Make Social Change A Reality

It's been over four months since we last posted to this blog! While it breaks our heart to have been out of touch for so long, we had good reason. You see, our blog is run by volunteers of the Literacy 'n' Poverty Project. LnP is a social initiative I started that addresses multiple aspects of literacy - health, reading, writing and financial - to empower the poor and low-income adults to lift themselves up out of poverty . But, if you've been keeping up with our blog which we know you all have :), you can see that adult education has not been the focus. And rightfully so. How We Got Started Make Social Change A Reality was created as a venue to discuss various issues concerning the broader concept of social change from the environment to women's issues to healthcare to youth development . As a startup with goals of becoming an international social enterprise, we felt that y'all deserved a place of your own to learn, engage and share information and resources...

There are those who want to fuss and fight And would rather scream and shout Than try to find some common ground And calmly talk things out Some people are just so hell bent On getting their own way That they show utter disregard For what others have to say It is almost common place these days To dismiss and reject Those that have a different view As down right incorrect. It seems like some are delighted With the chaos and the craze They spread their anger and disdain And expect to get high praise The President speaks to Congress To make us all aware Of reforms he will be making To bring us all healthcare But with blatant disrespect One chooses to defy The President of the United States And scream at him “YOU LIE !” Have some people lost their manners Do they simply have no shame? Or is it easier to look outward To find someone to blame? Some are just determined To make it their game plan To fight against the social change That could help the common man Social issues are a reality tha...

During the decade I recently spent in East Africa, I spent the majority of my time experimenting with disadvantaged communities to explore ways that participating in the Internet could influence their lives in positive ways. What I learned is that empowering the poor through the Internet is much more complex than teaching people where to click to find information. There are fundamental perception issues at play that serve to keep Africa’s engagement in the online world lower than it should be. One widespread misperception is that enabling Africa to access information from the rest of the world is going to empower African people - as if Africa’s problems would be solved if the average semi-literate African woman could simply find, read and digest what the rest of the world has to teach her. Fundamentally, however, empowering people means helping them believe that they matter, and that what they have to offer has value . Unfortunately, foreign information and culture pushed at Africa o...

Social change is a must Not just for humankind But it can stem from just one human mind. With one thought we will find we can do right But imagine if we all join thoughts and unite . There's no limit to the change we can bring Enough to make the whole world sing in such harmony That we don't have to worry bout the next man harming me What a sight we can see But how can this be? My thought would be through philanthropy So our children could inherit a world of humanity That thought moves me fondly Let's follow in the words of Mahatma Gandhi And BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE in the world. Those words he lived and imparted before he died To show that change must come from inside . Don't hide behind the blinds in your mind Reach down in your heart and you'll find that Social change is a beautiful thing Imagine the change it will bring. From a world of poverty and stress To one of literacy wealth and success. Just taking the time to show I care As a people...we have to s...

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 Rea...

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...

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 entreprene...

"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) Pov...

Adults who grew up during the Great Depression have been shown to be more well-adjusted, stable, and successful in later life than more recent generations. Theories are that during times of collective “deprivation,” children must learn to adapt to frequent change, consequently facing situations which require problem resolution behaviors at a young age. The children of the Depression developed a “ what you see is what you get ” attitude as personal strengths and weaknesses were discovered early and had plenty of time to be further tested and fortified as they grew into adulthood. One of the major reasons why so many children growing in poverty were able to embody such solid characters as adults was the undiscriminating nature of the crisis- they were all in the same boat.” It was not an anomaly to have your neighbor stop by your door asking for money or food, the entire American consciousness was looking through the same lens. This collectivity unified them in their struggle a...

Blogging can be a mysterious even to those of us who have been doing it for while. It is easy to get lost and lose sight of your goals when you started blogging with the mission of changing the world . How do I join the blogosphere and build community and inspire action ? Below are a few steps to help: Pick a topic that has Personal Significance but Social Implications What are you passionate about and can write about regularly? Generally the things that have personally touched us are things that serve as great motivation. The trick is to moving beyond personal experience to acquiring greater context on your topic i.e. research. Try interviewing people or writing a response to an article that relates to your topic to get your mind going. CONNECT with others who Share Your Passion—on and off line. Read and comment on blogs that relate to your topic. Look for meetups , local university clubs/events, and volunteer groups to find people who are committed to addressing the same issue...

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...

Last weekend I was in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center for a conference and stood in the auditorium where Obama delivered his famous speech on race. I thought that the auditorium didn't do him justice—it was small and ordinary looking, lacking the grandeur of his speech. However, someone pointed out to me that while the auditorium looked inconspicuous it was actually an example of magnificent architecture. Everything from the walls to the number and placement of seats is designed to enhance the quality of sound in addition to overall comfort. Everything in that room was deliberate and well coordinated. When I learned this information I realized how perfect that space was for Obama. The intimacy of the space reflects his desire to build a stronger, closer country while the architecture reflects the effort and coordination necessary to sustain and enhance a strong country. And the Constitution Center , while honoring the past is most remarkable for its ability...

