Saturday March 27, 2010
This January, thanks to the recommendations of several non-profit leaders (thanks to Bill Rigler at Millennium Promise and John Beahm at the Jenzabar Foundation), the MCN launched its Facebook Fan Page.
In just a couple months, the page has grown to include more than 200 fans and we are posting at least 5 interesting/useful/relevant/exciting updates each week.
Become a fan of the MCN on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Millennium-Campus-Network/298904370357?ref=ts.
Together, we'll create a powerful MCN FB presence, which will be critical for our Commit in September national advocacy campaign & for our upcoming conference this September!
Posted By: Sam Vaghar at 10:05 am | Permalink »
Wednesday February 10, 2010
http://www.imagine2030.org/burritos
Posted By: Sam Vaghar at 4:19 pm | Permalink »
Tuesday February 9, 2010
I had the opportunity to connect with the Jenzabar Foundation last week, and I want to share their grant opportunity with students across our network. The Jenzabar Foundation is a powerful example of a corporate foundation fully committed to youth service.
Please do visit http://www.thejenzabarfoundation.org/ICS/Foundation_Homepage.jnz?portlet=Student_Leadership_Awards_2010_-_Open_Nominations and apply today! It is a $5,000 opportunity!
Posted By: Sam Vaghar at 4:18 pm | Permalink »
Sunday January 31, 2010
Will Herberich, our Executive Director & President, spoke this afternoon at the ONE Campus Challenge's Power 100 Summit.
As Will says, the goal of the MCN is to, “harness the passion of student leaders and change-makers, and build a generation of leaders who are equipped with the tools they need to make ending extreme poverty a reachable goal within our lifetime.” Connecting and forming relationships with the ONE Campus Challenge and other non-profits focused on campus activism brings us all closer to making that goal a reality.
Check out the full writeup here on the ONE Campus Challenge blog: http://one.org/campus/blog/2010/01/31/mcn-meet-occ/
AND, if you want to get involved with ONE on your campus, definitely check out http://one.org/campus.
Posted By: Sam Vaghar at 4:14 pm | Permalink »
Wednesday January 13, 2010
The nation of Haiti has faced severe hardship, including extreme poverty, deforestation, and natural disaster (including multiple hurricanes in 2008). The poorest nation in the Western hemisphere was hit yesterday by a magnitude-7.0 earthquake. You can read more on this crisis from this frontpage story at yahoo.com: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/cb_haiti_earthquake
In this time of crisis, we ask our members and supporters to contribute to Partners in Health, who have been working in Haiti for more than 25 years and have a proven track record of doing everything required to create grassroots change. As PIH has reported, its Port-au-Prince clinical director, Louise Ivers, has appealed for assistance: "Port-au-Prince is devastated, lot of deaths. SOS. SOS... Temporary field hospital by us at UNDP needs supplies, pain meds, bandages. Please help us." Please visit and donate at http://pih.org/inforesources/news/Haiti_Earthquake.html.
In addition to PIH, there are several other organizations working in Haiti to support; that list can be found here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20100113/cm_huffpost/421014.
Please make a donation towards earthquake relief efforts underway in Haiti.
Posted By: Sam Vaghar at 8:00 am | Permalink »
Wednesday January 13, 2010
I am very pleased to announce that the Millennium Campus Network (MCN) has been named as a 2010 semifinalist by Echoing Green (in the top 350 out of 1100 organizations). Ths is a BIG DEAL!
More on Echoing Green (from www.echoinggreen.org):
"To accelerate social change, Echoing Green invests in and supports outstanding emerging social entrepreneurs to launch new organizations that deliver bold, high-impact solutions. Through a two-year fellowship program, we help our network of visionaries develop new solutions to society’s most difficult problems."
In 2009, the MCN was named a finalist (top 2% of applicants) in the running for an Echoing Green fellowship. After losing in the final round, our team spent considerable time reviewing and modifying our model to make it better serve our member organizations and have greater social and political impact. Much of our success in the summer and fall of 2009 can be attributed to the very challenging application process Echoing Green organizes each year. Our entire team deeply appreciates the opportunity to participate in phase two again this year and to think critically and work hard as we attempt to win a 2010 Echoing Green Fellowship. Getting this far and any potential success we have in future rounds is thanks to the outstanding work of our national and district staff, our Advisors, donors, and alumni, and our member organizations who serve across Latin America, Africa, and Asia, raise funds for leading non-profits, and push for policy reform here at home.
Also, a special thanks to Will Herberich, Will Merrow, and Cameron Nutt for their help on this application in phase one.
I'll make sure to keep everyone updated on how this process goes as we continue on this journey.
PS- Again, at this time we are asking for support of organizations working on earthquake relief in Haiti: see below for details:
In this time of crisis, we ask our members and supporters to contribute to Partners in Health, who have been working in Haiti for more than 25 years and have a proven track record of doing everything required to create grassroots change. As PIH has reported, its Port-au-Prince clinical director, Louise Ivers, has appealed for assistance: "Port-au-Prince is devastated, lot of deaths. SOS. SOS... Temporary field hospital by us at UNDP needs supplies, pain meds, bandages. Please help us." Please visit and donate at http://pih.org/inforesources/news/Haiti_Earthquake.html.
