As the minds behind Emerging Minds continue to crystallize the vision that was started in 2002, more and more we realize that community activism and volunteering are the key pillars to this vision. Over the years, it has become clear that EM as simply an information source will not be enough for us to achieve our mission of uplifting economically depressed communities. Although we continue to believe that we can add value to the community by those means, we also believe that knowledge without action will result in little progress.
Every single month over the last 4+ years, the Emerging Minds team has been committed to bringing the community information that we saw as the most critical stories, historical facts, events, and current affairs. Some of which focused on the crisis facing Black men and boys in the United States, the educational system in the Black community, and Africa as an investment destination. In the past, our hope was that by informing our readers about stories such as these and bringing awareness to the organizations in our community who focus on addressing these issues, that people would proactively seek out more information on donating and volunteering. However, our research has shown us that this is not happening on a wide enough scale.
Thus, over the last year the Emerging Minds team has been diligently working to enhance the overall online experience we offer our subscribers in order to more effectively match volunteers and activist with organizations and movements that are of interest. The first outcome of this effort was the creating of the Give 365 campaign, a campaign that encourages our subscribers to donate to specific causes and for organizations to identify themselves to us so we can bring awareness to them. While the Give 365 campaign is still a work in progress, one of the big problems we found was that organizations are slow to send us information so that we could publicize their efforts. So as of today, the three groups we focus on promoting are The Save Darfur Coalition, the Ujamma Youth Farming Project, and the Blackonomics Million Dollar Club.
Subsequently, the next step we are taking is an effort to personally engage organizations and their leaders who are on the front lines of progress. Our strategy to do this started with revamping the Emerging Minds Think Tank into a more comprehensive online community that utilizes Web 2.0 technology. This new Online Community is now designed to help activists, organizers, and leaders promote their activities, as well as for volunteers to search for organizations or movements to help.
Although we are still in the beta testing phase of this system’s launch, we have personally reached out to over 100 community activist nationwide to participate. As of the writing of this article we have had over 50 respond including such notable names as Keidi Awadu, founder of LIBRadio.com, nationally syndicated writer Jim Clingman of Blackonomics.com, Warren Green, chairman of the Black Male Empowerment Forum, Dalani Aamon, founder of Harambeeradio.com, Roger Madison, founder of Izania.com, Glen Ford and Bruce Dixon, editors of BlackAgendaReport.com, Clarissa Goodlett of ColorofChange.org, and motivational speaker and activist Cathy Harris of CathyHarrisSpeaks.com.
While we are in this testing phase, membership to this new online community for activist is by invitation only. However, if you are a activist or organization leader who would like to participate and help raise awareness about your activists, please send an email to emergingminds “at” emergingminds.org stating the name of your organization, your location, website, phone number, and your mission statement and we will send you an invitation to participate and help you promote the work you are doing for the community.
Finally, if you are just someone who wants to see change but don’t have the time in your day to day schedule to actively participate in an organization, all we ask is that you continue to read and support Emerging Minds, patronize the businesses that advertise with us, as well as respond to our call for donations to organizations that need your financial support. In addition, we ask that you tell as many people as possible about this effort by sending this call for action out to anyone who you think would be interested on your email list.
Ultimately, if enough people do what they do best in their role in this online ecosystem, our vision of being an online community that produces real world results will be realized to the benefit of our community and our community’s future generations whose livelihood depend on our success. Thank you in advance for your support!
Visit the Emerging Minds Online Community for Activists by clicking here.
Saadiq Mance
May 2007
