For the past 3 years, Jolkona volunteers have traveled to different parts of the world visiting our amazing partners and getting a deep understanding of how their work is having a lasting impact in the local communities. I am sure I speak for our volunteers when I say that these trips have been life-changing. Whether it is learning about a teacher who has taught in a Rio favela for 27 straight years, or learning about a family supporting an entire village in Kenya, or understanding the difficulty Myanmar refugees face in Thailand, these first hand experiences have really helped us appreciate the impact our partners are having on the ground, amongst some difficult circumstances.

First public trip: West Africa

Over the last 3 years, we have learned about how to design a successful trip that engages the participants through deep interactions with our partners on the ground. This year we are opening up our trip to the public for the first time. We are heading to West Africa in early April. We will be visiting 4 countries – Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Burkina Faso – and the trip will take exactly 2 weeks. We will be visiting 4 partner organizations and learning about everything from large scale urban waste processing to education in remote villages to microfinance and small business investments. I will be joined by these 5 folks on the trip:

Sue Jin Kim

I am currently living in San Francisco, working as an interaction designer for Amazon(Lab 126). I lived in Masan (my hometown in South Korea), Seoul, New York, Chicago and Seattle previously. I spent five years in Seattle working for Xbox, living in Capitol hill, drinking a lot of coffee, eating pho and listening music.

I have background in design research, design strategy and interaction design. I love travel- the latest trip I took was to Colombia last December by myself. That hat was an amazing time. I love new experiences, learning about new cultures and meeting people. It constantly challenges my perception about how things should be.

This trip will be an amazing opportunity for me as I’m deeply interested in topics like women and education; however, I haven’t participated deeply in these areas, other than going to women’s conferences.

Lena Alfi

Right now, I am spending few months traveling the world before starting my graduate school in the fall. Previously, I worked as a Development Coordinator at an international health and humanitarian aid non-profit, Project Concern International (PCI). I mostly work on the business development side (proposal writing) for a women’s economic empowerment program in 16 countries.

I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and my parents are from Egypt and Syria. I speak Arabic and little bit of Spanish and I enjoy hiking and yoga.

This trip sounds like a great opportunity to learn about the innovative ways people have generated resources for themselves, and to immerse into a new culture and part of the world I’ve never been to. As I’m starting graduate school in the fall in International Development, I would love to bring a new and fresh perspective about West Africa.

Monica Mendoza

Never underestimate the power of social media. I was introduced to Jolkona via Twitter when they mentioned a project in the country of my birth, Bolivia. I am now volunteering with Jolkona to apply my marketing experience to the work Jolkona is doing. Professionally, I love the audience engagement aspect of marketing and I am excited to help Jolkona seek out individuals who want to make a difference. I have wanted to visit Africa for quite some time and I am excited for the opportunity to see first hand how the mix of contributions and passion is having a positive impact.

Punit Java

I am passionate about finding new ways to connect people with technology to enrich their lives. I have several years of experience building mobile and embedded products with Microsoft, Amazon and through my own private ventures. I have a Bachelors degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo. I have been volunteering with Jolkona to help with technology strategy including building the web and mobile experiences.

This trip is a great opportunity for me to observe social innovation and technology in developing nations, and hopefully figure out a way to make an impact.

Nancy Xu

I’ve been working with Jolkona for 3 years on various creative endeavors like the Hulu commercial, event posters, and at the moment the website redesign. I’ve loved volunteering, social and community work since I was 11, but it was really the first Jolkona trip 3 years ago that changed my life. I’m looking forward to another life changing journey to see the amazing innovations, this time in West Africa.

A big part of these trips is the discussions and reflections that go on outside of the partner visits. I am thrilled about the background and experiences the individuals in this group bring to this trip. It will be exciting to see how each of us personalize the experiences over the two weeks and what these experiences mean for each of us. We will be blogging from the trip continuously and so check back often with the Jolkona blog to see our latest updates

Join a future expedition

We are going to be opening up our future trips to the public as well. We are planning expeditions to Central America, East Africa, and Southeast Asia in the next 12 – 18 months. Spots are limited and if you wanted to stay informed about upcoming expeditions, please send email to expedition@jolkona.org

The latest Census Bureau numbers on poverty in the U.S. probably don’t come as much of a surprise: Americans’ income has fallen, and more people, 46.2 million, are living below the official poverty threshold than at any time in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing poverty estimates. More than one in seven Americans is now officially poor, the highest rate since 1993.

