When I have a personal finance question, curiosity, or problem, I look to Ramit Sethi for help. His book I Will Teach You To Be Rich
Watching the fighter jets scream across the sky during practice runs for the Chicago Air and Water show reminded me of September 11th. I was standing on the beach watching smoke billow from the Twin Towers and could see fighter jets—the only planes in the sky—cruising along as they patrolled the air. I also remember having a sense of anger, and wanting to have someone to blame for the atrocities. I think that most people shared that feeling, at least initially, but some were far less rational about how they dealt with it. September 11th was obviously a terrible day for every American, but it was also the day when life got much harder for people in American of Arab, Muslim, South Asian and other backgrounds. That’s why Seattle, WA based OneAmerica (formerly Hate Free Zone) was founded immediately after September 11th. Their mission is “to advance the fundamental principles of democracy and justice through building power in immigrant communities, in collaboration with key allies.” Continue reading about OneAmerica…
I’ve done a good amount of traveling this summer, and it just so happens that a number of the cities that I’ve visited have significant homeless populations. San Diego stands out the most, but there’s also Denver, San Francisco, and my home, Chicago. It showed me how serious mental health issues can become for individuals and communities. Obviously, mental health issues affect people from all walks of life, but with the homeless it’s visible in a way that most other mental health issues aren’t. The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare is a Washington, DC based organization that acts as “the unifying voice of America’s behavioral health organizations.” They support more than 1,700 member organizations and serve the “more than 6 million adults and children with mental illnesses and addiction disorders.” Continue reading about National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare…
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Ever get off to a bad start? Maybe it was a class, a sports season, or a new social situation. It’s hard to dig yourself out of the funk, right? Or maybe it was something far more important like life. Millions of people are born into poverty in our country, and that makes it likely that they’ll eventually have children who are born into poverty. It’s a vicious cycle that is nearly impossible to get out of, which means that more and more kids will be born into a very difficult situation. A Wider Circle is a Silver Spring, MD non-profit organization that empowers “children and adults to break the cycles of poverty and poor health.” By providing basic need items to struggling families, A Wider Circle puts people in a situation where success is attainable. Continue reading about A Wider Circle…
Chances are that housing is and will be your biggest expense for most of your life. It’s one of our most basic needs, so it makes sense that we spend a lot on it. Unfortunately, housing markets don’t react quickly to changes in demand, so we often have situations where housing becomes unaffordable for many who wish to live in an area. This may be ok when it’s some posh area of town, but what about when people who have lived and worked in area for years can no longer keep up with the real estate prices? Enterprise Community Partners is a Columbia, MD based non-profit that addresses these problems by creating “opportunity for low- and moderate-income people through fit, affordable housing and diverse, thriving communities.” They want to help people living in poverty “move up and out,” and they do this by helping to develop “a diverse mix of affordable and market housing options, access to jobs and social supports, and a strong commitment to the environment and civic participation.” Continue reading about Enterprise Community Partners…
Some of my best “on the job experience” came the summer after my Freshman year of college. I didn’t land an amazing internship nor did I do anything entrepreneurial. I landed a job at my dad’s fish and game club. Another college kid and I were responsible for assisting the club manager in maintaining the grounds on the club’s 250-acre parcel. I only had to work from 8 to 12 every day (before it got too hot), but I worked my butt off. I was filling potholes with sand, weed whacking 6 foot high weeds, and digging ditches. I came home every day dirty, tired, and occasionally with a good story (like the time a 30 ft tall tree almost fell on my head). If you want to experience what it’s like to work hard, and you want to do it for a good cause, you should check out Civic Works. They’re a Baltimore, MD based “urban service corps and an AmeriCorps program” with a mission “to build a future for Baltimore’s youth through community service and skills development.” Continue reading about Civic Works…
It’s tax time, which means that I’ve spent some time looking over my records from last year. This year is already looking better than last year thanks to a sponsor on One Day, One Job. Hopefully it will mean that when I do my taxes in 2011, I won’t consider myself a “low-income entrepreneur.” But if I still do, I’ll at least have the option of getting some support from the Corporation for Enterprise Development. They’re a Washington, DC based non-profit that is “dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for low-income families and communities.” The program that I’m alluding to is the CFED’s Self-Employment Tax Initiative, which helps to provide free tax preparation services for people like me (though I haven’t actually taken advantage of any of these resources). That’s just a small slice of what CFED does, though. Their broader goal is “working at the local, state and federal levels to create economic opportunity that alleviates poverty.” Continue reading about Corporation for Enterprise Development…
