BOSTON -- Alan Khazei, 48, the former co-Founder & CEO of the City Year program, is the latest candidate to throw his hat into the race for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat.

Currently the founder and CEO of Be The Change, Inc. the Democrat sent an e-mail to family and friends Thursday, explaining why he is running for the seat Kennedy held for close to 50 years.

He said he had a life-long dedication to empowering all people, making a difference and strengthening democracy.

Be The Change is dedicated to building national coalitions of nonprofit organizations and citizens to enact legislation on poverty and education.

City Year is the youth service corps that helped to inspire the development of AmeriCorps.

According to Khazei's biography on the Be The Change Web site, City Year was founded in 1988 with 50 young people in Boston, and now operates in 18 U.S. cities and in Johannesburg, South Africa with an annual budget of $60 million and more than 1,500 young adults serving 100,000 children annually.

Khazei, who calls himself a social entrepreneur, continues to serve on the boards of City Year, New Profit and Share our Strength. In 2006, US News and World Report named him one of America's 25 Best Leaders.

An honors graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Khazei currently lives in Brookline with his wife, daughter, and son.

A 2007 article in Fast Company Magazine said Khazei, who was born in Pittsburgh, came from a Italian Catholic home and worked on Gary Hart's failed presidential campaign in 1984. He told the publication his father immigrated to the U.S. from Iran.

"My father came from a country with a dictatorship, so he appreciated the value of democracy," Khazei said.

In 2006, US News and World Report named Khazei one of America's 25 Best Leaders and he is the recipient of a Reebok Human Rights award.

He appeared on "The Colbert Report" and talked about service organizations last February.

The deadline for filing nomination papers is Oct. 20 and the primary is Dec. 8, with the special election scheduled for Jan. 19.

So far, Boston Celtics co-owner and private equity investor Stephen G. Pagliuca has also joined the race, along with Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and State Sen. Scott Brown. Canton Selectman Robert Burr has also said he will run.