SCI Monthly eNews - November 2007

If judged by turnout, then the Massachusetts Civic Engagement Summit held on Nov. 16 in Worcester was a terrific success. Organizers' expectations were exceeded as nearly 700 people convened upon the DCU Center to participate in five tracks, including a track on Social Capital, Diverse Neighborhoods & Networks that I facilitated.

SCI was involved in the planning process for the Summit from the beginning, and we were delighted to see it come to fruition. In addition to helping plan the event, we also have set up a follow-up tool at MassCivicAction.org. The site is open to anyone in Massachusetts who wants to contribute to the continuing conversation about civic engagement in our state.

Photo from left to right: SCI AmeriCorps member Carlotta Richardson, SCI President David Crowley, Governor Deval Patrick, SCI AmeriCorps member Caitlin O'Reilly, SCI Board Member & Brandeis Professor John Ballantine, taken at Mass. Civic Engagement Summit.

Last month the Boston Globe Foundation made its fifth annual grant to support SCI. I just completed a report for the Globe on the impact of their investment in SCI to date, and I wanted to share a bit of that information. When the Globe first invested in us back in 2003, we were a small, new organization with a big idea-that we could help revitalize civic life in local communities. Their support allowed us to develop our first expansion site in Dorchester, which has been thriving for almost 4 years now. It also helped give us credibility to leverage other funding, and is an important reason we've grown to now have 25 full-time staff and AmeriCorps members building social capital in 3 communities, engaging 10,000 citizens per year in civic life, with plans to grow across the state.

There has been much talk about new ways of doing the business of philanthropy, but the Globe Foundation have truly modeled how a funder can be a true partner in a nonprofit organization's success. We at SCI are grateful to all involved with the Globe Foundation, and have particularly enjoyed working with Leah Bailey and Cathy Downs.

Photo: Leah Bailey, Globe Foundation Executive Director, joins members of the SCI Dorchester Youth Council.

George Martinez, hip-hop artist and US cultural envoy to Bolivia, visited the New England area from November 6 - November 10 as a guest of SCI. He conducted workshops and lectures at our three SCI locations, in Woburn, Lynn and Dorchester. He spoke to over 150 youth and adults about issues of civic engagement, community and grassroots activism. George brought his unique and extraordinary insight regarding these issues. George also spoke about social justice reform and utilizing Hip-Hop culture as an educational tool. George has successfully blended artistic expressions of Hip-Hop Culture and the call for activism into an innovative and inspiring presentation.

If you care to read more about his visit, click here to read a personal account.

On Halloween the SCI Dorchester Youth Council hosted their 4th Annual Trick-or-Treat Food Can Drive. They went out into Dorchester neighborhoods respectfully making a small offer to the residents: "Keep those delicious candies but, can you give us canned foods to help feed the Dorchester Community?" Asking nicely did the trick-the 25 youth volunteers collected over 250 canned goods and distributed 500 community resource bags while they were at it. Click here to read more.

Social capital is ultimately about people and relationships. So starting this month, we'll begin focusing on some of the people that carry out the SCI mission in local communities.This month we spotlight SCI AmeriCorps member Carlotta Richardson, serving as an Outreach & Technology Coordinator at DotWell. She was motivated to make a mid-career change because she "remembers how people were more connected within the community" and wants to rebuild her community by serving with SCI. At the same time, her new position is challenging her to increase her technical skills.

Read more about Carlotta's story here.

SCI has been growing a lot this fall, but we still need more people! Click here for more on current positions with SCI-SCI Lynn Coordinator, Development Associate and AmeriCorps member.