ACLU

Week 5: ACLU

Hi there! Welcome back to another week of GIVE52.

I had another organization lined up for this week, but given recent events, I felt that it was more important to go in another direction. So, this week’s organization is the ACLU.

 

For almost 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. The ACLU is nonprofit and nonpartisan.

Currently they are:
    Protecting free speech and the right to protest
    Defending reproductive freedom
    Fighting anti-LGBT discrimination
    Advocating for expanded privacy protections

It is an honor to be in touch with each and every one of you.

I’ll leave you with this quote. It is one of my favorites, and feels especially relevant today.

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.””
— Fred Rogers

Here’s to the helpers.
(That’s you!)

Wishing you all the love and light my heavy heart can hold,
Jodi

Development Media International

Week 4: Development Media International

Welcome to week 4 of GIVE52! This week's organization is a unique one. Working in global health, we often focus on the supply side, but often times a huge issue is that communities and families are unaware of health care services already available to them. Enter Development Media International.

Individuals and communities in developing nations often lack information vital to their health and well-being. Unlike traditional aid organizations, DMI works on the critical but much-neglected “demand side,” disseminating basic, yet crucial, information.

Media health campaigns reach large numbers of people in the developing world, raising awareness about how to identify and protect against potentially dangerous illnesses, and what to do if they occur.

DMI has run campaigns in over 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe and is currently running large-scale programs in Burkina Faso, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The focus areas of their educational media for vulnerable communities are:

 
  • Nutrition
  • Hygiene and Sanitation
  • Malaria Prevention
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Family Planning
  • Child Marriage

DMI works with local broadcasters to create informative and engaging programming, reaching wide communities via large-scale media campaigns of 500 to 8,000 broadcasts. They are currently running a major five-year campaign in Burkina Faso - the largest ever randomized controlled trial measuring media impact on health and mortality.

Hope you are as inspired by the work of this awesome and innovative organization as I am. Here's to novel approaches and health for all.

Have a fabulous Monday!

Thanks for all you do,

Jodi

Surfrider Foundation

WEEK 2: Surfrider Foundation

With this week's organization, I thought it would be great to turn our attention to protecting the things that we love. For me, born in a beach town in South Africa and having grown up in Southern California, this means the ocean.

Growing challenges from pollution, offshore development and climate change pose new threats to our oceans and beaches. At the same time, expanding industries, such as offshore oil drilling, threaten to crowd our ocean and degrade its health.

Surfrider Foundation is a community of everyday people who passionately protect our ocean, waves, and beaches. What started as a group of surfers that came together to protect Malibu from over-development and pollution has grown into one of the most powerful coastal protection groups in the world.

Surfrider has built a network of coastal defenders who transform their passion for our coasts into lasting protection. Bridging local knowledge with national experts in law, policy and science, produces victories for beaches year after year.

$20 pays for to water test to make sure a day at the beach is healthy and safe.

$100 protects 1/4 mile of US coast through the beach preservation program.

This week, let me know about something that is near and dear to your heart! Give to Surfrider or another organization that protects our natural habitat.

Can you believe we are already in our 3rd week of the new year? I'm so grateful for the energy surrounding this project. Thanks so much for being involved!

Have an epic week,
Jodi