We recently went to a youth career fair conducted by Idealist.org aka Action Without Borders which is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, connect with other people, organizations and resources and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives.
In the youth fair, children from various schools could come and register in various non-profit and not-for-profit organizations for volunteering positions. It was such an inspiration to see children at such young ages interested in the welfare of the society around them. Some children had come with their teachers to the event and signed up for events in groups.
There were many large canvases where the attendees of the event could write positive and inspiring messages which was later being displayed in a Summit which the Mayor of NYC attended. Children were very eager to write and color their messages and happily painted some positive images.
The list of the organizations that participated in the event is as follows.
RelightNY’s mission is to inform and inspire people that the seemingly unachievable task of helping to protect the earth’s environment for current and future generations can be achieved collectively by the small but tangible action of changing a light bulb!
Prospect Park is a 585-acre urban oasis located in the heart of Brooklyn, New York City’s most populous borough. The masterpiece of famed landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who also designed Central Park, Prospect Park features the 90-acre Long Meadow, the 60-acre Lake and Brooklyn’s only forest.
Members of Global Citizen Corps:
The Action Center to End World Hunger uses hunger as an organizing symbol of poverty, helping to explain and illustrate the challenges that lay behind it, such as poor agricultural practices, inefficient markets, weak health and education services, environmental degradation, conflict, and lack of access to clean water. By identifying and highlighting these underlying issues, the Action Center seeks to generate the public will necessary to end hunger in our lifetimes.
Mercy corps believe in the intrinsic value and dignity of human life.
They are awed by human resilience, and believe in the ability of all people to thrive, not just exist.
They believe that all our spiritual and humanitarian values compel us to act.
They believe that all people have the right to live in peaceful communities and participate fully in the decisions that affect their lives.
They believe that human imagination and energy can inspire innovative solutions to any problem, no matter how intractable.
They believe that it is our duty to be effective stewards of the financial resources entrusted to us.
HELP USA is a national not-for-profit organization with a mission to empower the homeless and others in need to become and remain self-reliant. Through the development of quality housing with on-site support services HELP USA provides resources for its residents to become independent and productive. We break the cycle of dependency by addressing underlying causes in a way that respects the dignity of those we serve. We help our clients help themselves. Living in a pleasant, safe environment elevates clients’ expectations for themselves, and motivates them to realize their full potential.
READ employs one-on-one research-based reading instruction to prepare at-risk children to become proficient readers. READ recruits, trains and employs teens to teach reading skills to young children who are struggling with learning to read.
As an ethical culture community, this organization believes that:
The HSUS seeks a humane and sustainable world for all animals—a world that will also benefit people. They are America's mainstream force against cruelty, exploitation and neglect, as well as the most trusted voice extolling the human-animal bond.
10. www.cityyear.org
City Year seeks to:
Make a Difference is now HandsOn Greater Phoenix which is a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization that empowers people to become engaged, take action and create positive change in their communities.
AFSC's work is based on the Quaker belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.
The Mayor's Volunteer Center and United Way New York City are proud to present VolunteerNYC.org to serve the dual purpose of providing meaningful volunteer opportunities for New Yorkers and providing nonprofit organizations in New York City the opportunity to post their volunteer needs and publicize the services provided by their organizations.
MillionTreesNYC, one of the 127 PlaNYC initiatives, is a citywide, public-private program with an ambitious goal: to plant and care for one million new trees across the City's five boroughs over the next decade. By planting one million trees, New York City can increase its urban forest—our most valuable environmental asset made up of street trees, park trees, and trees on public, private and commercial land—by an astounding 20%, while achieving the many quality-of-life benefits that come with planting trees. The City of New York will plant 60% of trees in parks and other public spaces. The other 40% will come from private organizations, homeowners, and community organizations.
15. www.justell.org
Just Tell visualizes a world in which children who are molested immediately turn to a trusted adult figure in their lives and tell them of the abuse. That trusted adult has information to help the child though the next steps so that the abuse is stopped and the abuser is prevented from harming other children.
In their vision, children do not have to bear the scars of unrevealed and repeated abuse, the consequences of which have been repeatedly shown to include higher-than-average rates of: drug and alcohol abuse, self-destructive behaviors, guilt and shame.
