Archive for month: August, 2009

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DREAMS FROM LIMA

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Carmen Page- Team Florida, T1, Q1

Growing up in Lima, Peru, Carmen Page witnessed the poverty in her country first hand.Every time she went to a restaurant, she would see a line of hungry children pressing their faces against the window while she dined.She also saw that women were not valued in the society.Often times they worked long hours and received very little compensation, only $2 per day, while male counterparts earned more money and worked less hours.Most women felt useless and had low self-esteem because they are unable to provide for their children.Witnessing those types of incidents inspired Carmen to make a difference in the lives of the women and children in Peru.

After two years of hard work, her dream is now being realized through the non-profit organization she created, called One-By-One.The mission of One-By-One is to bring economic prosperity to impoverished communities, by supporting women to become self-sustaining, micro-entrepreneurs so they can create a better life for themselves and their children.

How does One-By-One work?The organization provides all the resources to support these women in creating a successful and sustainable business.

In the past two years, Carmen and her team trained a group of women in Peru to build their own companies from scratch.They researched which type of business would be most feasible, determined the product type to sell, researched the market places in which to sell the product, and secured raw materials. Currently, they are in the process of renovating a building for the manufacturing operations, securing GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standards) certification, and much more.Her team is also creating additional services for these women to improve their self-esteem such as personal growth seminars, nutritional guidance, financial advice, and more.

With One-By-One’s help, these women will have a safe environment to design and manufacture beautifully hand-crafted 100% certified organic baby clothing.The next steps for these women are to market and sell the products they produce.However, even before these women have sold a single item, they already are living their dream.They know that they are acknowledged in their community, their work is appreciated, and that they have been given a chance to create a better life.

In the past two years, Carmen has learned so much from her participation in Landmark Education’s Team Management and Leadership Program (TMLP). She attributes much of One-By-One’s success to Brandy Baldwin, a Team 2 TMLP participant who coached Carmen during the project’s second year. Carmen registered to be a part of TMLP to complete the project with structures, technology for building teams and teamwork, and help from fellow TMLP team members.Her dreams are fulfilled by sharing in dreams realized by the numerous women that One-By-One helped – and will continue to help for years to come.

“I used to think that one person could not do much to make a difference, but now I believe that we do matter, our voice matters.One person can make a difference in other people’s lives.We can be a contribution and make the world a better place.”- Carmen Page.

If you would like to find out more about One-By-One or contribute to the organization, please visit http://onebyone4life.org.

Written by Minling Chuang

SERVICE WITH A SMILE

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Service with a Smile

Sue Camlin- Team Philadelphia, T2, Q1

The Cherry Hill Food and Outreach (CHFO) is committed to Service with a Smile. Year-round, CHFO answers the call to help those in need within the Cherry Hill, NJ (tri-county) area. They provide a steady food supply that includes high-demand items like bread, milk, and eggs.

For one lead volunteer, Sue Camlin, food and outreach is her personal mission. This year alone, as part of her participation in Landmark Education’s Team Management and Leadership program, new food-pantry partnerships and contributions are keeping the cupboards full and the Tuesday night/Thursday afternoon distribution timeframes now offer expanded services including medical check-ups by nurses. Sue believes magical things are happening – including the miraculous $8,000 check that showed up in July of 2009.

“I’m really excited about being with the clients,” Sue states. “I feel connected to the community, the volunteers, and the families. We now even have the Mayor’s office and the Cherry Hill Library involved. New leaders keep emerging to help!”

When it comes to the CHFO growth over time, the numbers are staggering. At the beginning May of 2006, only non-perishable items were collected, and the CHFO’s physical space was a church cellar, with NO refrigerator or freezer, and limited access to get into the cellar! Now, the ‘super market’ sized space includes three refrigerators, three freezers, and convenient access. Operating inside of a commitment to “be of service” and “love thy neighbor,” the number of participating families went from 30 to 550. And the program is only three years young.

