Do1Thing Blog

A high school teacher in Sacramento County in California reached out to Do 1 Thing today. They have so many foster kids in high school who are on the verge of aging out that they now have a teacher specifically focused on assisting them.

Below is the email:

Najlah,
Within the school district I work for we have 61 foster youth
seniors that will be aging out of the system within the next two months.
The biggest amount of help we could use right now are items for
emancipation baskets such as gift cards, basic household goods, etc.
Another thought I had was to try to take the group of them to a sit down
meal. I know a lot of the youth have not ever really been to a sit down
restaurant and have no idea about the proper etiquette when dining out.
One final area of real need is trying to find these youth job
opportunities. With the economy in such shambles it has become harder
and harder for youth to find jobs or chances to build some profession
experience.
As I read this over I realize that the email is all over the
place. I hope that this gives people at least a small idea of what we
could use right away. Let me know if I can do anything else and if you
have any suggestions for me. Thanks a bunch for everything.

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP:

We’d love for 61 people to send us gift cards for $50 each to either Walmart or Target. 1 for each of the teens.
We’d love for your group, church or company to put together 61 baskets filled with household items. 1 for each of the teens.
We’d love for a restaurant in Sacramento County to open up their doors to teens who have never eaten in a restaurant and give them the gift of being just like every other teen.
We’d love for you to reach out to us with job opportunities.
We’d love for you to collect toiletries, you know the ones you get when you’re traveling in a hotel and never end up using? They’re perfect for these transient teens.
We’d love for you to donate gently used clothing.

We’d love for you to Do 1 Thing of your choice to help. Many of you have teenagers. Imagine if they turned 18 tomorrow and they could no longer live with you? They haven’t been given the opportunity to learn job skills. They’ve struggled moving from school to school as they move from foster family to foster family and have few personal relationships to rely on.

We have a teacher. One man who is their lifeline to these kids and he’s asking for help.

Will you Do 1 Thing? WITHIN 1 YEAR OF AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE, 6-12 OF THEM WILL BECOME HOMELESS.

Email us if you’d like to help. info@do1thing.org

Do 1 Thing embraces social media as a way to connect, inform, update and involve supporters and donors in raising awareness for homeless teens while encouraging citizen activist to Do 1 Thing to help. We want to make sure we’re on the right track by giving you all the information and tools you need to get you on your way to Doing 1 Thing.

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Sinclair Community College in Dayton, OH, offered a scholarship to Antwuan McCoy after seeing the People magazine story. With an enrollment of 24,000 students, Sinclair is one of the largest community colleges in the country. The school offers transfer programs to four-year universities, but specializes in direct-to-work programs, such as health and engineering, and retraining for workers.

Antwuan is talking to Sinclair now about starting school in the summer, and while plans haven’t been finalized, it does appear to be a go.

If you would like to support Antwuan in any way in his quest to go to college, please contact Lisaat Day Break Dayton where he is currently staying.

As we learn more about the other youths featured in the four page spread in People Magazine, we’ll be sure to keep you updated.

Huffington Post writer Tamar Abrams states, “The more than half a million children being raised in foster care belong to all of us and deserve at least as much support, guidance and love as our biological kids. But the sad truth is that less than a third of the 25,000 young people who age out of the foster care system each year will obtain either a high school diploma or a GED. They are also much more likely than our biological children to suffer from depression as a result of childhood trauma, to become victims of crime or be incarcerated. Fully 30% of them will become homeless at some point after leaving foster care.”

We’ve been saying this for the last year and this week, Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and President Obama, did the right thing, did the 1 thing these kids needed, they added programs for mentoring foster youth to the list of national service programs through the Serve America Act.

These children belong to NO ONE but in reality, they belong to US ALL. Mentoring is a critical component in the success of teens, and The Orphan Foundation of America (OFA) is has decades of experience in mentoring them. Take a look, see how you can mentor a youth in need, heed the call. Do1Thing. Anyone can Do1Thing.

