Good News for Change and Cause Related Bloggers

Earlier this month, Beth Kanter, Shannon Whitley and Geoff Livingston launched the List of Change - a ranking of the top English-language change and cause-related blogs in the world.

Here's a recap on why they believe the List of Change could benefit the [nonprofit] sector:

1) It will provide a single point of aggregation for change blogs, allowing new and old readers alike to discover new blogs.

2) Change and cause bloggers can use the list to promote themselves to new readers. They can also use the list to benchmark their own performance against their peers.

3) We realize that some people see rankings as competitive or subjective, and don’t want to participate. The List of Change is an opt in ranking where change bloggers have to submit their URL to become part of the ranking. Only those who truly want to participate will, thus keeping a spirit of fellowship among the listed.

4) At SXSW Panel on Social Media ROI for Nonprofits - KD Paine was asked a question about metrics for blogs. KD said that she couldn’t answer that because you’d need to have some industry or nonprofit benchmark. And, if one does not exist - trade that information with your colleagues. The list helps facilitate the exchange of benchmarks. So, it isn’t about the score or the number - it gives an industry number and way to begin thinking about to improve our effort.

You can see the full post on Livingston's blog here.

The List of Change includes some of my personal favorites like Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog, Nathaniel Whittemore's Social Entrepreneurship blog at Change.org, Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog, The Edge, and Social Earth. I highly encourage you to check them out. You will undoubtedly find some useful information for your own blog, nonprofit, volunteer engagement...all things related to change!

You can view the complete list here. And as requested by the makers of the List of Change, feel free to submit your own change or cause-related blog. Together, WE CAN make social change a reality!

Happy (Change) Blogging! :)

Educational Investment, Part III: Navigating a Sea of College Debt

*

I am in debt. In retrospect, my undergraduate career seems in part a veritable mission to accumulate debt. Since graduating I’ve stressed about debt, worked a couple of undesirable second jobs to repay debt, and I’ve even been known to defer debt, allowing it to simply growl beneath the bed from the back of my mind. I have nightmares where bill collectors show up at my back door with pitchforks - the only consolation being that so many of my peers are in the exact same situation.

This country is teeming with twenty and thirty-somethings struggling to manage educational debt, with a long string of people in their late-teens and early-twenties prepared to join us.

According to the Project on Student Debt, a nonprofit devoted to the issue, the portion of graduates in debt jumped from less than half in 1993 to over two-thirds in 2004. Factoring in inflation, debt levels for graduates rose 58% in that decade. The average public university graduate now finds him or herself owing over $17,000 in college debt. Students today can’t work while paying their way through college like their parents, either. Tuition and fees at public universities grew a whopping 40% between 2001 and 2006, and most students today are paying almost 200% of what their parents paid.**

However, President Obama’s budget for 2010 offers some rays of hope for reversing these trends:

Revitalizing Pell Grants
While Pell Grants have seen slight increases since 2006, rising tuition costs have softened the impact of these grants. The average Pell Grant that used to cover almost two-thirds of tuition cost now covers only one-third. The President’s budget offers to increase Pell Grants by $700 to $5,550 as well as promises to make the program mandatory as opposed to discretionary, so that all low-income families are ensured aid.

Making Perkins Loans Easy
The budget plan seeks to simplify the Perkins Loan Program, freeing up resources to increase the amount of money students are eligible to receive. Furthermore, proposed changes would discourage institutions from raising tuition or reducing grant aid.

American Opportunity Tax Credit
As part of the American Opportunity Tax Credit, college students are eligible for up to $2500 that can be put towards tuition, books, and other fees. The proposed budget for 2010 would make this credit permanent.

The budget also includes support for state efforts that improve college enrollment and completion, as well as a general commitment to streamlining the FAFSA application process, making it easier to understand.

And while none of this will do anything for my pocketbook, it does sound like things might be easier for my baby sister. Throughout this very blog, on the news, and from the political pulpit we hear that education is linked to healthier and happier lifestyles. Just think about how much you would learn, and what kind of knowledge you would seek, if given complete freedom to choose. Now, is the current price tag on that education worth it?

For more info on Default: the Student Loan Documentary, visit the website!

The Project on Student Debt's Factsheet is available in pdf format at the website.


This post was written by Allison Tritt, who lives in Wisconsin and blogs to foster global awareness and remind others that there is always a way to get involved. Please leave your comments or email Allison at ajtritt@gmail.com with any questions.

Overcrowding Our Educational System

It seems that there is always a shortage of teachers in big cities across the United States. Additionally, there seems to be overcrowding schools in these same cities. One example that I know of is in New York.

Every fall, the newspaper headlines focus on overcrowding schools in low-income communities and the shortage of teachers in those same schools. Ultimately what ends up happening is that the schools stay overcrowded, the teachers under populated, the problem moves out of the headlines and gone until the following fall, when the cycle repeats itself again. However, this year, things might be a little different.

For the first time in maybe the history of New York and public education, the poorer communities are not the only ones struggling with this problem. Upper-class New Yorkers are finding themselves being turned away from their neighborhood schools or being put on a waiting list for schools that they are zoned for.

It’s rare the problems that affect the poor also affect the rich in the same way, but in this example of public education, both groups are struggling to find affordable ways to educate their children this upcoming school year.

I am conflicted in how to feel about this situation. On one hand, I feel like this is sweet justice. For the first time, those privileged and entitled are feeling helpless and hopeless in a situation that they can’t control. They now get a sense of what life is like for the millions living below the poverty level and with little means for improving their lives, let alone the education of their children.

However, at the same time, I want to use this situation to bring people together.

The privileged parents who are finding waiting lists for their neighborhood schools have the means and know how to work within the system and can put pressure on these cities to correct this situation: whether it means building new schools, hiring qualified teachers, whatever.

My experience in the public school system comes from the vantage point of a former teacher. Working in an overcrowded school makes the experience of a teacher that much more challenging, no matter how much money the parents have. I want to think that parents, whatever their financial or political means will right this wrong that cities are doing in under-funding the public school system.

This is a great opportunity for people to come together and work towards the betterment of the public school system and the children that it serves.

I for one am in favor of supporting the children and reminding parents that in order for their children to be successful, they need to put their collective pressure on the city governments to meet their demands.

No matter how much money the parents have, the power here is in numbers and resources, which is why both groups of parents can put their support behind their children to make sure there are enough schools and teachers to educate their children, to become the future leaders of this country, and the world. What other options do we have?

