AIDemocracy.org | advocacy

Millennials and the 21st Century Workforce: Is This Really What You Want?

December 8, 2012 by colston Leave a Comment

When it comes to the" ins" and "outs" of the job market, the "Millennial" generation faces a host of challenges marred by contradictions. On one hand there exists the pervasive belief that our generation will supplant the Baby Boomers as the primary stewards of government and the market place. On the other hand, a less than reliable economy has left 50% of recent college graduates either unemployed or underemployed. The reasons are fairly obvious. The economy has stalled the retirement plans of many baby boomers. More young people than ever … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Less Tagged With: activism, advocacy, capitalism, student organization, students, youth, youth leaders

Take Off the Bracelet and Join the Peace Corps

November 30, 2012 by colston Leave a Comment

A few weeks back South Park aired a fantastic episode that, on face, was mocking Lance Armstrong and his association with Live Strong. The underlying message was fairly obvious but I bring it up because it has tremendous relevance to the concept of youth leadership. In the episode everyone became obsessed with these little things they called SCauses, or sleeve causes; wristbands, like the live strong bracelets, that represented the causes people believed in. After an extended and brilliantly done Dr. Seuss parody it became very evident that these … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured Less Tagged With: action, activism, advocacy, AIDemocracy, global citizenship, student organization

Less Visible, but Nonetheless Important Issues: The Democratic Republic of Congo

November 7, 2012 by Ana Ila Leave a Comment

The news headlines are filled with information on Syria, the United Nations, sustainability, and anti – Western protests, as well as the everyday discussions of how much tax money the rich should pay each year, or how much in social welfare the poor deserve. As these discussions continue, a group of profiteers quietly plunders the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) riches. Though this issue is not often reported by the Western media it is just as important as the issues dominating the headlines. In 2006, AIDemocracy approached the democratic … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Less, Security Tagged With: advocacy, DRC, minerals, refugees, Rwanda, Syria, Uganda

Emerging technological trends and Global Security

March 5, 2012 by Usman Shabbir 1 Comment

Of the world’s 100 largest economic entities, 51 are now corporations and 49 are countries. Gross Domestic Product of corporations such as Wal-Mart, General Motors, Exxon mobil and Ford Motors are calculated to exceed GDP’s of states like Norway, Singapore, South Africa and Malaysia. Since domestic markets in a country like Bangladesh depends heavily on companies like Wal-Mart, it is not an alien conceept that these MNC’s today can leverage their economic power by impacting foreign policy in developing nations. Although they weild vast power, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Less, Security Tagged With: activism, advocacy, community, devfeloping countries, globalization, national security, US foreign policy

Can your school host a “V-Day movement” to end violence against women and girls?

February 27, 2012 by William Tsang 1 Comment

"V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money, and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM), and sex slavery." -Vday.org Founded by Eve Ensler after the success of her solo show “The Vagina Monologues”, she used the show as well as other plays she has written … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Less, Sex and Justice, Take Action Tagged With: action, advocacy, campus, community, Sexual Violence, v-day, vagina monologues, violence against women, women

In midst of Lowe’s controversy, we must remember long tradition of cultural exchange

December 18, 2011 by Ana Ila Leave a Comment

Lowe's Home Improvement, a retail giant in the USA, withdrew their ad from the TLC´s All – American Muslim show, stirring up a controversy about religious intolerance. It is known to the public that 65 out of 67 companies withdrew the ad in light of recent complaints directed towards them by an anti – Islamic organization, Florida Family Association. Their action has been publicly criticized by Senator Ted Lieu from Southern Carolina, after which the company apologized. This event pinpoints to a much deeper issue, related to how Islam is perceived … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Less, Security Tagged With: advocacy, All - American Muslim show, anti - Islamic sentiments, Christianity, Lowe's Home Improvement, radicalism, religious intolerance, Senator Ted Lieu

Are you ready? It’s time to change the world.

August 4, 2011 by Rachel Merker 2 Comments

Last month, USAID launched a new “Youth Impact” initiative to acknowledge the powerful role that today’s young people can--and do--play in global development. According to the program's new site, "America's youth understand and care more about development than ever before, inspired by the chance to drive meaningful change and eager to use their skills to help those in greatest need," and I couldn't agree more! My only question is, why did it take them so long? Throughout history, young adults around the world have proven themselves to be agents … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Climate Change, Featured Less, Hunger Tagged With: activism, advocacy, foreign aid, students, technology, USAID, youth, youth leaders, youth vote

30 years in, we are still learning from AIDS

June 2, 2011 by William Tsang Leave a Comment

The New York Times recently published an article called “30 Years In, We Are Still Learning From AIDS” by Laurence K. Altman. This summary timeline, although brief, gives us an idea of how the US dealt with the rise of this epidemic and where it stands when it comes to understanding and combating HIV/AIDS. Those who study the history of AIDS in the US can fill in the blanks regarding the scientific inconsistencies and mass hysteria surrounding the disease. Once it was discovered that seroconversion (changing from HIV- to HIV+) could occur through … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Less, Sex and Justice Tagged With: activism, advocacy, HIV/AIDS, humanitarian aid, Issue Analyst, MDGs, PEPFAR, sexual health, United States, US foreign policy

Urgent: House bill to cut funding for UNFPA appears on next week’s agenda

May 27, 2011 by Kait Maloney Leave a Comment

This past Wednesday, Congresswomen Ellmers (R-NC) announced that the "winner" of the first round of the YouCut project is the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). YouCut was set up by Eric Cantor (R-VA) the majority leader of the House of Representatives with the mission of "changing the culture of spending into a culture of savings." The YouCut website features suggested programs to be cut from the national budget. Visitors can vote on which program they think should be cut and the program with the most votes each week will be brought before the House. Here … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Less, Sex and Justice, Take Action Tagged With: advocacy, sexual and reproductive health

Fatima’s Story in Pittsburgh: Report from an AIDemocracy Chapter Conference on Global Health Disparities

April 10, 2011 by Patrick McDermott

Last Friday and Saturday, the brand new chapter of Americans for Informed Democracy at the University of Pittsburgh held its inaugural event to kick off the launch of its chapter. Most people might think an inaugural event might be a film screening or an info. session to launch their chapter. However, the students at UPitt like to do it big...their inaugural event was an entire conference on global health as affected by development, environment and conflict! Heady stuff I know for a first event, but that's how our students like to do it. And I can say to … [Read more...]