in this regard, i am pleased to announce that the pedersen foundation, macarthur foundation, and theogg foundation are partnering to make this need a reality this summer. we are very appreciative verystegman, the director of policy at the macarthur foundation and the director at the kellogg foundation have joined us here today to demonstrate our shared commitment to this important effort. by pooling our resources, on saturday, june 26, an unprecedented citizen education exercise will be conducted that will focus on our federal fiscal challenge. this national effort will involve representative groups of americans in 20 cities around the country, all of which will be linked via satellite and the web. they will be provided facts and asked to prove -- to express their views very importantly, they will also be asked how to prepare a proposed reform packages that will achieve certain longer-term fiscal objectives. after all, failing to effectively address our structural deficit is simply not an option. this historic exercise will be conducted by america speaks, a nonpartisan organization w