Download | Duration: 00:32:45

Brian Tom bills himself as "America's Visionary Speaker". Nothing too unusual about a motivational speaker employing the work "visionary" except when he's blind. I  can attest to the fact that Brian has that kind of vision and he's motivated. He is perhaps one of the most  engaging people you'll want to meet. His story would defy his attitude though. If you had the world at your feet, studying at UCLA at age 20 and then suddenly found out your sight was going due to glaucoma, how might you respond? How would anyone? How could life look fifteen or twenty years down the road? Brian's looks good today thanks to his winning attitude.

This podcast is an interview I had with him last week and I'm happy to say that I'll be working more with Brian and BlindStart in the future in conjunction with the NICENetwork. By the way, Brian is meeting with an official in Wash., D.C. this week to further his cause to help crack that 1% statistic of blind persons who own homes in America. Way to go Brian!  http://BlindStart.org.

        

        

People have been asking me what my vision for NICE is, so here goes (hang with me, it's pretty painless ...) You might also want to visit www.NICENetwork.org to learn more about our mission and the people behind it. We also have a NICE Forum where people meet to discuss a wide range of human service topics at http://NICENetwork.ning.com.

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Problem Statement: The growth in the large volume of start-up human service nonprofits each year in the United States poses three challenges to the industry which are not being addressed effectively:

1. The success stories of human service nonprofits created by U.S. social and civic entrepreneurs are not typically known outside a given non-profit’s city or region. Few research institutions have taken on the task or mission to document the history of organizations that could act as models for start-ups or who could create a body of knowledge to guide existing nonprofits.

2. A large percentage of successful human service nonprofits are willing to replicate their solutions at little or no cost into other communities. Many are willing to assist new start-ups and help them short-cut the learning curve required to build a similar initiative. However, it’s not uncommon for new human services nonprofits to be unaware of similar initiatives already in existence in their community or across the country.

3. Mentoring is not readily available to those in the human services nonprofit arena due, in part, to this lack of data and nonprofit history. Without a central data-gathering resource in place to facilitate cross-communication between human service nonprofits, mentoring for start-ups on any given human services topic is limited.

Proposed Solution: The National Institute for Civic Enterprise (NICE) is a project that 1) researches and catalogues the histories of successful U.S. human service nonprofits, 2) recognizes and promotes them, and 3) provides networking options and mentoring opportunities for social and civic entrepreneurs to help grow their initiatives.

This is the basic outline I gave to a grantwriter recently who is also the head of a nonprofit in Boston. Her reaction was: "It gives me goosebumps.This is so needed!"

I think so, too. After reading Sean Stannard-Stockton's opinion column in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, "It's Time to Share More Information About Worthy Charities" (Mar 2009), I was encouraged that I was on track. Donors don't have a very good idea of "what's out there" right now nor what's working, short of a basic profile on Guidestar. In this country, there is very little comprehensive research in any university or institute of which nonprofits are offering proven, efficient, and effective solutions which donors, business, and communities can support and replicate into their cities.

I see people going off in corners right now just doing their own thing. Or they're duplicating what someone else has already done. Rather than reinvent the wheel, why not offer a place on the Internet that provides a short-cut for them. We teach how businesses grow and fail, why not nonprofits.. by category... at-risk youth, crime, housing, etc? We need examples and civic-franchised models.

Short of a top-down government strategy that piles on overhead and layers of low-compassionate bureaucracy, isn't it time that we put something in place that brings people together to share what already works? Or am I too much of a Pollyanna? Surely, in the nonprofit world there are people with lesser egos who want to chronicle their successes to support those in need for future generations.

But then I read "Reality Check" by Jill Muehreke at the Society for Nonprofit Organizations this month and she warned me not to plan much beyond 18 months or too rigidly since planning works but the "plan rarely does." I can be flexible. I know I don't have all the answers, but I can find the experts I need, stick with the vision, and revise the plan as I go.

With the advent of social media, I'm highly encouraged about engaging people who understand the vision and are willing to share their successes and failures. And several new steps are already in motion at NICE that we'll be revealing in the very near future. If you want to get on board with the vision, do let us know. It's exciting and WE NEED YOU!

I know NICE is an idea whose time has come. Please contribute to the discussions at www. NICENetwork.org or the NICE Forum page or make a comment here because your input here gets everyone closer to helping more people today and tomorrow!

