cnewmark

Serious about service on Martin Luther King day (#MLKday)

Okay, the deal is that things get better for everyone when we pull together, and this is a really good day to remind each other of that. Check out the Facebook page for MLKday.

I've been asked to mention what I'm doing for the day, but figure it's time to up the ante, and to partially disclose a lot more of my efforts.

My deal is that I'm now spending most of my time in public service and philanthropy, and on MLK day, ironically, I'll be flying to Washington in that pursuit. Makes sense to me to document some of what I've been doing and what will do around MLK day. Much of this I've been doing for five to ten years, but it's time to step up my game.

Since I don't write good, here's just the bullet list, incomplete where I haven't gotten permission to discuss, or it's too sensitive. This is a partial list, kind of a two week snapshot.

• "accountability journalism" and public service media
• helping Charity Navigator and GreatNonprofits (get started to) measure the effectiveness of causes and related nonprofits
• supporting #veterans across the country, and particularly where I live, the Bay Area (multiple parallel efforts)
• helping teachers via DonorsChoose.org
• helping FEMA figure out how to use social media for emergency management #smem
• working with CiviliNation trying to get reasonable social discourse going
• supporting Wikipedia with customer service, also financially
• using social media on behalf of AARP
• helping several Federal agencies with how to better do customer service online
• working with the State Dept, Palestinian and Israeli gov'ts on jobs in IT in
• the West Bank (I just found out I'm a cochair of the US Palestinian Partnership)
• working with multiple agencies regarding interoperability of health systems and medical records

Okay, here's my Kiva portfolio

Microfinance is a great way to help people build businesses and get other people jobs.

Kiva's a great umbrella group for that. My focus has been the West Bank, with the encouragement of the Israeli, Palestinian, and US governments. Looks like the loans in my portfolio are getting paid back, then reinvested.

Angry Birds Peace Treaty

Tomorrows Youth Organization events, kids & computers, West Bank

Hey, these guys are getting the job done in a youth computer center in Nablus on the West Bank. I'm working with 'em in the least of ways, like helping them get systems and here.

They're having three events really soon, here's a summary, and for more, check out their blog:

Tuesday, October 19 at Café Milano advocates of TYO will gather for “A Night for Tomorrow’s Youth.” At the event, sponsored by Raj Fernando, old friends and new will enjoy a night of great conversation, food, and music to benefit TYO.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010, TYO is pleased to announce a panel the New America Foundation and Palestine Note to organize an international policy forum on Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Middle East. In a discussion moderated by Steve Clemons, Director American Strategy Program at New America Foundation and publisher of the Washington Note, the panelists will address related challenges and opportunities from their varied perspectives as academics, government officials, and civil society practitioners.

This exciting week of events will culminate on Thursday, October 21, with Tomorrow’s Youth Organization’s First Ever Gala! The Gala, held at the Ritz-Carlton, will celebrate the work of Tomorrow’s Youth Organization, highlighting successes from the past three years in Nablus and upcoming expansion to Lebanon and Cairo. We are thrilled to announce that will honor attendees President William J. Clinton and Cherie Blair for their inspiring work on behalf of women and children worldwide.

Supporting small business in the West Bank via CHF International microfinance

You know I support small business in the West Bank through Kiva and CHF International, encouraged by the Israeli, Palestinian, and US governments.

Well, here's someone I met recently, CHF International's Country Director in the West Bank, Lana Abu-Hijleh. She gets stuff done, has been working on Palestinian issues for two decades and is leading some important programs in Palestine on microfinance, job creation, infrastructure and governance.

Lana was featured recently in the Huffington Post as "one of the most impressive women I've ever met in my life" by writer Fadi Elsalameen. You can read more here.

This is a big deal, focusing on real stuff of interest to all involved.

Grameen Foundation helps people help themselves

This relates to the microfinance stuff pioneered by Mohammad Yunus, which is a great way to help people raise themselves from poverty, via small loans, almost always paid back.

Their work is centered around the poorest people in the world who typically live on less than $1 a day and are based in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Check out http://grameenfoundation.org/where-we-work

Here are three ways you can help!

