Shoe Donations to Homeless

I wanted to share this very heartfelt story I saw on T.V. yesterday so you can get some more details about it.


Jose

Feb 24, 2009 9:01 am US/Eastern

Shoe Donations To Help Poor, Homeless

Shoe Giveaway Begins At 10:00 a.m.

Reporting
Jorge Estevez
E-mail

MIAMI (CBS4) ―

These shoes dumped on the Palmetto Expressway are theinspiration for a program to provide new shoes for the homeless

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Related Stories

• Charity Collects Shoes Dumped On Palmetto (1/7/2009)
• Dumped Shoes Will Be Given Out In Haiti (1/6/2009)
• Thousands Of Shoes Dumped On Miami Expressway (1/3/2009)

A misstep along a South Florida highway has led to a step in the right direction for the neediest members of the South Florida community. A decision to send a windfall of shoes outside of the US instead of helping people at home is being corrected, and South Florida's homeless will benefit.

Tuesday, the Nashville-based nonprofit group "Soles 4 Souls", along with Invicta and Red Wing Shoes, will give away 1,000 new shoes at Camillus House, a Miami homeless shelter.

"Soles 4 Souls" is giving away the new shoes to show its gratitude after they recently picked up thousands of shoes that were mysteriously dumped along the Palmetto Expressway last month. As part of the cleanup, those shoes were donated to needy people in Haiti. The shoe charity has distributed 100,000 pairs of shoes to Haitians in the past four months.

Now, instead of giving shoes to those in need in Haiti, the organization is giving away shoes to those in need in South Florida.

"These are the sneakers they are going to be passing out," Keith Smith told CBS 4's Jorge Estevez as he pointed to the style of shoes that will be handed out.

Smith is not only a volunteer but also a client.

He is one of the people living at Camillus House during these tough times.

"You do a lot of walking during the day moving from one place to the other just trying to survive," said Smith, who was homeless for fifteen years.

"My story is one of drug abuse alcohol being homeless," said Smith, who is now clean for seven months.

"For someone who is homeless who is looking through the garbage can to see if someone threw away a pair of sneakers. Yes, this is big," said Sam Gil, who works at Camillus House.

Having a pair of shoes is also big for Smith, who received his own pair. "That means I can put a few more miles doing what I need to do," said Smith.

Camillus house will hand out a thousand shoes to the members in their program, but the group is now looking for other charities in South Florida to donate another 9 thousand pairs.

The shoe giveaway will begin at 10:00 a.m. and is expected to last for several hours.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Government talking about taxing miles driven?

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will not adopt a policy to tax motorists based on how many miles they drive instead of how much gasoline they buy, his chief spokesman said Friday. Press secretary Robert Gibbs commented after Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told The Associated Press that he wants to consider the idea, which has been proposed in some states but has angered many drivers.

"It is not and will not be the policy of the Obama administration," Gibbs told reporters, when asked for the president's thoughts about the policy and LaHood's remarks.

Gasoline taxes that for nearly half a century have paid for the federal share of highway and bridge construction can no longer be counted on to raise enough money to keep the nation's transportation system moving, LaHood told the AP in an interview Thursday.

"We should look at the vehicular miles program where people are actually clocked on the number of miles that they traveled," the former Illinois Republican lawmaker said Thursday.

LaHood spokeswoman Lori Irving said Friday that the secretary was speaking of the idea only in general terms, not as something being implemented as administration policy.

Most transportation experts see a vehicle miles traveled tax as a long-term solution, but Congress is being urged to move in that direction now by funding pilot projects.

The idea also is gaining ground in several states. Governors in Idaho and Rhode Island are talking about such programs, and a North Carolina panel suggested in December the state start charging motorists a quarter-cent for every mile as a substitute for the gas tax.

A tentative plan in Massachusetts to use GPS chips in vehicles to charge motorists by the mile has drawn complaints from drivers who say it's an Orwellian intrusion by government into the lives of citizens. Other motorists say it eliminates an incentive to drive more fuel-efficient cars since gas guzzlers will be taxed at the same rate as fuel sippers.

Besides a VMT tax, more tolls for highways and bridges and more government partnerships with business to finance transportation projects are other funding options, LaHood, one of two Republicans in Obama's Cabinet, said in the interview Thursday.

"What I see this administration doing is this — thinking outside the box on how we fund our infrastructure in America," he said.

LaHood said he firmly opposes raising the federal gasoline tax in the current recession.

The program that funds the federal share of highway projects is part of a surface transportation law that expires Sept. 30. Last fall, Congress made an emergency infusion of $8 billion to make up for a shortfall between gas tax revenues and the amount of money promised to states for their projects. The gap between money raised by the gas tax and the cost of maintaining the nation's highway system and expanding it to accommodate population growth is forecast to continue to widen.

Among the reasons for the gap is a switch to more fuel-efficient cars and a decrease in driving that many transportation experts believe is related to the economic downturn. Electric cars and alternative-fuel vehicles that don't use gasoline are expected to start penetrating the market in greater numbers.

