Inspire4life recently posted a video produced by the teens involved with Hyde Square Task Force's Heath Careers Ambassadors. The video looks at the effect of violence on the community from the eyes of individuals who have been experiencing it. The young directors are really skilled in telling the story in a way that presents both the realities of their daily lives and a hope for the future. (If your computer is behind a firewall, you may not be able to view this video). After you watch this one, take a look at some of the other youth-focused videos on inspire4life.

This morning, I read a Globe column, "Green with Idiocy" by Yvonne Abraham that made my stomach turn. It was a diatribe, as it rightly should have been, against the mob of revelers who smashed all of the windows of Greater Boston Legal Services after the Celtics win last week. Next to her column, Abraham attached a video which I've also embedded below (you will only be able to view it if your computer is not behind a firewall). Watching it will make you as red in the face as I am right now.  read more »

Recently on PARTNERS+simons blog, Tom Simon's posted a reflection about his marketing firm's pro-bono work over the years developing ad campaigns that garnered attention for a number of nonprofits, including our own United Way, The Leeway Center, and The Schwartz Center among others. My colleague Chris has talked a bit about skills-based volunteering and pro-bono campaigns in other posts, but today, I want to draw your attention to something that stood out to me in Tom Simon's post. Reflecting on the firm's pro-bono work, he wrote:  read more »

A couple of months ago, I wrote about skills-based volunteering in response to a Boston Globe article. Thinking back on it, I realize that both the Globe reporter and I left out something that’s important to acknowledge. What we now call “skills based volunteering” was really invented by professional service firms: accountants, consultants, law firms and advertising agencies.  read more »

The Center for Economic And Policy Research recently released a report Working Families and Economic Insecurity in the States: The Role of Job Quality and Work Supports” which found that only about one in four jobs are “good jobs” in a typical state, that is taking into account pay, employer-sponsored health insurance and retirement benefits.

In Massachusetts,
• 28.2% of jobs are “good jobs,” with a roughly equal amount
• 28.5% meets none of the ”good job” criteria
• 28% of people in working families are economically insecure  read more »