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NetSquared enables social benefit organizations to leverage the tools of the social web.
hunger
Social Media for Food Bank outreach
Feeding America is a network of over 200 food banks across the country. These food banks are there own 501(c)3 organizations and have their own boards. To coordinate efforts both nationally and locally, we have to use online tools and social media to coordinate our efforts.
We have a team in our communication department devoted to internal communications. The primary web portal is our extranet for our members, HungerNet.
Live a Little, Give a Little - Celebrate Blog Action Day by Letting Go
This year's theme for Blog Action Day is Poverty. Who could have predicted that financial woes would be so uppermost in so many people's consciousness this month? But true poverty is more than just struggling to make ends meet. Take a look at the U.S. thresholds for the official definition of poverty. Is there any way you could feed your family at that level? I think it would be tough, even with the help of food stamps or public assistance.
- lnorvig's blog
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A Cry for HELP
This is the story of a 1 year 2 month old boy born to an 18 year old mother on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. This report/plea for assistance came in recently from a Philippine Physician at one of the remote rural clinics HELP visited during "Needs Assessment" operations recently.
Learn how you can help at the end of this story.
- disasterlogistics's blog
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GIS Proposal Roundup and General Thoughts
Hi, everyone; my name is JC, and this is my first community blog post. I’m one of the authors of the HungerMaps proposal. I’m also a GIS enthusiast, so I wanted to bring your attention to the great GIS projects that have been submitted to this contest.
HungerMaps
Challenges Entered:
35.1 mil Americans face hunger and food insecurity. HungerMaps fuses new visualization and collaborative technology with the wisdom of advocates, transforming local data into a national portrait of needs and resources as the basis for direct action.
Location
New York, NY
United States
See map: Google Maps
NYC Coalition Against Hunger: Mapping Project
Supporting organization:
New York City Coalition Against Hunger
URL:
www.nyccah.org
Project Description:
This case study describes a unique mapping project now being undertaken by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, an umbrella group for New York's more than 1,100 charitable soup kitchens and food pantries.
Most social service agencies exist in a culture of scarcity, unable to invest resources in anything beyond coping with immediate needs. This project, the first of its kind in the nation, demonstrates a complementary use of ArcGIS, ArcWeb Services, and the Google Maps API allowing such agencies to utilize online mapping systems in order to network, recruit volunteers, and see themselves as part of a larger movement.
Simultaneously, these maps serve as both a public disclosure of need and a gap analysis, encouraging targeted charity and volunteerism while sparking the political will to confront the size and complexity of the hunger problem.
Currently, this project is in the beginning stages - users may look up emergency feeding programs by zipcode, or see a map of the entire city. In the near future, static GIS maps highlighting specific neighborhoods and themes will be created, and layers consisting of various food access streams (farmers' markets, CSAs, community gardens) will be incorporated into the interactive mapping system.
Campus Bread
Supporting organization:
Bread for the World
URL:
www.breadblog.org/
Project Description:
The authors of Campus Bread are interns, fellows and campus organizers with Bread for the World and and the ONE Campaign
Here is the Vision Statement for their blog:
"This is a blog for students and campus activists! The vision for the blog is for it to be a place to facilitate dialogue about issues that affect hungry and poor people; create energy for advocacy; provide inspiration and motivation; and lift up through words and photos innovative events/ideas that students are doing."
"Bread for the World is a nationwide Christian citizens movement seeking justice for the world's hungry people by lobbying our nation's decision makers. Bread for the World Insitute seeks justice for hungry people by engaging in research and education on policies related to hunger and development."
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