Spend an afternoon with Paul Polack, Founder of International Development Enterprises and Expert on Sustainable Economic Development

Thursday, April 3 (TOMORROW)
4:00PM
Barus and Holly room 751

Paul is the founder of IDE (International Development Enterprises) and an expert on sustainable economic development. In his new book, Out of Poverty – What Works When Traditional Approaches Fail, this impassioned and iconoclastic author, entrepreneur, inventor and self-identified “troublemaker,” tells why mainstream poverty eradication programs have fallen so sadly short and how he and his organization developed an alternative approach that has already succeeded in lifting 17 million people out of poverty.

“If we learn to listen to poor people, understand the
specific contexts in which they live and operate, and
find ways to harness their entrepreneurial energy
to increase their income, I have no doubt that at
least 500 million families now surviving on less than
a dollar a day will find practical ways to end their
poverty within one generation.”
PAUL POLAK, OUT OF POVERTY

Sponsored by the Division of Engineering, Program in Commerce, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship and the Swearer Center for Public Service

Dr. Kate Zhou, University of Hawaii, runs an organzation called Education Advancement Fund International (EAFI) that matches volunteer teachers of all ages with teaching opportunities of 2 weeks-1 year, particularly in underserved minority regions in southeastern China. Dr. Zhou is also looking for individuals with business experience to teach entrepreneurship and help devise business plans for empowering rural villages.

For more information, please see www.yifei.org.

Dr. Zhou can be contacted at:
Honolulu Main Office:
3356 Francis Street
Honolulu, HI 96815
USA
Tel: 808-7544652
fax: 808-9566877
email:katezhou[at]yifei[dot]org

Corporate social responsibility, philanthropy, young social entrepreneurs, and celebrities all in this weeks New York Times Magazine!

Check it out here! Make sure you also check out the slideshow here.

Announcements
I. New Philanthropy Course at Brown

Opportunities
I. City Hall’s Civic Leadership Development Program
II. MATCH Corps Urban Education Fellowship in Boston, MA

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Announcements
I. Philanthropy Course
Investing in Social Change: The Practice of Philanthropy
Sociology 1870, Section A, “K” hour, Spring 2008

Co-taught by Prof. Ann Dill, of Sociology,
and Roger Nozaki, Director of the Swearer Center

Philanthropy – “giving away money” – sounds attractive and simple. But the very acts of contributing and receiving resources affect dynamics and relationships among all involved, and philanthropic strategies often require trade-offs between competing goals. To address complex social issues and facilitate sustainable impact, one must bring a solid
understanding of the specific field of interest and its local context, skills in relationship-building with a range of stakeholders, and knowledge of evaluation methods. This course will start with an overview of philanthropy and social change, and the concepts and practice of financial investments for social change; then engage students in teams to investigate a particular community concern, design an investment strategy, recommend the investment of grant dollars, and set up the means to evaluate the outcomes of that investment.

Course participation is by application only. Students should attend the first class meeting on Thursday, 1/24, and submit the course application (available at http:/swearercenter.brown.edu) by email to the course instructors no later than 5 pm Sunday, 1/27/08. Students will be notified of their acceptance into the class by the evening of Monday, 1/28/08.

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Opportunities
I. Civic Leadership Development Program
City Hall Fellows spend the year after college in a prestigious, paid, full-time position within city government and also participate in our proprietary Civic Leadership Development Program. In 2008-2009, Fellows will be placed in Houston, Texas and San Francisco, California. The program was designed with the full support of Houston Mayor Bill White and the office of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

We’ve got two fantastic cities to work in, an amazing staff, and a wonderful civic leadership development program curriculum. Now we just need Fellows! We are looking for applicants who can demonstrate:
■ Academic excellence;
■ Leadership potential;
■ Dedication to contributing to society, and
■ An entrepreneurial spirit appropriate for participating in the very first year of an exciting new program.

In addition, preference will be given to applicants who have a demonstrated connection to either Houston or San Francisco. More information and application materials and instructions are available on our website: www.cityhallfellows.org. Applications are due February 29, 2008.

II. MATCH Corps Urban Education Fellowship in Boston, MA
The MATCH Corps is a one-year Urban Education fellowship program. It is possibly the most competitive such program in the nation, more competitive than admission to the Harvard Graduate School of Education or Teach for America.

Each Corps member is assigned five urban high school students – one each in grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 – to build an in-depth relationship for the entire year, and work towards clear goals, in their various classes and on key exams.

The MATCH school employs 42 recent college graduates to live in the school in a dorm-style residence on the top floor. For one academic year they meet with 5 students, paired with them at the beginning of the year, and tutor them every day 1-on-1 in their classroom subjects. Our student body is almost entirely African American and Latino, and our school mission is to erase the racial achievement gap that afflicts so many urban high schools in our country. Because of the Corps and our tireless staff our student body is very high achieving–our largely poor, minority student body recently ranked #1 in the state in the MCAS math proficiency test among state 10th graders, and last week US News & World Report ranked MATCH among the top-100 public high schools in the
country!

Visit http://www.matchschool.org/ for more information