Chloe Noble contacted Do1Thing to let us know about Pride Walk 2009 when Chloe and Jill will begin their walk across America to raise awareness for LGBTQ homeless youth.

Below is their press release. We wish them well!

HOMELESS YOUTH PRIDE WALK 2009

In May, 2009, Jill Hardman and Chloe Michelle Noble are walking across America for LGBTQ homeless youth. They will set out on foot from Seattle, Washington traveling first to San Francisco. They will continue to travel east across the country, to Boston, New York, and then Washington D.C. From there they will continue souththwest to New Orleans and end their long journey in Austin, Texas. Their goal is to cover 6000 miles, (over 3000 of it on foot), to raise awareness about homeless LGBTQ youth in America. Their entire walk will be homeless, which will give them a unique opportunity to film homeless youth all over the United States.

Says Noble, “We are excited for this opportunity to serve those less fortunate in the LGBTQ community. Through this walk we will be a part of something beautiful, powerful, thought-provoking, and meaningful.”

Everyone who is interested can “virtually walk with them” by following their website – which will be loaded with videos, photos, and posts collected on their journey. Others can support Homeless Youth Pride Walk 2009 by simply sharing their link on many popular networking channels. Also, supporters can get current updates by becoming followers of their blog – which includes interactive media tools, such as Google Maps, Twitter, YouTube, and Kyte TV.

“Almost 40% of homeless youth in America identify as LGBTQ,” says Noble, “This diverse group of Queer youth has a profound and powerful voice. We want to support them in their progress and give them a platform to stand on. Studies show that many LGBTQ homeless youth who receive appropriate guidance, support, resources, and encouragement, eventually become successful members of the LGBTQ community. By raising awareness we hope to inspire others to make sure more resources are available to all homeless youth for this reason.”

In the future, Noble and Hardman plan on producing public service announcements with LGBTQ youth in the Utah area, using the footage they bring back from their walk. These PSA’s are intended to launch a multi-media web site, that Queer youth can use to express themselves and empower others through personal, local, national, and international activism. Noble says about the web site, “It is our intention to unify LGBTQ youth through artistic expression, and to teach them how to become mutual mentors in a process of self-awareness and collective healing.”

We couldn’t be more proud of photographer Ida Benedetto who donated her time for the Do1Thing project. Behind the scenes, Ida shot images of Do1Thing photographers photographing homeless teens, helping to tell the story of why we do what we do. She worked “Behind the Scenes”, photographing images of Ron Haviv,Nina Bermanand talked about the project on forums including Lightstalkers with no fan fare and many of you knew nothing of the hours she spent helping our cause.

Now it’s our turn to tell the world how much we think of Ida and we tip our hats to her for winning a Fulbright grant.

Ida received a 10 month grant to work in Ethiopia. She’ll be working with Sudden Flowers, a youth video cooperative in Ethiopia’s capital. “Between now and then, I’ll build on the amazing intellectual and creative resources I’ve tapped into at Parson’s Communication, Design, and Technology department to prepare for the trip. While Sudden Flowers works mainly in video, their collaborative production methods allow for a multiplicity of creative projects. During my last trip, Sudden Flowers director Daniel Negatu and I spent a lot of time cooking up imaginative schemes for facilitating social justice media practices. I’m brimming with enthusiasm,” Ida said.

View Ida’s blog to learn more.

Hundreds of heart wrenching emails continue to flow in to Do1Thing and many of you are asking how to help. We understand your desire to make a one to one connection with a youth in need and we understand you want 100% of your donation to go to that youth.

WE HEAR YOUR CALL FOR ACTION AND WE ARE MOVED!

Today Do1Thing formed a partnership with the Orphan Foundation of America (OFA) which serves thousands of foster teens across the United States.

WHAT DO THEY DO? They provide “aged out” youth with college scholarships, connecting them with mentors and internships, sending them care packages, testifying before Congress and most importantly, they’re there to help the teens deal with everyday problems that life offers up.

