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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social work > Charities & voluntary services
In the 1880s, social reform leaders warned that the "unworthy" poor were taking charitable relief intended for the truly deserving. Armed with statistics and confused notions of evolution, these "scientific charity" reformers founded organizations intent on limiting access to relief by the most morally, biologically, and economically unfit. Brent Ruswick examines a prominent national organization for scientific social reform and poor relief in Indianapolis in order to understand how these new theories of poverty gave birth to new programs to assist the poor.
*The International Bestseller* 'Superb, hugely enjoyable ... a spirited examination of the hubris and hypocrisy of the super-rich who claim they are helping the world' Aditya Chakrabortty, Guardian What explains the spreading backlash against the global elite? In this revelatory investigation, Anand Giridharadas takes us into the inner sanctums of a new gilded age, showing how the elite follow a 'win-win' logic, fighting for equality and justice any way they can - except ways that threaten their position at the top. But why should our gravest problems be solved by consultancies, technology companies and corporate-sponsored charities instead of public institutions and elected officials? Why should we rely on scraps from the winners? Trenchant and gripping, this is an indispensable guide and call to action for elites and citizens alike.
At the height of her celebrity, Madeleine Carroll (1906 1987) was the world's highest-paid actress. She worked alongside such greats as Laurence Olivier and Charles Laughton, British directors Victor Saville and Alfred Hitchcock, and Hollywood directors John Ford and Otto Preminger. She also did radio and television shows-all of which she abandoned to become a Red Cross worker. Piecing together long-lost facts, the author describes Carroll's almost indescribable life, narrating her personal highs and lows, as well as her fervent commitment to helping others - particularly child victims of war.
Volunteer work can make a difference to those harmed by natural, technological, and human-induced disasters if it is done well. Disaster Volunteers provides readers with information on why people volunteer, the benefits gained by volunteers and recipients, and how to leverage such good will. Learning from a variety of past disasters, readers will gain realistic insights into the challenges of disaster contexts. Equipped with evidence-based best practices, Dr. Phillips organizes and illustrates necessary steps to recruit, train, manage, reward, and retain volunteers throughout the life cycle of disasters. This important resource walks both organizations and individuals through the entire process of volunteer engagement from recruiting and training to managing as well as rewarding and retaining volunteers and provides an engaging and informative set of useful and evidence-based chapters. Disaster Volunteers fills an existing gap in books on volunteer disaster management by incorporating research, generating sound recommendations, grounding ideas in a disaster context, and offering an inviting set of examples from which readers can learn.
Charity is central to the Jewish tradition. In this formative study, Gregg E. Gardner takes on this concept to examine the beginnings of Jewish thought on care for the poor. Focusing on writings of the earliest rabbis from the third century c.e., Gardner shows how the ancient rabbis saw the problem of poverty primarily as questions related to wealth-how it is gained and lost, how it distinguishes rich from poor, and how to convince people to part with their wealth. Contributing to our understanding of the history of religions, Wealth, Poverty, and Charity in Jewish Antiquity demonstrates that a focus on wealth can provide us with a fuller understanding of charity in Jewish thought and the larger world from which Judaism and Christianity emerged.
In the face of authoritarian, divisive trends and multiplying crises, when politics-as-usual is stymied, Awakening Democracy through Public Work shows it is possible to build foundations for a democratic awakening grounded in deep American traditions of a citizen-centered commonwealth. Awakening Democracy through Public Work begins with the story of Public Achievement, a youth civic education and empowerment initiative with roots in the civil rights movement. It describes Public Achievement's first home in St. Bernard's, a low-income Catholic elementary school in St. Paul, Minnesota, and how the program spread across the country and then abroad, giving birth to the larger concept of public work. In Public Achievement, young people practice ""citizen politics"" as they tackle issues ranging from bullying, racism, and sexual harassment to playground improvements, curriculum changes, and better school lunches. They develop everyday political skills for working across differences and making constructive change. Such citizen politics, more like jazz than a set piece of music, involve the interplay and negotiation of diverse interests and views, sometimes contentious, sometimes harmonious. Public Achievement highlights young people's roles as co-creators-builders of schools, communities, and democratic society. They are not citizens in waiting, but active citizens who do public work. Awakening Democracy through Public Work also describes how public work can find expression in many kinds of work, from education and health to business and government. It is relevant across the sweep of society. People have experimented with the idea of public work in hundreds of settings in thirty countries, from Northern Ireland and Poland to Ghana and Japan. In Burundi it birthed a national initiative to rework relations between villagers and police. In South Africa it helped people in poor communities to see themselves as problem solvers rather than simply consumers of government services. In the US, at Denison University public work is being integrated into dorm life. In Maxfield School in St. Paul, it is transforming special education. In rural Missouri, it led to the ""emPowerU"" initiative of the Heartland Foundation, encouraging thousands of young people to stay in the region. In Eau Claire, Wisconsin, it generated ""Clear Vision,"" a program providing government support for citizen-led community improvements. Public work has expanded into the idea of ""citizen professionals"" working with other citizens, not on them or for them. It has also generated the idea of ""civic science,"" in which scientists see themselves as citizens and science as a resource for civic empowerment. Awakening Democracy through Public Work shows that we can free the productive powers of people to work across lines of differences to build a better society and create grounded hope for the future.
