Since 1996, DoSomething.org has honored the nation’s best young world-changers, 25 and under. They're at it again!
In 2011 the five nominees will be rewarded with a community grant, media coverage and continued support from DoSomething.org. The grand prize winner will receive $100,000 during a live broadcast.
(Here's a video recap of last year's awards show. It made me cry! So happy for the grand prize winner, Jessica Posner. I voted for her, last year on the Do Something website.)
photo: last year's 5 finalists
The Do Something Award community grant money is paid directly to the nominee's organization or the not-for-profit of the nominee’s choice. All winners have the option of receiving $5,000 of the total money awarded in the form of an educational scholarship.
Apps are reviewed and judged by the Do Something Award Academy (comprised of former winners - I love this!!!!) and Do Something Awards team (comprised of Do Something staff) who read through every application and select finalists. The Do Something Award finalists are flown to NYC, where representatives from the Do Something Award Selection Committee (comprised of key not-for-profit and corporate professionals) and the Academy interview the finalists face-to-face. Then, the 5 finalists make it to the awards show:)
Applicants must have been born on or after 9/1/85, and must be a US or Canadian citizen, or permanent resident. Apply here.
Received this email this AM from Do Something. I volunteered as a Speed Catcher at the 2010 San Francisco Boot Camp - it was awesome! Dan Conroe, HeadCount's Upper MidWest Regional Coordinator, volunteered for the 2010 Chicago Boot Camp. He made it into a NYT video! Do Something is looking for 2011 volunteers ...
We're back! It's our 3rd Boot Camp in San Francisco. We'll spend the day in workshops with over 100 young people leading social change initiatives. They will learn basic marketing techniques, how to write budgets, succession planning, etc...Then, at 3:30 we bring in the old people for speed-pitching. (This is where YOU come in...)
We need speed-catchers! Please come spend the afternoon with us. You will meet about a dozen kids, give them feedback to strengthen their projects, and teach them the art of an effective pitch.
OUR NEXT BOOT CAMPS: San Francisco Date: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5th Place: Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF, 1675 Owens Street, San Francisco, CA 94143 Time: 3:30pm to 6:00pm (Refreshments Served) REGISTER TO VOLUNTEER HERE
New York City Date: SATURDAY, MAY 21st Place: TBA Time: 3:30pm to 6:00pm (Refreshments Served) REGISTER TO VOLUNTEER HERE
The Los Angeles Boot Camp will take place in August; further details TBA.
Do Something holds one day-long Boot Camps at different locations around the USA to help people age 25 & under take their ideas for social change projects and make them happen. Lots more info about these Boot Camps in these 2 previous posts.
I just received an email from Do Something announcing 2 upcoming Boot Camps:
CHICAGO BOOT CAMP Sat Oct 16 Tribune Tower, 435 N. Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611 9:00am to 5:30 pm (Breakfast and Lunch Included) FREE Registration deadline is Oct 1
NYC BOOT CAMP Sat Nov 13 New York, NY (Exact Location TBA) 9:00am to 5:30 pm (Breakfast and Lunch Included) FREE Registration deadline Nov 1
If you can't attend in person then you can stream it here.
Streaming Schedule: 9:00-9:30: Morning Keynote: Aria Finger, Do Something, COO 9:40-10:35: Branding and Marketing 10:45-11:40: Individual Donors 12:50-1:20: Do Something Youth Panel (Hear from 3 Do Something Youth who have all successfully started their own community action projects or not-for-profit organizations) 1:30-2:25: Public Relations 2:35-3:30: Digital Storytelling 3:40-4:30: Interviews with young social leaders
Details on the Sessions: BRANDING AND MARKETING Speaker: Aria Finger, Do Something, COO This session will highlight the five essential elements of a strong brand and help you better define your project or organization. Aria will discuss why a strong brand is important and how to put into action various branding and marketing strategies. This session will provide you with tips for creating a lasting brand and make you stand out among the rest.
INDIVIDUAL DONORS Speaker: Jessica Scheer, Do Something, Director of Development Responding to your organization’s fundraising needs through individual donor fundraising can be a tricky and complicated process. It can also be simple, straightforward, and incredibly rewarding if executed correctly. In this session we will explore the effectiveness of different tactics (i.e. direct mail, door-to-door, events, phone solicitation), and discuss who to ask, how to ask, and how to follow up.
