Kategoria BISAC: Social Science >> Volunteer Work

This is a book for anyone who wants to make the world a better place but doesn't know how. The book should help you understand your own level of do-gooding and/or do-gooder potential as well as understanding what your interests and skills are in order to direct them at a given goal. This book should help you find opportunities for helping others and give you ideas for ways you can help. It is broken into five sections, entitled: what is a genuine do-gooder?; the roles of a do-gooder - volunteers, donors, citizens, careers; finding nearby windows of opportunity; the power to create change; and...

In the United States, public talk about charity for the poor is highly moralistic, even in our era of welfare reform. But how do we understand the actual experience of caring for the poor? This study looks at the front lines of volunteer involvement with the poor and homeless to assess what volunteer work means for those who do it. Rebecca Allahyari profiles volunteers at two charities--Loaves & Fishes and The Salvation Army--to show how they think about themselves and their work, providing new ways for discussing charity and morality.

Allahyari explores these agencies' differing...

This book brings together an international collection of essays that describes the state of community participation among the world's youth. Authors from around the globe use fresh empirical data to present portraits of contemporary youths constructing their civic identities through such means as community service and political activism. The image of "Generation X" as socially disconnected and apathetic is contradicted by young people's efforts to comprehend the complexities of society and to work toward the realization of social-moral ideals. The findings in this volume contribute to a...

Politics and Volunteering begins by painting a portrait of volunteering in Japan, and demonstrates that our current understandings of civil society have been based implicitly on a U.S. model that does not adequately consider participation patterns found in other parts of the world. The book develops a theory of civic participation that, incorporates citizen attitudes about governmental and individual responsibility, with societal and governmental practices that support (or hinder) volunteer participation. This theory is tested using cross-national and sub-national statistical analysis, and it...

Too few Americans volunteer annually. This inspirational book speaks to all members of the community, from grade-school students to senior citizens, and everyone in between. It identifies five primary motivations for volunteering, and will:

-Encourage people who already volunteer to keep up the good work.

-Entice those who have been postponing their volunteer adventures to start today.

-Present workable solutions to practical issues that get in the way of good intentions.

-Advocate implementing a volunteerism component to the public school curriculum.

-Provide an extensive list...

There is a mistaken assumption in many social sciences that knowledge will automatically translate into action. Based on this assumption, textbooks for basic oral communication, a required course in many college campuses, attempt to ameliorate students' communicational behaviors by teaching them knowledge about communication: theories, concepts, and terms. Not only failing their attempt, these textbooks also estrange students by belaboring what is "common sense" in students' perception.

However, in reality, numerous social problems are not because of a lack of knowledge, but because of a...

In the history of New Orleans, there are those who make policy and those who are forced to live by policy. To help balance the scales, " Voice of the Poor: Citizen Participation Informing Public Policy for Rebuilding New Orleans" focuses on low-income residents, mostly African Americans, whose views are needed to help rebuild the shattered city in a way that will make it more sustainable, inclusive, and economically competitive than it was before Hurricane Katrina.

Through citizen participation, everyone's voice can be heard. As a result, New Orleans will become more equitable. "Voice of...

A practical, inspirational, revolutionary guide to social innovation
Many of us have a deep desire to make the world around us a better place. But often our good intentions are undermined by the fear that we are so insignificant in the big scheme of things that nothing we can do will actually help feed the world s hungry, fix the damage of a Hurricane Katrina or even get a healthy lunch program up and running in the local school. We tend to think that great social change is the province of heroes an intimidating view of reality that keeps ordinary people on the couch. But extraordinary...

"During the last night at Boca de Tomates, a violent tropical storm raged across the coast, stampeding through the camp and devastating our home. We watched in awe as the already-slanting structure swayed precariously around us, as chunks of the roof flew off into the sky and as a nearby palm tree was struck by lightning. . . . Our comfortable Brighton flat and the once ubiquitous chatter of house prices and internet millionaires seemed a world away." A great number of people consider volunteering at some point in their life and this is a nuts and bolts guide to volunteering full of honest...