Here’s another look at the numbers: In June. 2009, CHFO’s volunteers got to see firsthand the fruits of their labor as more than seven hundred children were provided with food and personal items. With school lunches absent during the summer, the nutritional needs of children are of great concern. Food pantries often view summer as the worst time of year, but CHFO is in full stock, specifically with peanut butter, jelly and ‘meals in a can.’

At this time when one in eight Americans is struggling with the reality of hunger and food insecurity, a new type of client has emerged—middleclass people who have been hit with foreclosures and layoffs. According to Sue, CHFO does what it can to care for its clients—delivering food to people having medical problems, giving out Mother’s Day and Father’s Day gift bags, families within a 5-mile radius of the pantry are eligible for bags full of groceries twice a week.

“People who come to us from outside the area still get food and we also give them a list of food pantries in their areas,” Sue said. “We have never turned anybody away, because our commitment to the community is so great and strong. CHFO is a wonderful group.” To participate, visit www.cherryhillfoodpantry.org or contact Sue Camlin at scamlin1@comcast.net.

Written by Wendy Zalles

RED PANTS FOR THE WORLD

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Red Pants for the World

An army of young women out to alter the planet

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Judi Romaine- Team Cincinnati, T1, Q4

“After surgery I was still in a lot of pain,” said Judi Romaine.

“I had bankrupted the identity I had. I used up everything that looked like possibility. I could decide to die.”

For a woman who has been active in Landmark Education for more than 30 years, this is a startling statement. Landmark Education produces courses to give people the tools to live powerful lives and lives that they love. It is all about possibility.

“Team was the last stand for transforming that [bankrupt identity],” said the Bloomington, Indiana author. So she joined Landmark’s Team Management and Leadership Program. (TMLP).

Among other things, TMLP equips participants with the skills to create teams and teamwork in any situation. Judi decided to use the skills to inspire “an army of young women living created lives out to transform the planet.”

Judi formed a team and they named themselves Red Pants for the World. According to Judi, “Red Pants became a metaphor for young girls and women who are out to make a difference and living lives where they are unconstrained.”

The idea came one night in September 2007, a year before she joined TMLP. Judi was sitting on her couch with a few friends and they were brainstorming ideas for a party. One of the lady’s jumps up and yells, “Let’s have everybody come to the party wearing red pants!”

The image of an army of women all wearing red pants at the same time hit Judi like a lightning bolt. She thought, “Yes, a cadre of women with the courage to wear red pants tells the world that they are bold, powerful and free.”

Where did Judi decide she could make the biggest difference? Half a world away. In the past few years there have been many stories in the news about Afghanistan. Judi was struck by all the images of women there who have not been allowed to express themselves.

The team’s goal is to raise $100,000 by 2012 for a school in Afghanistan. Red Pants for the World has formed a partnership with Nafissa, a woman who escaped from Afghanistan in the 1980s during the war with the Soviet Union.

Nafissa now lives in Paris and created Solidaire Provence Afghanistan, a non-profit whose objective is to help the most unprivileged Afghans and raise awareness on the Afghan culture in France. Red Pants has already raised $650 in online donations for the Solidaire Proveance to support the distribution of books in an Afghan village. (To protect the girls and women the name of the village cannot be disclosed.)

Red Pants hasn’t confined its work to just Afghanistan. The team provided a $500 microloan to a Cambodian woman who wanted to build a new house for her nieces and nephews after their parents died.

To raise money, Judi created an online store www.cafepress.com/redpants to sell and promote Red Pants for the World products like journals, note cards, bumper stickers, mugs and bags.

This August, Red Pants partnered with the Silk Road Institute – an Indiana-based non-profit led by an Iranian born professor. Silk Road Institute promotes self-expression and freedom through music.

Closer to home, Red Pants is working in Bloomington with abused women who have children. They are in the process of starting a writing group to enable the women to write their stories and share them with the world. Judi wants to “have these women lit up and seeing that they are fully expressed in the world and share it in a way that makes a difference for others.”

Red Pants is committed to publishing these stories on its blog, www.redpantslegacy.blogspot.com. As an author, Judi will assist the Red Pants girls in publishing their expressions in book form.

