Resources
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| Delegates at the International Youth Volunteerism Summit Conference 2006. Photo by Thomas Lee |
Become aware, involved,
and informed:
Many of the world's most effective social, environmental, peace, and political movements have started on college campuses. While at university you have rich educational resources and information at your fingertips and, most importantly, the passion of thousands of like-minded peers, creating a powerful combination for taking action in your local community and on behalf of some of the world's most pressing issues. Whether your returning from abroad or planning to study or volunteer overseas, there is no better time than now for you to pursue your ideas and concerns on and off your campus—and there are many ways to do so. Listed below are organizations that welcome student involvement and input. Some also sponsor trainings and conferences around the country for students in order to more fully get involved in various issues.
Many of the following resources have been contributed by Middlebury College's Alliance for Civic Engagement, which focuses on community-service, service-learning, activism, and civic engagement.
Also, see Abroad View's Topics & Regions for additonal resources.
Websites
- ActionforChange.org is an initiative of Campus Compact (see below) that connects students across the U.S. in support of civic engagement. It addresses public issues crucial to our democracy and serves as a social network for activism, incorporating nonprofits, politicians, and people across the globe.
Campus Compact is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting community service, civic engagement, and service-learning in higher education. It is one of the most comprehensive sites for service-learning and civic engagement. It has student organizing guides, resources, and a section on alternative spring break trips.
CampusActivism.org: This interactive website has tools for progressive activists. It is part of a network of websites that share information called the Activism Network. We built it, but you must provide the content. You can use it to start a campaign, share activism resources, publicize events, and build networks. Or you can join an existing campaign, get resources, learn about upcoming activist events, and let people find you. - End poverty by 2015. This is the historic promise 189 world leaders made at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 when they signed onto the Millennium Declaration and agreed to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs are an eight-point road map with measurable targets and clear deadlines for improving the lives of the world’s poorest people. World leaders have agreed to achieve the MDGs by 2015.
Energ!ze is a resource for leaders of volunteers. In the linked section you'll find articles, free electronic books, and websites on service-learning, volunteering, and youth engagement.
Free the Children is the largest network of children helping children through education in the world, with more than one million youth involved in its education and development programs in 45 countries. Its mission is “to free young people from the idea that they are powerless to bring about positive social change, and encourage them to act now to improve the lives of young people everywhere.”
Free The Children's Get Educated section is a good resource for children’s rights, education, child labor, war-affected children, child poverty, and sexual exploitation.
Global Envision believes that providing the poor with opportunities to improve their own lives is the catalyst for creating a more fair, hopeful, and stable future. It supports economic development and responsible free markets as the most reliable and sustainable strategies for global poverty alleviation. Its section for "Students," as well as its "Links," "Articles," and "Newsroom," provide valuable information and resources for those interested in the global economy, trade, microfinance, technology, the environment, health, and agriculture. - The Global Youth Action Network (GYAN) is a youth-led organization that unites the efforts of young people working to improve our world. The Network connects many thousands of organizations in over 190 countries. It is affiliated with the United Nations Department of Public Information and it holds Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC).
Idealist.org (Action Without Borders) connects people, organizations, and resources “to help build a world where all people can live free and dignified lives.” Its work is guided by the common desire of its members and supporters to find practical solutions to social and environmental problems, in a spirit of generosity and mutual respect.
- Intercultural U (IU): Although it is still in its beta stage of development, this growing online community of people from around the world who are interested in intercultural relations, covers topics such as: racism, prejudice, stereotypes, hate crimes, culture, diversity, multiculturalism, race, ethnicity, linguistics, intercultural and diversity training/consulting, culture shock, ethnocentrism, nonverbal communication, cross cultural psychology, cultural anthropology and race relations.
Project Pericles is a national not-for-profit organization of colleges and universities committed to making social responsibility and participatory citizenship an essential part of their education programs, in the classroom, on the campus, and in the community.
Raise Your Voice: Student Action for Change is an initiative of Campus Compact. Its website is an excellent resource that includes stories, news, ideas, and information for student leaders to become more active, informed, and responsible members of their communities. Of particular note are its Alternative Media Guide; "Student Picks" (includes books, movies, music, and art that have raised students' awareness about social issues and inspired them to become civically engaged); Glossary of Higher Education and Campus Mapping Tool; and Recommended Reading and Resources on service-learning and civic engagement.
Results' Links page includes resources and information on subjects such as: Microcredit International | IFI Critics | Research Organizations | International Providers | Volunteer Abroad International Health | Diarrheal Disease | HIV/AIDS | Malaria | Maternal, Neonatal & Breastfeeding | Reproductive & Family Planning | Tuberculosis | Vitamin A Deficiency
Service-Learning at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey provides recommended weblinks to toolkits, planning resources, and informative sites. It also includes reading suggestions, links to full-text articles, and recommended film lists.
Sustainable Communities Network links citizens to resources and to one another to create healthy, vital, sustainable communities. -
TakingITGlobal.org is an international non-profit organization headquartered in Toronto, Canada. It connects youth around the world and provides a portal for young people to find inspiration, access information and get involved in improving their local and global communities.
