Tag Archives: social change

Remembering Oseola McCarty: Lessons She Taught Me about Social Change


Posted by ajlovesya

March 7, 1908 - September 26, 1999

In July 1995, 87-year-old Oseola McCarty gave $150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi. While the amount may not seem remarkable—especially in terms of a gift to a university—Ms. McCarty’s generosity is a testimony to how anyone can help make the world a better place.

Born March 7th 1908 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi she dropped out of school in the sixth grade to take care of her sick aunt. She spent the rest of her life as a washerwoman, living frugally eventually amassing considerable wealth. In 1995, gave $150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi, asking that the money be given to poor students of color whom she felt might face substantial financial barriers to obtaining an education.

Though she gave the gift quietly and requested no grand acknowledgement of her gift, she became a social change superstar. She received honorary degrees from Harvard and University of Mississipi, published a book, carried the Olympic Torch in 1996, received the President’s Citizen’s Medal and the Community Heroes Award from The National Urban League, and countless programs and buildings named after her.

Her story is truly inspirational and when I read about her in The Greater Good, I realized two important aspects of social change we must always keep in mind:

Realize that change starts with you: While she intended to give without getting much attention, what’s clear is that her desire to help was a lifetime commitment. Making the world a better place is not just something you do from 9-5 nor is it something that can necessarily be put on your resume. It’s your beliefs and your interactions with others. Change starts from the inside.

Focus on the future and the greater good: Becoming involved in social change is inherently an act of faith. We are working to eradicate long-standing problems that take time to dismantle. We may never see the fruits of our labor but the point isn’t just to focus on what we want to have, but to ensure that the generation that comes after us has more. She never met the students who benefited from her generosity; that didn’t stop her from believing she could make a difference.

She is certainly my inspiration. And on her birthday, I am happy to honor her.

“I’m giving it away so that the children won’t have to work so hard, like I did.”

Wikipedia Entry on Oseola McCarty

New York Times Obituary


Education Inequality: What Are We Doing Wrong?


Posted by ajlovesya

On Tuesday I went to “Men of Color and Education: A Discussion on the Pursuit of Excellence” hosted by Teach for America. Panelists were Common, John Legend, Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, Ruben Diaz Jr., Dr. Pedro Noguera, and Eric Snow, moderated by David Banks.

The panelists discussed everything from manhood and racism to personal responsibility and the importance of systemic change. The need to explore education from these different angles is crucial as the situation with Black and Latino men in school is dire: they are more likely than any other group to drop out, be expelled, or classified as having a learning disability. And as educators, Black men make up a mere 2% of all teachers and Latino men less than 5%.

Two and a half hours of high energy and sometimes tense moments is a lot to recap. I’ll highlight a few points that really spoke to me.

“There is a difference between ‘I want to send my child to this school’ and ‘I want to close the achievement gap.’” ~John Legend

Let me start by saying that John Legend was not the star of the evening. While he supports a variety of education initiatives, he got on everyone’s bad side with his generally conservative approach to education. Yet he made an interesting point by bringing up the difference between what we want for ourselves and what we want for those we serve. Unfortunately, I have seen that the two do not often match. Though good intentioned, we may assume “these kids” cant do certain things or wont be interested in certain topics, never truly engaging them or offering praise for the bare minimum. We are there to help and sometimes think that means not pushing or challenging the students or ourselves to demand more of each other.

“Our children succeed not because of school but in spite of it.” ~Dr. Marc Lamont Hill

When he said this it made me reflect of the problematic way we celebrate “inner city kids” who may not succumb to the many problems of their surroundings. We have it backwards when we do this. The shock is not that people like these kids succeed. Instead, the shock is that we expect them not to succeed. Implicit in our celebrations of each child who manages to get out of a depressed neighborhood or home is the acknowledgment that these situations require almost super heroic efforts to overcome and that these stories are the exception rather than the rule. Our narrative speaks to the injustice those children endure while our celebrations allow us to say that perhaps it’s not so bad in the first place.

“There is a conspiracy to keep you here…but are you part of the conspiracy too?”~Dr. Pedro Noguera

When addressing a group of young men in prison he told them that jobs and revenue were dependent on their imprisonment yet demanded that they think of how they were involved in keeping that system running. When we are dealing with something as complex as education and how the failure of schools creates a pipeline to prison for far too many black men, there is no one person to blame. We are all responsible. You need not be a teacher to have a hand in how young people view education and respond to challenges. As parents, friends, and neighbors, we have a responsibility to demand excellence of each other and challenge systemic injustice.  Our attitudes towards education, our definitions of manhood, our expectations of students, teachers, and parents, what we praise and what we denigrate all contribute to the inequality we see.