I grew up in Fairfield, CT, which is next to a city, Bridgeport, that is always aiming for “revitalization.” They’ve talked about a building a casino for years, and they even built a minor league baseball stadium. It’s hard to say whether that has helped or hurt, but it seems that Bridgeport is at least doing a little better than it was a decade ago. I’d imagine that the real reasons for improvement have come from smaller projects that are more in tune with the city’s communities’ needs. These are the kinds of projects that The Reinvestment Fund invests in in cities in the Mid-Atlantic. They are “a 24 year old nonprofit financial lending institution with a strong social mission” and offices in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. They started out as a small community development organization, and they’ve grown to become something much bigger. Continue reading about The Reinvestment Fund…
Over on One Day, One Job I’ve been collecting user data over the past week to help me make the site more useful. So far the survey has received hundreds of responses, and there are a number of common themes that keep coming up. It’s amazing at how well an 8 question survey can tell me about what you students want in a job search tool. For companies that need a little more than an 8 question survey, there’s Communispace, a Watertown, MA based market research company. Their name probably wouldn’t have made them too popular during the cold war, but fear of communism has been replaced with community building—which is what Communispace is all about. Continue reading about Communispace…
You’ve probably heard of the World Bank, but do you know what it is? Now’s a good time to head over to Wikipedia to find out. The short version is that they’re “an international financial institution that provides leveraged loans to developing countries for capital programs” with the goal of reducing poverty. Bank Information Center is a Washington, DC based non-profit that helps “developing and transitioning countries to influence the World Bank and other international financial institutions to promote social and economic justice and ecological sustainability.” Basically that means that they work at the local level in countries across the world to make sure that the interests of the people are represented in the decisions of international financial institutions. Their aim is to democratize development. Continue reading about Bank Information Center…
Last night I was driving home and heard a radio commercial for an 89 cent burrito. It made me realize how cheap calories are these days. Cheap calories used to be a good thing. It meant that fewer people would go hungry, but unfortunately cheap calories are often low-quality calories. As hunger becomes less of a problem, nutrition continues to be a major problem. The Food Trust is a Philadelphia based non-profit that “works to improve the health of children and adults, promote good nutrition, increase access to nutritious foods, and advocate for better public policy.” They work with “neighborhoods, schools, grocers, farmers and policymakers” to educate people about making the right food choices while also making access to good food easier and more affordable. Continue reading about The Food Trust…
We all know that poverty is a huge problem, even here in an extremely wealthy country like the United States. We have thousands and thousands of non-profits working to eradicate poverty, while the government always seems to be creating new programs to help those in need. Still, poverty continues to exist despite the billions of dollars allocated to fighting it. Part of the reason for this is that many of those billions go unclaimed. Too many people don’t know what services and programs are available to them, so they never take advantage of potentially life changing help. It’s kind of like how you never stepped foot in the career services office, and now you are struggling to find an internship. SingleStop USA is a New York City based non-profit that is trying to change this problem by closing the information gap. They’re fighting poverty by informing people about the services that are already available to them. Continue reading about SingleStop USA…
Agriculture has done a lot for us over the past few millennia. It’s by far the biggest development in the history of our species, as it’s pushed us forward into all kinds of other technological advances. Sadly, most of us have left agriculture behind—we couldn’t possibly feed ourselves without supermarkets and restaurants. That’s not really a problem, but it’s still a bit disheartening. Luckily, there are some non-profit organizations out there like Portland, ME based Cultivating Community that are using agriculture to enact positive change. Cultivating Community, for example, grows “tens of thousands of pounds of organic produce with and for people with low incomes” while using “community food work as a platform for youth empowerment programs.” It almost sounds too good to be true. Continue reading about Cultivating Community…
