Tuesday, August 4, 2009

The Future Generation Looks Bright for Nonprofits

During a recent project in the Capital Region, I met a high school student, Travon Jackson, volunteering with a local historical society. He and a friend have outlined an idea for a grassroots effort in the community focused on education and accessibility. He is looking for guidance and ideas on how to make this concept a reality. Share your feedback here or feel free to e-mail him directly. We can only hope that more students take an interest in the nonprofit sector and work to improve our communities with similar ideas.

The Idea: A non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the intellectual depth of the community and encouraging an enthusiasm for knowledge.

Our Niche: A community-minded organization that provides an intellectually and socially stimulating environment at minimal public expense.

What makes us unique?
Location in the community we hope to serve
  • Many colleges and universities offer free courses online in the form of pod casts, lectures, tutorials and complete online classes. Most of these online methods, while beneficial to individuals, have no relation to the community and provide little opportunity for social interaction.

Non-Profit Motivation

  • Without the element of profit, our motivation comes solely from genuine concern for the community and our efforts can be directed -towards bettering the community instead of bettering our annual revenue.

Future Possibilities:

  • Partnerships with local universities for student teaching credit.
  • Class instruction by local volunteers, educators with degrees.
  • Classes taught in Morning, Afternoon and Evening time slots.

We want to provide accessible education in subjects relevant to young or undereducated individuals. With genuine care for the community, desire to better others and an open-minded approach to education we want to be a positive influence that helps to empower the community.

1 comment:

  1. Andrew,

    Several years back I developed an idea to explore the history of communities by developing a free, local history program. The concept was born in the belief that once younger people understood the history of their immediate environment they would be more willing to contribute to its success and see it as a resource rather than anything else.
    I'd be happy to share my thoughts with you.
    Brian

    ReplyDelete