In addition to PIH, there are several other organizations working in Haiti to support; that list can be found here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20100113/cm_huffpost/421014.
Please make a donation towards earthquake relief efforts underway in Haiti.
Posted By: Sam Vaghar at 12:00 am | Permalink »
Tuesday December 22, 2009
Members & Supporters,
Happy Holidays! It has been a trendsetting year for our network.
Here are a handful of breakthroughs we made in 2009:
- Expansion of the MCN to Chicago and Washington DC (the MCN now counts 37 member organizations across four cities)
- A 700 person STAND UP against poverty event in Boston (part of the UN Millennium Campaign's STAND UP campaign: www.standagainstpoverty.org).
- 2,000+ letters & postcards to Senator Kerry & Congress on comprehensive U.S. foreign aid reform
There are more highlights from 2009; please stay tuned for Executive Director Will Herberich's post giving a more complete reflection of the year.
2010 can create many new opportunities for our work. As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urges, next year is pivotal for achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (check out this article: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33322&Cr=MDG&Cr1= , thanks to Millennium Promise for posting it on their homepage). We are exploring opportunities for students nationwide to make our voices heard ahead of the UN Summit on the MDGs next September.
We look forward to working with members, partners, donors and other allies as we gear up for 2010!
Posted By: Sam Vaghar at 12:00 am | Permalink »
Thursday December 3, 2009
Our Executive Director & President, Will Herberich, had a great guest post on the ONE Campus Challenge blog this morning.
http://one.org/campus/blog/2009/12/03/meet-the-millennium-campus-network/
Please take a minute to check it out!
Posted By: Sam Vaghar at 12:00 am | Permalink »
Tuesday December 1, 2009
I hope everyone is well as many of us reflect during World AIDS Day. Two videos came out recently that remind us that there are many people working together to address this global crisis and the many intertwined with it.
From the Clinton Foundation: special message from President Clinton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSNWf-28nkU&feature=player_embedded
From the ONE Campaign: stars unite to recognize progress and push for action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTzfQLRP4kk
Today we can recognize every person working to tackle extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS, but we must also push for more tanigble action and advocacy. It is up to each one of us.
Posted By: Sam Vaghar at 12:00 am | Permalink »
Monday November 23, 2009
This is just a brief check-in to let everyone that the blog will be updated regularly from now on. We'll be sharing a special video message from Advisor Jeffrey Sachs, a recap of our STAND UP event & advocacy campaign on foreign aid reform, and give you updates and resources we find to help you organize along the way.
Thanks so much to everyone who has been supporting us over the past two years! 2010 promises to be a big year for the MCN, our member organizations, and the global movement to reduce extreme poverty.
Posted By: Sam Vaghar at 3:28 am | Permalink »
Friday September 18, 2009
To the MCN’s members, supporters, partners, and friends:
I’m very excited to welcome you to our new website. One of the features that we’re all particularly excited about is our blog, which will be updated frequently throughout the year. The first two entries are chronicles of two very different summers: my own, which was spent in Boston working full time for the MCN, and that of Tannis Thorlakson, our Director of District of Coordination. Tannis spent her summer in Cape Town, South Africa, working for an NGO called Grassroots Soccer.
Tune in throughout the year for more posts on a host of topics related to the work we do. Once again, welcome to the blog!
Posted By: Will Herberich at 11:34 am | Permalink »
Tuesday September 1, 2009
A group of young students gather on the floor around me. Through my translator I ask, “What was your favorite part of your school holiday?”
“Learning about HIV at this camp!” “Talking with our coaches about AIDS,” “Understanding what I can do to not get sick”
I’m in one of the townships outside of Cape Town, South Africa, and we have just finished a Holiday Camp that incorporates our HIV and life skills curriculum with a soccer camp for 14-16 year olds. A jungle of tin shacks surrounds me housing a half a million people living below the poverty line and all these kids can talk about is how fortunate they feel to have been able to learn about HIV during their school break.
I’m stunned. In America you couldn’t pay a kid to sit through a health education session during their school holidays. But here these teenagers were more excited about learning about HIV than receiving a free lunch each day, playing soccer with their peers, or winning new Nike gear. And they got up before sunrise each morning to walk over an hour to get to camp. They all know that AIDS has made their Aunt sick or their best friend’s dad die, but no one will explain to them what it is or how they can avoid becoming infected. For many in South Africa, HIV is a taboo subject that just isn’t discussed, so the chance to have an open discussion with a knowledgeable adult really is the best thing about their school holidays.
I’m working as a summer intern for Grassroot Soccer (GRS), a non-profit that uses the power of soccer in the fight against HIV and AIDS across Southern Africa. So what was my favorite part of my school holiday? Realizing that the work GRS was doing really is making a difference in these kids’ lives.