---

This post was written by Matthew Reid, volunteer blogger with the Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project. A native New Yorker, Matthew now lives in Boston and works for a math curriculum development company.

American Violet Blooms in the Mire of Injustice

I was never aware that Congress had a movie theatre. Nor that they show pretty damned good Hollywood flicks, until last Tuesday when I saw a Capitol Hill screening of the upcoming film American Violet, written and produced by Bill Haney and presented by the Justice Roundtable Coalition’s Crack the Disparity campaign. The film is part of the campaign’s month long lobbying of Congress to address the Crack and powder Cocaine sentencing disparity. American Violet is based on the true story of Dee, a young mother in Texas facing 25 years in jail for distributing Crack based solely upon the testimony of one unreliable police informant. Her community is systematically terrorized by the District Attorney’s “drug task force” using military tactics to cull plea bargains in order to redeem those guilty verdicts for ‘burn money’ from the Federal Government’s war on drugs. When Dee is approached by the ACLU to be lead plaintiff for a case against the DA, she accepts and begins the fight against institutionalized victimization and racism in her community.

Outside of the theatre, Crack the Disparity set the tone by giving out chocolate bars, not to keep the crowd wired, but because, as it stands, 50 grams of Crack, the weight of an average chocolate bar, will get you a first offence mandatory minimum of 10 years in jail, while possession of a whopping 5,000 grams of powder Cocaine is required for the same sentence. This disparity has disproportionately affected poor and minority communities to the point where more than 81 percent of those convicted for crack offenses in 2007 were black, although they comprise only about 25 percent of users. In fact, two thirds of all federal cases have been brought against the lowest level users, and only 8.4% against the biggest traffickers. Many people see this effect as only once removed from Jim Crow.

The racial connotation is so glaring that the US Sentencing Commission has stated that changing this rule would better reduce the sentencing gap between blacks and whites “than any other single policy change.” President Obama has proclaimed his support for trashing this misguided rule ever since his campaigning days and has listed it as an official position of his administration. Just recently, the administration joined a federal judge in urging Congress to end a racial disparity by equalizing prison sentences for dealing and using crack versus powdered cocaine.

Initially, the mandatory minimum statute for Crack possession was predicated upon what is now known to be ‘junk science’ claiming that Crack was more addictive and led to more violent crime. Now that the premise has been squashed, why are we still enforcing these policies? Namely because the right people didn’t want things to change. But a new wind is sweeping through and lifting up the voices that were once silent, such as Lanny Breuer, the new chief of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division who supports addressing the disparity and concedes that a “growing number of citizens view it as fundamentally unfair.”

With this support, change is on the way.

Take Action Here: Tell Congress to End the Crack Cocaine Sentencing Disparity
For more information on America’s failing Drug War check out DrugPolicy.org

This post was written by Leah Bush, a freelance writer, volunteer blogger for Make Social Change A Reality, and aspiring Guru whose past involvement includes the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Recovery Project and volunteerism in Honduras and the Dominican Republic. Questions regarding this post may be forwarded to UltraEchelon@gmail.com.

Composting: Lessening our Impact on the Environment

I found the blog post shown below on "A Little Bit More", Idealist's blog series highlighting small steps we can take to make the world a better place. It contains a few links to resources that will help you learn more and get started on composting your food.

Also, Matthew Reid, one of our volunteer bloggers wrote a post about composting earlier this year. Check out Matt's post and don't forget to leave your comments. Happy composting!

---

A Little Bit More: Live Green, Compost!

In my little Washington, DC apartment I had a small kitchen composter that sat in the corner near the garbage. At the end of every day, instead of throwing my food scraps into the trash, I'd toss my leftovers into the composter, sprinkle in a small amount of bokashi, and close the lid.

"But doesn't that smell?"

Not at all, and as the food decomposed, the composted waste made great fertilizer for my house plants. I also noticed that I was taking out my garbage far less frequently than before I bought the composter.

The benefit of composting your food is that the waste decomposes aerobically, as opposed to anaerobic decomposition that takes place in landfills, releasing less methane into the atmosphere. From an MSNBC article: "Landfills are the largest source of methane emissions in the United States, accounting for 34 percent of such releases, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Methane is the second-biggest man-made contributor to global warming behind carbon dioxide."

At our Buenos Aires office, we want to do our part to curb the office's methane output, so the staff is chipping in to buy a larger kitchen unit suitable for a small staff. With the leftover composted waste, maybe we'll grow a small herb garden or a few tomatoes.

From passive composting systems to automated approaches, composting is a great way to help lessen our impact on the environment. To learn more, check out this Wikipedia article on composting.

Educational Investment, Part II: Paving the Way with Early Education

In 1964, then-President Lyndon Johnson authorized a preschool program as part of his Economic Opportunity Act. That program has evolved into today’s Head Start, which provides not only preschool education to children from low-income families, but also health and social services.

Since 1965, the money invested in Head Start programs has been steadily increasing. President Obama allotted an additional $5 billion to the program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in the hopes of reaching 150,000 more children. The idea is that when education and healthy living start early, children stay in school, stay employed, enrich society and save taxpayer dollars in reduced welfare later on in life.

However, in 1997 the Government Accounting Office published a report entitled Head Start: Research Provides Little Information on Impact of Current Program. In response, Congress mandated the Head Start Impact Study. Under the Department of Health and Human Services, the research project took four years to design, involved 5000 children, over 350 centers, and received an 80% response rate. The study included both children enrolled in Head Start as well as a control group of children who were eligible but not enrolled due to a lack of seat vacancies. According to the DHHS 2005 summary, Head Start has small to moderate statistically significant positive impacts in some development areas, while no impact on others.

Kathleen McCartney, Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, points out that while experimental research supports early education, President Obama will have to construct a solid policy for early education out of the current “patchwork quilt of programs” currently in existence.

Many states see the value in early education and have begun to implement universal preschool programs, including Oklahoma, Georgia, New Jersey, and Illinois. However, according to the National Center of Education Statistics, none of these states are yet able to point to higher test scores as a possible result of increased access to early education. Only time will tell.

My own personal logic leads me to believe that positive educational experiences at a young age must increase any individual’s likelihood of having enriching educational experiences in the future. However, I was also not enrolled in an early education program. What are you experiences, either professional or personal, with early education? Is the President on the right track?


