http://www.changesbrooklyn.com Volunteering in the Age of Obama Thu, 14 May 2009 17:45:13 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Jim and I just finished our first BlogTalk Radio episode, with guest Noelle Gentile, creator of the Facebook Group YES WE CAN - VOLUNTEER!!!. You can listen to the entire broadcast here: BlogTalk Radio is a really fun format and a great way to loop people into a conversation, both in ... http://www.changesbrooklyn.com/2009/05/14/blogtalk-radio-brooklyn-volunteers/ On Thursday May 14 from 1 to 1:15 p.m.., ChangesBrooklyn will host a radio show on Blog Talk Radio. Call (646) 595-3504 or click here to listen. Noelle Gentile, creator of the Facebook group "YES WE CAN-VOLUNTEER!!!" will talk with us about the enthusiasm of Brooklynites for volunteering – and how it's ... http://www.changesbrooklyn.com/2009/05/13/join-us-for-a-talk/ [caption id="attachment_336" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Susan Voelker, left, and Susan Meyer, volunteers at 826NYC, show off the fruit of a recent workshop. "][/caption] If you're into Brooklyn's literary scene, you're likely familiar with 826NYC, a tutoring and writing center for kids tucked behind a secret bookcase in the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. ... http://www.changesbrooklyn.com/2009/05/08/profile-826nyc/ Last week was commemorated as National Volunteer Week by the Points of Light institute, an organization that promotes volunteerism and civic engagement. Both nationally and locally, volunteer-related developments made headlines. Bloomberg unveils new volunteer initiative At a rally in Washington Heights on Monday, April 20, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a new program, ... http://www.changesbrooklyn.com/2009/04/21/bloomberg-unveils-new-volunteer-initiative/ An item in this morning's Daily News says that the four New York schools participating in the Experience Corps program will likely lose city funding to renew it this year.  The program places people over age 55 in schools to tutor children with reading. Apparently private money has been hard ... http://www.changesbrooklyn.com/2009/04/19/funding-threatened-for-retired-reading-tutors/ [caption id="attachment_308" align="alignleft" width="360" caption="Leah Todd of SafeWalk is ready to walk you home. Photo: J. Flood"][/caption] If you feel sketchy walking home in Brooklyn late at night and you don't want to spring for a cab, there's someone you can call. Starting in May, SafeWalk, a burgeoning volunteer program, will ... http://www.changesbrooklyn.com/2009/04/12/safewalk-takes-you-home/ Earlier this week New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a series of initiatives to help nonprofit organizations weather the economic downturn. Noting that the nonprofit sector employs nearly 500,000 New Yorkers, the mayor said it was important to take what he called "concrete steps to strengthen the sector and make ... http://www.changesbrooklyn.com/2009/04/11/city-takes-action-to-help-nonprofits/ [caption id="attachment_243" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Books Through Bars volunteers Jess Ross and Natsumi Paxton at work on a recent Sunday."][/caption] In a tiny basement room on 4th Ave in Brooklyn, bibliophiles gather to sort and package books to send to prisons all over the country. This is the home of Books ... http://www.changesbrooklyn.com/2009/04/04/profile-books-through-bars/ If you ride a bicycle in the city but can't afford to bring it to a bike shop for expensive repairs, you're in luck. Time's Up! will teach you how to fix your bike yourself. [caption id="attachment_178" align="alignleft" width="436" caption="Mechanic Dustin Wade works on a bike at Time's Up!'s Brooklyn space."][/caption] On ... http://www.changesbrooklyn.com/2009/03/31/fostering-community-through-bike-maintenance/ Not all Americans believe it's a good idea for the government to encourage volunteerism. Don Watkins, a writer for the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, weighed in on President Obama's calls for people to give back to their communities: "When the government, instead of protecting individual rights, starts forcing us to ... http://www.changesbrooklyn.com/2009/03/25/the-freedom-to-be-selfish/