Social Impact Social Media

itgetsbetter.org In September 2010 after a number of gay, lesbian and transgender youth taking their own lives as a result of bullying Dan Savage and his partner Terry Miller made a YouTube video to create a personal way for supporters around the world to spread the word and outreach to LGBT youth letting them know that it does get better. The It Gets Better Project is now a worldwide movement with more than 60,000 personally created videos  and shared stories that have been viewed over 50 million times. The project has received celebrity submissions including President Obama, Hilary Clinton, Ann Hathaway, Colin Farrell, Adam Lambert, Sarah Silverman, Ellen DeGeneres and many others. In March 2011 the It Gets Better Project book was released. The book, It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living is on-sale wherever books are sold.   It includes essays and new material from more than 100 contributors, including celebri...

twitter.com Dove Pressnall, founder of Survivors' Truths, was compelled to take action. From 2004 - 2006, while working as a trainer and field supervisor of Liberian counselors and social workers she listened to the stories of war survivors including women survivors of targeted sexual violence, male and female torture survivors of all ages, and conscripted child soldiers. She found that by getting victims to  tell their stories it not only empowered them but also helped change perceptions of them and their experiences from negative to positive. Survivors' Truths has since greatly expanded its mission since Dove relocated to Los Angeles in 2007.  The organization's goal is to transform media coverage and  media imagery of not only war survivors but here in the U.S also  homeless veterans, LGBTQ youth and teen parents from negative to positive. Their work transforms impressions and stereotypes by telling positive storie...

For 27  years this nonprofit writers program  through Middlebury College and Phillips Academy, in Andover, MA has not only been teaching writing skills but changing lives of the children of Lawrence, MA - a former mill town. The program not only leads to children gaining the skills and confidence to pursue college but has resulted in inspiring many to become community leaders. andover.edu Workshops are entirely student led and the "writing leaders" are children that have gone through the program themselves, and the same ages as those they mentor. "Writing leaders" receive mentoring and training from public school teachers. More than 600 children have participated in the program and most have gone on to complete college. Quite an accomplishment, according to Edwin Santana, who became an instructor in 2004,  in a community where almost half the students drop out of high school. The Writing Leaders program is only one facet of Andover Bread Loaf - a nonpro...

odd-fellows.org   Sitting at "Five," the bar at Hotel Shattuck Plaza in Berkeley, CA I struck up a great conversation about social responsibility and giving back with Chris and Roy-- 2 independent contractors taking a break from their work. Their passion and personal mission is to reach out and help  teens "aging out" of our social services system and kids with terminal illnesses whose parents -- as a result of drug addiction, finances or other circumstances -- really aren't there for these kids. Through our conversation I learned about  a national organization called  Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) and their charitable work including education- literally getting kids to college and striped bass fishing trips - giving many kids  their first experience outside of gang and violence riddled neighborhoods. They even have a summer camp program. What's more I mentioned to Chris and Roy, in passing, my own l...

Sitting at "Five," the bar at Hotel Shattuck Plaza in Berkeley, CA I struck up a great conversation about social responsibility and giving back with Chris and Roy-- 2 independent contractors taking a break from their work.    Their passion and personal mission is to reach out and help  teens "aging out" of our social services system and kids with terminal illnesses whose parents -- as a result of drug addiction, finances or other circumstances -- really aren't there for these kids. Through our conversation I learned about  a national organization called  Independent Order of Odd Fellows (LOOF) and their charitable work including education- literally getting kids to college and striped bass fishing trips - giving many kids  their first experience outside of gang and violence riddled neighborhoods. They even have a summer camp program. What's more I mentioned to Chris and Roy, in passing, my own little effort with my ki...

blac.media Named for Hiedelberg Street in Detroit The Hiedleberg project began with Tyree Guyton decorating houses in a  Detroit community that resembled a burnt out war zone in 1986. Today the project uses art to teach community children about art and the environment while instilling a sense of community. Through the organization's ingenuity they have engaged students and professors from Wayne State University to the University of Michigan and Harvard. The photo here is of artwork from Tim Burke's Detroit Industrial Gallery Working with children that walk past rubble, debris, crime and abandon houses day after day The Hiedelberg project networks urban vacant lands into art/play/garden spaces while teaching children the philosophy of  "art-as-life." They have a Young Adult Heidelberg program that is nurturing and mentoring young adults, 18 - 25, to become community leaders and nurture the...