Internship Experience
Flying to South Africa a day after finals ended I had little time to mull over my expectations of my upcoming summer experience as an intern for Grassroot Soccer. I spent most of the twenty seven hours of traveling catching up on some much needed sleep and arrived in Cape Town wide-eyed and equipped only with the small bit of sage advice my father had given me before I departed. “Tannis, you know what interns do, right? They do all the stuff that no one else wants to do. So get used to it, and don’t forget to smile.”
But had I had time to formulate any expectations of what my summer was going to be like, my experience still would have far exceeded anything I could have hoped for. Yes, I performed mundane tasks like going to the post office, breaking down cardboard boxes and counting and sorting new equipment. But even through the simple tasks around the office, I was still learning a lot. I learned how to convince a business to give a non-profit a discount on office supplies, how to track a budget or put together a simple event planning website.
I got to get involved in some really amazing projects as well, I helped plan and run an event that combined HIV testing, counseling, and education with a youth soccer tournament. We ran a weeklong soccer and HIV education camp and I helped the Monitoring and Evaluation team conduct pre and post-tests and focus groups with the kids to measure the effectiveness of our curriculum. I did a research project on continued education for our coaching staff. I gave a presentation to the office on key scientific findings in the global health field after attending the largest scientific conference on HIV and AIDS in the world. My final project was to plan, organize and manage the training of the 26 new yearlong interns.
At the end of the summer I really felt like I had made a difference at GRS, something that I was concerned wouldn’t happen because of the brevity of my stay. But it didn’t start out like that. At the beginning of the summer I was often left with nothing to do, and when I was asked to do something it was often cutting paper into squares or sorting files. Thinking of my dad’s advice I happily cut paper and sorted files with a smile. Slowly I was given more responsibility and moved from the paper-cutting intern to the logistics-planning intern to the running-of-entire events intern.
But GRS made an even larger impact on me. My work with GRS in the global health realm confirmed my interest in the intersect between the environment, health and international development. Through my involvement with a variety of projects, I learned a lot about my working style and what kind of jobs I could, and could not, enjoy. But most importantly, I learned from the people I worked with. The passion, dedication and care they brought to the mission of GRS truly inspired me to believe that we really can make a difference.
Posted By: Alex Simoes at 11:48 pm | Permalink »
Friday August 28, 2009
It’s nearing the end of my first summer working full-time for the MCN. What a summer! We’ve been able to accomplish so much, and on top of all that, still managed to have a great time. Special thanks to Sam Vaghar, Allyson Goldsmith, Nicole Theobald, Joshua Wright, Adam Patterson, Tony Ivanov, Alex Alvanos, and Claire Wagner for all their work this summer.
Before we close the door on a summer of “getting ready” and start a school year full of activity, I thought it would be good to look back at some of the highlights of the summer. Here’s a little list for you:
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Meeting with Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: At the beginning of the summer, I was fortunate enough to meet with Prof. Sachs. This was special to me personally—for a few reasons. First, it was The End of Poverty that inspired me to get involved in the fight against extreme poverty. Reading that book has had a huge impact on the direction that my life has taken in the past few years. Second, this wasn’t the first time that I had met with Jeff. I had asked him to join the MCN Board of Advisors at the Millennium Campus Conference in 2008, but he politely declined—hoping, I assume, that we would continue our develop and ask him again when we were a fully-formed organization. Sure enough, this time around he accepted, and I couldn’t have been more pleased. He has been an excellent advocate for us so far, and has helped to spread our mission to development practitioners and students alike.
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Meeting with Dr. Paul Farmer: Another meeting with one my heroes. Dr. Farmer serves on the MCN Board of Advisors. Claire and I met with him to check in and get his feedback on the MCN. I wasn’t sure what to expect: would he simply smile and nod? Or would he challenge us, and force us to find ways to improve our organization? He didn’t disappoint. Paul challenged us at every turn, asked insightful questions, and offered to help in a number of ways. It’s great to know that two of the “rock-stars” of international development see a clear role for students in the fight against global poverty.
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Brainstorming with Sam, Alex, Claire, and Allyson: The MCN entered the summer as an organization without a clear path forward. We were denied the Echoing Green Fellowship in large part because we hoped to do TOO much. Afterwards, we all came together and decided that instead of doing a bunch of things “so-so”, we would do a few things very well. Hence, the need for these brainstorms. They got heated at times, and were mentally exhausting, but at the end of the day we emerged with a product that we’re very confident in, a system to measure the impact of our work, and a staff that is tailored to our programs. Any of our successes this year should be partially attributed to these brainstorms.
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Show Me Campaign Fellowship: The most transformative piece of the summer for me personally was being awarded a fellowship from John Legend’s Show Me Campaign. Their support allowed me to work full-time for the MCN for most of the summer. Thanks again!
Well, I’m sure I missed quite a few things. This summer has set us up for a dynamic year for the MCN. I can’t wait to share it with all of you. Talk to you soon!
— Will
Posted By: Will Herberich at 11:48 pm | Permalink »