Budgeting for Piggy Bank Savers

May 8, 2012 / / No comments

When should a commitment to financial giving start?

I think that giving back financially is a good discipline that, done correctly, increases the appreciation for what you have, and helps you feel empowered in your ability to help others.

My friend Peggy Duvette was recently telling me about her daughter Suada, who last year, at 8 years old was choosing to support her school with a donation. Suada had taken some of her money to her school fair to play games and buy things. When she finished the day and had some money left over, she spontaneously told her mom that she wanted to give the rest as a donation to the school. I was impressed by Suada’s generosity and even her awareness that her school might need to be supported. Peggy said that her own role as Executive Director (which also means “head fund raiser”) for a non-profit (Wiser.org., The Social Network for Sustainability) meant that Suada has had more exposure to the notion of giving, but Peggy has also set up a system 3 years ago that helps Suada budget her money between current needs and future ones, for herself and others.

Teaching good financial habits is something that parents can start early with their children: the gift of a piggy bank at age 6 (or so, kids do develop the concept of money at different rates) is also an opportunity to talk about money being divided into that you might spend today and that money that you save for future needs. Peggy had gotten a piggy bank for Suada, where every time she received money, she would automatically split it between spending and saving. A year later, she incorporated the concept of donating.

Basic budgeting is a critical skill for keeping your financial house in order, and starting early makes it seem more natural later.  Dave Ramsey, the popular financial guru, recommends an “envelope system” to budget the monthly expenses for key categories.

While your kindergartner might not have “rent”, “clothing”, and “gas” expense categories, setting aside money to “save” separate from what they may “spend” is a good start.  To get them started thinking about giving early on, how about encouraging them to put a dime into the “giving” envelope every time they put a dollar in one of the other categories?

Of course, what gives the “envelope system” part of its power is its tangibility.  The money for the month for the category is in the envelope, and when you’ve spent it, it’s gone.  That tangibility is great for kids, too.  Only they get to watch their money grow, not disappear.  If you would like to buy one,

http://www.bloggingawaydebt.com/2007/11/six-piggy-banks-that-can-help-teach-kids-money-management-skills/  lists 6 different ones.

But making one can mean there’s more money to put in it.  It can also be a fun family project, and needn’t be complex:
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Thrown into the Lions’ Den (Literally!) and other Volunteer Vacations

April 15, 2012 / / One comment

I recently  had dinner with a friend who mentioned she was considering spending her vacation volunteering with a wildlife conservation program in Zambia, Africa.  She was excited about the idea of working with lions or elephants, and this program promised both:

http://www.amanzitravel.co.uk/product/volunteer_africa/wildlife_conservation_volunteer/zambia_lion_project_volunteer_av029/

You are paying for the privilege of working (including cleaning up after the animals or preparing food for them), and it’s not cheap:  about $600/week for 2-4 weeks, not counting airfare to Africa, but you do get meals and accommodations (basic) and some of your fee is supporting the project as well.  The reviews on the site were glowing, but you should look for independent reviews as well.  Although some of the  sites I found with reviews of Amanzi Travel and the lion release program pointed back to the Amanzi site itself, there were a few on sites like www.TripAdvisor.com, and a Facebook presence that seemed robust with happy customers writing about their experience.  The Amanzi site was reasonably informative and descriptive about what was actually included.  All in all, it seems an organization that has a good reputation, meriting further consideration.

Here’s an excerpt of Giving Back about volunteer vacations:

Typically, volunteering is something you do in your own community, and you find the time to work it in around the other commitments in your family’s life. If you’re able to take a bigger chunk of time out to focus on a volunteer experience, it can be a memorable and very fulfilling experience. One possibility is to take a volunteering vacation, where your family devotes a week (or more, for most international programs) to serving others. There are many organizations that offer such mission trips and take care of making the arrangements for you. Relying on their experience is a good way to go, unless you have a very specific project in mind and are willing to do extra legwork to handle the coordination, food, housing, and local transportation arrangements. Unless you have previous ties to a project and a specific invitation to come, showing up on your own is unlikely to lead to a rewarding experience.

