One day two years ago, I happened to pass a young woman sitting on the street. She was crying and saying over and over to herself that she’d never be clean. I live in San Francisco, where it’s impossible to be unaware of the homeless. For years, I’d wanted to do more than volunteer or donate to an organization. But it wasn’t until that day that I took action, inspired by the words of the young woman.
I’m taking one full year to focus on what I most give a damn about: entrepreneurship education to empower girls.
The decision to take this adventure wasn’t an easy one—I loved the projects I worked on during the two years I worked at GOOD/Corps, GOOD’s social innovation consultancy. But my “a-ha” moment came when I visited India last summer as part of a project with Gap Inc.’s Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement program. I got to meet female factory workers who are part of the P.A.C.E program, and the conversations I had with them shattered my preconceived notions of what life is like for these women. They exuded “empowerment” and all cited positive life changes due to the entrepreneurial skills they were learning through the program.
You may have heard we’ve declared the last Saturday of April “Neighborday” and we’re encouraging you to spend some time that day getting to know the folks who live near you. April 27 will be a celebration of that basic human inter-connectedness that powers great neighborhoods—the kinds of places where we all want to live.
Overlooking Duboce Park in San Francisco sits the Harvey Milk Center for the Recreational Arts, a monument to a man devoted to creating thriving communities, one block at a time. One of the outside walls of this building contains a fragment of a quote from a little known speech he made in the early days of city politics: “The American Dream starts with the neighborhoods.”
The San Francisco Giants have stepped up to the plate (we try to avoid puns, that one was an exception) for the It Gets Better campaign with this video. They definitely hit a homer with this one. (Again, so sorry)
Consider this sports coverage we’re happy to report upon.
Social change is a complex, messy business. It takes a long time. We’re best positioned to affect long-term outcomes when we stay home and work within our own communities.
Many of you are already enmeshed in local design activism. But do we see our work as designers as a form of community service? If not, I think we should. Think of programs and service delivery models like soup kitchens, Americorps, trash pick-up days. These models, more than global humanitarian work, are most relevant for designers looking to work locally.
“Everything happened here,” says founder, Jerry Cimino, dramatically. “We call this intersection, Broadway and Columbus, the center of the universe.”
Through the museum’s quirky collection of more than 1,000 photos, rare books, paintings, records, posters and artifacts, visitors learn about the cold war context of the Beat Generation’s emergence, the importance of jazz to their writing, their rejection of the status quo and their influence on the counterculture of the 1960s. There are also biographical displays on each of the major figures, including Kerouac, Cassady (the charismatic ex-con who was at the center of the movement), the poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the novelist William S. Burroughs. Artifacts include a plaid jacket worn by Kerouac and the referee shirt that Cassady wore later in his quirky career, when he drove the novelist and counterculture figure Ken Kesey’s bus, Furthur.
This August, 40 pioneering millennials will embark on a train journey across the country. Where early pioneers went west, these millennials will go east—from the San Francisco Bay to the District of Columbia—stopping in ten cities along the way to explore local examples of innovation and advance creative projects of their own design.
We can do better than good. Together, we can be great. As Martin Luther King, Jr. put it, “Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve.” In honor of MLK Day and President Obama’s National Day of Service, we’re challenging you to commit yourself to service. Spend 1 percent of your work hours this year (that’s 20 hours) changing a small corner of your world for the better. However you choose to give back, this year you can be great. Click “Do It” below to take the pledge, and let’s dig in!
We can do better than good. Together, we can be great. As Martin Luther King, Jr. put it, “Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve.” In honor of MLK Day and President Obama’s National Day of Service, we’re challenging you to commit yourself to service. Spend 1 percent of your work hours this year (that’s 20 hours) changing a small corner of your world for the better. However you choose to give back, this year you can be great. Click “Do It” below to take the pledge, and let’s dig in!
When’s the last time you looked up a number in the phone book? For us, it was probably around 1999. But the Yellow Pages keep coming. Every year there’s another stack of trash delivered to your doorstep.
Now San Francisco, the first city in the country to ban plastic bags, is about to take another step forward: Preventing the Yellow Pages from giving books to people who might not want them. Last week, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 to pass legislation (PDF) that would ban unwanted delivery of the directories. Each phone book would have to be “personally delivered to an occupant or authorized representative of the residence or business or left at the residence or business following a request.” A few cities have opt-out registries, but this bill is different. The Yellow Pages would have to confirm you want a book before giving you one. The legislation also includes a public outreach campaign to make sure seniors and low-income people aren’t deprived of useful information.