How To Build Global Community
Think of no one as “them”
Don’t confuse your comfort with your safety
Talk to strangers
Imagine other cultures through their poetry and novels
Listen to music you don’t understand * Dance to it
Act Locally
Notice the workings of power & privilege in your culture
Question consumption
Know how your lettuce and coffee are grown: wake up and smell the exploitation
Look for fair trade and union labels
Help build economies from the bottom up * Acquire few needs
Learn a second(or third) language
Visit people,places, and cultures – not tourist attractions
Learn people’s history * Re-define progress
Know physical and political geography
Play games from other cultures * Watch films with subtitles
Know your heritage * Honor everyone’s holidays
Look at the moon and imagine someone else, Somewhere else, looking at it too
Read the UNs Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Understand the global economy in terms of people, land, and water
Know where your bank banks
Never believe you have the right to anyone else’s resources
Refuse to wear corporate logos: defy corporate domination
Question military/corporate connections
Don’t confuse money with wealth, or time with money
Have a pen/email pal * Honor indigenous cultures
Judge governance by how well it meets all people’s needs
Be skeptical about what you read
Eat adventurously * Enjoy vegetables, Beans and grains in your diet
Choose curiosity over certainty
Know where your water comes from and where your wastes go
Pledge allegiance to the earth;question nationalism
Think South, Central, and North- There are many Americans
Assume that many others share your dreams
Know that no one is silent though many are not heard
Work to change this
Text: Members SCW Community ©2002.
Illustration: Melinda Levine, cut paper
Posters and notecards can be bought at: http://syracuseculturalworkers.com/catalog/8/how_toposters
or
http://www.northernsun.com
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Network for Good
Imagine what the world would be like if every time you were inspired to help someone or something, you could — with just a few clicks of a mouse, anywhere online. That’s the mission of Network for Good. We make it as easy to donate and volunteer online as it is to shop online, and we make it simple and affordable for all nonprofits, of any size, to recruit donors and volunteers via the Internet.
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Guidestar
To revolutionize philanthropy and nonprofit practice by providing information that advances transparency, enables users to make better decisions, and encourages charitable giving.
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Peace Corps
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship. The Peace Corps’ mission has three simple goals:
- Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
- Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
- Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
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Points of Light
We embrace service and civic engagement as fundamental to a purposeful life and essential to healthy communities. People drive change. Points of Light Institute helps people get involved in solving some of the world’s greatest challenges. How?
We are organized to innovate, incubate and activate new ideas throughout our innovations, programs and channels. Our Points of Light enterprises help us reach our vision by inspiring, equipping and mobilizing people to make that change happen:
HandsOn Network
HandsOn Network, an enterprise of Points of Light, is the largest network of 250 volunteer centers that extend to 16 countries around the world. These centers focus on helping people find and engage in volunteer opportunities in their local communities, partnering with more than 70,000 corporate, faith and nonprofit organizations to manage volunteer resources, and developing the leadership capacity of volunteers. Annually, the network delivers approximately 30 million hours of volunteer service valued at $626 million.
generationOn
GenerationOn is the global youth service movement igniting the power of all kids to make their mark on the world. As Points of Light’s youth service enterprise, generationOn brings the nation’s leading youth service organizations under one umbrella with a mission to inspire, equip, and mobilize youth to take action through 1,800 generationOn Clubs that help kids change the world and themselves through service.
Americorps Alums
AmeriCorps Alums is the only national network convening the alumni of all AmeriCorps national service programs. Since 2005, AmeriCorps Alums has been an enterprise of Points of Light dedicated to building a community of experienced volunteer leaders committed to a lifetime of service. Alums are encouraged to fully realize their potential by building connections and engaging with others to create transformational change in their communities. Since 1994, more than 700,000 Americans have served in AmeriCorps.
Points of Light Corporate Institute
The Points of Light Corporate Institute enables companies to engage their employees and customers in service to the communities in which they do business. It is the go-to organization providing resources, consulting services and on-the-ground activation to companies around the world seeking innovative, multi-channel engagement in Employee Volunteer Programs, Skills-Based Volunteering and hands-on service.
The Civic Incubator serves as the platform from which entrepreneurs are able to launch and scale new ventures aimed at putting people at the center of change.
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Standing on the Side of Love
Standing on the Side of Love is a public advocacy campaign that seeks to harness love’s power to stop oppression. It is sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association and all are welcomed to join.
Why
This is a time of great hope and possibility, yet our communities are threatened by the increased prevalence of acts motivated by fear and hate.
No one should be dehumanized through acts of exclusion, oppression, or violence because of their identities.
In public debates over immigration, LGBT rights, and more, religious people stand on the side of love and call for respect, inclusion, and compassion.
How
The Standing on the Side of Love campaign elevates compassionate religious voices to influence public attitudes and public policy.
Through community activism, social networking, and media outreach, people across the nation are equipped to counter fear and make love real in the world.
For more information, read our Frequently Asked Questions.
History
The message, “standing on the side of love,” emerged as a rallying point for people of faith in Massachusetts during their early efforts for fully inclusive marriage, and later during the fight against Proposition 8 in California.
The Standing on the Side of Love Campaign was inspired by the 2008 shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, which was targeted because they are welcoming to LGBT people and have a liberal stance on many issues.
The Knoxville Community responded with an outpouring of love that inspired the leadership at the Unitarian Universalist Association to launch a campaign that would harness love’s power to challenging exclusion, oppression and violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity, immigration status, race, religion, or any other identity. In July of 2010, we celebrated our one-year anniversary at Standing on the Side of Love. Thank you to all of you who have taken part. Click to see our 2010 report on the campaign (click to download).
For two years in a row, together, we re-imagined Valentine’s Day as a social justice holiday. See the difference we made.
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Amnesty International
Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 3 million supporters, members and activists in more than 150 countries and territories who campaign to end grave abuses of human rights.
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Chopra Foundation
The Chopra Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) organization dedicated to improving health and well-being, cultivating spiritual knowledge, expanding consciousness, and promoting world peace to all members of the human family.
The mission of the Chopra Foundation is to advance the cause of mind/body spiritual healing, education, and research through fund raising for selected projects.
We offer teaching and resources for health and spirituality for disadvantaged individuals and communities, specifically through our concrete commitments to:
AT-RISK CHILDREN, introducing them to music and art for empowerment, meditation and mind body practices
LOW-INCOME WOMEN AND TEENAGERS, offering them comprehensive pre-natal support to help bring their babies safely to full term and birth weight
PRISONERS, teaching them meditation for awareness and peace
EDUCATING HEALERS, about the powerful resources of Ayurveda, mind-body practices and spirituality, through giving scholarships to selected healers to attend specific programs
INITIATING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH into mind-body practices to support our educational work and further understanding
Starting at the very first moments in life, to seeing individuals and communities in the world at peace with themselves and their neighbors while living fully each moment of existence.
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Change.org
Change.org is a social action platform that empowers anyone, anywhere to start, join, and win campaigns for social change. Millions of people sign petitions on Change.org each month on thousands of issues, winning campaigns every day to advance change locally and globally.
The Prospect of Peace 