The first steps in planning your volunteering vacation are determining the amount of time you have available, the type of work you’d like to do, and what part of the country or world you’d like to visit. The ages of children participating in the trip will also affect your options. With this basic information in hand, there are several websites listing organizations that offer trips:

  • Volunteer Guide (www.volunteerguide.org) does a nice job of offering a selection of different organizations within each cause and approach.
  • Abroad Reviews (www.abroadreviews.com) offers reviews from past travelers. They have dozens of candid reviews for the most prominent organizations, some of which warn you away from particular trips because of issues of safety, organization, or inflated cost.
  • The International Volunteer Programs Association (www.VolunteerInternational.org) is a portal site permitting search by region, country, cause, and duration.

There are also books dedicated to volunteer vacations, and given the expense and prospect of a miserable (or unsafe!) week or two, checking out one or more is a good investment. Highly rated guides include:

  • Frommer’s 500 Places Where You Can Make a Difference by Andrew Mersmann (2009).
  • Volunteer Vacations: Short-Term Adventures That Will Benefit You and Others by Bill McMillon and Doug Cutchins (2009, 10th edition).
  • Mapping Your Volunteer Vacation: A Workbook by Jane Stanfield (2009)
  • The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations to Enrich Your Life by Pam Grout (2009).

Going as part of a team from your religious group or local service organization can add to the excitement. Plus, when you return you have a built-in base of collaborators, if you decide to continue your involvement through fundraising or awareness building, as many international volunteers do.

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AMENDS (American Middle Eastern Network for Dialogue at Stanford)

April 12, 2012 / / No comments

AMENDS delegates 2012

This convocation of 40 youth leaders from 20 countries (mostly Middle East and North Africa) is a remarkable effort from the Stanford student community. The youth are at Stanford for 5 days, and as part of the time, are giving talks which are free and open to the public. For more information, see: http://amends.stanford.edu/

Rawan Da’as from Jordan: Photographic Skills for Little Wonders

Using photography classes as a way to reach children in refugee camps, helping them think about apprenticeship / job training, relating to other people and the environment. Building their creative thinking and artistic skills and empowerment. Also train photographers to consider creating a career from their art by selling photos.

Need to invest in youth, and help them to be the change.

Aymen Abderrahman from Tunisia: Karari.org (mydecision)

A few days before election (first free elections) in Tunisia, only 55% said they planned to vote. As a stunt to shock people into action, a group raised a banner of deposed dictator Ben Ali. The citizens did take action, tearing it down, revealing a second, hidden banner, reading “Dictatorship can come back: Vote on ….)” See the YouTube version that Aymen played. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu-WjbD9NbE

Growing up, he was not permitted to speak out on political issues. 1/14/2011: The start of the Arab Spring with the deposing of dictator Ben Ali.

Karari.org is a web 2.0 website to maximize participative democracy. Allows user to interact with each other on political issues–be not just consumers but creators as well. (Available in English, French, Arabic). “Expert” tagged comments pinned to the top for people to learn from. Collective “like” votes determines ordering of comments. Supports social media features like: friends, sharing of links, articles, and status updates.

Political Rights Tools:

  1. Voices
  2. Petitions
  3. (yet to come) chat

Lists constitutions of 46 countries of the world.

Stats:

  • 30% of Tunisians user internet
  • 2.8M FB accounts, hope to get 10% as users of Karari

Need creation of jobs (40% of college grads unable to find jobs). Seeking full-time webmaster, a data server & 4 computers & budget for a marketing campaign.

Heather Libbe from US (studied in Israel, West Bank, Jordan for 3 months): Euphrates Institute

Peace & Sustainability focus of her study

1) Complexity of conflict

2) Religious fundamentalism

3) Peace & Sustainability (intertwined)

Passion for peace building: Building bridges between Middle East & West through educational programs

1) Travel studies (adult trips & study abroad)

2) Fellows program (research)

Euphrates Institute: Energy, Security, and Religion: “Prepare for Peace” (founded by Iraq analyst from CIA for 2 years)

End the clash of civilizations (Muslim and west) in our life time:

Reach 20% of people (Everett Rogers, of Stanford) social change tipping point.

“Inform. Inspire. Transform.”

Fellows Program: based at Principia College (open to US undergrad & grad students): Campus activities on their own campuses.

