Comments for Jennifer's Weblog

Comment on Questions about the Civil Society by sfmindtrap

sfmindtrap — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:19:38 +0000

Jen,

Interesting Questions!

I was just thinking about how the theories we learned are helpful and Im not sure I got the answer. I realized that most of the stuff we read about this semester was based on the political science perspective of civil society, and often seemed more to be about government than nonprofits. I feel if you are looking for a carreer in international development or in international NGO’s these theories would be really useful because they would give you a framework through which to look at some emerging democracies or totalitarian governments around the world and the civil societies that flourish under them. There is a balancing act always being played between nonprofits and the government and evey country is drastically different, these theories provide us with different ways of looking at different countries with different nonprofit sectors.

And about research, God I hope not, i hated writing that research paper…

Comment on Random Post by mkalaly

mkalaly — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:28:53 +0000

Thank you for this post. I just finished my undergrad degree and I have no clue what I would like to do from this point. So I will go on this site and maybe look at careers in the nonprofit organizations, because I love to help my community

Comment on GreenPeace Blogs? by Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:40:35 +0000

Thanks for the link! (Hey, wishy-washy or not, we’ll take what we can get.)

For the record, sometimes individual activists make a personal choice to put themselves at risk. But we are careful not to put anyone else’s safety at risk.

Hope that makes sense.

Comment on Amy’s talk by butterfly26

butterfly26 — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:22:33 +0000

Yeah i agree with you. I never really stopped to think about the countries in Africa. I know that they undergo some hardships, but I never have time to look into them. After her talk, I definitely thought about how lucky we all our to live in this country. I find myself looking up online about other countries a lot too now. I just look to see some current events and find out what is going on around the world that I otherwise would have known nothing about.

Comment on EL… by Kim

Kim — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:20:28 +0000

Here’s an interesting article about sex trafficking in our area:

Sex trafficking of children is often thought of as a problem abroad, but several nonprofits say it’s happening right here.

When Andrea Powell and volunteers with nonprofit FAIR fund started going into DC schools last year to educate teens about sexual violence and exploitation, they asked the students if they knew anyone under 18 who was involved in sexual commerce. Seventy percent of the kids raised their hands.

When they dug further, they found several instances of kids in classes who were being exploited. They found youth exchanging sex for a place to stay, a ride to school, even cell phone minutes. Often, it’s girls – and sometimes boys – who’ve run away, are homeless or don’t have a stable family.

One strategy that Powell’s group is working on is training adults in regular contact with vulnerable kids – anyone from teachers to 711 employees – to identify bad situations before they get worse. They’re also raising money for a group home called Columbia House for victims of child sex trafficking in the district.

Sabri Ben-Achour reports…

Listen to the complete story at wamu.org

Comment on 1st EL post by The Right Perspective

The Right Perspective — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:59:54 +0000

Wow.. All of this is definitely new to me. I was brought up on both private and public school systems. Basically public, being that of a school in your district or location and private school was more of a voluntold deal. When I was little just starting kindergarden, I started out at a private school in Charlottesville, Va called Heritage Christian School. It was a day school and had more science learning objectives than anything else. After a few years of private elementary school, I went on to public school in the Louisa County, Va area. Public schools in Louisa where really weren’t all that great academically. I don’t know if it was the teachers or the academic curriculum. So after a few years of my parents experimenting with public schools, I moved on and attended Fork Union Military Academy, a private military boarding school in Fork Union, Va near Fluvanna. It was a pretty good change of pace for me. At Fork Union, instead of having 4-7 classes at a time and different periods to keep track of, you only had one class every 7 weeks with mandatory study halls every night for 3 hours. Sounds pretty grueling doesn’t it? We even had class one to two Saturday’s a month.
Back on track here to what you were mentioning with grants, etc. for school. I wonder if these grants can be used towards private schools as well as charter schools? It seems there are so many products and services for children and teenagers going through school and more and more services to help individuals finish college instead of taking out a student loan.

Comment on To vote or not to vote… by mnavia

mnavia — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 02:32:46 +0000

I love that you really thought this all out so well and applaud you for taking a different stance. In the days following the election I have heard some harsh words, I even had a friend who stopped talking to me because I said I supported the outcome. I am also saddened to hear that some people voted for Barack Obama not because of an informed choice but preference about his party affliation or back round. I don’t understand how people arent interested in the bigger issues such as the economy ,the environment or healthcare. This was a history making election and I sure hope that people didn’t vote for the wrong reasons.

Comment on To vote or not to vote… by Mike Harmon

Mike Harmon — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:16:17 +0000

I found your site on Google and read a few of your other entires. Nice Stuff. I’m looking forward to reading more from you.

Comment on Non-American Nonprofit by Ian

Ian — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:57:32 +0000

This organization excites me because of the individuals who started it, students. It is empowering to see the youth of the world take a pro-active role in changing the world they live in. I find it saddening young children every day watch humans being treated so badly. However, it is exciting to know they are doing something about it. I just wish organizations such as ‘Law Watch’ received more national spot-lite for the work they do. Especially seeing young adults started it. Showing that type of action globally is important and motivating to young global citizens.

Comment on Non-American Nonprofit by njeri08

njeri08 — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:38:17 +0000

I think students are not given enough credit and recognition for some of the things they accomplish. Most of the news about students include excessive partying and egocentrism. When students get involved, they do it with a passion and a conviction unlike any other demographic because they are fearless. I’m not surprised that this group was started by students.