Profile a Volunteer

Community service is a major part of my life. Being that I am in a alumni chapter of a sorority we complete community service at least once a month here in our local community. So it's really board for me to choose just one individual who represents an example of a volunteer because I know so many women who live to give back to their community, but if I have to choose one of my sisters is a veteran so she supports homeless veterans by creating an organization with that as the sole purpose. Her  organization hosts events like operation stand down where she involves other organizations to provide supplies or information for the veterans and raise money to assist in other efforts. Her organization also supports current military personnel by sending care packages. Her passion for helping others is so clear in her work and I only hope to become like that one day.

Using Social Media to Get Connected

The Internet has taken over the world, the biggest sites are social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. These sites can be effective toils of advocacy and creating awareness on topics, they also provide a quick way to reach a mass number of individuals.

In my own advocacy experiences I have supported campaigns by posting certain images or videos to my own site, shared advocacy efforts that u come across with others. Most recently a soror of my Sandra Bland died in police custody, I joined the advocacy efforts to bring awareness to the "All lives Matter" by posting the image Sandy Speaks to my profile.

When social media is used correctly it can be a powerful movement.

Advocacy through Advertisment

The Love has no Labels campaign is designed to cause individals to end thier biases against others. This is one of the biggest problems facing our nation now, many groups of peole feel they are being discriminated against including African Americans, the LGBT community, and the hispanic community. This campaign in important to the success to our future as a country.

The other campaign that is caught my attention was an education adveristment, that begin in the 70s with the slogan, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste". Now it has moved to "A better future" which encourages individuals to support UNCF and seek higher education.  Since the campaign begin millions of minorty children have attened college. A better future is something that all minority children can benefit from.



Reference:
http://www.adcouncil.org/Our-Campaigns/Education/Supporting-Minority-Education

http://www.adcouncil.org/Our-Campaigns/Family-Community/Diversity-Inclusion

My Own Capacity

There are several issues impacting the early childhood field that fuel my passion for the field. One of those issues being the poverty, I work with families regularly that live at or below poverty and I see the impact our program has on their lives. Not only is poverty an issue but so is the fact that universal quality childcare is not being provided in this country.  

As an assistant director I have a lot of resources available to me within our company as well as outside the company to support my advocacy efforts. Within our company we have the opportunity to express our concerns about the early chilhdood field and educational programming, we have company representatives that are involved with government and policy making.  Within the community I am involved with the local smart start agency. Thus far in this course I have also discovered other sourced through the webiste we have explored.

Being an advocate involved with social policy is new to me. Advocating for the best for children is something I have already been doing. But as an advocate in social policy I hope that I cancontinue to learn of ways to get involved and make a difference.

Personal Advocacy Reflection

My life is full of volunteer work with my sorority, thus I interact with a lot on individuals that have impacted my advocacy journey. My sorority sister who is a former Veteran who now works in HR Management for At&t. She spends her time advocating for homeless veterans.  She host and event entitiled Operation Standown where she raises awareness to the cause all under her own Non Profit Organization.  I have seen her organize and teach others like me to be strong leaders. Her dedication not only to cause but also to teaching those along the way to stand up and be involved if they strongly care about the issue or whatever you choose to advocate for as had a lasting impact on me,  I worked closly with her co chairing a youth symposium several years where we provide information and materials to children who are need. I will continue to chair this program this year on my own as she has moved to another state. I only hope I can be the advocate she would have me to be in the future!

Advocacy Action

Advocacy embodies many of the above characteristics above, no matter what you choose as your passion. Even in early childhood education everyone has a passion in the field but not matter what you always speak up for what you believe in, educate yourself for the cause, collaborate with others and lead the way for the future.

Profile a Volunteer

Volunteering is a major part of my life, I volunteer on a regular basis with my alumnae sorority. Our focus in our community is working with young children, we plan events that supply children with school supplies, host programs that give children resources and education on STEM, and collect shoes for children in need just to name a few of our projects. More recently we have taken on a project where we mentor young ladies in middle and high school. For my personal journey as a volunteer I have a long way to go, I am passionate about many things and need to choose a specific area that I would like to dedicate my life to helping. There is someone in my chapter that I look up to because of her volunteer efforts in many different states. She is a former veteran and dedicates herself to volunteer efforts for troops and former veterans. She hosts Operation Stand Down yearly which supports homeless veterans, she also has her own foundation that supports her causes.  She has lived in several states due to her husbands job but in each city she continues her volunteer efforts. Her efforts and foundation has supported hundreds of veterans and troops. I aspire to become a volunteer on the level that she is.  Seeing and being apart of her journey has taught me a lot, but all her efforts are truly driven by her passion.  Having passion and persistence is just one of the things she has taught me, but she has also shown me how to become a better volunteer and leader.