13 students with individual research projects (e.g. water in Israel/Palestine, Islamic art, role of Turkey as mediator)

Goal to triple fellows program, expanded to other locations. http://www.euphratesinstitute.org

Brian Pellot: Free Speech Debate in the Digital Age

10 principles for global free speech posted at http://www.freespeechdebate.com

Naguib Sawairis

Coptic Christian in Egypt. Arrested for tweeting picture of Mickey & Minnie with beard & veil

IDF whistleblower who leaked documents

Placed on house arrest, super injunction (can’t even cover the
fact that there is an episode/injunction in the media)

2 billion users of the internet and social networks. Opportunities and challenges for free speech.

Countries no longer control, companies do (Google, Twitter, FB)

Religion, national security, privacy, SOPA

30 grad students running the site, translate principles, case studies.

Sonya Kassis : Watch your Waste e-Museum: Bridging Middle School Students through Art, Science and Technology in the United States and Jordan

Helping to compensate for the cuts in education budgets. Arab American National Museum:

Using environmental issues to connect students between (US, Jordan) on art, culture, advocacy.

Students connect using FB, YouTube, Flickr, hope to have in-person visits (but challenge, since they are middle school students)

Example of project:

Raising awareness of Water issue: The typical American uses 1.6 gallons per flush, which is greater than the daily access to water for cleaning, drinking, and washing in parts of Africa.

Looking at the omnipresent 500ml plastic water bottle: Americans dispose of 50 billion of them per year or 140 million per day. Producing each 500ml bottle takes 1.5 liters of water (not counting the contents) and 125 ml of petroleum. And of course, tap water is perfectly good to drink in nearly all of the country.

250M tons of trash per year from US: (4,837 Titanics worth each year)

Elizabeth Harmon from US: BabSharqi.org (Eastern Gate: Student gateway for planning study abroad in Middle East)

Elizabeth studied for a year in Syria (moved to Jordan after Arab Spring in Mar 2011) as time-off during her undergraduate studies.

The BabSharqi.org web site (under development) will feature:

  • Comprehensive list of program, with user reviews and Q&A forums
  • Info about scholarships and connections with previous scholars
  • Plans / backup plans for travel advisories
  • Visas, residency permits information
  • Info about housing and homestays
  • Q&A on transportation, money, tap water, books & libraries, health needs, banks, and the like
  • Recommendations for tutors and language exchange partners

Next steps: Western Gate (Arabs -> US), more languages, financial support

Need: funding, developers

Ifrah Magan from US, Chicago: Path to Peace: Story Telling in Somali Communities around the World

Ifrah was born in Mogadishu Somalia, fled from the war to Egypt for 10 years, resettled to Michigan, then went to Chicago for college.

“Look beyond the pirates and famine, to see the stories and culture,” she asked.

She is working to put together a book of stories of resettlement of Somalis around the world. “Coming from a lawless state, living in a dictatorship for 10 years, now seeing privilege of living in US” Highlight the voices, collaborate with NGO in Chicago (Davis Peace Project) $10K for purchasing library materials for literacy groups and peace workshops. Met for 6 weekly sessions (cultures of Peace, 2 state solution in Sudan, Iraqi history) chance to learn from each other, listen to the individuals tell their stories (to claim their stories and have a sense of ownership). Collaborate with different organizations in US in Diaspora, get the stories of resettlement from Somali refugees (effect of conflict, what peace means to them). In Somalia, people share the same language, are primarily Muslim, yet have had 2 decades of conflict. This is a way to bring voices together of Somali people. There have been 15 transitional federal governments since war started (20 years ago). Something is clearly not working. Let’s hear the people, humanize each story, it’s important for all of us.

Sam Adelsberg from Yale Law: Lowest Common Denominators: Microloans and Economic Opportunity in the West Bank

Although he had been part of a friendship “building bridges” delegation trip to New Orleans, he found that many of his contemporaries on both sides who were not “crossing checkpoints” or “in zones where rockets might fall” were assuming intractable positions. They were shouting slogans or joining Facebook groups, not doing something constructive, perhaps because they were feeling guilty for “not being there”. That degree of remove, Sam said, reinforces inability to see the “gray area.”