Amidst the barrage of bleak economic news, these poverty figures caught my attention and raised my ire. How can it be that we are letting so many Americans fall behind? Why can’t we do better? If you haven’t read much about these stats, take a look at some of the details below.

Minorities and low-income Americans hit hardest

The greatest increases in poverty were among black and Hispanic Americans, about 27 percent of whom now live in poverty. As The New York Times’ infographic below shows, the number of black and Hispanic Americans living below the poverty line exceeds the combined populations of Michigan and Illinois. And Americans at the bottom of the income spectrum had the biggest drop in median income — for those in the bottom tenth, median income fell by 12 percent from 1999, while it dropped by just 1.5 percent for the top 90th percentile, according to The New York Times’ analysis. This compares to an overall drop in median income of 2.3 percent from 2009 and 7 percent from the peak in 1999.

Click on the image to view the infographic at full size:

What is “poverty”?

The official poverty line is $22,314 for a family of four and $11,139 for a single person (including Social Security and other cash benefits, but excluding non-cash benefits such as Medicare or housing assistance). Can you imagine trying to live on that in most parts of the U.S.?

The official poverty measure has been widely criticized for being an overly simplistic calculation that has not been updated since it was created in 1964. This fall, however, the bureau will release revised poverty figures based on a new Supplemental Poverty Measure that incorporates a more complex set of factors and is adjusted for geographic differences in the cost of housing. The Center for American Progress has an excellent summary of how the current poverty threshold is calculated, its flaws and efforts to update it.

Jolkona’s partners address poverty around the globe

Ameliorating poverty in the U.S. — and globally — is a complex, long-term endeavor. In the meantime, a number of Jolkona’s partners are helping individuals and communities improve their economic well-being in the near-term.

As a Jolkona intern this summer, I visited and wrote about Jubilee Women’s Center, a transitional housing program for homeless women, and Washington C.A.S.H., which gives low-income entrepreneurs the training and support to build successful businesses. I saw firsthand how these programs are helping people regain their self-sufficiency and increase their income.

You can see full the range of partner projects that address the United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by using the filtering feature at the top of Jolkona’s project page.

Poverty isn’t going away any time soon, but these projects are “drops of water” that give the world’s most vulnerable citizens a chance for a better future.

Infographic credit: The New York Times, 2011

Alicia Paredes’s story could easily have ended like the ones we hear every day about families who have lost their homes and their hope after a layoff. Fortunately for her family, Alicia had started her own cleaning business with the help of Washington C.A.S.H. just six months before her husband, the family’s main breadwinner, lost his job in 2009. Now she works 10-hours a day, six days a week, but the pride she feels in supporting her family is worth it. “I’m so happy because we didn’t lose my house, we didn’t lose my car, I pay for my little boy who is in private school,” said Alicia. “Then I see that I doubled my income in one year, and I feel so proud, so happy. I said to my family, ‘You don’t have to worry.’ ”

Getting the tools to succeed

Alicia’s energy and perseverance have clearly been a big factor in her success, but Washington C.A.S.H.’s programs gave her the practical knowledge, tools and support to build her business. She started out by taking their eight-week Business Development Training course, and then graduated to the business management course, where she learned the nitty-gritty of cash flow, credit, taxes and managing business accounts.

In addition to the classes, Alicia got a lot of support from the volunteer coaches, who helped her design her brochure and business cards, from bi-monthly meetings with her peer business group, and from Washington C.A.S.H.’s Spanish-speaking staff. Washington C.A.S.H.’s business showcase events, where members can sell their products and services to the general public, were also critical in building her customer base, said Alicia. “Being a part of Washington C.A.S.H. and learning how to start a business and how to structure my business, that’s the best investment in my life.”

A hopeful future

When I met Alicia, she had just returned from her first vacation in several years and was helping her older son get ready to start college at the University of Washington this fall. She seemed filled with optimism about the future — a refreshing change from the somber economic news that assaults us daily. She’s even thinking about expanding her business by hiring a part-time employee. “My business is going up,” she said. “I love this work. My clients always refer me to more people. I’m going to talk to my coach about making my business grow, having one employee.”

A model for success

Washington C.A.S.H. serves people who have been especially hard-hit by the economic downturn. According to a recent New York Times article on the growing number of Americans living in poverty, “Median household income for the bottom tenth of the income spectrum fell by 12 percent from a peak in 1999, while the top 90th percentile dropped by just 1.5 percent.” All of Washington C.A.S.H.’s clients are considered low-income under local Department of Housing and Urban Development guidelines, while two-thirds are women, and more than half are people of color.