A blue-ribbon national transportation commission is expected to release a report next week recommending a VMT.

The system would require all cars and trucks be equipped with global satellite positioning technology, a transponder, a clock and other equipment to record how many miles a vehicle was driven, whether it was driven on highways or secondary roads, and even whether it was driven during peak traffic periods or off-peak hours.

The device would tally how much tax motorists owed depending upon their road use. Motorists would pay the amount owed when it was downloaded, probably at gas stations at first, but an alternative eventually would be needed.

Rob Atkinson, chairman of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, the blue-ribbon group that is developing future transportation funding options, said moving to a national VMT would take about a decade.

Privacy concerns are based more on perception than any actual risk, Atkinson said. The satellite information would be beamed one way to the car and driving information would be contained within the device on the car, with the amount of the tax due the only information that's downloaded, he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090220/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/lahood_vehicle_mileage_tax

Heroes with Red Jackets

City Year: Give a Year and Help Change The World

Last week during my routine drive to school tuned in to WLRN (FM 91.3) for all the news head lines and recent issues in the U.S. and the world, I heard about this great organization called City Year. What they are is basically a volunteer organization trying to help out society and eventually how they say it "help change the world" by going to schools and working with kids to help them improve their skills and involvement in class. This organization was founded in 1988 in the city of Boston, MA. Today it works in more than 21 states across the U.S. and the Miami Division was just opened this January 19, 2009.

These young men and women are true Heroes, raging from ages from 17 to 24 years old, they give a year of their lives in order to help out their communities and the less fortunate ones.

The thing I liked the most about this when I heard about it, is that it is a daily routine! You are giving to your community every day. It is not just about hours or 2-days-a-week gigs. These Heroes are working everyday "just like the super heroes in the movies" as current Miami Group Leader said.

Here's a brief description I took from their "About us section" in their website:

Please visit their website and read through it:

www.cityyear.org

Jose

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City Year unites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time service, giving them the skills and opportunities to change the world.

As tutors, mentors and role models, these young leaders make a difference in the lives of children, and transform schools and neighborhoods in 18 U.S. locations and Johannesburg, South Africa. Just as important, during their year of service corps members develop civic leadership skills they can use throughout a lifetime of community service.

Major corporations and businesses participate in our mission by serving as strategic partners, team sponsors, and national leadership sponsors.

Together we’re building a citizen service movement that is larger than our organization, our lifetime, and ourselves.

"Nothing means more to me than providing New York’s children with the tools they need to succeed in the classroom and in life, and no organization has done a better job of helping me achieve this goal than City Year."

– Michael Bloomberg, Mayor, New York City

How to change the World - Chp 1 - Restless People

Chapter 1 of this book was basically an introduction to what this book is about; Social Entrepreneurs. It explains that these people have an idea in their head to improve the quality of life or solve some kind of social problem. Once they have this idea they work at it and work at it until they accomplish their goals or vision. These types of people do not take no for an answer and cannot comprehend failure.

It also discusses why there are more of these people and what changes have occurred to cause this. A large reason is the rise of more democratic governments that allow more freedoms to its citizens and residents. Another large reason for this transition is the innovation of communication through technology. There is more information to more people and very quickly. More people are aware of problems across the globe.Therefore people recognize change is needed. I believe, besides communication, that education is the largest factor in this change. The more education a person has the more likely they are to understand the problems.

The last part is the fact that non-government organizations are quicker than the government to respond to the new demands and opportunities. They are also better at dealing with the problems that grow slowly and effect society through cumulative effect on individuals. This is true. Government organizations tend to be very large and very in-efficient due to their structure and funding. NGO's tend to be smaller in size and carry an incentive to be efficient when dealing with problems.

BUSINESS COMMITMENT TO CITIZENSHIP

Please check this site,  it shows how The Business Civic Leadership Center, with the assistance of a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration, has begun a process to map how and why companies invest in communities across the United States. 

http://www.uschamber.com/bclc/programs/investment/stateof_intro.htm

Also in this site you can find more information about how companies are becoming CORPORATE CITIZENS, it is a report from the WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM CEOs in partnership with the PRINCE OF WALES INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS LEADERS FORUM.

http://www.weforum.org/pdf/GCCI/GCC_CEOstatement.pdf

I hope this sites give you a better understanding of the GLOBAL CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP term.

GLOBAL CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

There are many reasons why millions of corporations are getting involved in this concept of Corporate Social Responsibility because it helps corporations build better stakeholders collaboration, and it helps discover new ways to serve society.  As companies expand their commercial activity globally, expectations from the public also grow. The Corporation should meet more than legal requirements, they have to pay attention to the processes and structures through which it approach stakeholders and also pay attention what decision it takes in that process.