So, as a concrete action, he started www.lendforpeace.org a microcredit site for people to make loans to Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

Launched 2 years ago, it has raised tens of thousands of dollars–and he now wonders how could it be used or applied more broadly.

Lack of jobs (25% unemployment rate): entrepreneurship as a way to spur job growth.

Belief in human right to control your economic destiny.

Giving individuals the power to chase their dreams. Arab Spring showed the power of grass-roots political organizing. Now let’s see the power of crowd sourced fund raising for microcredit.

Sam faced a tough question from a Palestinian woman in the audience who said that the issue is not the economic hardship that Palestinians face. Money is the last thing on her mind. Her consuming thought is freedom. He gracefully acknowledged that his project is not a panacea, or even a direct route to solve the conundrum, but he believes it is something that he can do (with help) to improve the situation and help to build trust through peaceful interaction.

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Back after 3 months….

April 12, 2012 / / No comments

It’s been a while since my last post.  Just over 3 months, in fact.

I have a decent excuse for much of that delay.  January 8th, just after my last blog post, I was involved in a car accident that totaled my car, and landed me in the hospital with a broken right wrist and a gash in my head requiring staples to close it up.  Overall, I was very lucky things weren’t worse, but dealing with the fall-out did take a lot of time and energy, and the broken wrist meant I needed to limit my keyboard time to critical things.

Ironically, the nominal amount of my hospital bill for the 5 hours I spent in the ER (with x-rays, CT scans, but *not* counting the ambulance ride or the time billed by the doctors) was just over $20,000, the amount that UM Healthcare is looking to raise to fund *one year* of salaries for 2 doctors and 4 medical assistants.

Not all of the delay was bad, though.  I was also revising my book draft based on comments from my editor.  (Yes, I was kicking myself that I hadn’t kept to my original deadline which meant I would have been done *before* the accident.)  I also took a much anticipated and very enjoyable three-week trip to Europe.

Granada, Spain, viewed from the Alhambra

Granada, Spain, viewed from the Alhambra

At any rate, I’m back from vacation now, am doing a final review of the “copy edited” manuscript, and finishing off the therapy for my wrist.

While finishing my taxes, the editing process, and a few other unusual time drains may impact my rate of blog posts for the near future, I’m looking forward to getting re-started, and hope to resume a more regular series of articles and book excerpts.

Thanks for bearing with me through the silence, and Happy Spring!

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Serving patients for $2 each in Pakistan

January 7, 2012 / / One comment

Bottom Line:  UM Healthcare is an incredibly cost-effective clinic treating people in rural Pakistan.  An additional $20K/year would let them double their medical staff to serve more patients (from ~40,000/year to ~80,000).  I’m in, let me know if you want to help.

Through my connection with the Reuters Digital Vision Program, I got to know some pretty remarkable people.  I had dinner tonight with Atif Mumtaz, one of the fellows from the 2005-2006 year.

Atif has created UM Healthcare, which provides health care to a region of 180,000 people–it’s the sole facility there.  I was moved by the difference that he has made, and how cheaply he has done it:

  • Served 150,000 patients since launching in mid-2008 (about 40,000/year)
  • Annual budget of about $80,000 (that’s not the executive director’s six-month salary, that’s the FULL ANNUAL BUDGET)
  • Provide free medicine to patients, which they need to purchase (aside from a few in-kind donations, no mass pharmaceutical corporate gifts).  They do get a discount of about 35% off retail.
  • Charge patients a fee for service (about 50 cents) to ensure that they take it seriously and don’t abuse it
  • Have 2 doctors on staff, annual salaries about $6K each, paramedics make between $1,200 – $1,800.
  • Top management is all volunteer
  • Are a paperless operation!  They have electronic medical records, accessed by mobile phones, with Google Maps data showing where patients are coming from.
  • They bring in specialists for “remote consultations” (via technology) in the 5% or so of the challenging cases that their local staff can’t handle.
Doctor treating patient at UM Healthcare

Doctor treating patient at UM Healthcare

Atif listed matter-of-factly the key patient groups they’d seen:

2009:  War victims
2010:  Flood victims
2011:  Flood victims  (I’d remembered the horrendous floods of 2010, but had to ask about 2011.  “Yep, and the infrastructure to handle the water hadn’t been rebuilt in time…”)

He expected to start seeing war refugees and victims returning in May.  No one fights during the winter, but when things start to thaw, hostilities will heat up as well…

They mostly keep their heads down, working, but they have gotten some international publicity:

Atif said that an additional $20,000/year would let them double their medical staff (adding 2 additional doctors and corresponding staff), which would also mean doubling their capacity to serve patients (the facilities are adequate to handle the additional demand.  They would need to cover additional medication cost, but the patient fees would help to defray that.)  Another significant boost for them would be the construction of a maternity facility, at a one-time capital cost of $100,000.