PUBLIC RELATIONS Speaker: Megan Anhalt, Do Something, Director of Media & Talent Relations Tired of writing press releases that no one reads? Learn "how to" get noticed and get attention for your cause or project! Find out tips on increasing your media exposure, utilizing new forms of journalism and how to make the most out of the press you get.
DIGITAL STORYTELLING Speaker: John Cassidy, Do Something, Digital Media Associate In an increasingly digital world, it is becoming more and more important to become digitally literate. How well do you know your digital tool kit -- both the free and industry-standard applications that are out there right now? Ever wonder how your favorite viral video was made? Or that awesome poster you saw on the street yesterday? Once you understand the tools that are at your disposal, we will discuss how to best harness them to tell your story -- be it about your idea, your project, or your organization.
Tune into VH1 at 9pm EST next Monday, July 19 for the Do Something Awards. Help Do Something recognize and celebrate a new generation of world changers. They'll be honoring five individuals under the age of 25 for their commitment to social change.
Check out the 5 finalists. I voted for Jessica Posner on the Do Something website. While not one of the top 5, I love that Sparkseed's Jason Shah was one of the 2010 Do Something Awards finalists!
The June 19 awards show will be hosted by Jane Lynch of Glee, and will feature performances by Natasha Bedingfield, Lifehouse and Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars.
Here's the Do Something Awards promo video featuring Jane Lynch:
Got home from Sparkseed's awesome ARE YOU DANGEROUSLY AMBITIOUS? Happy Hour last night and after turning on my laptop, first thing I did was look up the video for The Script's "Breakeven." (If you listen to pop radio then you know it; currently #15 on Billboards Pop Singles chart.) Took me a while to locate the video because I thought it was an Adam Lambert song. My excuse? I haven't followed American Idol since the night in May 2008 that my favorite, David Archuleta lost to David Cook:)
But I digress.
After bopping along to Katy Perry's video for "California Gurls" I moved onto an email thanking me for volunteering at Do Something's Social Action Boot Camp this past Saturday. The email mentioned that Do Something will be announcing the winner of their $100k grant, as a part of a live show on VH1 on July 19th at 6 pm. I clicked on a link in the email, and a few clicks later found myself on a Do Something website reading about The Kibera School for Girls and Shining Hope Community Center, founded by Jessica Posner, Wesleyan '09 and Kennedy Odede, '12.
Here's an interview Wesleyan did with Jessica and Kennedy, where they talk about their venture and how it came to fruition:
I like this from Jessica: "We have a responsibility to the world because we went to Wesleyan, you know we got this type of education and we should use that to reinvent, reimagine how things are."
I found Jessica and Kennedy's organization on Facebook and saw that Jessica and Kennedy are in Echoing Green's 2010 fellows class! How did I miss them when I was blogging about the fellows 24 hours ago?
Their Echoing Green video:
By reading about Jessica and Kennedy, I learned that Kibera, the home of their venture, is the largest slum in Nairobi, Kenya and the second largest urban slum in the world. It's home to 1.5 million people, yet it's smaller than the size of NYC's Central Park.
Kibera seems to be everywhere, this week.
Last Tuesday PBS showed the Acumen Fund documentary "The Recruits", which I recently blogged about. I watched it online this past weekend. It profiles 3 Acumen Fund fellows, including Suraj Sudhakar, a native of Mumbai, India. As an Acumen Fund fellow, Suraj worked with Ecotact, a Nairobi, Kenya-based sanitation company. In "The Recruits" Suraj visits Kibera and encourages Ecotact founder David Kuria (an Ashoka Fellow himself, I just discovered) to build toilets in Kibera. It was a great eye opening film, and the first time I'd gotten that close to Kibera.
While I had never seen a video tour of Kibera, I was recently involved with a community project that benefits the community.
While attending my friend Lesley's baby shower three weekends ago in Monterey County, I learned that one of her fellow teachers, Caitie Ireland, was about to leave for Kenya, to volunteer at the Daraja Academy of Kenya. Caitie and I caught up at the party, and a few minutes into our conversation I found myself volunteering to collect women's running shoes for the secondary students at the private boarding school for girls - Kenya's first. Some of the students at the school are from Kibera.
After emailing a few select Bay Area fellow runners, and posting it as my "status update" on Facebook, I collected 50+ pairs of women's running shoes in less than 2 weeks from many friends, friends of friends, and friends of friends' co-workers!
