Social Citizens Weekly Round Up #8
Each week, we’ll cull the interwebs for the most relevant articles, videos and commentary about Millennials and social change, and then present them right here in a weekly round-up. It’s not to say we won’t also provide our own fresh content and perspectives throughout the week, because we will—as will our provocative and savvy Social Citizen Ambassadors. But you can view this space as a central repository for all of the great stuff that’s filling our newsfeeds, twitter feeds, and Facebook streams.
We’ll do the curating for you, just come by and pay us a visit – and drop a comment every now and then to let us know how we’re doing and what we’re missing. And now for this week’s round-up…
If You Build It, They Will Come
Silicon Valley has long been the place where tech dreams are made. Often associated with industry giants such as Google and Facebook, this area is also home to many fledgling startups—and as it turns out, is a great place for Millennials. Young adults are just the latest “high-tech migrants” to flock to Silicon Valley according to Erica Goode of The New York Times. She reports that “in their 20s and fresh out of college, [they are] drawn by a surge in start-ups and investment money that in the last year and a half has created more jobs than companies can fill, and eager to help shape the technology that infuses their lives.”
This flood of next-geners combined with the current economic situation (of which Silicon Valley is currently somewhat insulated) has created an interesting dynamic: “Buoyed by the frenzy of entrepreneurship around them, many young newcomers exhibit an optimism and confidence no economist could dampen. To some who have watched successive generations land here, this latest crop seems brash and entitled, with short attention spans and a video-game approach to life. Others see in them a social conscience and maturity that set them apart from the high-tech gold diggers of the 1990s.”
What is so unique about this melting pot of Millennials and startups is that for many it also represents the marriage of professional goals and personal values. Morin Oluwole, 27, was interviewed by Goode and said, “What I’ve done is to turn my personal interests into what I do for a living.” That seems like a pretty good way to live if you ask me.
What do you think of the combination of Millennials and startups? Do you agree with the sentiments in the article about the “latest crop” being “brash and entitled,” or rather that they have a “social conscience and maturity?” Does the characterization matter?
Desperately Seeking “Betterness”
Lisa Curtis of Forbes asks readers, “What does “success” mean in the 21st century and how do we achieve it?” A quick look at the current state of marriage, the economy, education, business (you name it) is leaving many Millennials sick to their stomachs when faced with decisions about their future. Curtis highlights just a few examples in her article, including: education loans—total outstanding loans will exceed $1 trillion for the first time this year; and unemployment rates—14 percent of young workers (20-24) are unemployed. She also makes reference to the housing market, social security… the list goes on.
Curtis reflects on the traditional ladder of success, the one that past generations sought to climb, and her conclusion is that it is nothing short of broken and splintered for the younger generation. Instead of climbing a never-ending ladder, Curtis is focused on a new metric for success—betterness. “Success for my generation will be a shift from business as usual to something Umair Haque calls ‘Betterness.’ A transition from climbing the ladder of unfulfilling societal expectations and consumerism to blazing a trail with a life guided by a holistic focus on well-being, community, and sustainability.”
Do you think there is a “betterness” quotient we can follow as a generation? Will this be a defining factor for Millennials in both the for- and non-profit worlds?
Vital Mobile Apps for Entrepreneurs
Mashable posted the top 11 mobile apps for entrepreneurs this week and we want to know which ones are your favorites!
Scott Gerber of the Young Entrepreneur Council says “With the glut of mobile apps out there, it’s important to get solid recommendations so you don’t waste your time or money on crappy, time-draining apps.” Gerber asked a group of young entrepreneurs about their favorite mobile apps and the top ones made this list.
If you’ve tried any of them please let us know what you thought about them!
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Are you ready to Do Something?
Q: What can teens do to help change the world with no money, no car, and no adults?
A: More than you think, according to DoSomething.org.
Last week DoSomething.org held its annual meeting to review the past year and discuss the year ahead for this 19-year-old organization. If Nancy Lublin, CEO and self-proclaimed “Chief Old Person,” and Aria Finger, COO of DoSomething.org, get their way… teens across the country will be able to choose from 25 to 30 different campaigns this year to get engaged and make a difference in their communities.
Fostering the next generation of Social Citizens, the organization’s purpose is rooted in its goal to “make community service as popular, cool, and most importantly, normal as watching TV or playing sports—something so ingrained in young people that they wouldn't think twice about helping others or volunteering.” As Aria puts it, "To DoSomething.org, teenagers are NOT future leaders. That's right. They are leaders right now. We've seen 17-year-olds register 10,000 bone marrow donors to save lives, outfit thousands of homes with energy-saving light bulbs, and clothe millions of homeless people nationwide. They do not need to wait. They can use their passion, smarts, and fearlessness to change the world right now."
So far so (very) good. Currently, DoSomething.org is one of the largest social change organizations in the U.S. for teens and they are aiming for five million active members by 2015. They are well on their way to reaching this goal both in the scale of its programs and depth of engagement. Aria noted in her presentation that DoSomething.org’s programs numbered 12 in 2010 with 1.2 million teens participating, and 16 in 2011 with 2 million teens participating—in 2012 they want to create 30 programs such as: Teens for Jeans; Give a Spit About Cancer; Animal Welfare; Cause Scavenger Hunts; and Grandparents Gone Wired, all to generate even more teen involvement.
