www.seattleworks.org

More on those Millenials

I was just on the blog of a sister organization, Metro Volunteers (Denver), and their top post was also about recent coverage of the Millenials and their community invovlement.

http://metrovolunteers.blogspot.com/

There's a recent study from the Case Foundation noting that:
"Millenials are set apart from other generations by their cause lifestyle-a youth that is infused with giving and volunteering, eventually complemented by careers dedicated to causes. They are a generation defined by the fervent belief they can change the world one donation, one voluntary activity, or one purchase at a time. They are less interested in and adept at interacting with government agencies and more interested in hands-on ways of improving the lives of people domestically and internationally." ("Social Citizens," The Case Foundation, 2008)

Even better, it's written by a proud Millenial who's tired of her generation and their "excessive sense of self-worth" getting knocked around.

- Tara
(a proud X'er who's no slacker)

Gen X, so yesterday--everyone is talking about the Millenials

Last week on the News Hour, Judy Woodruf interviewed the authors of a new book called "The Millenial Makeover. How the Next Generation of Young People are Shaping the American Political Scene and Community".

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/newshour_index.html

It was very interesting. I'm generally very skeptical of Boomers describing anyone other than their own demographic co-hort, but I thought it was well done. 

Seattle Works is very interested in the thoughts and perspectives of millenials--take a listen and tell me what you think.
- ACW

Think you want to work for a nonprofit?

Think you'd like to switch from the corporate sector to the nonprofit sector? Check out an article published this week -

"Your True Calling Could Suit a Nonprofit": http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/jobs/06career.html

As someone who's been in the nonprofit field the entirety of my 10 years since college, I thought they pretty much hit the nail on the head in terms of pros, cons and how to go about it. Good stuff!

My only push-back on the article is that their thoughts on how to find nonprofits was pretty weak. Looking at who United Way funds is helpful sure, but that's just orgs affecting the specific issue areas United Way focuses on. It's also worth looking at other funders that address different issue areas - Seattle Foundation, Gates Foundation, Allen Foundation, Social Venture Partners, Washington Women's Foundation, EarthShare of Washington, ArtsFund, Pride Foundation, etc. I also thought the idea of contacting the Chamber was totally random. Maybe that plays in other cities but it didn't make any sense to me here.

And really, your best bet in getting a nonprofit job when you're doing a sector shift ties directly into networking. Seattle is an extremely community-minded town. Talk with people you know and respect about where they volunteer and where they give their money. Ask them questions about the organizations they're affiliated with and why they chose them. See if they can connect you with people at those orgs. And if there's an org you already know of, look at their website, find the person whose job is closest to the work you want to do, contact them and ask them for an informational interview (30 minutes). In those interviews, learn about those orgs and also ask them what orgs you should be looking at/who you should be talking to given your interests. Be respectful of their time, come having done your homework, and you'll walk away with new information and a person who is excited you're interested in the field. Nonprofit employees are generally very friendly people. Connections aren't everything but they're certainly helpful, and you really only have to do some easy, basic outreach to get connected.

The rest of the article was spot-on. It won't be less stress or less hours (maybe more!), you'll get paid less and that becomes more apparent the higher up the chain you go, and when you're working in a realm with multiple stakeholders and goals that are harder to measure than market-share or profits you do get faced with (occasionally annoying!) ambiguity. All that behind said, you just might totally love it. It's a pretty good gig getting paid to do something you believe in with your whole heart.

-- Tara

The Top 10 List we DON'T want to be on.

In the realm of "top cities" lists, Seattle tends to do pretty well. We're a "livable" city, we're a "fit" city, etc.

I saw a listing today of the "The 10 Pieces of U.S. Infrastructure We Must Fix Now" and as soon as I saw the headline I thought - VIADUCT!

Wouldn't you know it, we're now in a class of top 10 lists with New Orleans:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/transportation/4257814.html?series=53

-- Tara

My day on Lake Washington

I spent the majority of today on a boat in Lake Washington with officials from the City of Renton reviewing their Shoreline Master plan. Although the weather was bad this morning being on the lake and looking at the shorelines and the habitat was amazing. We could see a huge difference between what newer developments were able to do with their property according to the state Shoreline's Act and what older properties were able to do with their land when the state didn't have any regulations.