16. www.ncac.org
NCAC's Purpose is:
• To promote and defend First Amendment values of freedom of thought, inquiry and expression.
• To oppose restraints on open communication and to support access to information.
• To encourage, support and coordinate activities of national organizations in opposition to censorship.
• To encourage understanding that restrictions on the free interchange of ideas threaten religious, moral, political, artistic and intellectual freedom.
17. www.girights.org
The GI Rights is a coalition of nonprofit, non-governmental organizations who provide information to members of the military about discharges, grievance and complaint procedures, and other civil rights.
18. www.centeronconscience.org
The Ya-Ya Network is a citywide anti-racist, anti-sexist organization and allies with the LGBTQ community. Ya-Ya is staffed by young activists ages 15-19. We work with other youth, adult allies, youth programs & activist organizations. We help groups & individuals connect. We share information & resources & we support the work that other groups are doing. All to build a stronger voice for young people in the movement for social & economic justice.
20. www.objector.org
The Board is responsible under New York State Election Law for the following:
22. www.childrenforchildren.org
Children for Children mobilizes the energy, ingenuity and compassion of young people, beginning at an early age, to discover their power and potential to solve real world problems through volunteer opportunities and service learning programs that instill a lifelong commitment to service.
23. www.18in08.com
Children for Children mobilizes the energy, ingenuity and compassion of young people, beginning at an early age, to discover their power and potential to solve real world problems through volunteer opportunities and service learning programs that instill a lifelong commitment to service.
24. Service We Trust.
Please take some time to go through the activities in the websites and try to make a difference TODAY! The world needs action from you...Today!!!
Directed by Brillante Mendoza, Foster Child was cited by judges for “delving with remarkable skill into the everyday lives of its extremely well-developed characters, and for fusing documentary and drama to create a brave, humane and unconventional film.”
Picache was praised for “delivering a spectrum of emotions and revealing a natural and authentic understanding of her character.”
the carefree spirits know not or think not about the mysteries that surround them...
A typical Learning station"Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion has no hold on the mind. Therefore do not use compulsion, but let early education be rather a sort of amusement." - Plato.
The driving force behind Hole-in-the-Wall is the the concept of Minimally Invasive Education which is truly path breaking. That children could learn on their own, was something not many people would have imagined and that too in such a cost effective manner with benefits like improved group dynamics, better in-class behavior etc.
Minimally Invasive Education is defined as a pedagogic method that uses the learning environment to generate an adequate level of motivation to induce learning in groups of children, with minimal, or no, intervention by a teacher.
Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.
Hole-in-the-Wall is one such idea, which offers the world a surprisingly fresh perspective on the learning process. Breaking the traditional confines of a school, Hole-in-The-Wall Education Limited (HiWEL) takes the Learning Station to the playground, employs a unique collaborative learning approach and encourages children to explore, learn and just enjoy!
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As a concept, Hole-in-the-Wall has multiple dimensions and a potential which is virtually limitless. What it offers someone depends on the perspective one is looking from.
For experts, like Nicholas Negroponte of MIT, Hole-in-the-Wall is a ‘Shared Blackboard’ which children in underprivileged communities can collectively own and access, to express themselves, to learn, to explore together, and at some stage to even brainstorm and come up with exciting ideas.
For villagers, it is more like a village Well, where children assemble to draw knowledge and, in the process, engage in meaningful conversation and immersive learning activities that broaden their horizons.
And finally for children, it is an extension of their playground where they can play together, teach each other new things, and more importantly, just be themselves.
Children of today's world are burdened with heavy syllabus and they have no concept-based learning. What they learn in school for 17 years and college for 4 years has no connection with what they experience in the real world of work. Moreover, they are always made to understand that education has to be related to the amount of money they earn in the current world. The result is that children lose their interest to go to school and the actual learning process and mostly are exam driven and they have to force themselves to go to school simply because they have to survive the current system. Many children drop out of schools and some of them are so stressed out that they cannot handle any issue without being scared. Education on the other hand has to be fun for the children and not intimidate them and push them to the edge.
...and I got an answer from Limbonia asking me to read books written by John Taylor Gatto...
300,000 people participated in the International Day of Peace Vigil in Sri Lanka in 2004. 