Their formula for success is simple, but reflects years of refinement and the smarts to bring together the right team to execute these types of projects. Aria explained that their team decides what projects to undertake based on three key factors:
- Pop culture/current events: What are people talking about? Has a celebrity that teens respect taken up a new cause? Has a natural disaster impacted teens somewhere in the world?
- What do people want?: DoSomething.org relies heavily on crowdsourcing. In fact, they have a youth advisory council which they convene every two weeks to find out what’s on their minds and consequently, what DoSomething.org should be thinking about as well.
- Data: The numbers don’t lie. The team looks regularly at data, online rankings, Facebook traffic, number of unique visitors to their website, and other quantifiable stats that clearly show where their constituents’ interests lie.
Are you interested yet? I know we are. To learn more about DoSomething and how you can get involved, check out dosomething.org.
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Social Citizens Weekly Round Up #7
Each week, we’ll cull the interwebs for the most relevant articles, videos and commentary about Millennials and social change, and then present them right here in a weekly round-up. It’s not to say we won’t also provide our own fresh content and perspectives throughout the week, because we will—as will our provocative and savvy Social Citizen Ambassadors. But you can view this space as a central repository for all of the great stuff that’s filling our newsfeeds, twitter feeds, and Facebook streams.
We’ll do the curating for you, just come by and pay us a visit – and drop a comment every now and then to let us know how we’re doing and what we’re missing. And now for this week’s round-up…
What’s up with all this talk about SOPA?
A number of popular websites went dark yesterday to protest two pieces of legislation—the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House. As explained by David A. Fahrenthold of The Washington Post, “Both are meant to attack the problem of foreign Web sites that sell pirated or counterfeit goods. They would impose restrictions forcing U.S. companies to stop selling online ads to suspected pirates, processing payments for illegal online sales and refusing to list Web sites suspected of piracy in search-engine results.”
Fahrenthold notes that “The idea is to cut off the channels that deliver American customers, and their money, to potential pirates. But tech companies see the laws as a dangerous overreach, objecting because, they say, the laws would add burdensome costs and new rules that would destroy the freewheeling soul of the Internet.”
Congress is set to begin voting on the legislation next Tuesday. Make sure your voice is heard no matter which side you are on in this debate.
Get Your Degree from Codecademy
We love Codecademy here at Social Citizens—it’s a quick and easy online platform that teaches anyone who cares to learn the basics of coding. Codecademy, along with the White House, this week announced the launch of a new condensed version of its program called “Code Summer+.”
Tech Crunch reports that this new program is designed to educate the nation’s underprivileged and disconnected youth as part of Obama’s larger Summer Jobs+ initiative. If all goes accordingly to plan, both Summer Jobs+ and Code Summer+ will link to lead youth to jobs, with Summer Jobs+ aiming to create 250,000 job opportunities for youth by the beginning of this summer. Employers can also get involved here and offer jobs as part of this program.
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Social Citizens Gets a Facelift and a Fresh Voice
It was around this time four years ago, that my friend and colleague Allison Fine and I were sending drafts back and forth of the yet-to-be-named Social Citizens paper and wondering how people might react once the paper was out in the wild. We were realistic in our expectations but of course always hoped it would do more than simply collect dust on the shelves of foundation and nonprofit execs. We wanted to help spark a conversation across generations about how the rising generation of Millennials was changing the nature of social change. We knew it wasn’t just an obsession with technology that set them apart – but also their collaborative styles of leadership, radical transparency, and a general desire to find meaning in their work. These characteristics and many more served as the basis for conversations that would find their home on the Case Foundation’s Social Citizens platform.
Today, Millennials are four years older (hopefully a bit wiser), certainly more connected – and the conversations are as important as ever. Just before the holidays we announced our 10 Social Citizen Ambassadors – and today we unveil a fresh, new, modern logo – that we believe conveys the spirit of what it means to be a social citizen. The overlapping and abstract megaphones are images we think represent shared thinking, increased dialogue, and amplification of ideas and discussion that advance social good. Sure, that may sound like the designer was trying to make a hard sell – but really, we agree, we love it, and we think it looks solid on the new Social Citizens platform that will be unveiled to the world in February.
While the logo and redesign of the website are exciting (at least for us) – those are not the only changes you’ll be seeing in the coming days and weeks around Social Citizens. After five incredible years with the Case Foundation, 3.5 of which were spent moonlighting as my alter-ego @socialcitizen, I am excited to pass the baton (and perhaps more importantly, my twitter handle) on to Emily Yu. Emily has been my partner and proud champion of Social Citizens since joining the staff of the Foundation about a year and half ago. I feel strongly that if it weren’t for her perseverance, Social Citizens would not be the strong platform it is today -- and there certainly would not be such a natural person to keep the important conversation going. Emily, a millennial herself, is director of social innovation at the Case Foundation after a successful career in program development and social marketing strategy in the public and private sectors. She helped develop iconic pro-social campaigns like Diet Coke’s The Heart Truth. I can describe Emily in one word… awesome. She may the hardest working and most detailed-oriented person I know, but she also has a passionate love for local music and (much to my dismay) cat videos! You’ll have to ask her about that on @socialcitizen in the days to come.
I'm pleased to have the opportunity to continue to champion the important work of Social Citizens, this time from the vantage point as a Social Citizen Ambassador. If you're interested in following my new ventures – I hope you’ll find your way over to @KDS and join me in conversation. In the meantime, thanks for continuing this great conversation and making sure the voices of millennials are loud, clear, and present at every table where change is being made.
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