More than anything what I learned today is that we still have a lot of habitat that we need to protect along the shoreline and the respective cities have to work hard to enforce the rules. The biggest surprise to me was seeing the difference between what Seattle does with their shorelines, what Bellevue does and what the city of Renton does. I think about the environment often but never about the shoreline this trip opened my eyes.

~Ed

April is Earth Month, Mayor Nickels is walking the talk!

I am recently back from maternity leave and have to admit I haven't been tracking local politics. Truth be told, I've been obsessed with the national presidential race and I am missing my afternoon dose of Hard Ball.

I was excited to see the Mayor continuing his quest to make Seattle a green city.  The Mayor's plan to "ban" plastic bags or at least hit your wallet if you use one seems like a step in the right direction to change our behaviors.

I'm not sure how I feel about it being mandated versus incentivized. And I worry a bit about small businesses and family's on a tight budget--but maybe this awareness will remind us all to bring our own bags. Plus what's up loading the plastic bags with only two items, I think that IS wasteful and annoying.

I'm trying to be more green. I have a very cute bag I take to the grocery store (it says "I'm not a plastic bag") and I try to walk to the store as often as possible.  What are you doing? It's the little things, right?

- Alison

The future of Seattle Center - ask the kids

As you’ve hopefully heard, there’s talk of a major upgrade at Seattle Center, including a plan on the table for a $676 million dollar make-over that remodels the Center House, replaces Memorial Stadium and adds 10 acres of open space to the campus.

Right now, the Century 21 Community is seeking community input on the plan and are getting some suggestions from a very savvy group of Seattle Center stakeholders – elementary school children.

For a smile, and some innovative ideas, check out: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004308754_centerkids27m.html

 
-- Tara

The joys of finding individual health insurance

I don’t have the stats on this one, but seems to me that lack of health insurance plagues are demographic more than some. With all the job-changing, interest in entrepreneurship and contract work, and don’t-have-the-stability-of-a-spouse-with-health-insurance-to-rely-on, it seems like everyone knows at least a few people who don’t have health insurance or are struggling to figure things out.

Useful article in the NY Times on concerns of the self-employed and health insurance. They pointed out a few online resources for finding coverage as an individual or self-employed person:

http://healthinsuranceinfo.net/

http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/

Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/business/smallbusiness/27sbiz.html

-- Tara

How to make our schools succeed?

Reading the Seattle Times this morning and, tempting as it was to post the story of the Vancouver man who might get a DUI for a tipsy incident on his riding lawnmower, I was even more interested in this brief article on some findings by a recent performance audit of the Seattle School District.

According to the auditors, the key problem facing the district is “a lack of central decision-making that has led to a ‘fragmented’ system with ‘diluted accountability’”. Chief Academic Officer Carla Santorno (who, incidentally, was at our MLK Day service project at West Seattle Elementary) shared "The information we're getting from McKinsey is focus, focus, focus, and be narrow in what you want to do".

It’s somewhat ironic that I was posting this article this morning, as when I went to our blog to post this, I saw the two enthusiastic posts from Team Works volunteers who had recently completed a project at a local elementary school (go Team New to Seattle!!). We spent some time polling you all on the issues that were the most important to you last year – and the clear winner was education. We also found that the community issues most important to you really weren’t different from the community at large. Everyone thinks education is important, and when people get a chance to go into our schools they walk about totally fired up. Contrast that with the struggles in our school district. How do we make a connection between the problems that need solving and all the people who want to help our schools succeed?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2004247836_curriculum28m.html

Tara

Tonight's State of the Union address

So tonight is President Bush's last State of the Union address. What would you like to hear from the President? Last year on this blog people said they were interested in hearing what he had to say about Katrina. In light of what you've been reading here for the last week or so is that an issue you would like him to address? With the Presidential campaign in full swing do you feel like the President is still relevant? Many in the media have been discussing that along with his economic stimulus package. What do you want to hear? What's important to you?

~Ed