In the coming weeks we’ll introduce you to youth after youth, tell you their needs and ask you to reach out and do1thing. There will be a multitude of things you can choose from including offering or paying for a college scholarship, paying for a youths school books, providing a laptop, giving them spending money, helping with personal needs, offering internships, offering mentoring, just letting them know that they’re not alone in this huge world. You would be amazed to know how many of these youth have NO ONE and the ONLY birthday card they receive is from a staff member at The Orphan Foundation. The only connection they have to a caring voice is someone at the Orphan Foundation. It’s a simple thing but when you have no one, it’s a major boost.

Do1Thing met one to one with The Orphan Foundation team and believes in the work they’re doing.

WHY DID DO 1 THING PARTNER WITH THEM? Many reasons. First, they care and know these teen intimately. They just don’t give out scholarships or send out care packages. They answer everyone of their emails and phone calls. They talk these teens “off the ledge” when they can’t handle the pressures of life and they put them together with mentors who help them with daily struggle. They partner with these teens helping them to a better future not just offering a one time band aid.

Visit their site and stay tuned to meet amazing teens who are overcoming a lifetime of horrendous events. We can make a difference. You and I can make a difference. We can do it 1 thing at a time!

The Newark Bears baseball team reached out to Do1Thing offering to help homeless teens in New Jersey. They did more than just reach out, they offered by homeless teens at Covenant House Newark internships with the Bears organization. Ronald and Ann Marie, both featured in the People Magazine spread on Do1Thing are two of the five teens.

Our sincere thanks to the Bears organization and Patti Webster, ceo of W&W Public Relations who put Do1Thing, Covenant House and the Bears together. The Newark Bears did more than 1 thing, they took a chance by hiring 5 homeless teens and gave them a possibility of a better life.

Will you join us in doing1thing?

Visit the Newark Bears site, tell them they did a great thing, go see one of their ball games, encourage other employers to reach out to do1thing and let’s make a difference!

BRAVO NEWARK BEARS!

Miki Johnson at Live Books posted this article about Do1Thing’s model.

This Valentine’s Day the New Jersey-based non-profit organization Do1Thing officially launched, with a wealth of online visual content designed to raise awareness about homeless teens in the United States. Do1Thing’s website includes images, interviews, and multimedia presentations by more than 130 photojournalists, videographers, editors, writers, and volunteers, including renowned artists such as Nina Berman, Bill Frakes, David Leeson, Ed Kashi, David Hume Kennerly, Martin Schoeller, and Vincent Laforet. Do1Thing founders Najlah Hicks and Pim Van Hemmen partnered with NGOs that address teen homelessness, especially Covenant House, to which they used this stockpile of visual content to drive traffic (and donations). We think this idea of a non-profit serving as a kind of visual consultant for other non-profits has a lot of potential, so we decided to talk to Najlah about their strategy and future goals.

Read the entire story at Resolve at Live Books

Photo District News writer Sarah Coleman writes about two time Pulitzer-prize winner Larry Price and his work on the Do1Thing project. A few short weeks after Larry’s photo of Antwuan McCoy was published in People Magazine, the dean of the College of Business and Public Services at the community college in Dayton, Ohio contacted Do1Thing and offered Antwuan a college scholarship. Their did their 1 thing!

In a homeless shelter in Dayton, Ohio, three young men gather nervously to pose for photographs. There’s Rob, who wears two wool caps over each other like a helmet on his head, and Antwuan, whose crisp white shirt signals his determination to rise above his circumstances. The third young man, who introduces himself only as Agent Thunder, is an aspiring poet and artist. He stares at the camera through wide, weary brown eyes that make him seem older than his eighteen years.

Young and Homeless in AmericaFor Larry Price, the man behind the camera, the shoot feels familiar. The Olympus Visionary photographer, who has won two Pulitzer Prizes, has a track record of documenting social causes in the United States. While a staff photographer at the Philadelphia Inquirer in the 1980s, he spent six months photographing inside a fetid, dangerous housing project – a story that led local government to demolish the project two years later.

Read the entire story posted on Photo District News.