Make Social Change A Reality

In July, President Obama announced his $12 billion investment plans for community colleges . He set the benchmark of success at an additional 5 million community college graduates within in the next 11 years – by 2020. However, research by the Brookings Institution, noted in an Education Week article earlier this month, showed that in 2002, only 1 in 10 students who started at a community college had earned an associates degree within three years. So, how do we increase graduation rates among community college students? Before we address that question, let’s take a step back and look at the role community colleges play in the educational system and why they are crucial to America’s success. Community colleges were started by President Truman to increase the educational opportunities for World War II veterans. They actually represent a larger portion of the higher education system than traditional four-year colleges. 40-45% of all college undergraduates attend community colleges. They ...

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 r...

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, obvious...

I am a huge sports fan and I have always looked up to athletes for their work on the field of play, their dedication to excellence through practice and living a healthy lifestyle and their determination for becoming the best in what they do. However, with each week that goes by, more and more athletes are on TV and in the newspapers for all the things they are doing wrong and that are illegal, and not for their athletic successes. Yet we still try to suggest that because they are on TV and in the public eye they are role models. Why? Haven’t we learned from the days of Charles Barkley when he said, “I am not a role model,” and even had a commercial to state that fact? Hasn’t the lifestyles of famous athletes made us cringe and question the way we put them in the spotlight? Recently we found out that the king of the Olympics was pictured doing illegal drugs and let down hundreds of thousands of fans, young and old who looked up to him. Baseball players left and right are admitting t...

It doesn’t take much to make changes in your community . Recently, I started watching a new channel devoted to cleaning up your environment and lessening your global footprint. There are many interesting shows and someday I hope to use their suggestions when I purchase my own home, but for now, I have to settle for some of the smaller changes I can make in my daily life. I like plants. I always have. Living in the Northeast means having to bring plants inside in the winter months and hope they survive the winter, which right now is touch and go. However, once spring rolls around, I plan to put my plants outside again and let them enjoy their time in the sun. Until then, I’ve decided to start a small composting pile so that when the weather gets warmer, I can provide my plants with this new recycled form of nourishment. It’s very simple, I simply searched the web for ways I can recycle my waste and found multiple websites. Going further, my city has a link on their website where...

In the strategic planning process, the management team and leaders of any business and/or social venture must ask themselves three important questions: 1) Where are we now? 2) Where do we want to be? 3) How will we get there? I think the same applies to blogging, which is why we at the Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project have taken some time to come up with our own blog strategy for Making Social Change A Reality . In creating this blog strategy, we’ ve come up with a set of goals and objectives to accomplish over the next year that will not only create greater awareness for our organization and this blog but also to ensure we are expanding to new markets and advocating on behalf of the very people we believe will benefit from our programs and services. Here’s a list of some of things we’ll be doing throughout the year: 1) Expanding our base of discussion topics to include various social issues that are of concern to the GLOBAL community 2) NETWORKING with writers and bloggers already e...

Making social change a reality can be tough work especially when you don't know where to start and what to do. Luckily, one of our readers has shared a fabulous resource with us for all you activists that want to create positive social change in your community . In Russell Cavanagh's article titled, " A Guide to Campaigning for Positive Change in Your Local Community ", he addresses key elements of starting a development campaign: Taking Inventory of Your Local Community Suggestions to Kick-Start Ideas What to do After the Meeting Outcomes Thank you Russell for sharing your guide with us. We hope you - our readers - find this resource of value as you exercise your entrepreneurial skills to create positive social change in your community . What are your thoughts? Bookmark on Delicious

We are a few days away from Christmas and are undoubtedly being reminded about the joys of giving. But what if you don't have much to give? What if this year money has been more than tight—it has been nearly non existent? What if emotionally you have been so drained that most days you would like to just sit home and cry? What if the merriment of the season leaves you feeling disillusioned and excluded? Then don't give. We are told it is better to give than to receive and now is the time to put aside all selfishness and give to everyone you love and to the less fortunate. But it isn't that easy and for many people it never has been. Poverty doesn't take a holiday. The recession didn't go away on vacation. We are still struggling. Instead, reflect and open up. Openness is a gift in and of itself. It takes a great deal of our personal strength to open up to others and to listen to others. Too many of us are raised to value the suppression of negative emotions—...