This post was written by Allison Tritt, a former high school English teacher, volunteer for Oxfam Japan and blogger with Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project. She blogs to foster global awareness and remind others that there is always a way to get involved. Please leave your comments or email Allison at ajtritt@gmail.com with any questions.

P2P Lending Shows Big Banks Where The Love Is

A few years ago some west coast techies sang Cumbia and came up with the idea to bring together lenders and borrowers without the insidious over-lording of a big bank by using the internet.

All things progressive went into the idea, no double-dealing middleman, no high interest rates, no big down payments, and (best of all), no dead behind the eyes businessmen. Nope, the point with Person to Person lending was to reintroduce the social aspect back into financial transactions by linking together friends, family, and people of a generally similar mindset so that they could tell their story, give a little and get a little.

Well, when Person to Person (P2P) lending debuted it was seen as a somewhat far out idea by gushy liberal progressives who had no idea how ‘serious’ financing worked. But, to their consternation, P2P lending has only become steadily more mainstream.

In fact, the recent death rattle of the big banks and ensuing credit crunch, has driven average non-far out people to look at P2P lending as a viable credit alternative and has even become a form of protest over the bailout-hoarding behavior of the banks who were supposed to continue lending at pre-crunch rates (no sir, can’t give up my company Concord).

Although some companies have come under scrutiny by the SEC for not registering (a technicality), other websites like Lending Club are still going strong. These websites run by different models, friends and family or Marketplace, which both put strong emphasis on the personal story of the buyer.

Recently, P2P lending has branched out into even more groovy niches. In 2007, the website GreenNote.com, setup an online P2P platform to link college students with their friends and family via Facebook so that those invested in the student’s future can contribute to his/her college education at a low interest rate.

P2P lending was also picked up in 2005 by the famous Nobel-prize winning micro-financing juggernaut Grameen Bank to create their website Kiva.org. Kiva links lenders in developed countries with borrowers in the developing world. Small loans (average $25) are contributed until the lender reaches his/her stated goal and transmitted via PayPal to a microfinance lending institution (MFI) in the borrower’s country. The MFI coordinates the distribution and repayment of the loan while the lender gets to see their money put to good use by deserving people thousands of miles away.

The rumblings of a little revolution can be heard with the increasing kineticism of P2P lending. It has limitless implications, one of which could be the undermining of the insidious corporatization of western culture, pulling one more Jenga piece out of the bottom of its precarious tower of greed and deceit, and making it, if not obsolete, at least aware that we the people can take back power.

Check out this video from Kiva.org

What do you think are some other implications for P2P lending to affect social change?

This post was written by Leah Bush, a freelance writer, volunteer blogger for Make Social Change A Reality, and aspiring Guru whose past involvement includes the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Recovery Project and volunteerism in Honduras and the Dominican Republic. Questions regarding this post may be forwarded to ultraEchelon@gmail.com.

Educating is OUR Collective Job

This post was written by Matthew Reid, volunteer blogger with the Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project. A native New Yorker, Matthew now lives in Boston and works for a math curriculum development company.

I was a teacher for 5 years. Prior to teaching, I worked for a non-profit organization where we provided scholarships for students to attend college. And even before that position, after high school and through college, I was a summer camp counselor and volunteer/organizer for an after school tutoring program. I enjoy working with youth and feel that it is my responsibility to pass on knowledge that I have to others.


Recently in the news, there have been many ideas floating around about how to “reform” the public education system and what is necessary. President Obama said education was going to be one of his top priorities to address and “fix” the problem of both teacher recruitment and student performance.


Now as a former teacher, I support the need to recruit better teachers, obviously pay them a living/competitive wage and put more responsibility on parents to be accountable for their child’s learning. However, once everyone (politicians, parents, community leaders, etc.) are done saying what they have to say for the cameras, they’re gone and the responsibility to educate the youth of America relies entirely on the teacher.


It IS the responsibility of the teacher to input knowledge and information to each student, however, it is NOT ONLY their responsibility. The community is also responsible. If a child is out on a school night past 9pm, where are the people in the community to tell that child, “go home, get some sleep and make sure your homework is done”? Is that not the socially responsible thing to do?


When I was growing up, I was very fortunate to have both of my parents to make sure my schoolwork was done. But they also made sure that I wasn’t hanging out on the stoop on a school night. They watched who I was friends with and reminded me where my priorities were when it came to schoolwork.


The idea that “it takes a village to raise a child” unfortunately is not often the case anymore. Neighborhoods are stretched and constantly in flux, and the idea of community is harder to come by. However, the stress of raising children to be professionals cannot lie solely on the teacher.


The community needs to come together and demand more of themselves to help educate these children and support them in their education. Who knows, maybe if they are successful, the youth will then in turn do the same thing in the future and our communities will be stronger for it.


What are some ways you can get involved with the youth of your community?

Going Braefoot for National Volunteer Week: A Twelve Year Old in Action

Bilaal Rajan, twelve year old author, fundraiser and UNICEF Children’s Ambassador is going barefoot for National Volunteer Week to raise awareness about global child poverty. What's his goal?


“...to inspire one million children to take action and help create a more peaceful and caring world. I want kids to find their passion, get involved and make a difference in the lives of others.”


Learn more about this inspiring twelve year old, the Barefoot Campaign, or purchase his manual, Making Change: Tips from an Underage Overachiever, at www.makingchangenow.com.


You can also see a video on YouTube about this initiative from Rajan himself.


Will you join Rajan and go barefoot this week to help raise awareness for less privileged children around the world? Have other plans to celebrate National Volunteer Week? Feel free to share stories about your National Volunteer Week celebrations in the comments.

---

This post was written by Chanelle Carver, acting Editor for Make Social Change A Reality and Executive Director of the Literacy 'n' Poverty Project.

Increasing the Number of Volunteer Opportunities for NYC Residents

On April 20, 2009, Mayor Bloomberg launched NYC Service - a program to increase volunteer opportunities for the residents of New York City including youth enrolled in K-12 schools. (press release).

While I no longer live in New York City, I travel to the area for work and social events (or just to hang out with friends and family) so I was wicked excited to hear about this new initiative. While many may have not-so-nice things to say about Mayor Bloomberg's leadership or policy that should not deter us from recognizing the excellent work he is doing for the community. Even if it wasn't his idea, the city needs his leadership to move it forward. After all, he is mayor!