When Dr. Ellen Einterz first arrives in the town of Kolofata in Cameroon, the situation is dire: patients are exploited by healthcare workers, unsterilized needles are reused, and only the wealthy can afford care. In Life and Death in Kolofata: An American Doctor in Africa, Einterz tells her remarkable story of delivering healthcare for 24 years in one of the poorest countries in the world, revealing both touching stories of those she is able to help and the terrible suffering of people born in extreme poverty. In one case, a 6-year-old burn victim suffers after an oil tanker tips and catches fire; in another story, Dr. Einterz delivers a child in the front yard of her home. In addition to struggling to cure diseases and injuries and combat malnutrition, Einterz faced another kind of danger: the terrorist organization Boko Haram had successively kidnapped politicians from Cameroon and foreigners, and they had set their sights on Americans in particular. It would only be a matter of time before they would come for her. Tragic, heartwarming, and at times even humorous, Life and Death in Kolofata illustrates daily life for the people of Cameroon and their doctor, documenting both the incredible human suffering in the world and the difference that can be made by those willing to help.
At the end of 1795 Jeremy Bentham, the English Utilitarian philosopher and reformer, began to compose a far-reaching plan. He proposed to restructure the English Poor Law, a set of laws for the relief of poverty first codified under Queen Elizabeth. Bentham's plan was to dispense poor relief through a national network of workhouses (the National Charity Company) constructed on the basis of his famous Panopticon architectural principle and coordinated through a single centralized administrative system. Charles F. Bahmueller analyzes the ethical, sociological, economic, and political aspects and implications of Bentham's proposal. Emphasizing that Bentham sought constantly to eliminate contingency from social life, Bahmueller shows how his scheme was a revealing harbinger of the modern welfare state. The National Charity Company shows us eighteenth-century politicians, economists, administrators, and reformers wrestling with the problems of distributive justice, economic instability, and repressive socioeconomic modes of organization that are central to contemporary political debate. The poor must be fed and clothed and employed-but they must also be ruled, from Bentham's point of view: they must, above all, be controlled. This book reveals tensions between order and freedom, paternalism and individualism, and social security and market forces that are of undeniable relevance to modern life. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1981.
Running down "do-gooders" has become a popular pastime in recent years. Journalists and academics alike have lampooned and criticized philanthropists and big donors for their charitable activities, which are often characterized as a means of self-aggrandisement or tax evasion. Yet, it is widely acknowledged that philanthropy - from the establishment of Carnegie libraries in the nineteenth century to the recent global health interventions of the Gates Foundation - has played a critical role in both developed and developing societies. In an impassioned defence of the role of philanthropy in society, Beth Breeze tackles the main critiques levelled at philanthropy and questions the rationale for undermining and disparaging philanthropic acts. She contends that although it might be flawed, philanthropy is a sector that ought to be celebrated and championed so that an abundance of causes and interests can flourish.
An evocative, immersive memoir that charts the personal evolution of an American philanthropic thought leader and arts advocate. A Life of My Own follows the author's journey from girlhood to the woman she would become. Wilhelm reveals her unique upbringing, diverse work history, family challenges and journey of personal growth with unbridled honesty and narrative energy. When life on the outside seemed under control, her inner life was in turmoil. A search for self-realization explores lies and deception about her origins, and a quest for truth and understanding that ultimately shapes a woman with profound purpose and mission. Donna Wilhelm's memoir will inspire future generations to take ownership of their own life choices and stories as they travel with her on a journey as universal as it is empowering.