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...

Last Fall, I volunteered at a disorganized event for a nonprofit. I was griping to one of the other volunteers and she told me about a nonprofit that she works with that runs like a well-oiled machine: God's Love We Deliver (GLWD). I looked into the organization and learned that they deliver handmade, nutritious meals to people in New York City and Hudson County, NJ who are home bound due to serious illnesses like cancer, MS, and HIV/AIDS. I love to cook and figured that this might be a match, so I went to an orientation last week. I left after the hour session with more energy than I've had in weeks. In 1985, Ganga Stone was volunteering at a hospice and she brought ingredients for a meal to one of her clients who had HIV / AIDS. Unfortunately, he was too ill to prepare even the simplest of meals. Seeing this desperate need in her community, she joined forces with Jane Best and Restaurant Claire to form GLWD in 1986. Restaurant Claire prepared meals that Ganga and volunteers...

As the year ends and the New Year approaches, I start to think about my New Year’s resolution from last year (exercise more, take time to read). I realized that if I set my mind to something, I generally do it. I accomplished both of my New Year’s resolutions from last year, so for this year, I decided to include a new one that I know I can accomplish… volunteer ! Moving to a new city and having a new job has given me the opportunity to spend some free time volunteering with different organizations. It wasn’t hard and the reward is meeting new people, learning a new place and helping to raise awareness for issues that are important to me. The other great thing I realized about volunteering is how contagious it is. I mentioned to some friends about some of the volunteering efforts I was apart of, and immediately they were interested in participating too. I soon found out that I could afford to give some more time to other organizations looking for volunteers. So one thing I am go...

As a first-year public school teacher in Brooklyn, I learned quickly that if I was to survive in this position, it was going to be tough. I first turned to my colleagues; all of them seasoned teachers with 10+ years of experience. Apparently, being a first year teacher is much like entering a fraternity, and I was going through the hazing process. All I wanted was paper, was that so hard? I soon realized that I was not going to get much in the way of paper, other than what I was willing to purchase. I did what I could for the first few months, but when test prep started, I was using a lot of paper. It was then that I decided it was time my students learn about recycling. My school did not have a recycling program. I started a “recycle bin” for scrap paper and encouraged students to use it. I taught them about recycling, why it’s important to them and their community. Within the first few weeks, students would make a mistake on their paper and instead of crumpling up their paper; ...

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...

It's the season of giving.. . ...and we want to give you the gift of free publicity ! The Literacy ‘n' Poverty Project is hosting a December Giving Drive here on Making Social Change a Reality for any organization in need of donations whether you're looking for food, clothes, books, medical, or office supplies. We want to help YOU spread the word and get those much needed supplies to your constituents . To participate in the December Giving Drive , email Chanelle Carver, Executive Director of the Literacy ‘n' Poverty Project at carver[at] literacyandpovertyproject .com with the following details: The name and mission statement of your organization Drive details (start and end date, who the drive will benefit, drop off locations, donations needed, etc.) Person to contact (name, e-mail, and phone) Literacy ‘n' Poverty Project is a startup nonprofit organization with a mission to support the advancement of adults through advocacy, research and service. We tackle s...

Save the Children’s mission is simple enough: to meet both the immediate and long-term needs of children struggling to overcome poverty. Poverty is a challenge that both the US and the world have yet to overcome. According to the 2007 US Census Bureau, poverty in that year stood at 12.5 percent. Meanwhile, the World Bank’s latest figures show that in 2005, 1.4 billion people in developing countries were living in extreme poverty. Save the Children has tirelessly worked to reach out to those children who live in such conditions, and to their credit, they have met with some success, as it claims to have reached a staggering 41 million girls and boys the world over. One of the areas the organization works in is education, an area at the core of the Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project’s mission. While Save the Children and the Literacy ‘n’ Poverty Project target different audiences, both organizations believe that education is an extremely important factor for poverty alleviation. An example o...

This post was written by Rizwan Tayabali, a management consultant who works with different non-profits, social enterprises and individuals helping them create financial sustainability. He has started an initiative called the Urban Survival Project which is aimed at helping vulnerable young people survive education, jobs, small business and life. ----------------------------------------- Nothing about poverty is cool. It is tough, brutal, painful and cyclical. But it doesn't affect most of the people who can afford the technologies to be reading this, so for many of us it's always been easy to ignore. A hidden evil lurking in 'third world' countries. The saddest development is that even the little attention poverty had when it was simply the most pervasive of the global problems that didn't affect us directly, is being washed away in the tide of interest surrounding the Green movement. Green has gone from cheap and homemade to cool and chic. From 'tree-huggers...