Here's a video of the kick off event in Washington Heights. For more information, call 3-1-1 or visit the NYC.gov website.

---

This post was written by Chanelle Carver, acting Editor for Make Social Change A Reality and Executive Director of the Literacy 'n' Poverty Project.

It's National Volunteer Week!

It’s National Volunteer Week and this year’s theme is Celebrating People in Action.

This week is about recognizing all of you who volunteer with your local nonprofit, who organize voter registration drives and serve food to the homeless. It's about all of you that strive to Make Social Change A Reality.

Every year, organizations around the country take this week to thank their volunteers and show the community just how much they value a volunteer’s time and contribution. Without them, the nonprofit sector as it is today would not survive.

So we'd like to take a moment to thank all of the people behind the Literacy 'n' Poverty Project and Make Social Change A Reality. Our volunteers live in all parts of the country and donate countless hours of their time, skills and knowledge to help us fulfill our mission. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

We'd also like to thank our readers for being socially conscious and following our blog. It takes many to make social change a reality and just by participating in the dialogue you are making a difference.

Learn More
Take a look on the Energize, Inc. website for some ideas on recognizing and rewarding volunteers during National Volunteer Week.

And in case you’re interested, read up on Volunteer’s Week, a national celebration in the UK for volunteers and volunteering that takes places every June 1 to 7.

Your Thoughts?
Do you have an idea about how nonprofits can recognize and reward volunteers? Share them with our readers in the comments section.

From Laziness to Goodness

Naturally, when I saw this title "Lazy Altruism: 6 Super-Easy Ways to Do Good and Help Others", I was intrigued to read the blog post.

After all, it's not too often you see the words lazy and do good in the same sentence. And less often does being lazy result in a positive outcome. Well, not if you're a lazy altruist.

After hearing by President Barack Obama's Call to Action for Americans to volunteer more, an Intent.com blogger was inspired to create this short list for "wide-eyed volunteer newbies...to dip your feet into the wonderful world of altruistic love" which include donating your hair and playing Internet trivia.

Do you consider "lazy altruism" a method of volunteering?

---

This post was written by Chanelle Carver, acting Editor for Make Social Change A Reality and Executive Director of the Literacy 'n' Poverty Project.

Could you be our next volunteer Blog Editor?

For the past year and a half, Make Social Change A Reality has focused on bringing awareness to social issues like adult literacy and education reform, poverty alleviation, and healthcare. But our goal is to do more than talk because as they say, talk is cheap.

This blog aims to empower people to take action for social change. We aim not just to discuss social issues but also to create a community that actively participates in that dialogue sharing ideas and resources that can help each of us make social change a reality in our own unique way.

Recent posts go into more detail about how you can make change, for example, through online volunteering, leading development efforts in your community, and advocating for women's economic justice. And now, we're looking to add to our team! For all you bloggers out there, consider joining Make Social Change A Reality's team by becoming our Volunteer Editor.

A Call to Volunteer!

We need a tech savvy, intelligent, and entrepreneurial person to join the team and help us take this blog to the next level, to reach more readers, to continue helping others make social change a reality. This is a virtual volunteer opportunity for no more than 15 hours per month. We are looking to build a relationship with our new Editor and prefer someone that can commit to working with us for the next six months. The Editor will:

• Brainstorm and assign post topics with volunteer bloggers
• Review and edit submissions from volunteers and guest bloggers
• Approve all blog posts before publishing
• Attend biweekly progress report conference calls with the Executive Director
  

S/he should have the following qualifications, at a minimum:

• Passion for social change
• Self-motivated and comfortable working independently
• Previous blog writing and editing experience
• Familiarity with Blogger/Blogspot and intermediate to expert knowledge of SEO, keyword research, optimizing blogs, and other content related issues
  
• A track record of meeting deadlines and "getting the job done"
  
• Excellent written communications skills

This is an opportunity to help further a cause and even learn new skills. If you are looking to get involved and possibly add some interesting experience to your resume, then don't hesitate to apply.

How to Apply?
In an effort to find the best possible volunteer for this role, we are EXTENDING the deadline to May 30, 2009. If you are interested in volunteering, please send an email telling us more about your experience, why you want to volunteer and links to any blog posts you've written or blogs edit/managed to volunteer@literacyandpovertyproject.com.

Five Things You Can Do to Become an Advocate for Women's Economic Justice...

In follow up to our “American Women and the Great Recession” series, we here at Make Social Change a Reality wanted to give you some simple, yet important, things that you can do on your own to become an advocate for women’s economic justice and affect change!

So, where should you start? Well, there will be many opportunities in the coming year to make your voice heard and join the movement to create economic justice for women, and we have listed the top five…read on for more information and follow the links below to take action!

(1.) Get educated and know your facts. What are the issues, and what are the policy changes that need to occur in states and on the federal level to give women a better shot at economic equality? There are some fantastic organizations out there in the non-profit world that conduct research, gather information on women and families, and produce great resources on women’s economic issues and getting women and families out of poverty. Check out a few examples:

· The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) – provides information on economic justice issues, including childcare reform, healthcare, workplace fairness, pay equity, child support enforcement, strengthening social security and a host of other issues. Click here to start reading their “Platform for Progress” on building economic security for women.

· The Guttmacher Institute – generates in-depth research and information on just about every aspect of women and girls’ reproductive health, and where and how the United States is greatly lacking in providing access to sexuality education, family planning information and services for women and girls, and how this contributes to poverty in the US. Click here to start reading a recent Guttmacher report on how expanding the national family planning system would reduce poverty among women and families, unintended pregnancies, and the number of abortions each year.

Many of these policy organizations offer advocacy toolkits, complete with talking points and writing guides, in order to help you take the next step in your advocacy, which brings us to #2…

(2.) Reach out and let your voice be heard – This is budget season. Contact your state legislative offices and/ or your national representatives in Congress and the Senate, and tell them that you care about women’s issues, and that women and families should not be forgotten in this year’s budget. Cuts to health and human service programs tend to hit women and families the hardest, so get involved. President Obama has included expansions for education, family planning, and economic security in his budget. Click here to read more on the President’s budget, and let Washington know that you are listening.

