@spotlight

Spotlight: Giving opportunity to children the Go Campaign

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Hi, this is Deborah. Thanks for listening to another Swell spotlight. We hope you participate. We're living in times when we worry about ourselves and our own wellbeing. And it's a time that feels very unprecedented because the pandemic has really turned many of us sort of inward because we're feeling very vulnerable to a force that's definitely bigger than us

Scott Fifer leads us in a conversation about purpose and impact. #activism #philanthropy #hope http://bit.ly/Swell_GO #swellinterview

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@GOfifer
Scott Fifer
@GOfifer · 4:44

The lowdown on the GO Campaign

So we never go in and pretend to have a better idea than they would. I mean, my gosh, I don't know what kids need in East La, which is just 10 miles from me, let alone what they need in East Africa. And then on the other end, it's the donors. I would say to you, hey, dad, what do you care about? Do you care about girls education?
@spotlight

Local hero 💪🏽 ?

Scott, thank you for that. And thank you for doing what you're doing and making that shift in creating this and having your big ears to the ground and meeting people who are either donors or people that can make changes. And to that point, I wanted to ask you a little bit about the phrase local hero. It sounds good
@Swell
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15

Welcome to Swell!

@GOfifer
Scott Fifer
@GOfifer · 2:47

Local Heroes

So we're looking for a member of the community who is really dedicating their lives, often risking their lives to make sure that children in their communities get the opportunities they deserve. They're often fighting to defend human rights that few in the community are fighting for. They might be challenging laws or cultural practices in pursuit of protection of the children's rights. We're looking at people who are visionaries who are pioneering
@spotlight

Pain points we can ease?

And I'm asking this very specifically because I think a lot of donors want to know, how can we help and what's what are you struggling with so that we can know that we can slip in there and be heroes to you? So where are you hurting right now
@GOfifer
Scott Fifer
@GOfifer · 4:05

GO Gala

Well, to be honest, my pain point right now is that every year around this time, we have an annual gala where because because we're lucky enough to be in Hollywood, California, a lot of celebrities come a lot of philanthropists, and we create a really magical night. And we raise funds for these heroes around the world
@GOfifer
Scott Fifer
@GOfifer · 3:37
And in our own country in Watts, here in Los Angeles, there's a neighborhood in Watts where 85% of parents are out of work. And when other lockdown was happening, I mean, they couldn't even get on a bus safely to go to a grocery store. There's no grocery store in their neighborhood. There's only fast food joints. And so they needed food delivered to their door. Now they're able to come to a community center and pick up food
@spotlight

Storytime ... 🙏🌎

Scott, I'm so glad I asked that question because it really zeroes in on the today, the moment. The now October 24 sounds like a very auspicious date. I think it's going to be very successful. People are looking outside themselves as well as inside side themselves. And it's a big ecosystem of, like, who am I? Who's the world? How can I make an impact? How can I take care of myself? Self care, world care
@Brooks
Brooks VB
@Brooks · 4:52

Tech for solutions accessible to all; more about technical challenges?

Some might say I have a unique background in education in the sense that I fought through a uniquely challenging childhood with many obstacles. But education played a special role in helping me through those challenges and enabling me to find success despite the setbacks I faced. And because of my personal story, I was awarded the 2015 Gear Up Youth of the Year Award from the National Coalition for Community and Education Partnerships
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@GOfifer
Scott Fifer
@GOfifer · 5:00

Stories

And in many parts of Africa, that's a death sentence. I met children who had been locked away in closets who had been hidden away in barns, children who had been hidden under beds from their neighbors, teenagers who had never gone out and seen the light of day because there's such a stigma with mental health and intellectual disabilities in East Africa and in Tanzania that the parents fear that their children's lives would be endangered if they let the neighbors know they had a child who had a disability
@spotlight

@brooksvb #digitaldivide #volunteerism

Scott, I wanted to ask you in reference to Brooke, how do you engage volunteers to be a part of your organization? Because that's one of the other ways people can help you in kind. So here we have an opportunity of someone who has great knowledge and deep gratitude about how society helped him. So it's a really full circle conversation we're having right here. So, Brooks, thank you. Scott, how do you bringing people to support you that are bringing in specific expertise
@GOfifer
Scott Fifer
@GOfifer · 3:07
For example, in Watts, where we're working, we had to go make sure when I say we I mean, the local heroes there had to get on the phone with other had to go up the line at Spectrum and up the line at the various phone companies and ask, why don't we have cell towers in this neighborhood?
@GOfifer
Scott Fifer
@GOfifer · 4:15
And then as far as experts go, sometimes we've had experts volunteer their skills, like an expert accountant has offered to go and train a local community leader somewhere else in the world, which could be done in person or virtually and help them build up their accounting skills so that they can give back better reports to their donors. People like us to go campaign so that we can then share those reports and tell their story better
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OPEN TO ALL FOR DISCUSSION ! Go Campaign stay connected here on Swell

And I think we're at a time when making an impact is so important for people's mental health to feel like they're not alone and in their strength they could help others because I think there's a perception that there's the nonprofit world over here, then there's other for profit here. And there's a big gap between the two sometimes, and I feel as someone who's worked in both worlds
@Brooks
Brooks VB
@Brooks · 4:44

'Community Intranets'. An alternative where internet isn't available

So in the favor of Brevity, I'm going to kind of focus on a broader picture application rather than going into the details because there are so many details about the projects, the technology that's out there that makes this possible. But here we go into the idea itself. It all kind of starts with letting go of the idea, at least temporarily, of getting these communities good Internet access. And instead of getting other Internet, we can create for them their own local networks
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@Brooks
Brooks VB
@Brooks · 0:47

How do people willing to help connect with those communities' needs?

To wrap up what I shared above. Scott, I would like to ask, does the Go campaign provide any sort of way for perhaps people like me who have have something to give some expertise to share or want to just help out somehow? Is there a way to connect those people with those local communities and find out what are the needs that are out there? And what can the people willing to contribute do to fulfill some of the active needs of those communities that aren't taken care of yet
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@GOfifer
Scott Fifer
@GOfifer · 1:56
Hi Brooks, thank you for asking that question. And yes, we can connect anyone with a local hero on the ground to match up skill sets with needs. All we need to do is somebody could just write to Go campaign to, for example, info at GoCampaign. Org or just contact us through our website. If you don't remember that email address and tell us what skills you have
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