        

While cleaning my daughter's new (well actually old Brownstone) apartment in Boston last week so she could move her in for grad school, I reflected on how success is never easy or obvious. Most would say she has "a gift" for the French horn and some might even say it comes naturally for her. But we don't stop to consider the years of practice that's been invested since middle school, high school, and college. Private lessons, marching band in ungodly conditions, auditions that would scare anyone silly, are not seen by those who listen to her now. Success always seems easy and to "come out of nowhere" when we hear about it. I think we really wish it did and that's why we blot out the hardship required to get there. Boston is a bit intimidating for someone who's grown up in a town in Central Illinois let alone a new university with a renowned horn prof and performer. But it's all part of the growth process. An audition is now looming for "position" in the the orchestra. Practicing everyday for hours is underway. I can see it now, though. Someday when she's playing in a major orchestra, people will think it's just natural talent. Some of it is, for sure, but most of it is just darn hard work.

This is a super YouTube on "Famous Failures" ...enjoy!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT4Fu-XDygw

 

        

A while back I interviewed a young man and a young woman who had, in their teens, decided to get involved in helping other kids.
 
Craig Kielburger and his brother Marc were encouraged to read the newspaper at a young age by their parents. Craig became aware that other kids his age (12 at the time) who were from Islamabad, Pakistan, were being sold into slavery as young as age 4. Craig became very disturbed about the article but what could he do about the problem ... especially since he was still so young? He began to do his own research at the library and asked himself what his brother, Marc, would do. HIs older brother had been a role model for him, taking on environmental issues at a young age and receiving the Ontario Citizenship Award. No long after, together, the two founded Free The Children while Craig was still barely a teen. The result has been a worldwide cause that has brought kids together in small groups across the nation and around the world to help fund the education of kids in 45 countries. Craig has seen more of the world before he was 20 than most of us will see in a lifetime. He's won the World Children's Prize (known also as the Children's Novel Peace Prize) and partners with Oprah's Angel Network. Forty thousand kids have been educated to date and over 450 schools have been built. He and Marc have written the book, Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World.  A great read that became a New York Times bestseller and an inspiration to any kid or adult who's cause-minded.

Then there's Freddi Zeiler who also began watching the news at age 12  and started comparing what she was blessed with to what kids in other lands don't have.  She decided to donate from her piggy bank to a charity but realized there are good and not-so-effective charities out there. To help kids know where to give, she wrote "A Kid's Guide to Giving". It's a great book and offers a good overview of charities dedicated to kids that kids should know about. It's a wonderful guide and resource for anyone interested in youth issues.

As we raise our children or mentor youth we can offer these two books as suggested reads. It never hurts to plant seeds in a kid's head but especially with a message coming from their peers about giving back. Clearly, the world needs more Freddie's and Craigs right now. They're not waiting on the world to change ... they are the change. How refreshing! And if you're a mentor, what a great way to broaden their scopeand help them see their value beyond their circumstances.

Grab their books at an online bookstore and enjoy the interview from a 2007 radio show I did with these great role models.

Download | Duration: 00:30:52

        

Download | Duration: 00:34:20

Jerry Rudoff has always had a heart for kids. Other people do too. But Jerry spent some time 25 years ago investing in a program with the Miami Dade school system to launch Youth Crime Watch of America. Today it's still going and growing, now in 20 countries. It's a youth-led program in the schools where youth monitor what's going on to pre-empt school shootings, gang violence, drugs, suicide and more. Adults supervise a bit but the kids are the ones who make it work. The key point is that it really works!

Listen to Jerry and you'll hear his excitement for how effective the program is and his vision for it still. With the help of the new exec director, Chris DiCarlo, it's bound to grow even faster. I had a chance to see them both recently in Orlando at their annual conference. If you don't have YCWA in your area, talk to your principal after visiting www.YCWA.org. You'll receive a lot of support from the staff and volunteers no matter where you are in the country. It's worth the time to invest in the safety of our kids!

        

This is an article that was published in the Champaign-Urbana News Gazette editorial page for National Volunteer Week in 2005. It's as applicable, if not more so, today than it was then.

Americans may be split over the Stimulus Plan, political candidates, and what is and isn’t politically correct, but there’s hope for unity on the topic of the country’s social problems. Why? A movement of altruistic American heroes, representing a myriad of political viewpoints, has been joining forces and quietly transforming the nation’s cities and neighborhoods for two decades now. A little like Bruce Wayne of Batman fame, they’re swooping in and rescuing cities and neighborhoods from chronic poverty, housing shortages, crime, youth issues, and neighborhood decay. Despite differences in race, ethnicity, or religion they’re joining forces and succeeding!  

Why do we so seldom hear about these selfless superheroes? Actually, you may have. Five of them created the nationwide Amber Alert child abduction prevention program, just eight years ago. A Champaign superhero, Tamara Cibis, launched Matthew House, a highly effective youth project that has rescued over 900 kids and saved Illinois taxpayers millions in welfare and incarceration costs. And another, Brenda Eheart, has developed Generations of Hope, a unique community of unrelated “grandparents”, kids, and parents that touts an amazing 89% adoption rate of special needs foster children. Each social invention is but one of many shining examples across the nation. 