(3.) Volunteer your time – Programs that serve women and families are always in need of help, and especially during these economic times, when organizations have to downsize, cut spending, and utilize their resources in more creative ways. Find a local women’s shelter, afterschool program for girls, etc. and volunteer your time: it is a mutually beneficial way to help women with instant results that you can see! For opportunities in your area, check out these great volunteering sites:

· Idealist.org, http://www.idealist.org/
· Volunteer Match, http://www.volunteermatch.org/
· United Way, http://www.liveunited.org/

(4.) Expand your network and get involved – Join a local or national organization, such as a YWCA or the Younger Women’s Task Force, that stands up for women’s rights and advancement, and you will meet other advocates, be kept up to date on recent policy issues and developments, and be informed on how you can continue to take action. Don’t wait for someone else to join, they need YOU! Check out Idealist to search for women-focused groups and organizations.

(5.) Join the movement – Attend an event or conference for women’s advocacy this year, and you will be energized and empowered to keep fighting for women’s economic success. Several national organizations, such as the National Organization for Women (NOW), are dedicating their entire national conference agendas to women and economics this year…and don’t be turned off by the price tag, many of these conferences and events can appear expensive, but there are usually opportunities to apply for scholarships, carpools, and travel-sharing in order to make them more affordable for people, especially young people, to attend.

Well, what are you waiting for? It looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you – no seriously though, even if you just picked the one step that is most important or feasible for you from this list and acted on it, your move to action will make an impact. Be sure to check back in with Make Social Change a Reality and let us know how you are doing with your advocacy on behalf of women!

---

Written by Emily J. Kronenberger, Policy Analyst at the Alliance for the Betterment of Citizens with Disabilities and founder of New Wave Grrrl, a health information and resource sharing blog for women. Emily is a volunteer blogger with the Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project, serves on the Board of Trustees at the Alice Paul Institute and volunteers as the Director of Policy Initiatives at the Younger Women’s Task Force of New Jersey.

Water Water Everwhere and Not a Drop For Free

“If the wars of [the 21st] century were fought over oil,
the wars of the next century will be fought over water.”
—Ismail Serageldin, former VP, World Bank, Newsweek, 1995.

The 5th annual World Water Forum was held in Istanbul this past week to facilitate discussion of international water policy among corporations, NGOs, and international financial institutions in the context of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. Waiting to meet them were throngs of demonstrators holding banners reading “Water for Life, Not for Profit,” looking into the face masks of riot police three deep. Underlying the strain is the contentious issue of water privatization.

In the 1990s governments began inviting private corporations to run their water infrastructure for a profit, the idea being that private enterprise would be much more adept and efficient than any government bureaucracy at getting the water to where it had to go. Unfortunately, many of these huge transnational corporations, a major player being Bechtel, a subsidiary of the infamous Halliburton, were caught in the midst of some serious hanky panky and many of these privatization “experiments” resulted in disaster for everyone involved, the brunt of the fall of course being taken by the poor. Take, for example, the incident of Cochabamba, Bolivia.

In 1999, the Bolivian government turned over control of their water infrastructure to Bechtel in the hopes that it would save them a little money and improve existing problems with infrastructure. Soon after their take over, Bechtel reneged on its infrastructure promise and hiked prices up 300%, meaning that many Bolivians whose family income was no more than $100 per month were now forced to cough up $20 per month for water alone. Bechtel coldly replied that if they couldn’t pay the water would simply be turned off. Outraged, the citizens of Cochabamba revolted and ran Bechtel out of town. Bechtel lost major profits and is now suing Bolivia’s government via the World Bank to recoup its losses.

The World Bank and IMF are STILL pushing water privatization as the answer to the 2.5 billion people without improved sanitation facilities, the 200 million people that get sick due to waterborne diseases, and the 2 million people that die each year from using unclean water. The same UN report that published those figures on March 22, also warns that increases in population and climate change, coupled with demands for more food and energy production, are depleting the planet's freshwater supply at an unsustainable rate.

Unsustainable: market demand for finite resources drives up the price and encourages speculation by vulture corporations, as it goes for oil, will it go for water? Now we are back to the protester’s slogan, water for life, not for profit.Water, unlike oil, is necessary for human life. If all of it is owned by TyranoCorp, how will those who cannot PAY UP afford to live? Clean water is a HUMAN RIGHT and the UN should recognize this in its Universal Declaration of Human Rights just as it recognizes the right to be free from slavery.

The privatization experiment has already shown that corporations are primarily successful in getting clean water to the middle and upper class because that’s where the money is, while the urban poor, particularly women and children, who cannot pay those heavenly bills, are stuck in the same situation. Granted that government control of water infrastructure has not accomplished much either. Is there a way to meet in the middle?

They’re a lot of solutions out there, many of which put the onus on better collaboration between governments and localized NGOs. Find out more about the debate on world water at www.foodandwaterwatch.org.

---

This post was written by Leah Bush, a freelance writer, volunteer blogger for the Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project, and aspiring Guru whose past involvement includes the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Recovery Project and volunteerism in Honduras and the Dominican Republic. Questions regarding this post may be forwarded to ultraEchelon@gmail.com.

Educational Investment, Part I: President Obama sheds light on education reform

President Barack Obama spoke before the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on March 10th, offering more details about his plans to improve education. In 2008, American students once again ranked below many of their international peers on standardized tests. The President built his campaign on the idea of change, and it is obvious that the archaic system of American education is in dire need of just that. The question is: what does good change look like?

It starts with early childhood education. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act promises an addition $5 billion to Early Head Start and Head Start programs. While the money promised will help states fund new programs and improve those in existence, is it enough?

To make post-secondary education more affordable, President Obama has said he will increase the cap on Pell Grants by $500. He has also briefly outlined a program that would do away with private lending for student loans, replacing it with a program run by the Education Department that would lend directly to students through the schools they attend. However, with rising tuition in addition to the costs of books and housing, will this money really enable more students to attend college or university?

Charter schools, which function similarly as other schools but lack much of the bureaucratic red tape, have been a hot button issue among teachers and policy-makers alike. President Obama wants to remove caps that limit the number of charter schools per state, as well as make it easier to quickly and efficiently shut down charter schools that are not doing well. Will the President be able to go up against members of his own party, and will charter schools really help improve the quality of our country’s education?

President Obama has suggested applying competitive market strategies to education by offering successful teachers increased salaries. Teachers unions have been overwhelmingly against merit-based pay for a number of reasons. Although both the NEA and AFT have voiced their willingness to work with the President on his initiatives, prepare for some heated debate regarding competitive teaching salaries and the standards used for measuring success in the classroom. Will he be able to reach out to teachers unions and institute merit-based bay? Will it help?

