Who Can Help and How We Can Help the Generation Behind Us

Over the past few weeks, I've been meaning to blog, but no subject would come to me when I was in a time and a space to blog. Maybe if I can figure out how to blog on my cell phone or get one of those netbook laptops that can fit into my pocket, I can stop and blog at the grocery store, in the doctor's office or when I am sitting in rush hour traffic. These past few days, I have been in conversation with many students at various educational levels as well as researching non profits in various Metropolitan areas around the nation. The conversations I have had with students this week were teachable moments for both me and them because events occurred in their lives, that made them reach out to me or forced me to reach out to them to get them back on the right path. As I was researching non profits, mostly those who serve "inner city" or "at risk" youth, I realized the lack of diversity in their staff. The question that came to my mind was who is most qualified to help the next generation and what is the best way to help them.

One of the things that I loved about growing up in Miami was the diversity. I grew up with classmates, teachers, neighbors and friends that were from various parts of the country and the world. That experience made me who I am today, because being exposed to the various cultures and people who were different from my background allowed me to be the person I am today and be so willing and open to try new things and meet new people. Although, I know that several of my teachers had an impact on my educational experiences, I realize that the two teachers that shaped the decision of choosing my major in college, chemical engineering, because in high school two teachers who allowed me to see the possibilities in me to achieve in math and science as a female student. Mrs. Shy, my 10th grade chemistry teacher an African American woman and Mrs. Schpiliberg, my 11th and 12th grade teacher an Columbian-American Women. These women not only provided a environment for me to develop my academic skills in these subjects, but gave me the confidence and encouragement to know that girls can do science and math and I did it so well by receiving no less than a B in both their classes.

As I look at these non profits that are doing great work to help our youth, I wonder how can they truly help these kids learn more, do more and accomplish more if they never see enough people that look like them accomplishing more. I believe that it takes a village to raise a child and that village has to be diverse,it can't exclude people of your own tribe. In order for us to accomplish what we think we can in life, we have to see people who look like us to help us achieve more. When in school, although I had a lot of great mentors, it wasn't until I meet an African American female chemical engineer, that allowed me to explore all the challenges and rewards of being a chemical engineer.

Tomorrow, we start our work with the Cool Girls after-school program and it isn't any coincidence that I am sending volunteers to work with these girls that look like them to engage them in hands on activities in math and science. Although, I will also send people of difference races and nationalities because children who needs to be exposed to people with different backgrounds, religions and cultures than themselves.

So let me rephrase that old African proverb to say" It takes a diverse village to raise a child" and how can we help them be open to share who we are with them and where we have been. But most importantly provide them with the confidence and skills set to be able to not only make all their dreams come true, but be able to be a part of a child's village that comes behind them.

What labor are you willing to do to make a difference in your community

As we celebrate this labor day holiday, we as a society individuals think about what we will do to take advantage of our three day weekend. We make plans to hang out, get some rest, catch up on some projects around the house and eat some good food. Then after we go back to work, get back in the hustle and bustle of our lives; focusing on what we need or want to do for ourselves and our immediate network.

As I look at the number of donors and volunteers the organization has, the level of engagement of SEM Link's board and the number of sponsors, i do a lot of reflection and inspection. So many people are supposedly too "busy" or "broke" to make an consistent adjustment in their schedules to make a difference in their community. I believe that is why most people love to volunteer for adopt a road programs and Hosea Feed the Hungry or Habitat, because it requires a one time commitment instead of a long term investment in the organization.

So what would make you willing to make a long term investment in a non profit organization? What will cause you to decide, I'm going to make a decision based on the economic principle of opportunity costs because I realize that we all have to make choices based on our limited resources and time to give some of your time and/or money to a non profit organization. Will you say that I make a commitment to make a monthly or annual contribution to an non profit organization. Instead of eating that $10 daily lunch, you will take your lunch or by a $5 lunch and donate your savings to our "Donate Your Lunch Money". Would you go into work a little earlier or go to the gym before work, so you can still get your work out on, but volunteer for our after-school programs. Would you be willing to talk and encourage people in your network to make the same choices that you make to devote their time and talent to a non profit.

