Students have the opportunity to create a brief video as an application to award someone they admire $1,000 as a needed boost. This lesson guides discussion of why and how to take action for the good of someone in the community. A lesson in mini-grantmaking with a powerful impact on...
Being outside, caring for plants and animals, and conserving natural resources are often a young person’s first experience with environmental stewardship. Young people looking to a sustainable future may learn about the wonders of nature, aging water pipes, environmental contamination, plastics in the ocean, overuse of natural resources, and air pollution. This toolkit shares resources to learn, connect, and take action now as environmental stewards to assure a sustainable future in harmony with the gifts of nature.
This toolkit guides youth, educators, group leaders, families, and community groups as they investigate the issue of advocacy for animals and prepare to take action. Contents:
Every person has individual traits that make them unique and who they are. People with neurological or physical differences have often been seen as less capable or received services that separated them from others. Society is enriched when it embraces our differences as gifts and characteristics to understand and respect. Awareness can change attitudes, laws, and opportunities. Each young person has a voice, heart, and hands to take big and small actions to help us create a more inclusive world.
Get to know the stories of people who represent a life of service. They may be veterans who chose to serve in the military or elderly friends who have served as activists or volunteers for different issues. Communities are stronger when people take action and work together for a common purpose. These activities, project ideas, and community resources prompt discussions and service that build respect for people of different roles, types of service, and generations.
Native American (Ojibwa) Tale: Although physically deformed, Bokwewa is gifted in supernatural ways and has a very generous and loving spirit. When his brother goes after his wife’s kidnapper, Bokwewa warns him to resist temptations that will divert him. He doesn’t obey and Bokwewa attempts to rescue him. Good for discussion on benevolence and self-sacrifice versus temptation and vanity.
A Jewish Tale: A pair of rabbis set out to raise some funds for a worthy cause. They approach a wealthy man whose generosity has become blocked, and one of the rabbis knew how to help him unstop it. How is receiving just as important as giving, in cultivating generosity in others and ourselves?
Philanthropy in American Indian and Alaskan Native cultures is not a new phenomenon—there is a long and rich history of indigenous giving traditions, and today there is a growing nonprofit sector devoted to social justice and development of Native communities in the United States. This paper examines overarching themes of Native American philanthropy (there are over 500 registered tribal nations in the continental US, and all celebrate their own giving and receiving rituals and traditions specific to their own communities), how the practice of Native American philanthropy has changed over time, and what the nonprofit sector within tribal communities looks like today. Additionally, this lesson will offer specific examples of youth-centric philanthropy and its focus on preserving Native culture for future generations.
The Saguaro Seminar is an initiative focused on the study of social capital and civic engagement in America. Through this research, emphasis was given to improving connections among Americans and improving the infrastructure of civic engagement. By doing this, The Saguaro Seminar hopes to advance ways to build social capital.
