nations, Ziman partners children in foster care with mentors in hopes that this relationship will smash the looming statistics of only 54 percent of foster children graduating high school and therefore succeeding.

Aside from supporting a worthy cause, the event also lobbied for the Foster Care Mentoring Act of 2009, introduced to the floor by Senator Mary Landieu of Louisiana and Representative Joseph Crowley of New York. The act calls for the allocation of more than $15 million in financing toward foster care mentoring programs.

Words by Kiara Gillette