Caitie and I met up for a hike at Big Basin Redwood State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California on Sunday, so that I could give her the shoes I'd collected. She shipped them to Kenya a few days ago, and is now enroute to the Daraja Academy of Kenya.
photo: myself and Caitie with some of the shoes destined for the Daraja Academy
photo: me with some of the shoes
So that was my tiny contribution and brush with Kibera.
But now, Kibera is everywhere - late last night, thanks to Facebook, I stumbled upon an article about a solar power project set for Kibera, related to the World Cup.
Also thanks to Facebook yesterday I learned about this TED video: Charles Leadbeater: Education innovation in the slums. I admit I haven't had a chance to watch it, yet.
Also just found out that Suraj organized a TEDx for Kibera last fall. Check it out here.
I am certain that there are many other ventures either already underway or planned for Kibera ... Jessica, Kennedy, Caitie, and Suraj just got me started:)
I just signed up to give the Boot Camp participants feed back during the one-on-one pitch sessions at the San Francisco Boot Camp.
Do Something Boot Camps bring together a diverse group of young community leaders, activists and social entrepreneurs for a day of networking and training dedicated to giving each attendee the tools to grow and sustain their community action ideas, projects and organizations.
Date: SATURDAY, JUNE 19TH Place: Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF 1675 Owens Street, Suite 251, San Francisco, CA 94143 Time: 9:00am to 5:30 pm (Breakfast and Lunch Included) Cost: FREE (*Attendees are responsible for travel and accommodation costs.)
There's also a Boot Camp in Los Angeles on July 17.
If you're under 25 and want to participate in Boot Camp, then go here. Deadline is June 10 for San Francisco Boot Camp, and July 10 for Los Angeles Boot Camp.
If you're over 25 and want to join me in giving the participants feedback, then go here.
Hip-hop artist, former member of the Fugees, and Haitian native Wyclef Jean has led efforts to help Haiti for years through his charity Yele Haiti.
The term "Yele" comes from a Haitian Creole word meaning 'to yell,' and when asked by CBS's Scott Pelley why he chose this name for his charity, Wyclef responded "Because I want you to hear us."
Jessica Calefati at Mother Jones reported on Wednesday that Yele spends $100,000 a year on athletic programs for Haitian children and helps feed 50,000 people a month with food donated by the UN.
photo: Angelina Jolie and Wyclef Jean in Port-au-Prince in January 2006, celebrating Yele's 1st anniversary. Credit: Brennan Leslie / Associated Press.
When Wyclef received word of the disaster, he immediately acted, sending a “flurry of tweets” for people to donate $5 by texting 501501. He has already returned to Haiti to help.
More details on Wyclef's actions over the past few days here on Treehugger.com.
Saw this on Twitter today, from @dosomething:
NEWS: we're offering grants of $500 for people under 25 who are working on Haiti relief projects.
Do Something hosts Social Action Boot Camps to bring a diverse group of young community leaders, activists and social entrepreneurs together for a day of networking and training dedicated to giving each attendee the tools to grow and sustain their community action ideas, projects and organizations.
A Social Action Boot Camp is coming up in NYC, and can be streamed online, live, for free!
NYC BOOT CAMP Date: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH Place: NYU School of Law, 40 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012 Time: 9:00 am to 5:30 pm EST (Breakfast and Lunch Included) Cost: FREE (Attendees are responsible for travel and accommodation costs.) Registration Deadline: October 23rd
If you can't make it you'll be able to watch Boot Camp LIVE online. Here are the details for how to watch the live stream, and what you will see on the live stream, and at what time.
Requirements to attend: All attendees must be 25 AND UNDER and actively engaged in improving their communities (locally and/or globally).
Sessions and workshops offered on:
* Path to Change: Turning your Ideas in Action * Measuring Your Impact * Building a Website * Foundations and Grant writing * Branding and Marketing: How to find your voice and tell your story * Individual Donors: How to pitch your program and manage donor relationships * Online Communications * Starting your Own Not-for-Profit * Corporate Sponsors: How to pitch your program and manage donor relationships * Public Relations: How to get press for your project * 501c3 and Fiscal Sponsors: Benefits and Pitfalls * Succession Planning: How to keep your project going without you * Political Activism: How to get your local officials to listen * Recruiting and Managing Volunteers * Public Relations * Partnerships * Applying for a Do Something Grant
If you have questions please email bootcamp@dosomething.org
This Boot Camp is generously powered by American Express.
