BloggerCorps

You previously posted a story and request for help on a past project that ultimately led to Wakapoa.com being created for a returned Peace Corps volunteer. Very awesome! Thanks!

I have a new request. In the past I worked with mentally impaired adults in Minnesota. My aunt now heads a non-profit that seeks to help challenged adults train for jobs and finds them work so that they may be a bit more self reliant. Their organization paid a webdesigner to recreate their website for them and he did...but crappily. He took their money and ran and now they have this half assed site and no more money to finish it up. Can we find a volunteer to help out with this site? This is the site: http://www.midwaytraining.org

Hello Fellow Bloggers,

I am both a blogger and an activist, I have been blogging for a couple of years. Many groups and individuals have I tried to get to use weblogs and wiki. The recent attempt to get a project some web media is doing ok, but needs help in the fundraising sphere.

Basically, voter rights in Benton Harbor Michigan are being challenged and the brunt of the attack is falling on the communities most outspoken activist, Rev. Pinkney. He faces many charges of voter fraud and such. I have met the man and feel he speaks truth and is innocent of the charges.

Please help me figure out how to raise the profile of this situation and how to help pay for the lawyer services needed to keep him out of jail.

Many thanks and I look forward to watching this community develope.

Best, Mark

> see BANCO

I lead a non profit in Chicago called the Tutor/Mentor Conection. I use the Internet as part of a public awareness strategy intended to draw a more consistent flow of volunteers, donors, tech support, etc. to volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs throughout the Chicago region. I also use it to build a network of peers and partners in different parts of the world who face the same challenges in their own communities.

While collecting and organizing information is a huge challenge, the larger challenge is getting thousands of people to visit a web site, reflect on the information, then put this knowledge to work in places where help is needed. Few non profits or web masters have loads of money to do advertising, thus we need to be more creative.

I think Blogging is a great way to tell the tutor/mentor experience in a personal way. Thus, I've started my own Blog at http://tutormentorblogspot.com to do that.

I'm here at BloggerCorps seeking volunteers who will set up an aggregator page, with web blogs written by me and anyone else who is telling their own story about involvement in a tutor/mentor program. I hope to attract volunteers, donors, staff, board members, students, parents, alumni, etc. The combined weight of so many stories can serve as advertising and can attract new volunteers and potential donors to the blog, while sharing information that helps people constantly improve their own work.

If anyone would like to take on this role, or if someone is already doing this, please let me know. To learn more about the Tutor/Mentor Connection visit http://www.tutormentorconnection.org or do a Google search for the key words "tutor mentor".

From Peace Corps volunteer, Scott Stadum:

There is a tiny village up the Essequibo here in Guyana, located in the rainforest. The village, Wakapau, is quite bustling due to the work of a few volunteers in the region. There is a health center, a new library, soon they will be getting computers and are already working with solar panels for sustainable energy. Wakapau also produces various wood products that are quite nice, and may possibly need a section to their web site that will allow for the sale of these products. If you know anyone that might be interested in this project, could you give me a holler. It could be a lot of fun and a good opportunity to bridge cultures.

If you are interested in helping, you can contact Scott via his blog.

The Zimbabwean web portal, inZIM.com is currently looking for a blogger volunteer to help assist with some of the administrative tasks in keeping the site fresh and updated.

This project requires nothing more than spending a few minutes each day classifying the news items which come in via allAfrica.com. But for those interested in and passionate about the spread of decentralized new media where government otherwise censors mainstream media and restricts free speech, inZIM.com presents the perfect opportunity to create positive change.

In addition to classifying incoming news feeds, the web portal could also use a face lift to ease and speed up navigation. The current administrator, Babak Fakhamzadeh, says he would not be opposed to switching the portal over to a new platform like CivicSpace if the right volunteer steps up.

inZIM.com generates 20,000 page feeds per month and comes up second after searching Google for "Zimbabwe blogs." With the right volunteer, the web portal could become an even greater resource for Zimbabweans to express themselves as well as communicate their experiences directly with the international community.

If you are interested in volunteering or have any questions, please leave a comment below. And please help spread the word on your own blogs. BloggerCorps succeeds in its mission when it is widely linked to throughout the blogosphere.

Bob Cornett recently wrote to say that thanks to a blogger who found him through Bloggercorps, the Grandparent Coalition is born.

Bob writes: "Our blogger coach--the one we found through bloggercorp--has become a
full-fledged partner.
We couldn't be more pleased. Thanks much."

Bloggercorps has received the following email from Bob Cornett in Kentucky:

Bunches of old folks and educators are helping to build partnerships between children and adults. These are purposeful partnerships, with real community improvement as the objective. We believe that such partnerships provide the best ways to learn; actively accomplishing something is far more meaningful than passively sitting in a classroom preparing for standardized tests designed by "experts" who don't know either the children or their communities.

Beyond what the children learn, however, the partnerships constitute the practice of active, grass-roots democracy. We believe that this kind of democracy is essential to the renewal of our nation's civic health.

Most of our active participants are now located in and near Kentucky, but we envision a "movement" that will connect like-minded people throughout the nation.

Instead of offices and officers -- we have neither -- we have a solid commitment both to children and to grass-roots democracy. With the assistance of like-minded bloggers, we believe we can be more effective and, at the same time, can avoid the money-chasing and other problems that so often hamper effectiveness.

We very much need the help of some thoughtful bloggers.

Bob Cornett

328 Midway Rd.

Georgetown, KY 40324

Please let us know if you'd like to help.

A coalition of environmental groups working on climate change issues, calling itself the Durban Group, needs help setting up a blog or constellation of blogs. The groups include The Corner House and The Seen Group. They hope to find somebody before Dec. 1st if at all possible.

They seek volunteer help from a blogger based in or near Dover, United Kingdom, to work with the team leader who is based there.

If you're interested please let us know in the comments section below, with a link to your blog's URL and contact info.

Bloggercorps is a blog.

No office. No admin. No fund-raising. No funds. No staff. No meetings.

It will evolve organically based on the needs of the people who wind up using it.

For starters, here's the plan:

- The authors (a wide-ranging group comprised mainly of bloggers, activists, and tech organizations who work with non-profits) will post announcements on behalf of organizations who need help starting blogs or building blogging communities.

- The posts will be categorized according to the organization's geographical location, and in some cases its main focus issue.

- Bloggers interested in helping that particular organization can express their interest in the comments section attached to that post.