Here’s some inspiration to send you off into the holiday weekend inspired and happy. A while ago we did a piece on Playing for Change. The goal of Playing for Change is to bring people together through music and they’ve certainly been doing that. With the release of their CD, they’ve been able to bring the music of several different continents together into one stunning piece of music.

Here’s an update with some of the stuff they’ve been doing (their YouTube channel is here).
This first one is from Grandpa Elliott in Jackson Square in New Orleans: Buster Brown’s “Fannie Mae.” You can really hear the soul in the lyrics and it just goes to show that New Orleans is alive and well.

This next one is a particular favorite of mine, featuring the vocals of Grandpa Elliott and Clarence Bekker. It was recorded live and the conviction these two men have in their voices is enough to make me believe that change is going to come.
“Change is Gonna Come”

Finally, here’s Tim’s favorite of the recent songs Playing For Change has released (he recommends cranking the volume WAY up)

With summer finally upon us (although you’d never know it judging from all the rain we’ve had, at least around Boston), you might be looking at a little bit more free time. And, especially if the rain keeps up, more than you might want. What better way to spend the day than with movies that you can feel good about watching?

Participant Studios, the makers of films like An Inconvenient Truth, Good Night, and Good Luck and Charlie Wilson’s War, has an awesome YouTube page, offering PSAs about the crisis in Darfur, hunger and child nutrition. In addition to the PSAs, Participant Studios also posts trailers of their feature films, including the films above and newer ones like The Kite Runner, Food, Inc. and The Cove.

It’s an excellent and inspiring page to subscribe to if you’ve got a YouTube account, and if you don’t, you should add that page to your Favorites and check back often. They’ve got great new stuff being added all the time.

Check out the trailer for The Cove, which will be coming to selected cities on August 7. Find out if you’ll be nearby and check out Food, Inc., playing in select theaters across the country now.

Here are a few of the PSAs I like:
Raise Hope for Congo

Darfur Now

And here’s the trailer for the upcoming feature The Cove:

There’s an old saying that says many hands make light work, and this is truer than ever in President Obama’s home state of Hawaii.

Recently, Island Heritage Publishing, based in Hawaii, put out a book called Preserving Paradise: Opportunities in Volunteering for Hawaii’s Environment, written by Kirsten Whatley. It puts together a coalition of service organizations from all across Hawaii — from organizations focused on preventing Hawaii’s coastlines from being developed to environmental organizations that seek to protect endangered plants and wildlife against invasive species to those that just generally want to protect the pristine beauty of the Hawaiian islands.

So what’s Preserving Paradise about? Well, the author describes it like this:

Preserving Paradise: Opportunities in Volunteering for Hawaii’s Environment features over 65 organizations throughout the islands focused on preserving Hawaii’s land, ocean, and wildlife — and how you can join them. These eco-volunteering opportunities are free, short-term, and an authentic way to experience the people and places of Hawaii, while giving back to them. The book features over 65 organizations in Hawaii that offer short-term volunteer opportunities with the islands’ land, ocean, and wildlife. Going beyond “green tourism” or ecotourism, it’s a way to experience the Hawaiian Islands that doesn’t just have less of an impact, but actually gives something back.

Because these volunteering opportunities are short-term, they’re perfect for vacationers looking to do some good while taking a break from their regular lives. Some are just one day long, others can last as long as three months — either way, you know you’re making a difference and having a fantastic vacation while you’re doing it. Not as enamored with the crowded beaches and tourist hot spots? Some of the projects described in the book take you to places that would otherwise be inaccessible. Not bad for a service vacation!

Beyond offering an opportunity to good, there’s another aspect of this book that will probably be appealing to many people in this economy — the volunteer experiences are inexpensive:

For visitors whose travel budgets have been cut considerably, these free “voluntourism” opportunities also provide an antidote—they allow you to travel in Hawaii inexpensively while providing a hands-on way to help preserve the islands for years to come.

This presents a unique opportunity for other states to follow Hawaii’s example and increase the efficiency of volunteer programs, because it’s a great example of what people and organizations can do when they get together to create change. In addition to offering one of the most beautiful vacation spots on the planet, people can go to Hawaii and feel good about it, because they have helped to preserve the environment of such an awesome place.

In honor of Michael Jackson, we devote this week’s Peace Out to the inspiration his music will always provide (his YouTube channel is here). Whatever his demons, he cared.