Education Secretary Arne Duncan advocates lengthening school days and terms, keeping schools open up to twelve hours per day, 365 days per year. However, this extra time won’t necessarily translate into more classroom hours. Instead, Duncan suggests inviting nonprofit organizations like the YMCA into schools to create after-school community centers where education continues after dark. Will local governments, students, and parents support extended school hours?

These goals of the new administration have been received with a mixture of enthusiasm and criticism. Next month, the President will not only elaborate on these initiatives but also provide a list of which defunct educational programs will be cut in the coming year. In upcoming posts, we’ll delve further into just how American students rank in comparison to their international peers, and if the initiatives above can feasibly bridge that gap. What will it take to prepare our next generation of thinkers to compete in the global job market?

This post was written by Allison Tritt, a former high school English teacher, volunteer for Oxfam Japan and blogger with Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project. She blogs to foster global awareness and remind others that there is always a way to get involved. Please leave your comments or email Allison at ajtritt@gmail.com with any questions.

Recession forces Change

The current economic climate is forcing people to take a long hard look at their lives. Unemployment, foreclosures and losses of savings and pensions mean that many people have to change their behavior and lifestyles to acclimatize to this new world order.

A recent story on CNN profiled Ernie Casillas, a former investment banker who has had to face the harsh reality of unemployment. Since losing his high paying job, his upscale lifestyle vanished overnight, forcing him to post a ‘job wanted’ ad on Craigslist. CNN reports:

‘Casillas said he teared up when he first began typing the message -- that his life had come unraveled so hard and so fast. But ultimately, he said, he decided, "I'm just going to put it out there. I'm not going to be embarrassed. I'm just going to tell the whole world: I'm unemployed, and I need a job today. And the response was great."’

This situation is becoming more and more commonplace where people who were once high rollers now have to seek out a simpler lifestyle to get by. Many of these people are also looking to give back and produce something good out of their situation. Law firms are offering new options for lawyers they are looking to lay off – many are offering them opportunities in the public law sector while paying them a lower salary. According to a report on CNN:

‘"There is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity coming out of a difficult situation," said Esther Lardent, president of the Pro Bono Institute in Washington D.C., who began discussions this month with at least 15 corporate firms nationwide about placing unemployed attorneys in public interest firms. The project will get under way in a few months, she said.’

While the economic climate is challenging many, it seems there can be good to come out of it, whether it is through self reflection or giving back to the community. It may end up paying some to seek a silver lining.

---

This post was written by Katherine Osgood, Director of International Programs at United Planet. Katherine has her own blog focusing on women’s rights issues and is a volunteer blogger with Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project.

Pay It Forward with a Blog Award

"This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."


Our good friend Dwana over at Healthier, Happier, You was kind enough to give us this award. It's folks like Dwana and all of you that keep us going. All of YOU keep us striving to make social change a reality.


We're honored. Thanks Dwana!


What do we do now? Simple...Pay It Forward!


So, without further ado, the award goes to:


1) Katherine Osgood at Women fighting for Women

2) Emily Kronenberger at New Wave Grrrl

3) Julia at How I Changed the World Today

4) Poverty News Blog

5) Rizwan at The Urban Survival Project

6) Don Griesmann at Don Griesmann's Nonprofit Blog

7) Holly at Gonna Make a Change

8) The Green Girls

The Ocean Around Us

I am reading a book about the many objects that wash up along the shores of the United States and the world. The author discusses her enjoyment with finding these treasures, whether they are sneakers that have fallen off a ship traveling from Korea to the west coast of the United States, wood from sunken ships from hundreds of years ago, gold coins from pirate ships from over 100 years ago, or bottles with messages inside them.


In addition to these “treasures,” the author explains some of the more troubling findings through her travels, plastic. Plastic, one of the greatest inventions of all time is also one of the most biologically harmful to the environment.


Plastic is everywhere in our world, and unfortunately that also means in the oceans and natural areas where they shouldn’t be. In her book, the author shares her findings of plastic everywhere in the oceans, not just along the shores but in the middle of the oceans, caught in currents and passing from one current to the next, affecting the wildlife that interacts with it.


Many people are unaware of the many pollutants that make their way into the oceans on a daily basis. Science and the car industry have made great strides to clean up the emissions that cars give off, why not use the same technology to the ships and barges to help clean up the waters around the world?


I’m not asking for everyone to clean up the oceans and if you see garbage or plastic on the shore to pick it up because that would be a never ending job. What I am asking is that the public demand large corporations that ship their goods across the oceans and lose their cargo during storms to foot the bill for clean up, or, to not overload their ships so that the cargo crates won’t fall off the shop. That would be a start.


How can we as a society ensure that these corporations are held responsible for the pollution they add to the oceans?

---

Written by Matthew Reid, volunteer blogger with the Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project. A native New Yorker, Matthew now lives in Boston and works for a math curriculum development company.

Insult to Injury: How Hospitals Hustle the Uninsured

Hospitals are charging self-pay patients two, three, and four times what they accept as full payment from insurance companies, simply because they can.


Medical debt saddled 72 million adults in 2007 and caused HALF of all personal bankruptcies in 2005. With the recent surge in jobless claims the number of uninsured and under insured self-pay patients is steadily rising and hospital ERs are seeing more patients seeking primary care. Those whose income disqualifies them from community assistance programs even by a hair may face unfathomable costs for their stay at the hospital. While insurance companies fork over a reasonable amount over the actual cost of care to the hospital and Medicare even less, people who can least afford to pay are charged the most. A procedure that may cost the hospital $6,000 would retail to the insurance companies for $8,000 and to a self-pay patient for $12,000! Talk about kickin’ ‘em when they’re down!! And it’s all legal.


A typical hospital bill for a self pay patient is conjured in a black mass, resulting in an indecipherable and meaningless arbitrary assignment of questionable charges to questionable procedures such as $127 disposable mucous recovery systems (tissues) and miraculous births by men who happened to be having heart surgery at the same time. The actual costs of all these procedures are unknown to anyone but the hospital and so we are at the mercy of their discretion.


They deliberately mystify the billing process, assuming that patients will not ask questions or be too intimidated by bureaucracy to pick a fight. And they’ve only become more aggressive in squeezing blood from stones. Hospitals have recently begun turning collection over to credit companies straight off the bat who charge high interest rates and ruin credit ratings.