Because companies do not become good corporate citizens overnight, there is a sequence of five-stages they have to pass through in order to become Corporate Citizens. Those stages are as follow:

Stage 1: Elementary

§  Citizen is underdeveloped.

§  Companies react only when threatened

Stage 2: Engaged

§  Companies become aware of changing public expectations

§  Top managers get involved

§  Step up its philanthropic giving or commit to specific environmental protection objectives.

Stage 3: Innovative “The Transformation Shell”

§  Structural innovations: new programs are launch, and start reporting their efforts to stakeholders

Stage 4: Integrated

§  Building coherent initiatives: Sustainability or Triple Bottom Line.

Stage 5: Transforming

§  Visionary leaders: change the game

It is important to mention that each stage is described by a distinctive pattern of concepts, strategic intent, leadership, issues management, stakeholder relationships, and transparency. Also the model’s author (Mirvins & Googings, 2006) emphasizes that certain companies may be at more than one stage at once, as it may progress faster on some dimensions than on others.

This term of Global Corporate Citizen entails a social and environmental commitment that businesses have put in practice. Today’s managers have to understand these challenges and be effective reporting, assessing structures and processes that meet today’s companies’ social responsibilities with their stakeholders.

In future posts, we will give you additional information about this important term and its practices.

Forces That Shape the Business and Society Relationship

The figure above shows the six dynamic forces that powerfully shape the business and society relationship. These dynamic forces, the constant changes in ethical and societal expectations, the global economy, government policies, natural environment, and technology create the setting in which businesses interact with their many stakeholders such as employees, customers, stockholders, suppliers, creditors, communities, media, governments, and others. This relationship between businesses and society is continually changing in uncertain ways.

Each of these forces will be analyze in future posts, so keep checking the blog and share your comments with us. Thank you.

Innovators for the Public

This video is related to Social Entrepreneurs, please click to the following link and watch that video:

Ashoka: Innovators for the Public

Ashoka is the global association of the world's leading social entrepreneurs—men and women with system changing solutions for the world's most urgent social problems. Since 1981, we have elected over 1,800 leading social entrepreneurs as Ashoka Fellows, providing them with living stipends, professional support, and access to a global network of peers in more than 60 countries.

With our global community, we develop models for collaboration and design infrastructure needed to advance the field of social entrepreneurship and the citizen sector.

Our Fellows inspire others to adopt and spread their innovations - demonstrating to all citizens that they too have the potential to be powerful changemakers. 

"Social Entrepreneur"

“SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR changes the performance capacity of society” Peter Drucker-

 

The current economic crisis and the emerging environmental problems have created consciousness in our community. The new era of undergraduates have to overcome new challenges in the world, and have to be prepared and become part of the emerging movement called Social Entrepreneurship.

Prof. Jose Rocha gave us the opportunity to enrich our knowledge with an interesting book named “How to Change the World, Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas” by David Bornstein and I highly recommend it.

This book is about normal people who had powerful and innovative ideas to solve social problems. This term “entrepreneur” comes from the French and means “one who undertakes.” One important economist of the 20^th century said that the entrepreneur is the -source of “creative destruction”, which occurs when something new kills something older, technologically speaking. To illustrate, in our everyday day is more frequent to see people using mp3 players, the well-known Ipod; it’s not normal to see a person using a cd-player anymore. This “creative destruction” is necessary for major economic advances.

Today social entrepreneurship is becoming established as a vocation and a mainstream area of analysis because Social entrepreneurs have powerful ideas to solve problems in areas as education, healthcare, environmental protection, disability, and political institutions. They serve large markets with limited resources.

Nowadays non -government organizations have develop into “citizen sectors” a sector that peter Drucker has called America’s leading growth industry, creating organizations that address issues that NGO couldn’t address.

 

What is driving this change from being solely non-profit organization to a “Citizen Sector”?

These are the reasons that barriers don’t exist in today’s world:

• There is economic expansion around the world.
• People’s average life has increased.
• Grow of a middle class (in some countries) along with higher education
•   Declining of racial barriers.

To sum up, today, more people have the freedom, time, wealth, health, exposure, social mobility, and confidence to address social problems.

 

Supply and Demand increase everyday and also is Technology

Because of technology more citizens have become aware of economic, social, political and environmental crisis around the world.  Many citizens have become active part of this sector and now they use these technology advances to address these kinds of problems with effective solutions.

In the past three decades, one-third of the planet’s resources, its “natural wealth,” has been consumed. That’s why social entrepreneurs with the use of technology and proper education have come up with new approaches to many social ills and new models to create wealth, promote social well-being, and restore the environment.

With the rising popularity of the citizen sector many people are interested, but some other people are not, but in reality anyone can participate to be a social entrepreneur and be part in this new sector.  These organizations will need managers, marketers, finance experts, writers, salespeople and other skilled professionals but must important they will need people with innovating and out of the box thoughts.

I hope many students have the opportunity to read this book that I found really inspiring. It could really change the way we see our present and future.