Let’s start with the iconic, MJ-produced, “We Are The World”:

And how about “Heal The World”?

And we’ll finish with “Man In The Mirror,” because it is about how change starts with all of us. In fact, it flows directly from our belief in Gandhi’s wisdom that “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

“If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make the change.”

Amen, brother. RIP.

Imagine sitting for a test that would decide your whole future — where you go to college, what job you have, even what social status you will have in your community. Every April, 230,000 Indian youth sit for an extremely competitive exam that determines entrance into the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) — India’s seven prestigious engineering schools, akin to MIT and CalTech. The test is six hours long and only the top 5,000 scores are admitted into the IITs. And you thought the SAT was pressure.

Like our own SAT, ACT, LSAT and MCAT, the IIT admissions test is aced most often by people with private tutors — generally those of middle class background who can afford the expense. To level the playing field just a bit, since 2003 the Ramanujan School of Mathematics in Patna, the capital of the Indian state of Bihar, has gone to villages across the state, looking for promising underprivileged students to train for the IITs. In a country where most people of the lower classes on average receive only a 10th grade education before returning to work in the fields, school founders and teachers Anand Kumar and Abhayanand, the deputy director general of police in Patna, provide free education, housing and food to 30 students.

Known as the Super 30, a typical day for these teens goes like this: 4 hours of study in the morning, usually in math, physics and chemistry, followed by a 3 hour test in the same subjects. After a break for dinner, they study for three more hours before attending a class from six to nine. Many students studied after the class as well, in order to adequately prepare for the next day’s test.

So is it successful?

In the last six years, 182 students out of 210 have made to different IITs of the country. In 2003, when Super 30 started its journey, 18 out of 30 students competed. The very next year, the number jumped to 22. In 2005, it improved further to 26. Continuing the trend, 28 students made it in 2006 and 2007. However, the ‘magic moment’ came in 2008, when the result was an astonishing 30 out of 30. Super 30 had hit the bull’s eye. It was ‘a dream come true’ for Anand and his team. Super 30 has done it again in 2009. It has been 30 out of 30 for the second year in succession.

I’d say so. What an incredible story of impact.

Now, students from across Bihar apply to the Ramanujan School, sitting through a series of entrance exams before the top 30 gain entrance to the training school.

Anand Kumar is continuing his service initiatives. He would like to start younger, catching kids while they’re in high school or even before, so that they have the opportunities to succeed that they deserve:

With this in mind, he wants to set up schools for poor children. The schools would provide the right impetus to the students at the right time through innovative teaching to develop their interest in Mathematics and Science subjects at an early age. It would shape them for different Olympiads and prepare them for other competitions. The thrust would be on developing inquisitiveness, so very important for science and math education.

We could learn alot from the Ramanujan School of Mathematics as America works to improve its education of math and science to stay competitive in an increasingly technological world. Read about one of the students, Santosh Kumar, from Super 30’s class of 2006, visit the website and learn more about the Super 30 program and the Ramanujan School or check out some statistics about India from the CIA World Fact Book.

Anand Kumar teaching the students at Ramanujan School of  Mathematics.

Join ServiceNation allies Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore in the fight against hunger.

Last month, Ashton released a video challenging Americans to help put an end to hunger through awareness. The website End US Hunger says 1 in 8 Americans live with hunger every day. The site says:

1 in 8 Americans is hungry. We believe that’s unacceptable. But all of us can make a difference.

So, how can you help? Take a look at Ashton’s video asking you to do your part and follow the directions below:

Since watching the video, Americans across the country have responded with videos of their own. Some are simple — just following the directions on the website — and some are longer. Recently, companies like Kellogg’s have joined the fight against hunger with videos, and you can, too!

Here’s how:
Record a video.
1. Ask the camera, “Hungry?” or “Are You Hungry?”
2. Answer: “Eat!”
3. Then Eat Something.
4. Email to: endushunger@gmail.com

Here are some of my favorites:

And here’s a compilation of links to some of the best videos.

It’s all about making a difference. And all you need is something, anything, to give. Here’s the latest from our friends at KarmaTube.

The backstory:

	Drop a thank you note to the difference makers.
	Pick a random kindness act and complete it today!
	Spend the next 24 hours looking to be a positive influence for anyone you meet and write about the experience.

The video:

When you’re one of the wealthiest men on the planet, helping others can be as simple as writing a check. But what fun would that be?

