On April 17 at 2 p.m., Hands Across California (HAC) will bring together an estimated 1 million people including celebrities, students and elected officials to join hands in a line up and down California in support of the state’s nearly 3 million community college students. Net proceeds from the event will directly benefit the California Community Colleges Scholarship Endowment (CCCSE), a permanent fund that provides annual scholarships to thousands of students every year.

In support of this initiative, Yahoo! Labs has developed LinkUp -- an online application for organizing event participants. LinkUp provides three key features. First, it provides a set of waypoints along the route where people can go to participate in the event. These waypoints are displayed through an interactive version of Yahoo! maps. Second, participants can join the route at a specific location and post messages related to event activities. Finally, participants can link their Facebook accounts and share this information with friends, engaging them to participate.

Hands Across California is attracting the support and active involvement of a number of high-profile celebrities, community leaders, and activists. Among the celebrities are Ryan Seacrest, George Lopez Guy Fleri, Mark Harmon, Quincy Jones, MC Hammer, Yvette Nicole Brown, Ed Begley Jr., Arsenio Hall, and many more. Among the political figures, President Bill Clinton, Congresswoman Karen Bass, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have all pledge to participant in this event.

Yahoo! Labs has been working with the organizers of this event on developing a route that will literally join nearly all of the 112 community colleges in California in a vast statewide human line. A similar event took place 25 years ago with "Hands Across America", which saw 6.5 million Americans join hands from California to New York. Times have changed and Yahoo! technology is now the primary tool for organizing such a massive event. To learn more about HAC, be a part of this historic event or donate to the cause, visit www.handsacrosscalifornia.org.

Many thanks to the folks at Yahoo! Labs and across Yahoo! who volunteered their time and hacking skills to make this event happen.