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Barnes & Conti and Youth TogetherBarnes & Conti is collaborating with Youth Together to create a customized leadership course for high school students that would be taught both during their summer program, and during the school year. We hope to work with students to teach them them various skills on influence, negotiation, constructive debate, strategic thinking, and leadership. We are very excited about this collaboration and look forward to helping and guiding the youth of the East Bay.
Youth Together (YT) was formed in 1996 as a community-based response to increased interracial conflicts and violence in school communities. The mission of YT is to facilitate community empowerment, health, and justice through the development of youth leaders and organizers grounded in the principles of multiracial unity, justice, and peace. There are 360 multiracial youth at YT's six school sites. These students have direct impact on over 10,000 additional students, teachers, administrators, and community allies who take part in out youth-led school-based and community change campaigns.
YT blends multiracial youth development with community organizing and community building so that youth can lead and organize school and community change activities that lead to long-term solutions which help create safe, respectful, and empowered communities.
To read more about Youth Together, visit their website,
This
year in lieu of our annual holiday gift exchange, we decided to
contribute to a very creative Berkeley community organization, The
Tinker’s Workshop. The Tinker’s Workshop operates
on the concept of “each one teach one.” Youngsters are taught
to build their own bikes from recycled parts, they then ride their new bikes
home. Shortly afterwards, they return with a friend whom they in turn teach
to build his or her own bike! The bike-building is only one of several wonderful
after-school activities for children from families with restricted incomes.
The organization relies on volunteer efforts, community grants, and contributions.
In December, we once again had the pleasure of selecting organizations that we could all support with a year-end gift. Because of the“ideas into action” focus of each organization, we wanted to share our selection with our web readers. Each organization listed below has great ideas; not only that, but the organizations have a proven track record of translating those ideas into lasting, beneficial action. Below are the selected organizations.
Heifer InternationalThe mission of Heifer International is “to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and care for the earth.” Heifer International gives families a source of food (such as a heifer, sheep, or chicken) rather than short-term relief. Their strategy is to “pass on the gift.” As people share their animals’ offspring with others—along with their knowledge, resources, and skills—an expanding network of hope, dignity, and self-reliance is created that reaches around the globe.
For more information go to: http://www.heifer.org
Berkeley Community Fund The Berkeley Community Fund was founded by local visionaries who shared a concept of a community based on social justice, hope, and equality, and a belief in returning something to the community that had fostered their own success and growth. The Berkeley Community Fund is committed to building models for social progress that will:
For more information, go to: http://www.berkfund.org
The Leukemia & Lymphoma SocietyThe Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education and patient services. The Society's mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Since its founding in 1949, the Society has invested more than $360 million for research specifically targeting blood cancers.
For more information, go to: http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org
The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy’s mission is to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive.The Nature Conservancy has developed a strategic, science-based planning process, called Conservation by Design, which helps identify the highest-priority places—landscapes and seascapes that, if conserved, promise to ensure biodiversity over the long term.
For more information, go to: http://nature.org
STAND! Against Domestic Violence STAND! Against Domestic Violence has been the voice of community and a force for change in Contra Costa County, California, for over 20 years. Formerly Battered Women’s Alternatives, STAND! began in 1977 as a group of concerned citizens dedicated to serving battered women and their children through crisis, counseling, support groups, and emergency shelter. Today, STAND! provides the core services and delivers much more. For those impacted by domestic violence, STAND! Against Domestic Violence is the catalyst for change that breaks the generational cycle of violence and rebuilds lives.
For more information go to http://www.standagainstdv.org
