Tag: change.org

For Those That Don’t Have Internet Access, This Tool Connects Brooklyn Residents and Leaders

Posted on by robbie

It’s frustrating to feel like you don’t have an easy way to tell your elected officials what you think about various topics. But in Brooklyn, one graduate student is using a simpler method to help connect residents with local leaders and community organizations.
Earlier this year, Asher Novek created HeartGov, a texting platform that enables citizens to send a text to a private website that alerts government officials and community groups, who then can strike up a chat over questions or concerns.

“There’s something that’s different about getting a text message than an email,” Novek said. “It’s more personal, more conversational, like getting a response from friend or from family member.”

Texts messages are displayed as they are received and then organized by issue, urgency level and phone number, according to HeartGov’s site. Community leaders then answer questions through the site, which then sends out a response via text message, consolidating the conversation into a single SMS chat.

Novek hatched the idea as a part of his master’s thesis at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and began testing the service in March. He selected Brooklyn’s Flatbush, Crown Heights, Midwood and Prospect Heights neighborhoods to implement his tool because he felt they had lower levels of community engagement than other areas of Brooklyn.
Residents outside the zone can send in a text, but responses will come from local leaders in the selected areas. Some participants include Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Council member Jumaane Williams, Community Board 14, Midwood Development Corporation, Flatbush Development Corporation, Flatbush Junction Business Improvement District and the nonprofit Heights and Hills, which serves Brooklyn’s elder residents.
Though the tool’s purpose seems a bit nebulous, Novek said he purposely created it to be open-ended, serving as an experiment for what residents might use it for. Envisioning it as a cross between 311 and Change.org, the platform is meant to encourage residents to inquire about anything from reporting potholes to requesting information on local public schools.
While more cities continue to march toward bringing locals online, Novek is aiming to reach the underserved population who are still on the other side of the digital divide. As of last year, an estimated 20 percent of Americans did not use Internet at home.
HeartGov was inspired by other simple mobile-based tools around the world, Novek said. He points to such examples as Ushahidi, a data management system that collected citizen reports on the ground via text message during Kenya’s 2007 election,  as well as UNICEF’s U-report, which promotes social mobilization and enables users to take surveys through text message. But in the U.S., Novek contends, developers skimmed over this type of tool to focus on web-based technology instead.
While he’s not certain of HeartGov’s future, Novek hopes to continue experimenting with how residents will leverage the tool to earn small wins. Ultimately, however, he wishes for big gains when it comes to community engagement.
MORE: Community-Owned Internet Access: How These Neighborhoods are Redesigning the Traditional Provider Model
 

How a Viral Photo Is Giving Students a Chance at a Much-Needed Scholarship

Posted on by robbie

Maybe someone’s always hitting you up to play Words With Friends via Facebook. Or perhaps you’re tired of seeing your neighbor post pictures of these elaborate meals she cooks on Instagram. Regardless of the annoyance, we all complain about social media from time to time. But despite the irritation factor, there’s no denying it holds incredible power.
Just ask Annette Renaud.
Last week, Renaud was riding the C train in New York City when she was approached by Brandon Stanton, the creator of the moving and incredibly popular photography series Humans of New York. Stanton, as is his usual practice, requested to take Renaud’s picture and then asked his usual prompt, “What’s on your mind?” Little did he know that her answer would ignite a firestorm.
The visibly upset Renaud told Stanton about a problem she was dealing with at her child’s high school, the Secondary School for Journalism in Park Slope, Brooklyn. “I’m currently advocating on behalf of my child and 17 other children whose parents don’t speak English,” she said. “These kids have all done very well on their Regent’s exams — I’m talking 90/95th percentile. Very smart kids. They were on their way toward qualifying for an Advanced Regents government scholarship that would give their parents badly needed money to help in their education.”
MORE: A Guidance Counselor Told Her Daughter Not to Bother Applying for College Scholarships. What She Did Next Will Inspire You
Renaud, who is on the School Leadership Team, went on to tell Stanton that the scholarship — like many others — requires three years of foreign language classes in order for students to be considered. Last year, the high school’s principal, Jodi Radwell, released the Spanish teacher, Briana Harris, due to budget constraints and didn’t replace her, leaving the seniors who were vying for the scholarship without options. Renaud, along with some other concerned parents, reached out to the Board of Education and were told to put their complaint in writing. They did, but a year has passed and there still isn’t a replacement Spanish teacher.
“We’ve got a new mayor and a new chancellor. So we aren’t blaming them,” Renaud continued. “But they need to know how impossible they’ve made it to help our kids. Trying to get something fixed in these schools is like praying to some false God. You call and email hoping that God is listening, and nothing happens.”
As it turns out, however, the Internet was listening.
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Stanton published Renaud’s story on his Facebook page — which boasts almost 3.6 million likes — on March 2, and it immediately went viral. Within just a couple of days, the photo had been shared shared almost 17,000 times and had received more than 5,600 comments. Many commenters offered to teach Spanish at the school for free. Others posted the school’s email address and phone numbers for people to contact the principal directly. Since the post went up, two Change.org petitions have been started to request that the school hire a new Spanish teacher. The students, meanwhile, are still protesting. While officials at the Education Department told the New York Times that the students received access to online language courses to make up for in-class instruction, the students said the course wasn’t provided until January and is not registered on their transcripts.
Now, education officials say they are meeting with the school to make sure the students have what they need. “We just want a fair chance,” Alejandra Figueroa, a senior at the school, told the Times. “I don’t think that’s too much to ask.” And thanks to Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York and the World Wide Web, they’re that much closer to getting it.
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All This ‘American Girl’ Wanted Was a Doll With a Story Like Hers

Posted on by robbie

Like most 10-year-old girls, Melissa Shang loves American Girl dolls and their accompanying backstories. But she doesn’t see herself in any of them. Shang has Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, a form of muscular dystrophy that causes nerve damage and muscle weakness in the arms and legs, making it difficult to get around without leg braces or a walker. Shang has been collecting American Girl dolls for years, but now, with the help of her 17-year-old sister YingYing, she’s petitioning the company to make their next “Girl of the Year”–a special edition doll released annually–a character with whom she can identify.
“Being a disabled girl is hard,” Melissa wrote on her Change.org petition. “Muscular Dystrophy prevents me from activities like running and ice-skating, and all the stuff that other girls take for granted. For once, I don’t want to be invisible or a side character that the main American Girl has to help.”
American Girl embraces diversity —  in the company’s official statement regarding the Shang sisters’ petition, a representative pointed out that its dolls have had various racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds, as well as accessories like hearing aids, wheelchairs and guide dogs that can be purchased to go with any of the dolls. But for Melissa, additional accessories aren’t enough. “I want other girls to know what it’s like to be me, through a disabled American Girl’s story,” she writes. “American Girls are supposed to represent all the girls that make up American history, past and present. That includes disabled girls.”
The Shang sisters’ earnest plea has become one of the fast-growing campaigns in Change.org history, garnering more than 16,400 signatures in its first 48 hours. Since then, more than 63,000 people have signed, making the petition less than 12,000 signatures shy of reaching its goal. American Girl hasn’t said whether they’ll fulfill the sisters’ request. But either way, the story of 10-year-old Melissa Shang is an inspiration to disabled girls all on its own.
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MORE: This Video May Change the Way You Think About the Disabled