Although it may seem bad that millions of trees are cut down every year for Christmas, the truth is that most of the trees are farmed and are a completely renewable resource. Most. It was not the case with the tree that some frat boys that I went to school picked out. Their foyer had extremely high ceilings, so they picked out a very tall tree from the front of someone’s yard. They cut it down, loaded it up in their truck, and sped off. Unfortunately for them, someone spotted their plates and called the police. The cops saw the tree through the fraternity house’s windows, and they nailed the culprits. Whoops. What’s the point of this story? Trees are important, and they face lots of risks. In forests trees are often left to do their own thing, but in urban environments they need a little help. That’s what Casey Trees does. They are “a Washington, DC based not-for-profit dedicated to restoring, enhancing and protecting the tree canopy of the Nation’s Capital.” Whether they’re planting trees, protecting against development, or fixing damage done by idiot frat boys, they’re doing their best to reverse the “trend of tree cover loss in the District of Columbia.” Continue reading about Casey Trees…
It’s pretty common for non-profit organizations to go through name changes as they expand their scope. While it’s often a sign of failure to change your name for a restaurant, I think it’s usually a sign of success with non-profits. It means that they’ve been so effective at achieving their goals that they’ve taken on an expanded mission. It’s not always the case, but it seems to be the case with Washington, DC based Thrive DC, which was originally founded in 1979 as Dinner Program for Homeless Women. I’d imagine that they found having gender specificity in their name became too limiting, as Thrive DC aims to provide “the last available safety net for people facing economic crisis and housing instability while also providing the first step towards independence for people experiencing extended periods of homelessness.” Continue reading about Thrive DC…
How worthless is a penny? The only reason people pick them up off the ground is for good luck. Stores have dishes in which they give pennies away. And there’s a group of people who fervently advocate retiring the penny. In fact, the value of the metal in pennies produced prior to 1982 (that’s the year they switched from copper to zinc) is higher than the currency value of the pennies themselves. We’ve pretty much established that pennies are worthless; however, there’s a New York City based service learning non-profit that has a very different take on the penny. They’re called Common Cents, and they are the creators of The Penny Harvest. Since 1991 they’ve worked with children aged 4-14 to make $6.8 million in grants to community organizations. How have they mobilized kids to do this? By collecting pennies! That’s right. They’ve collected $6.8 million in pennies. Continue reading about Common Cents…
Being a tourist is fun, even if it makes you feel a little stupid. The only problem with doing touristy things is that you miss out on a lot of what a city has to offer. Major attractions have the resources, reputation, and connections to bring in lots of people, but they often lack the local feel that tourists often seek. Smaller attractions often struggle to get people in the door, despite the fact that they are many times more interesting than their larger counterparts. Cultural Tourism DC is a non-profit organization that is trying to change that in Washington, DC. They aim to “strengthen the image and economy of Washington, DC, neighborhood by neighborhood, by linking more than 200 DC cultural and neighborhood organizations with partners in tourism, hospitality, government, and business.” It’s a perfect idea for a city that is so packed with history and culture that you could probably do the tourist thing every day for a year without running out of things to do. Continue reading about Cultural Tourism DC…
As an entrepreneur I am a strong believer that businesses are often the best way to solve problems. Don’t get me wrong—I love non-profits, but the ruthlessness of the business world breeds efficiency and effectiveness. We’ve seen plenty of non-profits try to cure poverty, yet poverty remains one of the world’s biggest problems. Lately we’ve seen more and more business based solutions aimed at eradicating poverty. TechnoServe, is a non-profit (the irony!) that is doing just that. They help “entrepreneurial men and women in poor areas of the developing world to build businesses that create income, opportunity and economic growth for their families, their communities and their countries.” What they’re doing may sound like some new social entrepreneurship startup, but they have a 40 year track record of successfully transforming the lives of the world’s poor. I guess business based solutions to poverty aren’t a new idea at all. Continue reading about TechnoServe…
What’s good? Depending on your mindset right now, that question could have a lot of different answers; however, today we’re talking about GOOD, a company and integrated media platform that makes “a magazine, videos, and events for people who give a damn.” They’re relatively new on the scene, and they’re breaking a lot of rules when it comes to how to run a media company. For instance, instead of keeping your subscription fees, they’ll donate them to the non-profit of your choice. Since magazines don’t actually make money on subscription fees, they think this is better for business. They’re well known for their “unique editorial perspective,” but they’re even better known for their “fresh visual aesthetic.” I first came across their website GOOD.is to see some of their amazingly gorgeous (and informative) infographics. Continue reading about GOOD…
Memorial Day is one of my favorite holidays—not only because it signifies the start of summer, but also because I love small town patriotism. My hometown always has a fantastic parade that is often accompanied by a fighter jet fly over. Now, today’s employer may not immediately make you think of Memorial Day like last year’s did (it was Weber-Stephen, the manufacturer of my favorite charcoal grills), but you’ll realize pretty quickly why the National Park Service is a great choice for today. Not only are some of the parks that they manage great places to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend outdoors, but they’re also responsible for quite a few memorials including The Marine Corps War Memorial, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, The Korean War Veterans Memorial, and The World War II Memorial. Memorial Day is really about our fallen heroes, and the National Park Service is constantly working to honor them by maintaining and managing our memorials. Continue reading about National Park Service…