Volunteering improves inner character, builds community, cures poverty, and prevents crime. We've all heard this kind of empowerment talk from nonprofit and government-sponsored civic programs. But what do these programs really accomplish? In "Making Volunteers," Nina Eliasoph offers an in-depth, humorous, wrenching, and at times uplifting look inside youth and adult civic programs. She reveals an urgent need for policy reforms in order to improve these organizations and shows that while volunteers learn important lessons, they are not always the lessons that empowerment programs aim to teach. With short-term funding and a dizzy mix of mandates from multiple sponsors, community programs develop a complex web of intimacy, governance, and civic life. Eliasoph describes the at-risk youth served by such programs, the college-bound volunteers who hope to feel selfless inspiration and plump up their resumes, and what happens when the two groups are expected to bond instantly through short-term projects. She looks at adult "plug-in" volunteers who, working in after-school programs and limited by time, hope to become like beloved aunties to youth. Eliasoph indicates that adult volunteers can provide grassroots support but they can also undermine the family-like warmth created by paid organizers. Exploring contradictions between the democratic rhetoric of empowerment programs and the bureaucratic hurdles that volunteers learn to navigate, the book demonstrates that empowerment projects work best with less precarious funding, more careful planning, and mandatory training, reflection, and long-term commitments from volunteers. Based on participant research inside civic and community organizations, "Making Volunteers" illustrates what these programs can and cannot achieve, and how to make them more effective."
Becoming an International Humanitarian Aid Worker draws on the experiences of those currently working and those hiring people to work in humanitarian aid today, and an analysis of job postings over a 9-month period. It provides relevant information and advice to help jobseekers make more informed decisions about what steps to take. It first pushes prospective job seekers to reflect on whether this is the right career path for them. It then provides tried and tested strategies for preparing for a humanitarian career and being competitive in the humanitarian job market, serving as a comprehensive guide for those thinking about a career in international humanitarian aid.
Can philanthropy alleviate inequality? Do antipoverty programs work on the ground? In this eye-opening analysis, Erica Kohl-Arenas bores deeply into how these issues play out in California's Central Valley, which is one of the wealthiest agricultural production regions in the world and also home to the poorest people in the United States. Through the lens of a provocative set of case studies, The Self-Help Myth reveals how philanthropy maintains systems of inequality by attracting attention to the behavior of poor people while shifting the focus away from structural inequities and relationships of power that produce poverty. In Fresno County, for example, which has a $5.6 billion-plus agricultural industry, migrant farm workers depend heavily on food banks, religious organizations, and family networks to feed and clothe their families. Foundation professionals espouse well-intentioned, hopeful strategies to improve the lives of the poor. These strategies contain specific ideas-in philanthropy terminology, "theories of change"- that rely on traditional American ideals of individualism and hard work, such as self-help, civic participation, and mutual prosperity. But when used in partnership with well-defined limits around what foundations will and will not fund, these ideals become fuzzy concepts promoting professional and institutional behaviors that leave relationships of poverty and inequality untouched.
A Philanthropist's Guide to Giving is a handbook for philanthropists and foundations with the desire to practice strategic, impactful philanthropy in Asia. Few resources exist in the Asia region that can serve as references along the full journey of philanthropy. This guide touches on all relevant points at the various stages of this journey - from designing a philanthropy strategy or involving family members in giving, to evaluating the impact of philanthropy or pursuing collaboration while giving.If you are embarking on a philanthropy journey yourself, this guide is intended to serve as a go-to resource for your path forward. It aims to answer your most important questions by introducing different frameworks and highlighting key considerations. It will not prescribe a single 'best' way for philanthropy, but instead enable you to be more confident and informed in crafting your own approach.Notably, this guide is tailored for the Asian experience, based on the learnings from the Asia Philanthropy Circle (APC) and its members. The book has distilled key lessons from seven years of in-depth engagement with APC members; it features 29 case studies of Asia-based philanthropists, bringing the reality of giving on the ground in Asia to you.By presenting different approaches to philanthropy, best-in-class models and examples, as well as practical insights from APC members and learnings from APC projects, you will be well-equipped to explore and expand your giving in Asia.
Being of service is essential to staying sober and can add a new level of perspective and gratitude to your life. Learn about the power of Step 12 and how to weave service into your day-to-day. The culmination of all of the steps, Step 12 calls on each of us to complete our transformation from a self-centered existence fueled by addiction to one of joy and freedom through service to others. In Walk the Talk with Step 12 Gary K. explores the the history of Step 12 and redefines what it means to practice this critical step in modern times. Through inspiring testimonials, including the author's own dramatic story as a survivor of 9/11, we learn how a life of service extends far beyond helping other alcoholics and addicts, and reveals the power of such practices as honesty, tolerance, and love in stabilizing and supporting long term recovery. With passion and insight, Gary K. incites each of us-sponsors and sponsees, newcomers and old timers alike-to define our own paths of service and experience the rewards of community and connection. |
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