Get Inspired by Your Youth: The Power Shift 2011

Just yesterday wrapped up a youth driven, grassroots conference on Climate Change to raise and awaken youth to stand up to protect our environment. This weekend's presentation in Washington D.C.,http://www.powershift2011.org/conference/powershift2011 marked an expectation for youth to take social action, by creating a think tank for creative ideas and solutions for clean energy.

As these individuals bring back positive action driven programs into their community, they are also giving a new birth of existence,hoping that someday soon this topic will be integrated into higher education, whether that be speakers or course selections.

This movement is all about using individual creativity to promote social justice and change in local communities.This idea, is one that I think will help young individuals be able to spread knowledge and be the change they wish to see in their own community. Attendees consisted of all career paths, including young entrepreneurs and folks who are socially and politically involved in their communities.

During the past couple of years, there has been a wonderful amount of advertising for products and communication that is locally grown and developed. Since communication has gone very global, the challenge for every one today is to spread that which is important locally, so that every community can be able to make change, which helps to fill up a cup of large social awareness.

Here is an interesting article http://tinyurl.com/3knzxoq that was posted by the New York Times, that talks about the concept of bringing local back.

Happy social action reading!


Rachelle
Media/Events Assistant
Center for Urban Connections

Earth Day 2011 Volunteer Opportunities and Events

Hello Servistas!

Here are two great events and volunteer opportunities to get involved in the community for Earth Day!

The first one, is here on campus. It is geared towards environmental workshops. Some of them include composting and energy saving tips and tools. It starts at 10:30 and ends at 3 on April 22nd aka earth day. If you are interested in volunteering/participating please contact Kyra Tarbell @ Kyra.Tarbell@ucdenver.edu. All students, faculty and staff are welcome to join!

The second event happening is a Take Charge volunteer event put on by Groundwork Denver. Volunteers will be helping the Skyline neighborhood, by providing them with free compact fluorescent bulbs and educating individuals about green friendly practices. This event will be on April 29th, from 9am -12. Please RSVP by April 25th to Stephanie at Stephanie@GroundworkColorado.org or call (303) 455-5600.

If you have any questions about these two events or would like to know more information, please come to our office Tiovli 243 or call us at (303) 352-7129.


Thanks for reading!


Rachelle
Media/Events Assistant
Center for Urban Connections

Volunteer at Roadrunners Give Back Day

The Center for Urban Connections invites you to volunteer on Saturday April 30th, for our second annual Roadrunners Give Back Day. This volunteer opportunity is all about giving back to the Denver metro community, by doing various projects to establish a sense of community between students,staff, and faculty of Metro State.

There will be free Red Cross CPR classes offered after your shift, a recycling drive hosted by Comcast,and clothing & food donations.

Volunteer participants are expected to volunteer for six hours during Give Back Day.
Check in starts at 8 am, and projects go until 3 pm.When you volunteer for Give Back Day you receive free parking, a t-shirt,and complementary breakfast and lunch.

Some of the projects include community beautification, campus landscaping, painting, and library projects.

For more information about how to register please go to: http://www.mscd.edu/volunteerday/


If you have specific questions about Volunteer Day, please contact Lauren Schwartz at schwarla@mscd.edu or call 303.556.2847.

Thanks for reading!


Rachelle
Media/Events Assistant
Center for Urban Connections

Deal Karma: Local coupon deals, Supporting local Non-Profits

A local socially aware business has emerged to give Denver, local deals and funding to 501 (c)(3) non profit organizations.It is called Deal Karma. Because they believe that being philanthropic is an essential value to their mission, they donate up to fifty percent of what they receive to numerous local Denver non-profits.

On their website, they have a couple of articles that are of relevance to our local community.Topics range from agriculture to animals, and all of these postings relate to how an individual can become engaged in the community through non-profit organizations. There is even an opportunity to donate your old cell phone and up-cycle it, to give to the Safehouse Denver.

If you have further interest in signing up for Deal Karma or learning more about it please go to their website,http://dealkarma.org.

Thanks for reading!

Rachelle
Media/Events Assistant
Center for Urban Connections

Hope for Japan Blossoms on the Auraria Campus

In these sensitive times for Japan, there may be a tendency to not know what to do, but at or very own Auraria Campus students, staff and faculty have connected to give light and hope to those who were affected by this month's disaster tsunami in Japan.

Donations are still being collected for the Japan Relief fund in many offices, including the Center for Urban Connections here in Tivoli 243. Any amount is greatly appreciated and given directly to those in need.

There will be a closing ceremony this upcoming Monday, April 4th in the Rodger Braun Lounge from 2pm-4pm.

This event will include: A check presentation to the Red Cross, free food, takio drum performances, and making origami's for a good cause.

Please come to this event to raise awareness and bring a friend!

If you have any other questions, please come to our office in Tivoli 243 or call (303) 352-7129.

Thanks for reading!

Bus Approach to Service Brings Community and Volunteering Together

Hey there Servistas!

I throughly enjoy finding articles about service learning or volunteering on http://www.good.is/. I think that what they contribute gives hope that service learning will create a postive impact on our world.

As I moseyed around their website today, I was intrigued to find an article that yet again that is interesting and gives light and inspiration for our community. It is called the Do Good Bus. This bus helps people who are interested in volunteering, get out and do something but may not be willing to put a lot of effort to ask a organization if they want to volunteer.

The good bus takes you on an adventure. First you hop on the bus, then you find out about your volunteer opportunity.

Not knowing the place that you are volunteering for creates a mystery and eliminates all anxiety that they may have about volunteering for that non-profit.

They have also created themes for the volunteer bus that are freshly integrated into something that is fun and different every time!

I would love to see something that could be created in Denver, a quasi Banjo Billy bus but socially-aware and oriented so that individuals can do acts of service around town.

To see the full article on GOOD, please click on this link: http://www.good.is/post/next-stop-volunteering-the-do-good-bus-makes-community-service-easy-and-fun/

Thanks for reading!

Rachelle

Media/Events Assistant

Center for Urban Connections

Breaking Night: CUC's Selection for 1 Book/1Project/2 Transform

Hello Servistas! In the next couple of weeks we have a bi-annual event that is held in our office called 1 Book 1 Project 2 Transform. This event is more than your typical book club that only focuses on discussions, but goes deeper by giving individuals a visual ( a socially aware film about a community issue) and lets participants engage in a service project where they can connect and transform their understandings and perceptions about a socially aware topic in our community.

Our current book is called "Breaking Night". It is a memoir of the author, Liz Murray's experience with homelessness; her struggles of forgiveness, survival and how she went from being homeless to Harvard University. Below is a link to a You Tube video where the author gives a brief synopsis of her book and her story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtybvFW0ncY For those of you who are signed up for this event, please make sure to check your Metro e-mail to find further updates on upcoming opportunities to volunteer with women and youth organizations in April. We look forward to seeing you at our book discussions, film showings and service projects!



Rachelle
Media/Events Assistant
Center for Urban Connections