Chris Evans to receive Spirit of Service award for helping ‘build more civically engaged society’

Actor will receive award for starting civic engagement platform along with Mark Kassen and Joe Kiani

Chris Evans, Mark Kassen, and Joe Kiani will receive the Spirit of Service award for founding the civic engagement platform A Starting Point.

The award is given by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service to “individuals outside government whose work is critical to the goal of a better government and a stronger democracy”.

The award ceremony will be held on 11 September at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

Evans launched A Starting Point in 2020 with Kassen, a filmmaker, and Klani, a tech entrepreneur, and described it as a “bipartisan channel of communication and connectivity between Americans and their elected officials with the goal of creating a more informed electorate”.

“Today only 7 per cent of the federal workforce is under the age of 30 and trust in the federal government among young people is low. By connecting with young people, A Starting Point helps build a more civically engaged society, an effective government that looks like the people it serves, and, ultimately, a stronger democracy,” said Max Stier, CEO of Partnership for Public Service. “We are honoured to be able to recognize Chris Evans and his co-founders for their achievement in founding A Starting Point and supporting its important mission.”

Chris Evans with Mark Kassen and Joe Kiani (A Starting Point/Instagram)

In a joint statement, Evans, Kassen, and Klani said: “We created ASP to encourage civic engagement and make it accessible for everyone, so we are truly humbled for ASP to receive this recognition alongside so many incredible federal employees who share the same goal within the government.”

They thanked Partnership for Public Service for the award.

A Starting Point took a group of high schoolers to the White House earlier this year to have conversations with officials such as press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, energy secretary Jennifer Granholm, and deputy treasury secretary Wally Adeyemo on issues like economic opportunities, jobs and the climate crisis.

Evans had reached out to Donald Trump for A Starting Point but the former president apparently was not keen.

“We did ask him, we had to. You’ve gotta do it. We asked him, he said no. He said no twice, and so I did my part,” the Captain America actor said on Jimmy Kimmel’s show in 2020.

The Spirit of Service award has in the past been given to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, Ford Foundation’s Darren Walker, and former PBS anchor Judy Woodruff.