social citizens

As this post goes live, Alex Steed -- a straight talkin’ millennial, frustrated by the way his generation is perceived by the media -- is setting off on a 30 day cross country trip.  Who does he want to meet? Social citizens like you. If he hasn’t already found you on couchsurfing.com or Craigslist – it’s not too late to find him.  You can keep up to speed on Alex’s journey here on Social Citizens and through video and blog posts along the way. Without further adieu…here’s Alex.

This is the first day of the Millennials Changing America Tour. The journey across the United States will bring me face to face with young activists who are tapping into technology to help create social change. I'll be posting my findings here and on a series of other blogs along the way. I am extremely grateful to the Case Foundation, which has partnered with the tour by offering to match the first $5,000 in person-to-person support we get on our website. So many thanks to them. Read more »

The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently posted information about the Department of Education’s request for feedback on proposed regulations regarding implementation of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007.

Come again?

Basically, this new law forgives the remaining debt of student loan recipients who have worked as full-time “public service employees” for a period of 10 consecutive years while making their payments. In other words, you graduate, land a solid gig at a nonprofit, government agency, or other still-to-be-defined “public service” employer, and you won’t have to pay any more monthly debt owed after 10 years working there or remaining in the sector. Read more »

Please give a warm welcome to a new Social Citizens blogger — Rich D’Amato, the Case Foundation’s very own VP of Communications. He likes cooking, playing golf, and building cross-generational partnerships between social citizens. Enjoy! — Kari

On Monday morning my inbox held a bit of a surprise. The Maryland Association of Nonprofits, as usual, had sent me a call to action, this time asking me to Urge Congress to Raise the Volunteer Mileage Deduction.

The what? I didn’t know that I could deduct taxable income for miles I traveled volunteering. Cool. But here’s the surprise: “While the IRS has recently increased the deduction for business travel from 50.5 to 58.5 cents per mile, and for medical or moving expense from 19 to 27 cents per mile, the volunteer deduction amount is set in law at 14 cents per mile and requires congressional action for any change.”

Outrage!!! Fourteen cents per mile to volunteer and a whopping 27 cents to rent a U-haul! What’s wrong with this picture? Read more »

I will be e-chatting on the Chronicle of Philanthropy website about the Social Citizens paper next Tuesday, May 27, from 12—1 p.m. EST.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about the paper, maybe even a challenge or two — and a prize for the most unusual (but still relevant!) question — I am the judge and jury on that one! I’ll post the link to the comments section when it goes up this weekend.

Students in a University of Central Florida were in for a surprise when their professor challenged them to see if they could survive completely “unplugged” for one week (actually it was five days).

Students in a University of Central Florida class were in for a surprise when their professor challenged them to see if they could survive completely “unplugged” for one week (actually it was five days). Read more »