Since I work in a school that serves a low income minority population, I have had the opportunity to see the many issues the panelist brought up play out a regular basis. In the end, I left the discussion feeling energized and more committed to this topic. It’s rare to have so many people from different parts of the education community together learning and trying to generate solutions.

Here are some other perspectives on the event:

Gotham Schools: Testing, charters get boos at Teach for America education panel

Jose Vilson:  Dear John: Where I Disagree with John Legend

Wall Street Journal:  Common, John Legend Speak at Hippest Town Hall of the Week

Other articles on Inequality in Education:

Sotomayor and the Future of Catholic Schools

Nonprofits and the Education Gap

When it comes to education inequality, what are you doing to solve the problem?


Keeping My Fire-Lessons Learned


Posted by ajlovesya

Last week I wrote about my current struggle in maintaining the passion that brought me to the sector. The comments and feedback have been wonderful and really pushed me to reflect more on what I do and why I do it.  Here are a few things I now know to keep in mind:

Be deliberate about keeping and adding fire to your work:

I think my biggest mistake is assuming that my passion does not need TLC.  But it’s easy to get caught up in your professional work and get out of touch with your original inspiration for pursuing a career in social change. So take time to nurse your soul and get in touch with YOUR mission.  Who or what inspires you?  Why did you get into this work in the first place?

One thing that I enjoyed doing at a former job was actually talking to co-workers about our cause and our role in it.  We shared personal experiences, opportunities to connect with others, and interesting information about our issue.  In fact, talking to people—whether it is at work, at a conference, or even at home—about what’s moves and inspires them, then making connections really helps you see the importance of what you do.

Elizabeth Clawson also made a great recommendation in the comments of my last post:  “Maybe one solution is to work where we can, lifeless or not, and keep up with our passions on the side. Contracting, volunteering, blogging…there are lots of opportunities for that kind of balance.”

Rewrite your job description:

In my last post a commenter who also works in development described their work in a very powerful way:

“I don’t raise money and resources: I help inspire executives to get involved; I help provide the funds that keep the organization going; we don’t do speaking engagements, we are building passion and support for our cause and the cause of our clients; I don’t write grants–I’m inviting foundations to take a hard look at an issue area and make a significant and impactful investment in our mission.”

Sometimes a fresh perspective is all it takes to keep you energized and committed to your work.  What are the larger implications of your work for the cause you are committed to and your organization’s mission?

Focus on the cause not just the sector:

Colleen Dilenschneider wrote a brilliant piece about how Gen Y knows that social change is not limited to one sector. I couldn’t agree with that more.  In fact spending time in the nonprofit sector has shown me just how connected the sectors are, especially in a field like education.  Each sector may engage an issue differently but the trick is to focus on the change you want to see regarding your cause, what you believe is the best method of getting there, and how you want to be involved in that process.

Move around if you need to:

I got into development after spending a lot of time doing direct service work. I needed to look at my cause from a different angle while tapping into my desire to be more behind the scenes doing work with a larger impact.  That said I am still amazed at how many ways there are to engage in social change work.  Whatever skills, experience, time, and interest you have there are so many ways to get involved.  This diversity is exciting and compelling—there is always a way to make a difference.

What do you do to keep your passion?


Lessons on Social Change from Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, New Jersey


Posted by ajlovesya

Last night I had the opportunity to attend a talk hosted by Dean Ellen Schall of NYU Wagner and Newark Mayor Corey Booker about the challenges—both cultural and systemic—in bringing about reform.  While he was speaking primarily about government, his words are of great use to organizations and individuals working for  social change.

Organizations:

  • Coordinate the systems: Mayor Booker used a great example to point out how the real challenge is in making sure whatever systems are in place are on the same page: gather a group of people, ask them close their eyes and point north.  When they open their eyes, they’ll see that everyone is pointing in a different direction. Many of us have good intentions and good ideas but we don’t communicate or work together to make sure we reach our common goals.
  • Use philanthropy wisely: He noted how often times the public sector will create and lead program while philanthropists will fund it.  Gathering the two together allows us to move from “islands of excellence to hemispheres of hope”; in other words, break out of the tendency to work in little corners on small issues when there are bigger issues to address.  However, when leading a new initiative, gathering money is easy, but becoming sustainable without it is tough.  Your plan should always include a way to move beyond donations.
  • Create a powerful system of accountability: One thing that struck me about Mayor Booker was his dedication to research.  He needed to have all of the information before making a move—hence his unorthodox commitment to prisoner re-entry since he realized that that was the city’s biggest problem, which is a much harder issue to sell. Yet change only begins with research.  After doing research to know what the challenges are, be sure to set standards, create a method of meeting those standards, and establish consequences for failing to meet those standards.  The research and the consequences are where people struggle, yet they are most critical as they show you where you need to go and what to change.