There’s another team in Elkhart, Indiana, a town that has the highest unemployment rate in the nation. In September 2009, Red Pants is starting an afterschool writing program for 6th grade girls in low-income neighborhoods. The objective is for these girls to build a Red Pants team that fulfills their individual visions.

Judi’s passion for giving women the ability to create bold, powerful lives stems from an incident 50 years ago, when she wasn’t much older than the 6th graders she is inspiring today. When she was 15 years old, Judi’s sister Gay was killed in a car accident. She was just 17. “Gay never got to fulfill on her life,” Judi said.

In that moment, Judi felt alone and decided she would live a life where she would be independent and not depend on anyone.

It was through her participation in TMLP, that Judi realized how her entire life was based on that incident. “I sentenced myself to the idea that I’m on my own.”

She created an isolated world designed to do things alone. As an author she works from home, by herself. And she has been successful living in the world she created, publishing three novels.

Since joining TMLP, Judi’s life has transformed. “Before TMLP, my notion of team was that everything funnels through the leader. Applying what I learned through TMLP, my neighbors have been coming to me. People are willing to be a team together to support each other.”

“Now, I have an expanded sense of knowing myself as someone who makes a difference in the world,” Judi said. “By myself I never would have tried to do any of this.”

She noted that the more she looks for examples of what she is standing for, the more it shows up. Recently, CNN ran a story about a 14 year-old girl in Pakistan starting a blog based upon her commitment to ending terror attacks in her country. She shares poetry, stories and news. “She’s being is a perfect expression of Red Pants showing up in the world,” said Judi.

Through Red Pants for the World, Judi has gone from a hospital bed, believing she had done all she could in life to a woman creating a legacy. She has given women globally the opportunity Gay never had – a world full of women expressing themselves, wearing red pants, and creating a life they love.

Written by Steve Schapiro & Don Murphy

PASSIONATE LEADERSHIP

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PASSIONATE LEADERSHIP

Angela Wilson-Team Detroit, T2,Q4

ANGELA WILSON has a vision for Detroit. She has a vision of a city where children are nurtured and cared for, a place where families have access to everything they need. She believes that it is city leaders who will transform her city.

With this in mind, she made the decision to run for Detroit City Council. She used her participation in the Team Management and Leadership Program to create a Game in the World where, with the help of four teams, she would be elected to the city council. She and her teams created the acronym PEOPLE – standing for People Empowerment, Openness, Principled Leadership and Excellence in Detroit government.

The four teams, with two leaders on each team, are:

1) Resource development team – to raise money and secure other resources including businesses, people and time;

2) Community team – to engage the community, recruit volunteers, community events, creating events around a platform and align with others platforms;

3) Partnership team – to focus on creating partnerships with other candidates and share resources; and

4) Leadership team – to manage all teams, making broad policy decisions, approaching and supporting other teams.

When Angela lost the primary on Tuesday August 4th, she and her team leaned some invaluable lessons, the most important of which was to not give up on the game. They are still passionate leaders committed to transforming their city, but have aligned behind two winning primary candidates and will bring the power of their game to those leaders.

The transformation Angela is committed to for Detroit has already begun. People are seeing the possibility of a city that isn’t doing business as usual – they are not settling for ‘the way it’s been.’ A big shift occurred in the last election: of the six incumbent members running, only two made it into the top five. Since the top nine candidates will become the city council members, at least four will be new. This has never happened in Detroit politics before. Detroit is playing a different game now – a game of transformation.

Angela has learned two critical things from her game: First, that team–a real team, not just names, requires people who are committed and clear about their role. Second, she learned that it is crucial to listen ‘for’ what people are committed to, not just the words but for the intentions behind the words.

As she completes her second year in TMLP, Angela found out what was important was not just winning a council seat, but the training and development in playing the game and learning what works in the practice of playing.