YouthNoise is a space for "world-changers" and "hope-givers" to find, explore, and network a cause. It's a "place to inspire and be inspired. An activist haven, a socially conscious sanctuary…a virtual conference hall, playground, coffee shop, and classroom."
WorldChanging.com is a book and an online publication covering tools, models, and ideas for building a better future. » Read Abroad View's article on WorldChanging.com.
Organizations & Campaigns
Americans for Informed Democracy: This non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization, a strategic partner of Abroad View, brings the world home through programming on more than 1,000 U.S. university campuses and in more than 10 countries. AID fulfills its mission by coordinating town hall meetings on America's role in the world, hosting leadership retreats, and publishing opinion pieces and reports on issues of global importance. Through these efforts, AID seeks to build a new generation of globally conscious leaders.- Amnesty International undertakes research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights. Find out if your college has an Amnesty International group or start a student group yourself. All Amnesty International groups receive "urgent actions," an activist toolkit, and invitations to attend educational and inspirational events.
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ENGAGE (the Educational Network for Global and Grassroots Exchange), a nonprofit organization, is working to create a worldwide network of students who are turning their international education into action, linking communities and movements across the globe in grassroots action for a just and sustainable world. ENGAGE has an excellent resource section: www.engagetheworld.org/Links.html
Global Exchange is a membership-based international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world. It works to increase public awareness of root causes of injustice while building international partnerships and mobilizing for change. Country-specific resources are available for issues, such as war, peace, and democracy. - Global PACT (Global Partnerships for Activism and Cross-Cultural Training) is building an international network of individuals who are able to identify, define, investigate, and act on problems they care about. Its practical trainings help people empower themselves by using real-life challenges to teach personal, project, and organizational development skills. You can start as a student and then become a Global PACT Junior Trainer the following year.
Heifer International is a non-profit charitable organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas, dedicated to relieving global hunger and poverty. It provides gifts of livestock and plants, as well as education in sustainable agriculture, to financially-disadvantaged families around the world. Heifer runs study tours and has many opportunities for community volunteering. » Read about Beatrice Biira, whose life story was the subject of the best-selling children's book Beatrice's Goat. She was featured on 60 Minutes for her remarkable journey from Kisinga, a poverty-stricken Ugandan village, to Connecticut College. Hear how Heifer made it possible for her to attend college in the U.S.
The Jane Goodall Institute runs a youth-oriented program called "Roots & Shoots," which is about making positive change happen—for our communities, for animals, and for the environment. The Roots & Shoots network branches out across the globe, connecting youth of all ages who share a common desire to help make our world a better place by sharing ideas and inspiration, implementing community service projects, and participating in special events and global campaigns. There are more than 100 college-campus Roots & Shoots groups in the U.S., and you can start your own group or sign up for an individual Roots & Shoots membership. Learn more at www.rootsandshoots.org/collegestudents.- mtvU's activism site provides resources and ways to take action on critical global issues, such as stopping the genocide in Sudan and curbing global warming. You can also take a shot at applying for an mtvU Grant, which provies $1000 in start-up funding for student-run community service projects.
The National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC) was formed to organize and
mobilize the youth and student response to Bush's open-ended, so-called "war on terror."
This youth and student led coalition was formed shortly after the tragic events of
September 11, 2001 and has worked to build strategic, long-term opposition of youth and
students to the war, both at home and abroad.
Oxfam seeks increased worldwide public understanding that economic and social justice are crucial to sustainable development. It strives to be a global campaigning force promoting the awareness and motivation that comes with global citizenship while seeking to shift public opinion in order to make equity the same priority as economic growth. U.S. college students entering their sophomore or junior year can take advantage of Oxfam America's leadership training and become skilled and knowledgeable agents of change. Oxfam also makes available action guides and tools specifically designed with students in mind.
The Roosevelt Institution is a non-profit, non-partisan national network of campus-based student think tanks. Its members conduct policy research on the pressing political issues facing the world, from environmental protection to equality under the law to trade and taxes. The Roosevelt Institution connects the fruits of that research to the policy process, delivering sound, progressive proposals to policymakers and advocacy groups at all levels of government as it organizes, trains, and empowers the next generation of progressive leaders. You can join a Roosevelt chapter on your campus or start one for your college or university.- Slow Food and Terra Madre
- Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that counteracts fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world. has created a network of universities to collaborate with the food communities and cooks at Terra Madre in defense of sustainable food production. Its annual Terra Madre event brings together representatives of food communities that produce good, clean and fair food in a responsible and sustainable way. Students interested in organizing Slow Food conviviums on their campuses can get more information here.
- Watch Slow Food's videos and listen to its audio files here.
- Students of the World (SOW), an organization conceived by college students and led by students, is dedicated to raising public awareness of and activism on social issues affecting international communities. The SOW mission is executed through teams of college students who spend four weeks immersed in, learning from and documenting developmental issues surrounding a localized international community. The crux of the mission is achieved in the students' return and subsequent documentary work production and advocacy in their own university communities. Through documentary film production, photography and art exhibitions, policy studies, and newspaper and magazine articles, Students of the World works to inspire Americans toward global understanding and activism.
