Project Description

Students of the Mississippi-Vermont Community Comection class at Twinfield Union School in Marshfield, Vermont have been learning from a “Rights in Action” curriculum. It is a model that enables students to reflect, create and fulfill action plans while building a voice that empowers and is shaped by community. Imagine a new generation of citizen activists bridging our nation’s North and South divide, raising their voices on important public issues, and enlisting community leaders and educators as partners in the civic and political life of their communities. A Vermont student, fully aware of the significance of race and history, reflected on our work and her connection with Mississippi youth, that religion and education separates us; not race. It was here at Twinfield where Vermont students first became aware of the discrimination, exclusion and injustices students from northern Mississippi experience in the process of acquiring an education. Twinfield students have been shocked by stories they heard from the southern students related to the inequitable practices preventing young people in Mississippi from acquiring a first-rate education. Two years ago, the Rural School and Community Trust brought youth-adult teams from the Mississippi Delta, Midwest, and Northeast together at the historic Penn Center in South Carolina. The students immediately experienced compassion for one another and made commitments to find ways to support each other. They learned about the effective organizing principles used in the 1960’s struggle for equality to apply relevant skills to new “civic action” projects in their communities. Since that time, Twinfield students have also become familiar with their southern partners involvement in Youth Innovation Movement Solutions (YIMS), a team of Mississippi youth and community leaders and their efforts to reverse the educational inequities. Vermont students from Twinfield High School are understanding and acting on important issues as part of their school curriculum—a civics in action course. This year, through generous donations from community partners, Twinfield Union School will be sending 26 members to Northern Mississippi to form relationships, visit schools, and participate in workshops and activities devoted to critical awareness of one another’s experiences. This May, students involved in (YIMS) will join us in Vermont. Their visit will be devoted to supporting the Twinfield community members they connected with in Mississippi by attending and participating in academic and community events. The visitors will also participate in training in the "Rights in Action" curriculum developed at Twinfield. We have so much to learn from one another and we are trying to give these students the opportunity to create real change. Please consider donating to help us reach our goal of $39,040, which includes traveling expenses for the Vermont community members to visit Mississippi as well as supporting the fundraising efforts of the Mississippi group to visit Vermont.

Project Description

Free culture at NYU is a chapter of a national student movement exploring the nature of innovation in the context of American Copyright law and media distribution. Free Culture is dedicated to the promotion of thoughtful and progressive discourse and debate, as well as relevant social activism. We stand behind the principles of a “common sense” approach to intellectual property rights as presented by Lawrence Lessig in his book “Free Culture”. We hope to serve those members of the NYU community with an intent in preserving an open exchange of creative issues.

Project Description

From San Diego California: More info at www.CarrizoCreekRange.Org

For those who are as passionate about their Second Amendment rights, environment, and preservation of multi-use public land as we are, this volunteer opportunity is FOR YOU!

If you have not noticed, open land to shoot on, our public land, is dwindling at an alarming rate. From La Posta to Kitchen Creek, we have been loosing hundreds of acres of land per year.

All of this is because of a few reasons - a couple of them we have 100% control over:

- Safety Issues

- Littering

Safety Issues: OBSERVE your weapon safety rules. They are really simple and effective.

Littering: DONT DO IT YOURSELF. If you bring targets out to our public lands, bring them home with you! Its that simple. In addition – police each other. This is your land just as much as it is my land.

Doing just these two things can, from this day forward, preserve our public lands. As for those lands we are using now, which are in IMMEDIATE DANGER of being closed to the public...

We can prevent the closure of these places by taking PROACTIVE steps to protect them.

Out highway 8 lies about 20 acres of BLM land (Bureau of Land Management) which is 100% open to the public and has been utilized as a range by shooters for years because of its great location and terrific terrain features.

Unfortunately, for every 100 users ofthis land, there are the 10% who are not responsible and have caused a severe build up of trash which could possibly cause the range to be closed off to the public.

As you are aware, this has happened in the past; unfortunately there was no one to be proactive and prevent the closure process before it started.

WE CAN BE PROACTIVE AND PRESERVE THIS RANGE!!!

How you can help:

- Equipment such as tractors (we need a "bobcat" still) Your financial contribution and sponsorships can help us fund the rental of this needed asset.

- Sponsorships - Many opportunities for businesses, organizations or individuals that can BENEFIT YOU & US in many ways!

- Labor - 200+ people are needed for the 2 day clean up which will go down in the Spring

- Exposure - Pass the word!!! After asking yourself ask the indoor range you shoot at, and the shops you patronize, what they are doing to help this cause.

Project Description

We're struggling for our student group to meet in our high school. This group helps stop and show people how discrimination can harm people even when it's just joking around. Our current website is at www.ohsgsa.org. There are many of these groups nationwide but still its not nearly enough. We're going to be participating in a few activities this year and in the years to come along with other GSA's nationwide. We're helping to change our community's view of LGBT and straight ally youth, one student at a time.

Project Description

In 2005, Katherine Chon won a BRICK Award for her advocacy work against sex trafficking. Partnering with a friend, Katherine established the Washington, D.C.-based Polaris Project to combat modern-day slavery. She has organized the Congressional Briefing on Sex Trafficking in the US, created a sex trafficking curriculum, and trained over 80 community leaders.  

Project Description

2000 BRICK Award winner Heather Barr worked as a Staff Attorney at the Urban Justice Center in New York City. A formerly homeless teen, Heather wrote a definitive report on the incarceration of people with mental illness, filed a successful lawsuit to compel New York City to provide discharge planning for 30,000 inmates with mental illness each year. She also co-founded the Nathaniel Project, the nation’s first alternative to incarceration program for felony offenders with serious mental illness.

Project Description

In 2000, Angelica Salas won a BRICK Award for her work as the Executive Director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, CA. A Mexican immigrant who came to the United States at age four with her teenage aunt and uncle to reunite with her parents, Angelica leads a multi-ethnic coalition that advocates for the human and civil rights of immigrants and refugees in Los Angeles, helping increase naturalization rates by 400%.