Policymakers, civic leaders, and scholars have increasingly focused their attention over the last decade-and-a-half on the importance of voluntary participation in civil society. From George H. W. Bush's Thousand Points of Light to Bill Clinton's AmeriCorps to George W. Bush's faith-based initiatives, it is undeniable that communities are looking to increase their levels of charity and voluntarism in the provision of public goods and services. What mobilizes giving and volunteering? What are the characteristics of communities that are engaged, and those that are not? What can policymakers and...

You want to make a difference in the world, but don't know where to begin. Now you can. Here is just the guide to lots of exciting ways that are more personal and fun than merely writing a check. For every day of the year, 365 Ways to Change the World is packed with information and ideas that don't take a lot of special skills to put into action, but will achieve something positive:

• Observe a "Buy Nothing Day"
• Plant a "peace pole"
• Sew a panel for an AIDS memorial quilt
• Collect rainwater to water your plants

The suggestions cover...

Our communities depend on our ability to make the connection between education and democracy. This book can breathe new life into colleges and universities that want to reinforce their public service mission. Jacoby and her colleagues tell us how to do it.
--Dolores E. Cross, president, Chicago State University

Combining the most current theory and practice in the field of service-learning with many examples from actual campuses, Service-Learning in Higher Education is a comprehensive guide to developing high-quality service-learning experiences both in the curriculum...

Do you want to become a volunteer but feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of organizations to choose from? Look no further than this revised edition of the bestselling book Make a Difference

Complied and written by Arthur Blaustein, adjunct professor of social and urban policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and faculty advisor for its Americorps program, this guide offers valuable information for everyone inspired to give back to their communities. Make a Difference will help you find innumerable opportunities to put your expertise and talents to good use.

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If retirement is approaching or you've recently retired, Adventures in Senior Living can help you prepare for the opportunities, needs, problems, and challenges that retirement often brings. Through 31 lively and interesting interviews, you learn how other people have found positive and rewarding ways to make their retirement years meaningful and enjoyable. Opening windows into their own lives, these inspiring retirees share with you a wide range of retirement ideas that pertain to volunteer work, travel, selecting your living arrangements, and getting involved in your...

Service-learning, the integration of community service with academic course work, is a promising strategy for enhancing learning and developing active democratic citizens. This book responds to the many recent calls for youth involvement in service as part of the public school curriculum. While service-learning holds many benefits for students, teachers, and communities, there are also many challenges to effectively incorporatie it into the curriculum.

Each of the book's four parts provides a different scope and purpose. Part 1 addresses the components of quality service- learning...

In Community Service and Higher Learning, Robert A. Rhoads examines the experiences of students as they commit themselves to community service during their college years. The author explores how a student's sense of self may be challenged through involvement in the lives of others within the context of community service relationships. Central to his "explorations of the self" is the role "caring" plays as a source of self understanding and identity development.

Drawing upon classic symbolic interactionists such as George Herbert Mead as well as contemporary feminists such as Carol...

While many political theorists argue that the problems and failures of American democracy are rooted in the decline of civil society, few examine how American institutions socialize citizens to participate in the voluntary associations that comprise civil society. Peter Robert Sawyer offers a life history approach to explore citizen involvement within one community in upstate New York. Sawyer's informants model enlightened self-interest and participate actively in their community's voluntary associations. Their life histories, revealed in rich narrative, tell us how they think about political...

Philanthropy and voluntarism are among the most familiar and least understood of American institutions. The oldest American nonprofit corporation--Harvard College--dates from 1636, but most of the million or so nonprofits currently in existence were established after 1960. In -Inventing the Nonprofit Sector- and Other Essays on Philanthropy, Voluntarism, and Nonprofit Organizations cultural historian Peter Dobkin Hall describes and analyzes the development of America's fastest growing institutional sector.

This volume--an outgrowth of the annual meeting of the Claremont Symposium on Applied Social Psychology--focuses on examples of social change and community action, and the processes at work in creating change. The presenters engaged each other and the audience in thinking about how best to create and sustain social change. This volume represents a product of their cumulative insight, research results, and perspectives, including chapters from each of the symposium presenters, as well as a few selected chapters from other noted scholars. Taken as a whole, the volume is highly accessible and...