I’m considering adding UM Health in a significant way to my giving, and wonder if there’s anyone out there who would like to join me in helping to expand the number of people that they can treat.  Atif will be in the San Francisco Bay Area through January 22nd, 2012.  If you would like to talk with him, I can arrange an introduction.

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“Saving AmeriCorps” and Gap Year Volunteering

December 20, 2011 / / No comments

I recently saw that the House Budget for 2012 eliminates AmeriCorps.  The AmeriCorps Alumni posted this YouTube video arguing for the importance of saving it.

When I was writing the book, I was aware that some things would change, and tried to include web sites that I thought would be more “stable” and reliable, and less likely to be defunct in a year or two.  Somehow, I didn’t expect that I’d need to worry about AmeriCorps.  AmeriCorps is one of the largest domestic, government-sponsored volunteering programs that engages people for assignments of approximately a year.

[Excerpt from Giving Back]

The Peace Corps (http://www.peacecorps.gov) is the archetype of the life-changing volunteer program. Idealistic young college graduates (mostly, although other demographics can participate) take 27 months to work in another country, gaining experience with the culture and sharing their skills in teaching, agriculture, information technology, or health. The Americorps program (http://www.americorps.gov) was launched to provide a similar experience, but for those people who preferred to do their work domestically (and for 10-12 months). The success of these programs, especially as measured by the impact on the volunteers, is substantial. Many Peace Corps alumni speak of their experience as the most meaningful period of their whole lives. It is often a convenient time to make an extended commitment, before starting a family, buying a home, or even being deeply involved in working for an employer in their chosen field.

Many high school students are considering the “gap year” as well, choosing to defer college admissions for a year after their senior year in high school. They may be looking for a change of pace before launching into another four or more years of rigorous study, or perhaps they’re not entirely convinced that college is the right next step in their life journey. Increasingly, colleges are supporting the students’ decisions to take some time before matriculating, especially if they do something that will be meaningful in the long run, increasing the student’s maturity and perspective. If a student is prepared to commit to a full year of volunteering with a single assignment, there are organizations that can offer placements overseas, teaching English, helping with community development, or interning in a non-profit office.

Here are some Web sites offering advice for those intending to spend a full year at a volunteer project.

  • Volunteer Guide (http://www.volunteerguide.org) does a nice job of offering a selection of different organizations within each cause and approach.
  • Abroad Reviews (http://www.abroadreviews.com) offers reviews from past travelers. They have dozens of candid reviews for the most prominent organizations, some of which warn you away based on issues of safety, organization, or inflated cost.
  • The International Volunteer Programs Association (http://www.InternationalVolunteer.org) is a portal site which allows you to search by region, country, cause and duration

There are also books appealing to specifically this group of young adults. See, for example:

The last book on this list points out that “gap years” aren’t exclusively for young adults: people changing careers, starting retirement, or taking a sabbatical could also make an extended commitment to volunteer before starting the next phase of their life.

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The Power of Community

December 20, 2011 / / No comments

I ran across the HBS Research Brief “The New Measures for Improving Nonprofit Performance” and wasn’t terribly impressed by it.  It was a fairly generic interview with the founder and chairman of Venture Philanthropy Partners Mario Morino (also author of Leap of Reason) and an HBS professor Alnoor Ebrahim.