The Stanley Foundation brings fresh voices and original ideas to debates on global and regional problems. The foundation seeks a secure peace with freedom and justice, built on world citizenship and effective global governance. It is a nonpartisan, private operating foundation focusing primarily on peace and security issues and advocating principled multilateralism. Its policy publications are available online, along with many other resources. Its quarterly publication, Courier, is available free of charge.
The Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC) is a national movement with chapters at high schools, colleges, and universities across the United States committed to bringing an end to HIV and AIDS in the U.S. and around the world through education, informed advocacy, media work, and direct action.
STAND, a nationwide, student-led division of the Genocide Intervention Network, mobilizes high school and college-age young adults through more than 800 campus chapters. » Read the Stand Blog- Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) works in solidarity with the Tibetan people in their struggle for freedom and independence. It is a chapter-based network of young people and activists around the world. Through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action, it campaigns for Tibetans’ fundamental right to political freedom. Its role is to empower and train youth as leaders in the worldwide movement for social justice.
Student Peace Action Network (SPAN) is a grassroots peace and justice organization working from campuses across the U.S. It organizes for an end to physical, social, and economic violence caused by U.S. militarism and abroad. It campaigns for causes such as nuclear abolition, disarmament, and an end to weapons trafficking.
United Nations Related Websites: - Model United Nations is a simulation of the United Nations that aims to educate participants about civics, effective communication, globalization and multilateral diplomacy. In Model U.N., students take on roles as foreign diplomats and participate in a simulated session of an intergovernmental organization. Participants research a country, take on roles as diplomats, investigate international issues, debate, deliberate, consult, and then develop solutions to world problems. You can find more information on Model UN at: www.state.gov/p/io/mdlun
The following are among the largest college Model U.N. organizations:
American Model U.N. International: www.amun.org
Harvard Model U.N.: www.hnmun.org
National Model U.N.: www.nmun.org
The United Nations Association of the U.S. is a not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to building understanding of and support for the ideals and vital work of the United Nations among the American people. Its educational and humanitarian campaigns, including teaching students in urban schools, clearing minefields and providing school-based support for children living in HIV/AIDS-affected communities in Africa, allow people to make a global impact at the local level. In addition, its policy and advocacy programs stress the importance of nations working together and the need for United States leadership in the United Nations. The association is affiliated with the World Federation of United Nations Associations. The UNA-USA Student Alliance seeks to engage students by creating a nationwide network of motivated individuals, student advocacy groups, international affairs clubs, and Model UN teams.
The United Nations Development Programme is the UN's global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. World leaders have pledged to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including the overarching goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015. UNDP's network links and coordinates global and national efforts to reach these Goals. Its focus is helping countries build and share solutions to the challenges of: Democratic Governance, Poverty Reduction, Crisis Prevention and Recovery, Energy and Environment, HIV/AIDS.
U.N. Millennium Development Goals comprehensive website.- United Students for Fair Trade is a national network of student organizations advocating around Fair Trade products, policies, and principles. The core objective of USFT is to raise the awareness of and expand the demand for Fair Trade alternatives, both on campuses and in communities.
50 Years Is Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice is a coalition of over 200 U.S. grassroots, women's, solidarity, faith-based, policy, social- and economic-justice, youth, labor and development organizations dedicated to the profound transformation of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Network works in solidarity with over 185 international partner organizations in more than 65 countries. Through education and action, the Network is committed to transforming the international financial institutions' policies and practices, to ending the outside imposition of neo-liberal economic programs, and to making the development process democratic and accountable. It focuses on action-oriented economic literacy training, public mobilization, and policy advocacy.
- United Students for Fair Trade is a national network of student organizations advocating around Fair Trade products, policies, and principles. The core objective of USFT is to raise the awareness of and expand the demand for Fair Trade alternatives, both on campuses and in communities.
- Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) works in solidarity with the Tibetan people in their struggle for freedom and independence. It is a chapter-based network of young people and activists around the world. Through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action, it campaigns for Tibetans’ fundamental right to political freedom. Its role is to empower and train youth as leaders in the worldwide movement for social justice.
Books and Publications
- Free the Children has a selection of inspiring and how-to books, such as The Making of an Activist, Take Action! A Guide to Active Citizenship, and 7 Steps to Social Involvement.
- Read Abroad View's review of Me to We.
Social Entrepreneurship
An excellent starting place for budding entrepreneurs is the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. You'll find college sites, professional associations, student organizations, student blogs, podcasts, business plan resources, publications, and documents categorized by discipline.
The University Network for Social Entrepreneurship works with professors and researchers, practitioners, and students to develop social entrepreneurship as a vocation and carry its principles into other disciplines and sectors. It is designed to be a resource hub and an action-oriented discussion forum to expand social entrepreneurship education and participation around the world.
Ashoka is the global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs—men and women with system changing solutions for the world’s most urgent social problems. Ashoka Fellows are provided with living stipends, professional support, and access to a global network of peers in more than 60 countries.
Institute for Global Communications provides advocacy and support tips for non-profits.
Social Edge is a global online community where social entrepreneurs and other practitioners of the social benefit sector connect to network, learn, inspire and share resources.