Mozilla has launched Blackbird , a web browser created for African-Americans. The browser filters searches, networks, and websites to bring African-American related content and acts as a network for African-Americans to connect and highlight African-American charities. My gut reaction is that this browser is created to make money for advertisers. African-Americans are projected to have over $1 trillion in purchasing power by 2012 so anyone who can get this groups attention will certainly see profits . Additionally for the 85% of African-American web users who prefer African-American related content this browser does all of the filtering and searching that they may not have the time or savvy to do. At the same time, if we recognize that the Internet has revolutionized how we learn and interact with the world around us there is something unsettling about limiting content to solely focus on an ethnic group. And who gets the privilege of selecting what exactly is African-American cont...

Rounding out the last of the Millennium Development Goals are goals seven and eight, Environmental Stability and Global Partnership . Both of these goals are so much more specific than the previous six, Goal 7 including four targets and Goal 8 including five, that it would be impossible to examine them exhaustively in such a short space. Therefore, let’s examine one target per goal. For a more detailed look at these aims, please visit the website for the United Nations, www.un.org. To ensure environment sustainability, target three aims to, “halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. “ One Step Forward: Thirst Relief International is an international nonprofit organization that works with local groups to implement safe, potable water facilities in communities all over the globe. With projects in the Congo, Amazon, Kenya, and many more countries, Thirst Relief provides funding and serves as project mana...

The Millennium Development Goals are eight broad yet inspired benchmarks, which will guide us, as concerned international citizens, down the path toward a world of peace and prosperity. Now, in the 21st century, the future never looked so bright. Well, not exactly. In the year 2000 at the Millennium Summit in London, UN member states adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration. The goals conveyed in that declaration provide a framework for international development, targeting eight specific benchmarks. While the degree of that specificity has come under much scrutiny since 2000, the MDGs also mark an unprecedented level of international cooperation to eradicate poverty. Expressly, the UN plans for the world to, by the year 2015: 1.) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger 2.) Achieve universal primary education 3.) Promote gender equality and empower women 4.) Reduce child mortality 5.) Improve maternal health 6.) Combat HIV/ AIDs , malaria, and other diseases 7.) Ensure environme...

Since my time teaching GED classes with Columbia University’s Community Impact program has ended, many of my students have already taken the exam once or even twice. Some of them passed and successfully graduated the program; others still struggle with particular subjects or the exam as a whole. The experience of guiding and leading these people through this process was not only rewarding but also self-defining . In our last session, few of my “regular” students showed up mostly to say goodbye and wish each other good luck with the hope to meet again under circumstances that will allow us to get to know each other. These past months offered incredible insight to a person’s ability not only of self-conservation but also to reclaim the quality of life that everyone deserves but not everyone receives. Life is pretty hard in some parts of the world, but what is harder is the lack of drive, goal, purpose and dream. All my students are everyday people that merely try to better themselves and...

What a fantastic time to volunteer! Not only because our times demand it, but also because the human soul needs it! The GED classes at Columbia University’s Community Impact program continue and the semester seems to be progressing amazingly. After spring break, my students came back refreshed and ready for new adventures! And by adventures I mean learn how to write a winning GED essay! Now, that’s a challenge…!!! Mid-terms were uneventful and went by smoothly. The new focus of our class was how to become more efficient GED test-takers and learn new test-taking techniques and of course….practice, practice, practice…!!! At the beginning of the semester, I underestimated how valuable doing activities in the classroom would be. Having very few students returning their completed homework, it hit me that the only way to help them practice everything we learn in the classroom, was to actually have them do homework in the classroom. It is sad to admit I failed to convince them that homework w...

After reading Doing Well by Doing Good an article by Jessica Chen on entrepreneur.com, I couldn’t help but to highlight the work of another individual who – in her own way, advances social causes. It explains another perspective of how entrepreneurs are lighting the way to different business practices like social entrepreneurship where in this case, profits are not the driving force behind success or failure. When serving a community – be it online or in local neighborhood, you should be equally concerned about the impact you’ll have on the community in addition to profits. The practice of a double-bottom line not only drives business but it advances the community by challenging us to do better; asking more questions, collaborating more often, managing your resources more efficiently, all key factors leading up to what you hope will produce great results/outcomes. Here are just a few social entrepreneurs you may find of interest: Bill Gates Bell and Melinda Gates Foundation Oprah ...