Key points:

  • Non-profits don’t invest enough in capacity building, organization development
  • Strategy for non-profits is hard because lack of alignment of the stakeholders.  Donors, not beneficiaries are paying, so it can warp the direction set by the non-profit management away from things that really help.  (Incidentally, TED talk by Engineers without Borders’ David Damberger What Happens when NGOs Admit Failure (13 minute video) does a better job making this point.)
  • For profits have well-understood metrics, non-profits don’t.
  • It’s hard (though important) to separate the contribution of different organizations working to create change in the same set of interrelated issues.
  • Build a culture of transparency and results-orientation by leadership from the top, with values; even at the board level.
  • There should be a willingness to acknowledge and learn from failure (again, the TED talk does a better job of this…)

For me, the most compelling part of the whole interview was when the author asked Mario Morino why he was interested in the topic.  His response (italics mine):

My family was blue collar, but we were never poor. There’s a distinction between being in deep poverty and living in a low-income world. We had food and clothing. And the world was different in the 1950s. Even a tough neighborhood still had a social fabric to it. Today the social fabric is gone. The economic base for that income level has been almost fundamentally wiped out. And there’s a prevalence of guns and drugs. Those three things together create a deadly cycle for a community.

When I grew up I had all kinds of people encouraging me, helping me get through things. That’s what’s missing in communities today. In metrics, we don’t track the existence of caring relationships with adults in a student’s life. Yet it’s the biggest reason a kid succeeds in school. I’m trying to apply the analytical world to the passion of how do you help people, how do you make a difference in their lives.

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Service Projects for Martin Luther King Jr. Day near Palo Alto

December 15, 2011 / / No comments

As you’re thinking about the holidays, don’t forget about one coming up early in 2012:  Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on January 16, 2012.  “Don’t make it a day off, make it day *on!*”

Need some ideas how you and your family can participate in a service project to honor Dr. King?  If you’re in the Bay Area, Oshman Jewish Community Center of Palo Alto has done a great job of pulling together lots of options:

  • Taking care of our earth and environment
    • Planting trees, restoring habitats, picking fruit, gardening
  • Confronting Hunger & Homelessness
    • Serve a meal in a shelter, sort at a food bank, pack bag lunches, make scarves, build a house
  • Supporting those with illness
    • Decorate, make joke books, serve desserts, make soup
  • Honoring our elders
    • Visit, make placemats or play bingo

See the full listings and then sign up your family!

They also ask that you bring a non-perishable food item for Second Harvest Food Bank.

If you don’t happen to be near Palo Alto, All for Good site has a special “MLKDay” category that lets you find opportunities near where you are.  (For me, it still included several things that weren’t strictly MLK Day focused…)

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Impact of Proposed Tax Changes on Charitable Deductions

December 9, 2011 / / No comments

I’d heard a little about this back pre-Super Committee when Obama was offering the “Grand Bargain,” but hadn’t tracked it very closely, and assumed that it was a massive change (doing away with the deductability of charitable contributions) which probably wouldn’t happen.

Today, I ran across The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University’s analysis from October, and it appears that it’s a more targeted reduction (and not particular to charitable contributions).  As I was reading the first couple of pages I thought, “Wow, this is an interesting analysis, but it really needs an executive summary.”  And then I kept going and discovered that *was* the executive summary.

So here’s my attempt at summarizing:

Proposed Tax Changes

  • Top marginal rate to be restored from current 35% to previous 39.6%.
  • Deductions (of all types, not just charitable contributions) for high income households ($200K+ AGI individual, $250K+ married) to be capped at 28% vs. today’s 35%.

Hypothesis

Rich people will give less, because (1) They’re paying more in taxes, so have less to give; and (2) The tax benefit they get from donations decreases.

Findings

Yes.  Charitable giving is expected to go down, something like $800M in the first year, and $2.4B in the second year.  This is off an expected baseline giving of $197B in the first year and $185B in the second year, so amounts to about 1.3%.  The amount of additional tax revenue expected by these changes is 2013 is $138B, at a time when the annual deficit is projected to be $691B.

See the report for more details about the model, the history, the impact if only one or the other of the proposed changes goes through, and lots more prose apparently written by accountants.

Personal Thoughts

Sure, it’s hard for non-profits to take an added hit when they are already struggling, and the demand for services is going up.  But if we’re talking about $138B in deficit reduction for a $2.4B loss in giving, I think it’s a worthwhile trade.  Note also that projected giving between the two years is projected to drop from $197B to $185B, and only $2.4B of that is due to the tax changes.  The other $9.6B (exactly 4x as much) is due, if I understand the model correctly, to the downward momentum of the economy.  So, working to improve the economy, say, by reducing the deficit, would actually be addressing the bigger issue.