Washington C.A.S.H.’s clients are consistently beating the odds: an independent evaluation by the Aspen Institute found that nearly three quarters of training graduates reported an increase in income. And 95 percent of clients who had a business when they started the training were still in business 18 months later, as were 63 percent of all participants surveyed for the evaluation, including those who started with just a business idea.

Consider sponsoring an entrepreneur to attend a Washington C.A.S.H. training or a business showcase event. Your investment will help an aspiring low-income entrepreneur like Alicia gain the skills to become a successful, self-sufficient business owner at a time when our nation’s least advantaged are being left behind.

To celebrate International Literacy Day, here’s a post written by Katie Murray at Barakat, one of our nonprofit partners, about the work they do to provide education to women in South and Central Asia.

At the age of 18, Nazeera is attending school for the first time. Like many Afghan women, she didn’t attend school as a child because her parents resisted educating her. But now Nazeera attends a literacy program run by Jolkona partner Barakat, where she is finally learning to read and write. Having been denied the opportunity to gain a formal education at a younger age, Nazeera plans to pass on her belief in the importance of education to her children. Thanks to Jolkona donors, Nazeera and nearly 250 other women and girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan have been able to receive an education and improve their lives and the lives of their families.

An innovative approach to women’s literacy

Only approximately 13 percent of females in Afghanistan are literate. After 25 years of war, the education and empowerment of women and children is crucial to the future of Afghanistan. As a recent post about the United Nations Millennium Development Goals explains, educating women is a key to their empowerment and to the long-term development of nations.

In Afghanistan, however, girls are sometimes forbidden from being educated if programs are not separated by gender, because there are strict cultural codes that restrict the interactions between boys and girls. Barakat’s Women’s Literacy Program provides education for women and girls who are not able to attend school for cultural and religious regions. Instead, these women are taught in the homes of local families. This is a valuable incentive for parents like Nazeera’s who may be reluctant to send their daughters to a public school. Barakat offers both lower-level literacy courses (called Sowat Amausi, meaning “to teach one to become literate”) and higher-level literacy courses (called Sowat Hayati, which means “literate for life”).

Nazeera’s situation is all too prevalent across Afghanistan. Barakat’s literacy courses work to raise awareness about the right to an education, while improving the low literacy rates in the regions where it operates. Barakat believes that the way forward in Afghanistan can only be paved by an educated, empowered populace that respects individual and human rights.

About Barakat

Barakat works to strengthen the fundamental human right to education in South and Central Asia by providing exemplary basic education, increasing access to higher education and advancing literacy, particularly for women and children. Running five schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Barakat works towards its mission by supporting local, innovative organizations that are making a real difference in the places they work.

This summer, Katie Murray interned as a Development Assistant at Barakat in Cambridge, Mass. She is currently entering her senior year at Boston University, where she studies International Relations. After graduating, she hopes to pursue a career in the field of international development with a focus on gender.

For those of us who have stable housing, we probably don’t worry too much about the security of our possessions. But if you’ve been homeless, having a safe place to store your belongings is a big deal. That’s why Katy Childers, director of development for Jubilee Women’s Center, was excited to show me their new storage room with large, locked cages for each resident to store her belongings. The lockers are one small but important detail that demonstrates Jubilee’s commitment to treating the women who reside there with dignity as they work toward once again living independently.

A home on the hill

On a drizzly July morning, I visited Jubilee Women’s Center, a Jolkona partner, in a quiet residential area of Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Housed in a former convent, Jubilee was started 28 years ago by nuns who saw that there wasn’t a place for single homeless women. Jubilee continues to be one of the few organizations in Seattle that provides transitional housing and wrap-around services specifically for single women. Jubilee has space for 34 women — one-third of the approximately 100 spots in all programs for single women in Seattle, according to Katy. The immaculate facilities, extensively renovated in 2008 by a team of volunteers who donated everything from landscape design to efficient washing machines, feel like a real home — a safe, peaceful place to heal.

In order to regain their independence, most of the women at Jubilee have a lot of healing to do. Many are recovering from addiction or debilitating illnesses such as cancer. Many have also been victims of domestic violence, which is one of the primary causes of homelessness among women: an estimated 92 percent of homeless women have experienced severe physical or sexual abuse at some point in their lives, and 63 percent have been victims of intimate partner violence as adults.