Individuals:

  • Make it personal: Dean Schall was taken aback by how personal Mayor Booker made his work.  He spoke as though he was personally responsible for every single person in the city.  That’s because he feels as if he is.  He challenged us to go beyond finding who is to blame and start asking ourselves, “what can I do to make this situation better?”
  • Forget positions and find your purpose: When someone asked him about what his life will be like in 30 years, he joked about marriage but noted that often people rattle off job titles and responsibilities, not purpose and values.  His goal is to live a life that is true to his commitment to equality and justice.  Who you are goes beyond what job you have.  Jobs come and go but what you stand for will always remain.

Both:

  • Empower people to take care of themselves: One of my favorite stories that Paul Light told some time ago is of a volunteer at a soup kitchen who looked forward to seeing a guy every week.  Paul Light was shocked by this—if you are seeing the same person every week, they aren’t getting the help they need.  It may feel endearing but it is actually tragic. We must work for the day where these kinds of services are no longer needed.  Mayor Booker has a similar approach with his Fatherhood Program—it’s about addressing root problems and gradually eradicating them.

While I have always respected Mayor Booker, listening to him last night left me inspired and reaffirmed.  No one says the public service is easy but at times the challenges can be overwhelming.  His input and success show that these obstacles can be overcome.


Launching a Career in Social Change: Résumé and Cover Letter Tips for College Grads


Posted by ajlovesya

This post was written for Nonprofit Career Month, a national campaign to promote awareness of careers in the nonprofit sector.

So you’ve decided to explore a career in the nonprofit sector.  Great!  However, if you’re a recent college grad, writing a résumé for your first job out of college is tough. Unlike traditional résumés where you can highlight previous experience that is most likely connected to the job for which you are applying, time in college is often characterized by random jobs and classes that don’t go together. How can you package and present your experiences in a way that demonstrates you’re a good fit to a potential employer?

What you want to send to potential employers is not a traditional resume but rather a Career Launching Résumé (CLR). Lauren Friese over at TalentEgg.ca defines a CLR as a résumé that focuses on your assets, demonstrates your interest in the position, stands out, and is written like a sales proposal. What do these four characteristics look like when applying for a job in social change?

Your Assets:

You need to demonstrate to an employer that you can do the job well and fit into the organization’s overall mission. What skills are your bringing to the table that will meet an employers need?

Showcase accomplishments not just duties: If the job you are applying for wants management skills, give data that shows how you increased sales or followed through with a successful project. Throughout your cover letter use key words like teamwork and resourceful to connect what you did and who you are with what the organization wants.

Your Interest:

A common piece of advice given when applying for nonprofit jobs is to demonstrate passion for the organization and its mission. But what does passion look like in a résumé?

Highlight any academic research related to social change: Did you use your thesis to examine the impact of educational policy on a local community? Have you explored business practices that address poverty or expand employment opportunities? Integrating social issues into research is a great way to show passion while developing writing and critical thinking skills. Since you are just graduating from college, this information should be at the top of your résumé and listed under your college.

Emphasize service and fit: In the cover letter, discuss the organization’s track record and how your skills can fit in with their future plans. If you have done community service before, put it on the résumé and describe. Organize your résumé chronologically but use subheadings and titles that demonstrate the skills and experience applicable to the job. Instead of saying “Relevant Work Experience” try “Community Leadership Experience.” If the job is managerial or administrative related, use related words in your titles and descriptions.

Standing Out:

Many of us have heard of the frightening statistic that most hiring managers only spend 30 second per résumé which means you have less than a minute to catch someone’s eye. How can you make a person keep reading?

Get a personal contact: 90% of all jobs are filled by referral. Try having an informational interview with someone at the organization you would like to work at and use that person as a segue into a job, or tap into your networks (alumni are great for this!) for contacts. Look into organizations that your college has a great relationship with and see if they are hiring. Make sure to mention personal contacts in your cover letter.

Selling Yourself:

In the end you are selling a product: YOU. It is crucial that the packaging is put together and there are no surprises. What is your best presentation?

Proofread and share: Print your résumé and cover letter out and read it the day after your write it to scan for mistakes. Share your résumé with peers for some fresh eyes to ensure that everything you’ve written makes sense and is easy to navigate.

Use social media wisely: “Googling” is all the rage these days. Make sure your internet presence is clean and interesting. Try starting a blog to build yourself up as a thought leader in the field or simply to discuss pressing issues in social change while developing your communication skills. Use LinkedIn to keep people up to date on projects you are working on while connecting with others who share your passion.