Based on this report, I will be unpersuaded by non-profits that argue that these tax changes will be life-threatening to them.

 

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Palo Alto Weekly section: The Importance of Teens Finding a Purpose

December 2, 2011 / / No comments

High school is a stressful time.  Schoolwork, family obligations, paid employment, extracurriculars, college applications–all are major demands on a student’s time. At the same time, teens are still wrestling with questions of identity and how they fit in with the social scene that emerges from their peer group.

Parents, wanting to be helpful, are often not sure how, and can end up making things worse.   The birth of new technologies, especially social media, mean that today’s students have a whole new realm to contend with.

In a place like Palo Alto, the culture of success runs deep.  Many parents have reached the pinnacle of performance in their selected fields:  CEO’s, venture capitalists, serial entrepreneurs, partners of prestigious law firms or ad agencies, executive directors of non-profits.  They want their children to live well, and too often that implies “live well off.”  Material success is a common goal, but even where parents agree that their children should have the freedom to choose a lower-paying, less prestigious career track, they aim to give their child a “full range of options” by having him or her go to the very best schools, resulting in major pressure to garner admission to Stanford or an Ivy League school.

And so begins the “treadmill”:  expectations (both parental- and self-) of academic success; excellence in sports, music, school newspaper or other “meaty” after school activity; volunteering or paid employment; and a range of support services to help prepare for standardized tests and college applications.

This combination has been literally fatal to too many students in the Palo Alto high schools.  The community has reflected and responded.  Improvements have been made.  Support services are stronger.

The cover story/section of the November 18, 2011 Palo Alto Weekly was an excellent multi-faceted review of different programs and experiences of people, both students and those who support them.

There is an interesting sidebar why college is less stressful than high school (more flexibility in choosing classes, more interesting material (professors that  probe “why?”), extracurriculars run by students–without as much “resume building” pressure, instructors that treat their students in a more egalitarian way, and just fewer hours of instruction and activity, less competition, and getting away from “pushy parents”).

But the main point of the story is about…

Purpose.

“People don’t worry about the right things,” [William Damon, Professor from Stanford School of Education, author of the book The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life] said. “The biggest problem growing up today is not actually stress; it’s meaninglessness.”

Working hard for something they didn’t choose themselves, and don’t believe in, is counterproductive to longterm health and fulfillment. It is simply not sustainable.
A purposeful life, by contrast, can unleash tremendous
energy, creativity, exhilaration and a deep satisfaction
with efforts and accomplishments, according to Damon.
Based on hundreds of surveys and in-depth interviews
with adolescents nationwide, Damon has found that the
vast majority of today’s youth (about 80 percent) are not
engaged in activities fueled by a clear sense of purpose.

Community service was an avenue through which several of the students found their purpose.  Youth Community Service (Disclaimer:  I’m a huge fan) and Executive Director Leif Erickson (Disclaimer applies here, too…) were featured for their work in service learning programs in the schools.  The stories of the students were inspiring.

I’m tempted to quote more and more of the article, but I’ll limit myself to urging you to read the original, and quoting one final sidebar:

How Purpose Begins

The following sequence outlines steps in a path to purpose
for youth, according to researchers’ findings.

  1. Inspiring communication with persons outside the immediate family
  2. Observation of purposeful people at work
  3. First moment of revelation:  Something important in the world can be corrected or improved
  4. Second moment of revelation:  I can contribute something myself and make a difference
  5. Identification of purpose, along with initial attempts to accomplish something
  6. Support from immediate family
  7. Expanded efforts to pursue one’s purpose in original and consequential ways
  8. Acquiring the skills needed for this pursuit
  9. Increased practical effectiveness
  10. Enhanced optimism and self-confidence
  11. Long term commitment to the purpose
  12. Transfer of skills and character strengths gained in pursuit of one purpose to other areas of life

Source: “The Path to Purpose: How
Young People Find Their Calling in Life”
by William Damon

It was interesting to me that people *outside* the family were instrumental in the initial stages of defining a purpose.  Also made me wonder how I, personally, can do a better job of giving teens that glimmer of possibility.

 

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