So what’s been done about it? In 2005, an investigation was held by the Senate Finance Committee led by Senator Chuck Grassley to address alleged price-gouging of self-pay patients, including the uninsured and under insured, by US hospitals. The hospitals responded smugly as they admitted to unfair billing practices.


It’s now 2009 and hospitals are still charging a literal arm and leg for their services with full-frontal legality. Nothing has been done by our government to force hospitals to stop gouging self-pay patients aside from a few states that have entered into voluntary agreements with hospitals to make price lists available to the public and anecdotal court victories. For an industry that is known to inflate its actual costs by BILLIONS of dollars every year, this doesn’t seem like much of a challenge.


Who’s still fighting? At the frontline is activist KB Forbes, founder of Consejo de Latinos Unidos, an advocacy organization whose cause célèbre is transparency in hospital billing policies. Mr. Forbes’ organization was instrumental in getting Congress’ attention on the matter, but unfortunately, every substantial Congressional bill proposed addressing hospital price gouging has been struck down.


If you are being taken for a ride by your hospital’s billing department, you can find great resources on KB's websites to fight hospital price gouging and volunteer time or money to force the government to stop this institutional injustice!

For more information: www.Consejohelp.org, www.HospitalVictims.com

---

This post was written by Leah Bush, a freelance writer, volunteer blogger for the Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project, and aspiring Guru whose past involvement includes the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Recovery Project and volunteerism in Honduras and the Dominican Republic. Questions regarding this post may be forwarded to ultraEchelon@gmail.com.

American Women and the Great Recession Series, Part 4 of 4

Today’s post marks the last in the series on women and the economy, and while we are now several weeks out in the post- Economic Stimulus Package world of 2009, there has been no decline in the amount of scrutiny on the Package and its implications for women.

Reproductive health experts for example, were disheartened that the Package, now known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), succumbed to pressures in Congress and failed to expand national family planning program-funding, which would have served as a major cost-savings measure in the short and long-term. In addition, despite countless studies that have questioned the efficacy of abstinence-only education programs and exposed their inaccuracies and harmful messages on gender and sexuality to young people, Congress still increased abstinence-only education funding in the ARRA.

Nevertheless, the public and non-profit sector agencies that serve women and girls in communities across the US are assessing the situation and hitting the ground running to create meaningful change and improvements in the quality of life for women and families going forward. Given the opportunity to affect change within the existing funding under the ARRA and the health and education spending provisions in President Obama’s proposed budget, women’s advocacy organizations, especially those that work to empower women and families with lower incomes and reduce poverty, are generating new policy analyses and proposing their own methods of accessing funds for much-needed programs.

This forward thinking on post-stimulus issues and programs include a wide range of women’s policy priorities, including expanding quality childcare in states, increasing funding for family planning, eliminating abstinence-only education funding while funding programs that teach both abstinence and contraceptive methods for youth in schools, and many more:

“Making Use of Economic Recovery Funds: Child Care Policy Options for States,” Center for Law and Social Policy, National Women’s Law Center: http://www.nwlc.org/pdf/ccdbg_arra_policies.pdf

Policy Analysis and Action around Expanding Federal Family Planning Program in the Federal Budget, National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association: http://www.nfprha.org/main/index.cfm?Category=Main&Section=Main

Recommendations for Expanding Services Under Medicaid and Bolstering Title X, The Guttmacher Institute, http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2009/02/23/index.html

No More Money Campaign, Sexuality Information and Education Council of the US, http://www.nomoremoney.org/index.cfm?pageid=956

A New Day: The Obama Administration and US Health and Reproductive Policy, The Guttmacher Institute, http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2009/03/04/index.html

Although many individuals and families are suffering in the midst of this deep recession, which may worsen before it improves, we can only hope that when the economic downturn lifts, our society will emerge stronger and our shared interests and greater good will be better served by a significantly raised collective consciousness. As we move into a new era, hopefully one of recovery which will lead to greater transparency, accountability, and security, we are told by economists that our way of creating livelihood will have to evolve, and innovations in all industries and sectors will need to be made in order to navigate the changing world’s economy.

In the same vein, public and non-profit agencies that serve and advocate on behalf of women and girls will also need to become responsive in new ways to shifting economic circumstances and join this evolution. Call me optimistic, but it looks like they already have begun.
_________________________________________________________

Written by Emily J. Kronenberger, Policy Analyst at the Alliance for the Betterment of Citizens with Disabilities and founder of New Wave Grrrl, a health information and resource sharing blog for women. Emily is a volunteer blogger with the Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project, serves on the Board of Trustees at the Alice Paul Institute and volunteers as the Director of Policy Initiatives at the Younger Women’s Task Force of New Jersey.

Time For Change?

More than ten years after his death, rapper Tupac Shakur's influential track "Changes" is still in rotation. Known for being one of the greatest rappers of all time, it is no surprise that his lyrics carry messages easily relatable to current issues within our society.


Tupac rapped in the mid-nineties that; "its war on the streets and the middle east / instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs."


Those two melodic bars touch upon issues that effect all of our daily lives. However, for a multitude of reasons these problems are often overlooked and devalued.


Fortunately, we as a united people, have elected to recognize that these issues need to be addressed. Some have concluded that these problems will not go away without the right leadership. We have elected Barack Obama as our first non-white president.


He presents to our nation a change in ideological properties, and breaks down many embedded stereotypes. Sadly, such a momentous part of history is tainted by the lack of momentous change in society, including a recent controversial dialogue from prominent black role model and activist Rev. Jesse Jackson, who used the word "nigger" and mistakenly spoke on a live microphone negatively (and offensively) about Barak Obama.

How much change is really going on? We move two steps in the right direction to fall three steps backward; this is not the change we need in order to resolve our issues.


The ignorance within our society is holding us back from our full potential. With mainstream music encouraging us to "turn a crack rock into a mountain", "get silly" and "superman that hoe" - what exactly is being taught? Are enlightening lyrics like those in "Changes" even going to help? How many people stopped selling crack after hearing "Changes"? How much did gang violence decrease? How much did the population of incarcerated blacks decrease? How much CHANGE for the better came from this record?


How much CHANGE for the better will come from having Barack Obama as president?

It is up to SOCIETY to change.

The right leadership is meaningless without the right following. We are quick to "pass the buck" and blame the government, the poor people, the rich people, the blacks, the whites, etc. Issues like pollution and global warming are the responsibility of each and every member of society.