Where’s the publicity and celebration for these civic heroes? Partly it’s absent because the founders avoid the personal limelight, but social cures seldom draw mass media attention like social crises can. The latter is unfortunate because what is occurring is unprecedented and sparks real hope. 

It’s also encouraging that these ideas are now replicating into hundreds of towns and cities. It’s a trend that prompts thousands of Americans to come out of the woodwork and volunteer. And other democracies benefit, too, as they adopt tried and tested solutions that really work. All the while, the humble superhero remains oblivious to their larger impact. Few realize how they’re breathing new life into democracy and civic culture by bringing people together. They’re like “civic glue” for communities.

 

The cynics predict that the U.S. will remain divided into red and blue states for decades, but maybe not. This new confederation of ordinary Americans, a red and blue mix of heroes that could easily disagree on a host of political topics, proves they can unify around one common cause. Their political differences take second place to helping others. They’re simply unwilling to sit back and wait for large institutions to stumble onto better ways to help those in need. The process is too slow and there are too many lives at stake.

 

The bonus for all of us in these altruistic endeavors is the healing power of unity they unleash. Each hero challenges us to rally around a cause and forget our dissimilarities. And by building a bridge, they create hope for more agreement. Scandals, trials, and politics tend to divide us. But during National Volunteer Week, April 19-25, we can remember to emulate the power these individuals have to unite us by waving the white flag for those less fortunate. Thankfully, volunteerism is one aspect of American culture where we can agree.

        

I was invited to a Chamber of Commerce meeting a few weeks ago and someone caught wind of what I do and write about. The woman pulled me aside and asked if I knew that we had 357 kids showing up on Monday at schools in our county who hadn't eaten all weekend. The reason the teachers know this is because those kids tend to act out on Monday mornings. Following up with them are counselors who get to the root of the problem. But the solution hasn't yet been found.

Since "social solutions" in communities is what I have a heart (and ear for) I remembered a guy, Scott Sullivan, who showed up at a speakers conference in Las Vegas two years ago. He was given a few minutes to tell how he'd discovered by accident that there were 5,000 kids who were often wandering the streets homeless or going hungry because of a bad home life fraught with drugs, joblessness, and abuse. Scott had moved from Louisiana after Katrina wiped out his home and the homes of his friends. He'd helped rescue 100's and relocated many of them. Being financially independent in his thirties, Scott had the freedom -- and big picture attitude and heart  - to look around, dig in and help others. After the Katrina rescue, he launched Caring4Kids Foundation and put together a project with the local churches and the school superintendent to begin feeding hungry kids. That was 2006 and so far the program feeds 650 kids every weekend throughout the city.

So, knowing how well Scott's program has gone, it's my turn. How can I know what I know about his program and not do something where I live? And, after all, isn't replicating solutions that work what I'm about anyway? So instead of being the journalistic observer, enjoying the interviews, creating a place for people to exchange ideas at NICENetwork.org, and enjoying the successes of others, it's time to put some of that "superior knowledge" to work. At least, I'm going to make a stab at it and see what we can make happen in Lake County Florida for these kids.  And, I'm also looking forward to a more in depth interview opportunity with Scott coming up in a couple of weeks.  To learn more about Scott's program go to: http://www.caring4kidsfoundation.org/.

        

I moved to Florida a couple of years ago and always wanted to see a space shuttle lift-off. We decided to go to New Smyrna which is just 30 miles from Cape Canaveral to see if we could get a good view. I have to tell you  that when I saw the glow come from the horizon, I was not alone in my awe. There were hundreds on the beach with us shouting and yelling to cheer on the astronauts. Then, we all heard it, the pop of the stage separation. So cool and indescribable!  But even cooler was seeing the rocket stream turn into a ribbon of color during the simultaneous western sunset. I thought to myself, if we can put a man in space, create space shuttles, and do it successfully like we did that day, why can't we solve the human needs we see on the ground. I don't want to minimize the money spent on the space program, but how, after trillions spent, can we still have the problems we do? I want the beauty of this photo to be a reminder to anyone reading this of how we must not give up because you and I have more innovative ability inside each one of us to change whatever needs people have. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist. It only takes a desire, a little courage, and some good ole sweat equity to reach out and help someone. Discovery can inspire us to reach higher.

        

Social and civic entrepreneurs are contemporary social innovators who've invented real solutions to poverty, at-risk youth, crime, neighborhood decay, housing shortages and more.  Social entrepreneurs are typically interested in ways to create for-profit ways of funding their ideas whereas civic entrepreneurs are a part of the larger group of social inventors who generally create a nonprofit for their solution. These are often everyday people who've sacrificed personal lives and 401Ks to go and help people they don't even know. Mostly their ideas are funded and supported by local volunteers and donors. Without them, America's "needed"  would not be helped as compassionately and effectively as they ...<< MORE >>