Ami Dar is the founder and executive director of Idealist.org. Ami was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Peru and in Mexico, and lives in New York.
The 2012 ADP/TDC national meeting, “Civic Engagement 2.0: Re-Imagining, Strengthening and Deepening
Our Civic Work will open with a plenary session featuring Ami Dar. In a talk entitled “Closing the Gap Between
Intention and Action,” Ami Dar will explore with participants ways in which we can build a global network that
will help people everywhere take action on any issue that concerns them, locally or globally, online and in
person.
Built in 1995 with $3,500, Ami launched Idealist.org in order to make getting involved in social action easier
than ever. Idealist.org was designed to connect social action agencies to would-be citizen activists, linking like-minded individuals to one another and generating a critical mass of interconnected citizen sector organizations and people. Idealist has become one of the most popular nonprofit resources on the web, with information provided by 70,000 organizations around the world and 100,000 visitors every day. The vision of Idealist.org is:
We would like to live in a world where:
All people can lead free and dignified lives.
Every person who wants to help another has the ability to do so.
No opportunities for action or collaboration are missed or wasted.
Their work is guided by the common desire of their members and supporters to find practical solutions to social and environmental problems, in a spirit of generosity and mutual respect.
To learn more about Ami Dar and Idealist, check out this “flip” chat on Philantopic here. You can also read an interview of Ami Dar here.
The LSC-Kingwood Teaching and Learning
Center is pleased to announce Dr. John J.
Theis as the recipient of the 2012
Innovator of the Year Award for the
LSC-KingwoodPublic Achievement
Initiative. This award is to recognize an
individual or team who has designed and
implemented a significant innovation that
has had a positive impact on the education
of students.
Public Achievement is a youth civic
engagement initiative focused on the most
basic concepts of citizenship, democracy
and public work. This year, the second year
of the program, 22 LSC-K students have worked with 74 students from Splendora ECHS and Quest ECHS. High School students have been empowered to explore administrative avenues to garner support for their projects, including presentations to the Splendora ISD School Board and the Quest HS faculty. LSC-K student coaches have learned to facilitate and develop leadership skills, creating a foundation for future successes. They have all learned that this is the kind of politics that everyone can do, not just politicians. These partnerships are invaluable in building the civic presence of LSC-Kingwood and re-invigorating the democratic mission of community colleges as “Democracy’s Colleges.”
TDC member Mount Wachusett Community College of Gardner, Massachusetts is making sure their students know that every vote counts!
Below are three of the First Year Experience (FYE) students whose self-designed service learning project was to hold a voter registration drive. The whole class researched the Global Challenges (formally known as “7 Revs”) through The New York Times throughout the semester, and worked on issue boards, conveying pros/cons of an issue they felt strongly about.
For more information about Mount Wachusett Community College, click here.
On Wednesday, April 11 The Democracy Commitment at Allegany College of Maryland in Cumberland, Maryland held a day-long community event featuring film, music and dance. (Pictures!)
The event was comprised of a showing of the award winning documentary “The Greatest Silence”, Guest Speaker Christian from “Friends of Congo” out of D.C., Congolese dancers (ACM students) and local Bands—Jon Felton, Sea Lions, Dog Jaw, Corey Oglesby—all free and open to the public!
During the entire day there were free coffee samples of Ethiopian coffee and artists selling their wares, fair trade coffee and baked items. There was also a 50/50 raffle and item raffles of which the proceeds went to Women to Women and Heal Africa!
They raised $300 that night and will continue ongoing fundraising for the semester. All of the donations will continue to go to Women to Women and Heal Africa which are on-the-ground charities working on addressing the psychological, social, and physical aftermath of the horrific rapes of Congolese girls and women.
Congratulations Allegany College of Maryland for hosting such an exciting and successful event!
The Campus and Friends Showcase is a wonderful opportunity to share and celebrate your work and help others learn how to promote civic engagement on their campuses. For the seventh year in a row, we will feature the ever-popular Campus and Friends Showcase! There is no cost to participate. Simply complete this registration form no later than Monday, May 7th to reserve your spot.
The Campus and Friends Showcase will take place on Saturday, June 9th 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The Showcase is designed as an exhibit hall with tables available for presenters. People love to see what other campuses have done with the American Democracy Project and other democratic learning programs on campus. The Showcase also serves as an important networking opportunity for project participants to connect with national leaders in the civic engagement movement.
This year the Showcase will occur simultaneously with the TDC/ADP Poster Session.
Information about materials you should provide, the set-up, and the structure of the showcase attached to the “Instructions” link above. Please feel free to contact Jill Gately (gatelyj@aascu.org) if you would like additional information.
If you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to register for The Democracy Commitment/American Democracy Project National Meeting, June 7-9, 2012. To register for the meeting visit our conference website.