Fortunately, we are indeed going in a direction that promotes humanitarian & community awareness. Unfortunately, not fast enough!

---

Written by Charity Activist and Market America Unfranchise Owner, Daniel Rechel. Daniel is also Co-Founder of The DON, a brand of great importance dedicating 100% of its profits to charity..

American Women and the Great Recession, Part 3 of 4

Taking a cue from President Obama’s speech yesterday, this week’s posting in the series on women and the economy continues its focus on healthcare. Most of President Obama’s fireside-inspired speech which he delivered to Congress and the American public last night centered on the economy, and addressing the labor and economic needs of the 21st Century.


A significant portion of the speech however, was geared towards healthcare and the dire need to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system as a critical part of reviving the economy. President Obama pledged reform to the American people in a compelling declaration in which he said that, "Health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year.” Women’s issues were not specifically named in the speech, but hopefully the focus on healthcare and the economy will do some of the greatest good for middle and lower-income women and families.


One of the areas of health services in which help is truly needed among women is family planning. According to a recent study released by the Guttmacher Institute, entitled Next Steps for America’s Family Planning Program, individuals and families are relying more heavily on Family Planning Clinics that are federally-funded under Title X, to fulfill their primary healthcare needs. The study found that six out of ten clients consider Family Planning Clinics their main source of healthcare, as they often receive other preventive services in addition to reproductive health services, such as diabetes and high blood pressure testing.


In addition, for every $1 that the federal government invests in family planning services, it nets $4 in savings over the long term, so the program actually pays for itself and serves as a cost savings-generating measure. A statement released with the report by the study’s lead author Rachel Benson Gold illuminates the essential nature of family planning services to women, families, health, and how these intersect with spending and the economy:


“The national family planning program is smart government at its best […] Publicly-funded family planning is basic health care that empowers disadvantaged women to decide for themselves when to become pregnant and how many children to have. It reduces recourse to abortion. And it saves significant amounts of taxpayer money.”


The report also identifies areas where Medicaid can be expanded and restrictions that impede access for states (and recipients of Medicaid as a result) can be eliminated in order to better serve women and families in need of healthcare and family planning services.


In addition to expanding Medicaid, there are many other areas where healthcare programs can be changed right away to better serve individuals and ease some of the pressures that are bearing down on women and families as a result of the economic crisis. For example, covering more uninsured individuals in the new fiscal year will save money for the U.S. over the long-term by giving people access to preventive care that can help them avoid more serious and costly health problems down the road, such as diabetes and other chronic conditions. The U.S. is expected to spend $2.4 trillion on healthcare this year, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Obama noted in his speech that 1.5 million Americans could lose their homes this year due to bankruptcy, which is often caused by massive medical expenses incurred by the under and un-insured.


By extending coverage to the uninsured, including many women and families, the government can help Americans to get a handle on their medical expenses, reduce the number of bankruptcies, stem the destabilization of housing, and provide the human right of health to millions of citizens.


For more information on the ways in which women’s health and economic policies are intimately linked in the current climate, check out the following links:

• Guttmacher Institute, Fact Sheet on Publicly-Funded Contraceptive Services in the US: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_contraceptive_serv.pdf
• National Women’s Law Center, “Why Reform Matters”: http://www.nwlc.org/reformmatters/
  

---

Written by Emily J. Kronenberger, Policy Analyst at the Alliance for the Betterment of Citizens with Disabilities and founder of New Wave Grrrl, a health information and resource sharing blog for women. Emily is a volunteer blogger with the Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project, serves on the Board of Trustees at the Alice Paul Institute and volunteers as the Director of Policy Initiatives at the Younger Women’s Task Force of New Jersey.

Volunteer From Your Computer!

If you, like many, would like to do more to serve local and international communities through volunteerism, but don’t have the money to travel or lots of time to commit, I recently came across another great way of contributing – right from your own computer!


The UN has launched the United Nations Online Volunteering Service. This great service connects online volunteers with organizations working around the world for sustainable human development. According to the site:

‘Volunteers contribute their skills online to help organizations address development challenges. Organizations collaborate with online volunteers over the internet to strengthen the impact of their development work.’


You can search on the site for volunteer opportunities by your own skills, topics you are interested in such as education or health, or by a region of the world. A quick search on the site gave me multiple opportunities to contribute my skills very easily over my computer. I chose to search by my own skill, writing and editing, which produced 33 results – from editing reports for an organization in Syria, to helping write grant proposals for orgs in West Africa.


If you are looking to volunteer but can’t afford the traditional methods –online volunteering could be a great way to get involved with organizations and issues around the world that you care about!

---

This post was written by Katherine Osgood, Director of International Programs at United Planet. Katherine has her own blog focusing on women’s rights issues and is a volunteer blogger with Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project.

Mentoring Benefits Everyone

I was a teacher for 5 years. Prior to that, I worked in different non-profit organizations where the focus of the organization was education or youth services. I still work in education, but not directly with youth, and I miss it! It’s just one of those things that happens, especially in the current economy, I moved, I found a job, and I kept it for fear of not being able to find another one quickly.


However, with this new position, I have a lot of free time after work, time where I can go to the gym, watch TV, read a book, or, another option I recently discovered, mentoring. It wasn’t hard to find an organization looking for mentors and coaches. Especially because of the economy, there is a greater need for volunteers. Many are struggling since most of their funding comes from these companies that are crumbling in the recession.


There are many students and young people that benefit from this relationship. Initially I was worried that I wouldn’t know how to relate to the students and that I didn’t have anything to “give” them as a mentor, but once we started talking and they brought in their work and questions, I quickly realized that by just talking to them and supporting them, I was being helpful.


There is always a need for mentors; especially with the cloudy future for securing scholarships and loans for college student being what it is, these students need all the support they can get. Mentoring organizations are all over the U.S., and you don’t need to be a mentor through an organization. Mentors come in all shapes and sizes and sometimes the relationship between mentor and mentee is not specified, but it is something that just happens out of necessity. If you have some free time, this is a great way to impact someone else’s life.


The mentee doesn’t have to be a total stranger; it can be a family member, neighbor or someone from a community center. Try to remember what it was like for you as you were growing up and ask yourself, if I had a mentor, would my life have turned out differently?

---

This post was written by Matthew Reid, volunteer blogger with the Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project. A native New Yorker, Matthew now lives in Boston and works for a math curriculum development company.