“One thing I’ve seen is that when people come in there’s this initial relief that you don’t have to think about where you’re going to sleep tonight,” said Katy. “Your immediate needs are met. But then, three or four weeks into it, there’s this ‘holy crap’ — you have to deal with all these other issues that have caused that situation, and you have to start delving into some issues that can be really, really painful.”

Breaking down the barriers to independence

To help the women rebuild their lives, Jubilee’s care managers meet with each woman at least weekly and help her create and follow through on a personalized plan that will allow her to live independently within two years. The women’s individual success plans focus on three goals: personal empowerment, permanent housing and economic well-being. In addition to connecting the women with resources in the community, Jubilee offers a variety of life-skills classes such as goal-setting, personal finance and job searching. Jubilee also has a computer lab and computer classes, allowing the women — many of whom have never used a computer before — to access benefits, improve their job skills and search for housing.

The average time a woman spends at Jubilee has been increasing due to the slow economy and longer wait times for subsidized housing, but most women are able to transition to permanent housing within two years. A number of former residents come back to volunteer and share their skills. One former resident, who graduated from FareStart’s culinary training program and went on to cooking school, now comes back to make meals with the women. Another former resident, a talented artist, visits to teach the women how to make cards, which they sell to local businesses. “I got a note woman who’d been here ten years ago,” said Katy. “She’d made a donation and said, ‘this was a very difficult time in my life, but I am really thankful for it.’”

Watch this video to hear from some of the women who have benefited from Jubilee’s services.

How you can help

You can support a woman living at Jubilee to receive the one-on-one services she needs to transition to independence. Or you can make a gift to support Jubilee’s clothing boutique, which serves residents as well as 100 women from the community each month, allowing them to shop for consignment-quality clothes in a dignified environment. At a time when state and local funding for social services is being drastically cut, your support for Jubilee will provide crucial services for homeless women trying to rebuild their lives.

“Hope is not a business plan,” instructor James Dunn told 18 aspiring entrepreneurs the night I sat in on a business training class at Washington Community Alliance for Self-Help (Washington C.A.S.H.), a Jolkona partner. He ought to know: one of his early business ventures involved selling art posters for $3 each — until he realized it was costing him $5 each to produce them.

Now James teaches low-income entrepreneurs how to avoid the mistakes he made in his early years of business — and emulate his later successes — through Washington C.A.S.H.’s eight-week business-development training (BDT) course. Each quarter, Washington C.A.S.H. offers the BDT series in several locations in Western Washington, as well as sections in Spanish. I attended week two of the training, which jumps right into the main purpose of any business: Make money.

Learning to be realistic — and smart

When the class started to analyze several participants’ businesses, it was clear why new entrepreneurs should start crunching numbers early. Some had expenses that put them solidly in the red, and few were happy with the net profits they estimated. “I won’t be retiring in Italy on that,” lamented one participant. About 40 percent of participants will end up changing their original business idea, according to James.

Throughout the class, James urged participants to be realistic and honest with themselves, but he also emphasized how much an entrepreneur can control through smart business design. “Can you charge as much as you want for anything?” James asked the class at one point. His surprising answer: “Yes, but your price has to match the value you provide.” The most important thing for the participants to gain from the course, James told me, is “confidence . . . and knowing that they can achieve success.”

I came away from the evening with the message that as a prospective entrepreneur you have to wield a sharp pencil, but if you plan your business carefully and provide value that customers are willing to pay for, you have a fighting chance. In fact, 95 percent of BDT graduates who already had a business when they started the course, and 63 percent of all graduates surveyed (including those who started with just a business idea) were still in business 18 months later, according to a recent independent evaluation by the Aspen Institute. Three quarters of graduates surveyed reported an increase in income. Especially in a tough economy, that’s an impressive outcome.

Classes are just the beginning

In addition to the classroom experience, BDT participants have access to one-on-one mentoring with volunteer coaches. They also get lots of support from each other. “The business owners learn to foster and contribute to each other’s success,” said James, “and share all their talents, knowledge and community resources.”

Graduates of BDT are eligible to participate in peer business groups that meet twice a month for networking, guest speakers and mentoring. Business group members also have access to advanced training and may apply for Washington C.A.S.H. loans of up to $35,000. In addition, Washington C.A.S.H. offers venues for their clients to sell their products and get hands-on training in retail product development, pricing and presentation.

How you can help

Washington C.A.S.H.’s services are free or very low cost for income-qualified clients. Most of their clients are women; more than half are minorities, who have disproportionately high rates of unemployment. Compared to other microenterprise development programs, a much larger proportion of Washington C.A.S.H.’s clients are below the federal poverty level.