StopPovertyNow.org is an interactive website created by Grameen Foundation to educate, engage and inspire people to join in the fight against poverty. With a donation of as little as $10, you can make a difference in the life of a poor woman and her family.

Celebrate $27 on the 27th is an online movement celebrating the day in 1976 when Nobel Peace Prize winner and Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus sparked the global microfinance movement by making a loan of $27 to a group of 42 Bangladeshi women out of his own pocket.  Since that day, microfinance has empowered millions of women around the world by providing tiny loans that they use to help start or improve a small business, provide for their families and escape the cycle of poverty. On the 27th of each month, remind the world that poverty is unnecessary and that one person can help change the lives of the world's poorest. Join in the celebration!

Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) is the world's largest and most successful annual workplace charity campaign.  Through CFC, U.S. federal civilian, postal, and military employees can support eligible nonprofit organizations, such as Grameen Foundation, which combats poverty among the world’s poorest through microfinance and technology. By designating Grameen Foundation CFC#15029 in your pledge form or online during the campaign period (Sept. 1 - Dec. 15), you can help poor women build small businesses and put themselves on the road to financial self-sufficiency.

Please note their sister organization, Grameen America, which works in disadvantaged U.S.communities.

A Shepherd's Journey: the story of Israel's first bedouin diplomat

Hey, Ishmael Khaldi helped host the Traveling Geeks when we visited Israel, a coupla years ago. We even visited his family and village.

I recommend his A Shepherd's Journey: the story of Israel's first bedouin diplomat

A Shepherd's Journey is Ishmael Khaldi's unique story of transformation from his modest village roots to his triumph as Israel's first bedouin diplomat and voice of reason in the Middle East. born into a traditional Bedouin family in a poor Bedouin village in northern Israel, Ishmael Khaldi's road has not been an easy one. from his early days as a sheepherder to his schoolboy "fights," his terrifying first forays into the mysterious New York subway system, and later, his remarkable friendships with Jews and Muslims, religious and secular, on two continents, Ishmael Khaldi's life has been full of adventure and love, humor and pathos. this is a story that will inspire, educate and charm, told with authenticity and passion, as only a Bedouin can tell it.

Ishmael Khaldi, born and raised in a Bedouin village in Israel, served in the Israeli Defense Forces, Defense Ministry and the Israeli Police before being chosen to join the Foreign Ministry. He was Deputy Consul General in San Francisco from 2006 - 2009.

Stepping up: Silicon Valley Partnership: The Innovators Fund

Okay, the deal is that our country is about helping others out in a culture of trust and generosity. I'm thinking like the Marshall Plan of sixty years ago, a great expression of shared values which also prevented a lot of extremism and built markets.

Me personally, I feel that we should be that "shining city on the hill."

Here's a new first step in that direction, with some very minor involvement from me. I'm guessing my focus will be on the evolution of large-scale grassroots involvement via social media.

The Department of State has entered in a non-exclusive partnership with The Innovators Fund (IF), a new Silicon-Valley based venture capital fund that will launch in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, Russia and Malaysia.

The Innovators Fund is being launched in part as a result of President Obama’s June 2009 Cairo speech and its call to action, and in part as a result of a discussion that Secretary Clinton had with leading U.S. technology entrepreneurs and innovators at the Department of State in January 2010, in which the IF’s Founder participated.

IF will collaborate with a number of existing funds and raise a series of country-focused seed Funds that will provide angel and seed financing and mentorship to promising young entrepreneurs.  It will have a strong emphasis on mentorship and will send leading Silicon Valley executives to the countries in which it will operate to provide intensive mentoring as well as continued online mentoring and collaboration.

Microfinance for jobs and peace in Israel and Palestine via Kiva.org

 If you want to do something real for peace and jobs for Palestine and Israel, check out Kiva.org.

They're the big microfinance org, working with people with boots on the ground, like CHF International.

I just got an update for my current portfolio of loans here

It's a start...

Kiva/West Bank portfolio update

Hey, I've been working with Kiva.org and CHF International to get small microfinance style loans to small businesses in the West Bank of Palestine.

You can check out my portfolio here.

The deal is that this creates jobs where we really need jobs.

I'm doing this with support from the Israeli, Palestinian, and US governments.

It's like my own DIY Marshall Plan.