The Take Action! Tour will be participating in a press conference on Capitol Hill this coming Wednesday, February 2nd. The conference, hosted by the National Mental Health Association and the Kristin Brooks Hope Center, will kick off the tour and support the launch of the new Youth America Hotline (YAH!).

Moreover, the conference will call on Congress to fully appropriate the $82 million funding for the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act, which passed September 9th, 2004. The act was introduced by Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR) in memory of his son who died by suicide. The act will help establish critical and needed support for mental and behavioral health services to students on college campuses. Further, it acknowledges the significant toll that mental and behavioral health problems can take on a student's ability to succeed in college. A majority of the funds authorized in the bill are dedicated to statewide Youth Suicide Early Intervention and Prevention Strategies.

Speakers will include Louis Posen, founder of the Take Action! Tour and president of Hopeless / Sub City Records, Reese Butler, founder and president of the Kristin Brooks Hope Center, YAH! 1-877-YOUTHLINE and the National Hopeline Network 1-800-SUICIDE, tour acts Sugarcult and Hawthorne Heights, as well as Clark Flatt, president and founder of the Jason Foundation. Congressional leaders will participate and Michael Faenza, CEO of the National Mental Health Association, will moderate.