I’ve always had a grudge against Long Island. It’s not because I went to college with half of Long Island at Cornell or because of those stereotypes that you hear about Long Islanders. It’s the fact that I grew up in Southeastern Connecticut, and Long Island blocked us off from the beautiful Atlantic Ocean. Since Long Island isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, I’ve learned to live with it, and I can even enjoy an occasional visit there. It really is a beautiful place with amazing beaches – it even has farms. Unfortunately Long Island is only so big, and there are certainly some problems from growth (try driving out to the Hamptons on a Friday night). That’s why organizations like Sustainable Long Island exist – they aim to “promote economic development, environmental health and equity for all Long Islanders, now and for generations to come.” They want to encourage smart growth so that everyone can enjoy Long Island, whether they want to live, work, or vacation there. Continue reading about Sustainable Long Island…
This is a guest post by Heather R. Huhman. Heather is the media relations manager at a national health care professional association. She is also the entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com, a career expert for the CAREEREALISM Twitter Advice Project, the job search expert for Campus Calm and author of the e-book “Gen Y Meets the Workforce: Launching Your Career During Economic Uncertainty.”
Issue advocacy, media strategy and crisis and reputation management are three of my favorite areas of public relations—and three specialties of Washington, DC based corporate communications and public affairs firm Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates (CLS). According to their Web site, CLS works to “inform target audiences, change critical perceptions and solve high stakes problems.” So, whether you spend the day lobbying Capitol Hill with a worthy cause, keeping up-to-date with the latest media changes or stepping in when crisis erupts, I think you’ll find CLS a truly exciting place to work. With a median employee age of 27, CLS offers a mix of young, energetic co-workers and seasoned professionals from whom you can learn. Other perks? Working with clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to non-profit organizations to foreign governments. It’s a great environment in which to get your feet wet. Continue reading about Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates…
Sustainability has become a major buzzword over the past few years. Anyone who wants to appear to be a qualified leader has jumped on the bandwagon and started using the word loosely. For the most part we identify “sustainability” with the environment, but it can really apply to anything. My definition is something like “helping to create a situation in which you can keep doing what you’re doing for a long time.” It’s really about a long-run mindset instead of a short-run mindset. For Institute for Sustainable Communities sustainability is a long run thing. They’re a Montpelier, VT based non-profit that has had sustainability on its mind since it was founded in 1991 by Vermont’s then-governor Madeleine M. Kunin. Continue reading about Institute for Sustainable Communities…
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m on the Board of Advisors of a startup non-profit called National Coaching Fellows. One of my fellow board members also has a full-time job at another Chicago based non-profit organization called Near West Side Community Development Corp. She said that they’re looking for interns, and asked me to share some information on the internships with you guys. Near West Side Community Development Corp. was established in 1988 “to create a viable, mixed-income community in West Haven without the displacement of low and moderate income residents.” They’re doing all kinds of things to make this happen, but they remain focused on doing everything in their power to make one small area of Chicago a better place to live. Continue reading about Near West Side Community Development Corp….
A lot of companies use the term “rock star” to describe the people that they’d like to hire. I don’t understand why “all star” never caught on – it’s more appropriate. Rock stars come with all kinds of problems and aren’t necessarily the most desirable employees or interns, but all stars are the best at what they do. The All Stars Project is a non-profit organization based in New York City that is “dedicated to promoting human development through the use of an innovative performance-based model.” Even though their logo kind of looks like Rock Bands, they’re all about creating all stars. They do this by “sponsoring community and experimental theatre, developing leadership training and pursuing volunteer initiatives that build and strengthen communities.” They offer a wide range of programs that are centered around theatre and the performing arts. Continue reading about All Stars Project…
Sorry for the delayed post today. For some reason the Internet connection in our office wouldn’t connect to our server, which meant that we couldn’t publish today’s post this morning. I trudged across town through the snow in 12 degree weather to make sure that you got your internships today.