Johnson County Community College, founded in 1969, has over 50 degrees and academic programs and serves just under 21,000 students per semester. JCCC serves the residents of Johnson County, Kansas through many academic and community based programs.*
“As a cultural center, JCCC also contributes to the prosperity of the community. The visual and performing arts offered on the JCCC campus are inspirational and educational. And, as if that weren’t enough, a strong arts community attracts both the business and industry an area needs and the skilled workforce upon which those businesses depend,” says President Calaway in his “President’s Welcome” to website visitors.
“Dr. Calaway has a simple but direct philosophy: The community college is the heart of the community and the engine of workforce development.”**
Contact:
Amee Bearne, National Coordinator, The Democracy Commitment bearnea@aascu.org
202.478.4675
Ten Institutions Chosen to Form Community College Network Focused on
Civic Learning through the Humanities
Supported by NEH and co-sponsored by AAC&U and The Democracy Commitment, Bridging Cultures to Form a Nation: Difference, Community, and Democratic Thinking, Will Build Campus Capacity for More Effective Forms of Civic Learning through the Humanities
Washington, DC—April 13, 2012—The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and The Democracy Commitment: An American Community College Initiative (TDC) announced today the names of ten community colleges competitively chosen to take the lead in a new initiative funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Selected institutions include:
Chandler-Gilbert Community College
City University of New York, Kingsborough Community College
County College of Morris
Georgia Perimeter College
Kapi‘olani Community College
Miami Dade College
Middlesex Community College
Mount Wachusett Community College
Lone Star College-Kingwood
Santa Fe College
Teams from each of these schools will participate in Bridging Cultures, a three-year curriculum and faculty development project designed to:
infuse questions about difference, engaged community, and democratic thinking into transfer courses in the humanities;
promote greater adoption of proven high-impact practices that advance important civic learning outcomes;
create a series of humanities-enriched professional development opportunities for community college faculty, especially adjunct faculty; and
expand the project’s impact through collaboration with additional community colleges and partnerships with state humanities councils.
“The community colleges chosen for this project are poised to lead the way in developing curricular and co-curricular practices steeped in the humanities and designed to prepare students to be active and engaged participants in the democratic process,” said Brian Murphy, president of De Anza College, one of the founders of The Democracy Commitment, and a co-director of the Bridging Cultures project. “The entire Democracy Commitment network will benefit greatly from the work these schools will do together over the course of this project.“
“The community colleges in this NEH Bridging Cultures project are answering the national call to action embedded in the recently released national report, A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future,” said AAC&U Senior Vice President and NEH project co-director Caryn McTighe Musil. “They are targeting high-enrollment humanities courses and adopting proven civic pedagogies that together will offer more students opportunities to increase their knowledge, skills, and commitments to making our multicultural democracy in the US stronger and more effective.”
Bridging Cultures was developed as part of AAC&U’s ongoing initiative on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement and builds on the recommendations issued in the report, A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future, released in January 2012 at a White House convening. The key recommendation in A Crucible Moment is to make civic learning in college expected rather than optional for all students, including all those in career and technical programs. Building from this recommendation, Bridging Cultures began in February 2012 with a call for proposals to community colleges across the country, leading to the selection of ten teams composed of humanities faculty and administrators. Team members will participate in an intensive summer faculty development institute in August 2012, as well as multiple other faculty development opportunities and partnerships with other community colleges. The project will culminate in a symposium planned for October 2014. Bridging Cultures’ impact will also be strengthened by a partnership with the New York Times Company education group, which is collaborating with TDC in their national initiative. Project participants will use the Epsilen online learning platform to develop forums and to share and co-create resources and course materials.
AAC&U is the leading national association concerned with the quality, vitality, and public standing of undergraduate liberal education. Its members are committed to extending the advantages of a liberal education to all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Founded in 1915, AAC&U now comprises more than 1,250 member institutions—including accredited public and private colleges, community colleges, and universities of every type and size.
AAC&U functions as a catalyst and facilitator, forging links among presidents, administrators, and faculty members who are engaged in institutional and curricular planning. Its mission is to reinforce the collective commitment to liberal education at both the national and local levels and to help individual institutions keep the quality of student learning at the core of their work as they evolve to meet new economic and social challenges.
Information about AAC&U membership, programs, and publications can be found at www.aacu.org.
About The Democracy Commitment
The Democracy Commitment is a national initiative that provides a platform for the development and expansion of programs and projects aiming at engaging community college students in civic learning and democratic practice. The goal of the partnership is for every graduate of an American community college to have had an education in democracy, whether they aim to transfer to university, achieve an associate degree, or obtain a certificate.
Santa Fe College of Gainesville, FL has started an on-going forum to discuss the many issues found in our political, social and voting systems. Educating the attendees – and those who watch on youtube – The Democracy Commitment at Santa Fe College is demonstrating the need for civic and political understanding. Be sure to check out their posted videos.
TDC will continue to post videos from the Santa Fe forums as they become available.
What a great way to engage students and the community!
Santa Fe College professor David Price (History) leads a panel discussion about “State and Local Elections: What’s At Stake?”
Part 2 of 2; February 22, 2012
The 2012 ADP/TDC national meeting, “Civic Engagement 2.0: Re-Imagining, Strengthening and Deepening
