I started my first community organizing campaign with a group of friends when I was 14. Involved in formal and informal youth engagement work throughout my teens and early 20s, I got my first job supporting youth involvement and youth activism when I was 24. I haven’t stopped since then. Starting The Freechild Project whenContinue reading “Some Observations About Social Change”
Tag Archives: volunteer
Nobody Owns Volunteering
Nonprofits searching for purpose after the ship went down… The ship’s going down and all the rats are swimming for their lives! A long time ago, back in the 1990s, the federal government decided to build the nonprofit volunteerism sector in the United States. At first this brought menial efforts from fledgling organizations that actuallyContinue reading “Nobody Owns Volunteering”
You Don’t HAVE To Volunteer
People want to accumulate engagement and experiences of engagement like they collect stuff, thinking all the time that the more they gather, do, think, talk about, wonder, and dream, the more engaged they’ll become. The Heartspace Teachings show that engagement is happening here, right now, in our day-to-day movements and ways of being. All ofContinue reading “You Don’t HAVE To Volunteer”
Critical Thinking About Volunteerism
This last month I’ve been talking with Emma Margraf, the Director of Special Projects at the Volunteer Center of Lewis, Mason, and Thurston Counties. Our conversation is a critical dialog on volunteerism in American society, and we plan to continue it. Following is the text of the first blog entry from this series, with theContinue reading “Critical Thinking About Volunteerism”
Volunteering for Tomorrow: Why Intergenerational Equity Matters
The following entry was written for “Where the Rubber Meets the Road,” the blog of the Volunteer Center of Lewis, Mason, and Thurston Counties. When I look at the place where I live, sometimes things seem worse off than ever. There are huge government deficits and growing unemployment; Social Security is running out and we’reContinue reading “Volunteering for Tomorrow: Why Intergenerational Equity Matters”
Supportive Environments for Youth
Creating a safe and supportive environment is essential for engaging students in a community service program, organization, or throughout a community. The environment includes everything around youth, including the culture, structures, and climate of the organizations they volunteer in and learn from. The vast majority of programs, organizations or communities that seek to engage youth as volunteers are adult-driven, which makes it vital forContinue reading “Supportive Environments for Youth”
Youth Volunteerism Links
Want to learn more about what children and youth are doing to make a different in the world around them? Check out the following websites! Every program here is part of a broad international movement promoting youth volunteering, action, and empowerment. Child Friendly Cities (CFC) – A UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre initiative that focuses on youth involvement throughoutContinue reading “Youth Volunteerism Links”
New Roles for Youth Volunteers
It’s not just about showing up for the project! With the development of new technology, new learning experiences, and different avenues for participation throughout our communities, young people have assumed, been assigned, and have co-created new roles for youth volunteers. Youth volunteers today have so many others ways they can contribute to our communities. CheckContinue reading “New Roles for Youth Volunteers”
The Government’s Responsibility To Young People
A few days ago I made an unusual sidestep and argued that national and community service programs should supplant government funding with local sources of funding, and scale back accordingly. This is unusual for several reasons, the primary among them being that I believe it is the paramount duty of a democratic government to ensureContinue reading “The Government’s Responsibility To Young People”
The History of Youth, Voice, Action and Change
According to a lot of different sources, last week was an amazing week for young people in the U.S. Wiretap and the League of Young Voters both reported that according to CIRCLE, 13 percent of eligible Iowans under the age of 30 participated in the Iowa caucuses. Researchers report that the youth turnout rate roseContinue reading “The History of Youth, Voice, Action and Change”