Thinking Beyond Yourself

As I reflect upon the conversations and Facebook updates of people in my network; everyone says how busy they are. I don't doubt that your PDA is full of the obligations to your employer, things on your to do list, places to be and people to see. We are constantly "busy" building and maintaining our networks, getting on the grind to make that money and enjoy life. There is nothing wrong with those things because it is what we must do to accomplish our goals and enjoy life.

My question that I pose is what are you doing to accomplish anything beyond what satisfies your need to enjoy life and accomplish your personal and professional goals? Is anything that you are doing going to make a difference in anyone's life beyond your network and leave a lasting impact in your community and the world. Instead of dropping $100 on an evening with friends, have you every thought about donating that $100 to a local non profit? Have you and your friends every thought about putting some time to volunteer in your PDA, whether it be in direct services to a non profit or donating your expertise to help them complete a project? As a business owner have you every thought about putting in your company's marketing and advertising budget to make a financial contribution to a non profit organization? Most non profits will acknowledge company's that make a contribution on its website and other promotional positions; so it is a good use of your advertising dollars.

In society, we have become so selfish and thinking about our own needs that at times we need to reflect and see what our we doing to make a differences in the lives of others and leave a lasting legacy.

Why Volunteers and Corporate Partnership Are So Important

As the Executive Director and Founder of the organization, I realize that I set the vision for the organization as well as determine the direction that SEM Link will go. I am very clear about what direction I would like the organization to go, how the programs will run and what goals I have for the immediate future and long term. I also believe that it is the responsibility of myself and the boards to ensure that we stay true to our mission and vision as an organization. However, in order to achieve our mission and grow as an organization, we have to be open to engaging others in a dialogue about the best way to do this.

Within the past 24 hours, I was engaged in great conversations with a volunteer and a corporate partner about how we should solicit resources and implement our programs. What I realized by being open to the ideas from these individuals, we will be able to do things better and in ways that I would have never imagined. Although some of their ideas took us to far away from our niche as an organization or was beyond the resources that we have available to us right now. Individuals and organizations that believe in the mission of the organization and want to devote their time and mission to help us achieve it are so invaluable. They provide fresh ideas and eyes to allow us to continue to find innovative ways to implement our programs and obtain resources for them. I'm very thankful to these individuals for their fresh perspective and energy, which allow us to "unveil potential through exposure".

SEM Link: Improving the Quality of Math and Science Fairs One Project at a Time

Our Experimental Design Program teaches students how to design and conduct experiments for math and science fair projects utilizing research, laboratory and scientific literacy skills gained through individual and group learning opportunities as well as mentoring. This program improves the quantity and quality of math and science fair projects for students by providing schools with undergraduate students, graduate students and professional mentors with science, engineering and math (SEM) backgrounds to provide support for math and science fairs. It was a program that I started in the 2005-06 Program year, after spending time working in K-12 schools and getting tired of seeing reports on poster boards at science fairs. I wanted to teach students how to conduct a project on their academic level thinking like a research scientist; how I am going to answer a question in an area of my interest. So I created the Experimental Design Program Handbook for students which is currently on our website and started working with the inaugural students in this program.

The Experimental Design Individual Mentoring Program was born in October 2005, with 6 students at Sylvan Hills Middle School in the Atlanta Public School System. At the time of the school science fair, I had 5 science fair projects. I was so proud of all the hard work these students had put into developing their projects.They met diligently with their mentors weekly and put in the work between the meetings. They expressed frustration when their experiment didn't go right the first time and they had to do it over. But their hard work paid off because 3 of these students won the school fair and became eligible to compete in the district fair. Those students diligently worked to improve their projects from feedback from the science fair judges and ideas they had thought about while engaging in the trail and error of research. Once again, their hard work paid off and two of the projects won awards at the district fair. One of the two students that won awards at the district fair, was eligible to compete at the state fair. I was so proud of that inaugural class of the mentoring program, I'm not sure if that they chose to be scientist but they definitely got a chance to be exposed to what scientist do.

We are now accepting applications for its 2009-10 Experimental Design Individual Mentoring Program. This program provides a small monetary award to purchase supplies to conduct an experiment and a mentor for successful completion of a math or science fair project. SEM Link will support the student to his or her highest level of competition. Students who are eligible to apply for this program must be in grades 3-10, have a project title or subject area, a sponsoring math or science teacher and parental consent. The online application for this program, which consists of the student application and a teacher recommendation, must be completed by Friday, September 25, 2009.