Niche communities have always been a big part of what the Internet is all about. In the olden days if you lived in a small town and had eclectic interests, you’d have a really tough time meeting people with the same interests. Those days are over. Now you can find an online community for anything – anything. Although today’s company isn’t all that odd in the market that they target, they’re certainly focusing on a group that has been forgotten until now. Savvy Auntie is “the first community for cool aunts, great aunts, godmothers, and all women who love kids.” We’re not sure whether they’ve sided on the pronunciation “ant” or “awnt,” but either way they’ve decided to own the market for enthusiastic aunts.
In a lot of ways having an internship is like having a savvy auntie. If you want to have both, then you’re in luck. Savvy Auntie is currently looking for a number of interns. They have internships available in Video Production, Content, Gifts, and Community. The internships are unpaid, require 10-20 hours of work per week, and are located somewhere in New York/Northern New Jersey (they don’t make it very clear). They also require that their interns own a laptop. There isn’t a whole lot of information available on these internships; however, you can check out the profiles of Savvy Auntie’s current interns. If you think it would be cool to work with a former Fortune 500 executive to build a community of savvy aunts, then send a cover letter and resume to Jobs@savvyauntie.com. If you’re apply for the Content internship, be sure to include 3 writing samples.
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
Do you think a community for aunts and other women who love children is a sustainable business idea?
If you’ve seen our contest for the HP Magic Giveaway called Bringing Magic to Your Job Search, you know that random acts of kindness are sometimes rewarded handsomely. It was probably Third Grade when I first heard the term “random acts of kindness,” as we were celebrating Random Acts of Kindness week. I remember making a big chain of construction paper links that each had a random act of kindness that one of my classmates or I had done. It was kind of hokey, but it got the point across. Construction paper might be for kids, but random acts of kindness are for everyone. You should never outgrow them, and that’s what the RAKE Project, a Washington, DC based non-profit, is preaching. Their founders are anonymous (although you’ll probably meet them if you score an internship), as they consider themselves part of the “working poor,” so they’ve started this organization to offer “emergency fund relief to working middle class people.” Continue reading about RAKE Project…
Periodically the news is riddled with stories about how the airlines are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Lately the focus of doom and gloom commentary has shifted to finance and insurance companies, but that doesn’t mean that the airlines are doing any better. There’s one company that is seemingly never in the conversation about struggling airlines – Southwest Airlines. If you’ve ever flown Southwest, you probably know why. They do things differently, and it makes flyers happy. Even though it seems like almost no one can succeed flying commercial routes, Southwest continues to impress. Air travel isn’t going anywhere – it’s too important to us, so forget about all the bad things that you hear about the airline industry, and start thinking about an internship at Southwest Airlines. Continue reading about Southwest Airlines…
It seems to me that most college students reduce their TV watching when they get to college – at least the ones who don’t have cable in their dorm room. There are too many other things that you either have to do or want to do, so watching tv moves down the list. Still, communal dorm TVs get pretty crowded during primetime. I mostly used the TVs for watching sports, and trying to watch a Yankees game on a “good” TV night often required that I walk down a few floors to find a group of fellow fans who were already watching. Not once in my TV hopping did I come across any of my peers watching something with educational value. Had I been hoping to watch something like the shows produced by American Documentary, I probably would have been out of luck. If you are one of the kids who usurps the communal TVs and ensures that you get your weekly fix of PBS, then an internship with AmDoc might be a great way for you to spend part of your Fall. If you’re one of those kids watching primetime TV or ignoring TV for the better things in college life, but you still love PBS, you’d also make a great intern at AmDoc. Continue reading about American Documentary…
What’s your favorite public place? Where would you most rather be than sitting in front of a computer searching for internships? I guess that with wifi you could actually be in your favorite public place while searching for internships, but that’s a relatively new development. The odds are that your favorite public place is somewhere that you feel like a part of the community. Project for Public Spaces is a non-profit organization that works to increase the number of “people-friendly settings that build local value and serve community needs.” In other words they want to make it easier for people to get out of the house and interact by providing better places to do so. Continue reading about Project for Public Spaces…