You can help a low-income person gain the skills to become a successful, self-sufficient business owner. Consider sponsoring an entrepreneur to attend a day-long training, the entire BDT course or a business showcase event.

And stay tuned for an interview with one of Washington C.A.S.H.’s clients who is now a successful business owner supporting her family.

Opportunity Collaboration 2010 (OC 2010) was an amazing experience for Nadia and me. For those not familiar with Opportunity Collaboration, it brings together close to 300 non-profit leaders, social enterprises, and funders with the goal of spurring conversations and collaboration around poverty alleviation. It is an un-conference where the focus is placed on getting things done versus hearing keynote speakers and panel talks. I have been reflecting on that experience since my return. For me, often times the best way to make a sense of things is to write down my thoughts and this blog post is my attempt to do just that.

One of my favorite discussions at OC 2010 was actually the first session where we analyzed Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. It was a perfect way to start this un-conference. It set the stage for everyone to bring an open, respectful, and cooperative attitude to the rest of the event. The participants of Opportunity Collaboration brought with them rich stories from the field that really added to the depth of the discussions all weekend.

Opportunity to collaborate

As the name implies, the focus of the event was on collaborations and partnerships. Nadia and I had to wear two hats while we were at the conference – seeking out partnership opportunities that we can fund through our web platform as well as meeting with potential funders to support and fund our operations.

Read the rest of this entry »

“It personally helps me to not be dependent on the people who can operate a computer….But when we can do the things by counting on ourselves, we realize that all is easy and possible,” says Manuel, a Roots and Wings International computer lab user. Manuel beams with pride as he and his fellow students learn and benefit from the use of a computer-something foreign to the subsistence-farming community of Pasac, Guatemala, where RWI’s computer lab is located. Manuel is getting an education that will lead him out of poverty, an education he otherwise would not have had if RWI had not flown in with the donated laptops that are the cornerstone of the organization’s education initiative. In Manuel’s village of Pasac, the students are getting a glimpse of our technology-centered world. To date, RWI has flown five donated computers to this little village to deliver a better quality of life.

Two hundred and fifty children currently share the five laptop computers at RWI’s computer lab. Waiting in line is a daily chore, but their turn to get a computer education that will eventually lead them out of the impoverished lifestyles that they currently lead makes the wait worth it! See photos of RWI’s Guatemalan students hard at work in the computer lab.

Fortunately, RWI has received ten additional computers through donations made through the 25Comptuers Campaign in the past few months. These computers are being refurbished to make them ready for use in the lab. Once ready, the laptops will be flown to Guatemala. The generosity provided by RWI supporters will enable RWI to educate a greater number of children and provide a place for more scholars to congregate and learn. If you’d like to make a donation, click http://www.jolkona.org/projects/44.

In the computer lab, RWI directors and tutors see the young students manipulate the keyboard with expressions of awe plastered all over their faces; they calculate numbers, type sentences to learn grammar and complete other standard school work. The older students, our scholars, use these computers to do school work as well. They are working hard to earn stellar grades so that colleges will accept them left and right. And they are! We have many students who attain acceptance at top universities in fields that will enable them to return to their communities and incorporate their knowledge to improve the quality of life for the members of the very community in which they grew up. Overall, the dreams and career aspirations of RWI’s children are no longer bottled up. Their dreams are being put into motion via education.

Monetary donations, aside from laptop donations, are a second way RWI receives assistance in helping the Guatemalan communities. Jolkona, working in partnership with RWI, will ensure that 100% of the donated amount will go toward the cause. Here is a breakdown:

• 30% will go to paying the computer teachers,
• 50% to maintaining the computers and purchasing software and
• 20% to paying for electricity and furniture in RWI’s Guatemalan computer lab.

That is 100% of your donation dollars going directly to help RWI.

So you see, there is no middle-man fee when you donate through Jolkona Foundation. Every penny of your donated dollars goes strictly to helping the cause to which you donated. Now isn’t that a sigh of relief? Thank Jolkona Foundation’s flawless philosophy! You can make a difference. A donation of $25 will go toward purchasing more laptops and help more students in Guatemala’s impoverished communities.

Right now, Jolkona, in partnership with RWI, is raising funds to cover the computer tutoring costs of 20 Guatemalan children. RWI can use your help. Donate online at http://www.jolkona.org/projects/44.

	Support Computer Literacy in Rural Guatemala