The Individual Mentoring Program is one of the three programs in SEM Link’s Experimental Design Program. The other two other components of the Experimental Design Program provide support to public, private and charter schools. The Experimental Design Group Mentoring Program allows K-12 educators to request support for their classes to receive math and science fair project mentors. The Math and Science Fair Judging Program allows individual schools and school districts request judges for math and science fair projects. Both programs require schools to make their request online to SEM Link at least four weeks prior to their event. For more information about the Experimental Design Program and to find the online applications for each program visit http://www.semsuccess.org/SO_Expdesign.html.

The Experimental Design Program can not be a success without the support of the community. Anyone with a SEM background that is interested in serving as a project mentor or judge should sign up to volunteer now by visiting http://www.semsuccess.org/volunteer.html. Anyone who believes in what we are doing int his program should "Donate Your Lunch Money, to we can help more students by visiting our Individual Donor page at http://www.semsuccess.org/donation.html.

Random Connections Brings About Creativity and New Partnerships

In the 2009-10 fiscal year, the major action item in which most of our activities revolve around is promoting the SEM Link brand. SEM Link is a wonderful organization, that has a sound organizational structure and quality programs; but not enough people know who we are and what we do. As Executive Director, I am always telling people about SEM Link, who we are and what we do. However, because we have been taking promoting the organization up a notch, I find myself talking about the organization in places that I normally wouldn't. As I result, I have gained some additional resources for the organization as well as told more people about our great organization and the great work we do to "unveil potential through exposure".

While I was enjoying a wonderful jazz concert last weekend; I made two connections that will help out with provide support with our marketing and fundraising efforts. I didn't have my business card with me because I was going to have a good time, I wasn't going to this event as SEM Link's Executive Director. But since the connections were made, I took the advice of the best networker I know, Ms. ChiChi Okezie of Simple Networking LLC took advantage of the technology by getting their email addresses and emailing them at the event. I'm glad I followed Ms. Okezie's advance because I am already developing relationship that are bringing resources to the organization and promoting the brand.

In the past few days, I have meet a jewelry maker and a exercise physiologist who is in training to be a registered dietitian. I recruited them to become volunteers for our programs to teach the girls in the after-school program of our community partner Cool Girls concepts related to real world applications of science. I'm not going to give away my lesson plan until I get it copyrighted, but I can tell you that these connections made me think of a more creative way to engage students in hands on science activities. No child will learn about material science, earth science, anatomy and physiology and biology in a more "out of the box" way than these young ladies.

So I am sharing this story because this push to promote the SEM Link brand, tells me that I must always be ready and open for the resources that will come as a result and make sure that my cell phone is charged so I can take advantage of the opportunities when they present themselves.

The Importance of Honoring The Commitments You Make to a Nonprofit Organization

This afternoon, I had to make an executive decision to cancel an event, which was a truly sad moment for me and the first time that I have had to cancel an event in my entire professional career and definitely in the history of SEM Link. This week, when we sent an email to reconfirm our speaker for the event, they were no longer available and couldn't find a replacement speaker. With the event being a little over a month away, i thought it was a better use of my time and resources, to focus on other programs and operations projects. This fiscal year, we have implemented a brand new marketing and communications plan that includes starting a heavy marketing campaign for our events no later than a month out. Although, I am sad, I know that it was the right thing to do in the bigger picture of what we are trying to do as an organization.

I tell this story to stress how important it is for individuals and corporations to honor the commitments they make to non profit organizations. We all are busy people with many commitments and responsibilities and it is hard to manage it all. Nonprofit organizations achieve their mission with limited resources and are so reliant on the community to provide resources to achieve their mission in the community. Therefore, when you don't honor your commitment to volunteer, make a financial contribution or donate in-kind good, it is not like canceling a lunch or dinner with a friend or colleague. It can truly be detrimental for the nonprofit because the resource that you committed to the organization, could be only option for the non profit to achieve its mission and to do that particular task or project. I encourage you as you evaluate your priorities and review your calendar, make sure that the commitments that you have made to the nonprofit that you have committed your time, talent and resources to, don't fall through cracks and get put on the backburner.