That’s the tag line for NBC’s newest addition to its primetime lineup, which premieres tonight at 10 PM EST. There’s been a lot of positive progress in the service world over the past year, but you know the world is realy changing (and for the better!) when television goes from deifying Jack Bauer to deifying Teddy Rist. NBC’s new eight part series The Philanthropist chronicles the adventures of Rist, a billionaire thrill-seeker whose experiences in a catastrophic flood in Nigeria turn him from a womanizing playboy into a do-it-yourself do-gooder. And the New York Times seems to think it will make a pretty good show.

NBC describes Teddy Rist, played by James Purefoy:

Teddy loves money, women and power – a businessman who seems to have it all. Not only is he a billionaire, his good looks and charm mean he can have his pick of the bunch when it comes to women. Despite things appearing great on the surface, there is a huge void in Teddy’s life left by the tragic death of his son.

Following a severe flood in a Nigerian town, he is haunted by the memory of a young boy he rescued. Teddy’s eyes are opened when he discovers that helping others can bring him true happiness, and from that point on his philanthropy begins. The danger and risk to his life is the only way Teddy can feel genuinely alive and he’ll do anything in order to achieve his goals and keep the adrenaline pumping; putting his business head and money-making skills to good use through bargaining with the self-righteous, making deals with drug barons, and trading with the nefarious.

But these actions are not just about helping others – Teddy is purging his soul to help exorcise the inner demons that have been festering ever since his young son died and he lost everything he truly loved.

Filmed in locations all across the world and as varied as South Africa and the Czech Republic, the show is set in places like Myanmar and Paris – and everything in between.

In addition to James Purefoy, the cast includes Jesse L. Martin, Neve Campbell, Lindy Booth and Michael K. Williams. And the plot is jam-packed with chase scenes, danger and of course, that element of drama and intrigue that draws so many viewers to shows like Law and Order, Rome and The X-Files – all of which cast members of The Philanthropist have acted in. Now that’s philanthropy as Walter Mitty might have imagined it.

Consider it a downpayment on all the great service programming that will hit the air come October 19, thanks to ServiceNation’s partnership with the Entertainment Industry Foundation. So tune in to see your world get the glamor treatment it truly deserves. Yes, it is Hollywood fantasy. But there’s nothing wrong with television that makes doing something for others look cool.

Here are some clips that give you a good idea of where NBC is headed with this

There’s been a lot of great action at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service being held in San Francisco, CA. With special appearances by First Lady Michelle Obama, musicians like Bon Jovi and many others — including BTC’s own Alan Khazei — the conference got off to a great start.

BTC’s Ross Cohen was there and had our FLIP video camera rolling. Here is some of the footage he captured. It ain’t great quality, but if you are a service fan and didn’t make it to San Francisco it will give you a sense of the discussion out there.

Michelle Obama:

Alan Khazei:

Melody Barnes:

The Eli Segal Award for 2009 went to Shawn Rubin, an AmeriCorps alumnus who founded Longitude, a non-profit organization that aims to build grassroots initiatives for education and human rights in developing countries. As an AmeriCorps member, Rubin worked to help establish the Highlander Charter School in Rhode Island and followed that service with two years of teaching all across the world. When he returned to Highlander in 2005, he established Longitude.

Longitude’s mission is to unite:

visionary leaders of grassroots educational and human rights initiatives in resource-poor countries.

At the moment, Longitude’s partners are a community secretarial school in Ghana and a human rights organization in India whose purpose it to help members of India’s lowest caste. 98% of Longitude’s resources go directly to its programs because it is a completely volunteer organization, with no staff member receiving compensation of any kind.

In addition to working with international organizations, Longitude also works with schools in Japan and the United States, trying to raise awareness of global issues.

The Eli Segal Award was named after Eli Segal, the first CEO of the Corporation for National Service and helped bring about AmeriCorps. Given each year, the award is:

intended recognize the exceptional impact of one AmeriCorps alum whose entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to embody service beyond their term with AmeriCorps is self evident.  Along with the recognition among peers at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, the award entails a valuable prize cash prize of $5,000.  These funds can be used by the recipient to help continue or initiate a sustainable community initiative.

It’s obvious that Shawn Rubin hasn’t forgotten how to get things done the AmeriCorps way. Congratulations to a pretty cool guy!

Read the announcement or check out this clip about Longitude’s projects: