David's blog

Martin Luther King Day is officially recognized as a day of service, and the operative phrase associated with it is  "A day on, not a day off". In his Drum Major Instinct sermon Dr. King said "Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve." Keeping with this sentiment, today is officially recognized as the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. So it's a busy day around the SCI network...here are some highlights, and if you are reading this morning, still time to get involved with something!

*Lynn Community Donation Drive A wide range of items needed by several local charties have been posted, and are being collected at several locations in the community. If you drop at Compare supermarket (owned by the family of our board chair, Alberto Calvo), they will match your donation.Read more

When craigslist founder Craig Newmark asked people in this post, "How Will You Change the World in 2012", I knew I would need to respond. I wrote on a similar theme around this time last year, so appreciated Craig's nudge to set forth my plans again here.

1) Launching the National Civic Communication Corps: Created as a response to the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps enrolled 500,000 members at its peak, and the corps planted some 3 billion trees and created 800 parks nationwide (source: Wikipedia). What legacy could a 21st century CCC leave behind? We envision a national Civic Communication Corps through which:Read more

In the beginning, it was peer pressure that nudged me onto Twitter. I'd heard buzz about it, and my curiosity was piqued when I heard mention that many Members of Congress and commentators were Tweeting around that year's State of the Union. But what really got me to focus on it was when Lindsay Hyde, founder of Strong Women Strong Girls, asked at an event if we were Tweeting yet at SCI. When I answered no, she said she could really see how it could apply to our mission of promoting local civic engagement. Not wanting to be too much of a Luddite, I didn't ask too many questions about how exactly she saw Twitter's relevance to our mission. I did sign up for my Twitter account a few days later, determined to figure out what it was about.Read more

SCI's outreach and technology team was highlighted in “Civic Engagement and Community Information: Five Strategies to Revive Civic Communication”, written by Peter Levine and published by the Aspen Institute and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. I find myself referencing it frequently, but it is in the middle of the report, so I am posting the excerpt on SCI for handy reference. Read the full paper here.

Social Capital Inc. is a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that seeks to increase local civic engagement and social capital through a variety of initiatives that connect diverse individuals and organizations in the community. Since its founding in 2002, SCI has incorporated information and communications technologies as essential components of its programs to connect people, foster civic engagement and build healthier communities. SCI currently serves ten communities in the state.Read more

Our week started by organizing a vigil on 9/11, followed by three days of training for our new AmeriCorps team. But it was a big week in the broader world of social capital and civic engagement too, with several important new studies released. Unfortunately, the timing didn't allow us to get to the National Conference on Citizenship, but we followed virtually the new information coming out. Here's a recap of some of the important recent social capital news:

Guardian of Democracy: This follow-up report to the Civic Mission of Schools underscores the importance of effective civic learning for our democracy and young people's development. Not surprisingly, there is a lot of work to be done here. This report is a good starting point.Read more