The MCN Difference

The MCN Difference

What if students joined together to end extreme poverty? Students are organizing on college campuses in every corner of the country, designing solutions, working in developing countries, and boldly addressing a problem that plagues over one-sixth of the world's population. Today, the student movement to end extreme poverty exists, but is extremely redundant, ill-equipped, and fragmented. Imagine the impact students could have if they worked together to raise awareness, share ideas and best practices, pressure policy makers, and take collective action.

Student Organizing: Disorganized Until Now

Student Development 1.0

Student Development 1.0 — Typical NGO or Network

Student organizers nationwide are working to improve the lives of people in extreme poverty. These projects include, but are not limited to: improving access to clean water, increasing childhood literacy, advancing sustainable agriculture, pressuring policy makers on foreign aid and trade policy, fundraising for leading development-focused nonprofits, and raising awareness on campus about issues of extreme poverty.

However, these projects have never been organized into a cohesive movement. After surveying over 300 student organizers from across the U.S, the MCN determined that:

  • Prior to MCN involvement, only 12% of organizations coordinated or collaborated with similarly-focused organizations, even if they were located on the same campus.
  • 88% of organizations suffered from small membership and low attendance in initiatives and at events.
  • 93% of organizations lacked adequate funding to perform awareness-raising campaigns or service work abroad.
  • Upon sharing the MCN model, 95% of organizations demonstrated strong support for the MCN, expressing that an infrastructure on the national scale to connect and support their efforts would be empowering.

The MCN Difference: Fixing the Problem

Student Development 2.0

Student Development 2.0 — The MCN

Instead of creating new chapters on campuses nationwide, the MCN takes a different approach by aiming to unify those that already exist. By connecting and supporting its Member Organizations with the resources they need, the MCN has created the first effective framework for students to contribute to the MDGs. The MCN is innovative in four ways:

  1. Unlike other non-profits, the MCN does not create clubs or chapters on campuses. Instead, using the interdisciplinary MDGs framework, it connects and supports existing student organizations, coordinates students' efforts and emphasizes collaboration over competition. As long as a student organization fits within the framework of the MDGs, they are welcome to join the MCN.
  2. The MCN recognizes that student ownership of the network deepens investment. Students run the MCN from the district to the national level, creating a network that is in tune with the needs of student organizers.
  3. While most non-profits focused on students promote exclusively service work overseas or political advocacy, the MCN connects both, empowering students to work overseas and use their experience to inform their peers and jointly impact policy change.
  4. The MCN is the first non-profit for college students that uses the MDGs as its primary organizing framework; therefore, students will be more aware of the MDGs and better able to coordinate for their completion.