Written by Judi Romaine, Edited by Jeff Bonar

WINDOWS OF THE WORLD

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Windows Of the World! – An International Event

Katherine Barling-Team Melbourne, Australia T2, Completed

I’m in the middle of Melbourne’s grand civic square with a huge screen – it’s a world wide event focusing on the amazing creative projects that are happening now, creating a world that is environmentally sustainable, socially just and community focused. There’s a container painted all over with animals, bound for India, as an education centre. Another container stands nearby to be out-fitted as India’s 1st mobile medical centre of it’s kind, with equipment already donated. It is covered in artwork representing the schools that have also contributed. 1000’s of people are gathered to celebrate the world we live in, the communities we live in and the projects and activities we participate in to make this world a better place for all, for now and for future generations.

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Their attention is on the big screen, viewing cutting edge, short films representing many projects around the world that are making a difference. Guest presenters speak passionately of the project, answer questions and engage the audience for contribution of ideas, debate and collaboration. At café’s and restaurants around the square, excited discussions continue when the films are over.

That’s what I envisage for a few weeks away, 6 nights starting September 12, 2009. It’s taken a village of people to put this together – teams of collaborators, film-makers and editors, designers and artists, event coordinators to undertake calls and meetings, letters and follow up and invitations to indigenous elders, city dignitaries, heads of state, community leaders and members.

What the team has accomplished in less than 6 months is extraordinary! This is a world class event, focused on what is making a difference in the world now, beamed to 40 countries, with over 50 communities in Melbourne taking part, with leaders of different faith, meeting and working together to bring their communities to participate, supporting communities affected by the bush fires earlier this year, supporting indigenous communities and their art from across the country, witnessing the ancient art from war-torn lands, refugees re-create in an Australian context and more. Much more. And now these have been filmed and are screening centre stage.

In these challenging times of financial and environmental crisis, social upheaval and uncertainty, an event that gives people hope that the future that we want is indeed possible and achievable now.

The project has also created www.windowsoftheworld.com.au, which will be launched by 21 Aug 2009 where others projects around the world can link in, provide their films or let us know of their projects and teams can link up together.

Project initiated 3rd Quarter Team 2, 7 months ago, as the result of training in being an extraordinary communicator through teamwork. Project sparked by the indigenous people of Ecuador (Changing the Dream Symposium).

THE BIRTHING WOMAN PROJECT

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THE BIRTHING WOMAN PROJECT

Hannah Dupree-Team Melbourne, T1, Q4.

In 2008 in the Landmark Education ‘The Power to Create’ course, Hannah created a game for her life: By 2018 art and sport will be of equal value to society. Considering her love for the impact of public art on society and the freedom of self-expression that is created in a festival environment, she saw a way to design and realize the game she dreamed about. Suddenly, the large-scale art project she and her friends had been thinking about creating for the Burning Man festival appeared in a new light.

When fully constructed, the sculpture they are designing will be a cluster of large-scale, dressed aluminum domes and inflatable shapes that will be a massive representation of a reclining pregnant woman emerging from the desert. The domes and inflatable create pockets of internal space for artistic play and external lines for expanded conceptual vision.

Guiding the process is the ‘Oz Birthing Woman Association Inc’, formed in Hannah’s second quarter of Landmark Education’s Team Management and Leadership Program. The Oz Birthing Woman Association is structured as a not for profit incorporated association. The group is working in a non-hierarchical model of management based on “Pods”. It is a system based on equality, it facilitates free communication and decision making, each Pod being independent in its goals while always focusing on its role in the overall project.

One year out, as testament to her teams determined vision and commitment to the project, a 13.5m breast dome has been created. It had been fitted with cutting edge 360 degree cinematic projectors and creates a sense of the ground breaking technology that is being developed inside of her team.

The overarching intent of Birthing Woman Project as a multi-dimensional interactive art installation is to heal, balance and activate a new generation of consciousness that brings attention to aspects of conception, gestation and the delivery of ideas.  It also aims to encourage greater awareness of recognized feminine energies, such as being receptive, being intuitive and nurturing. The project’s view is that our current climate is relentlessly personified by ‘masculine’ energies, reflected by war and conflict, consistently reinforced through the global media.  The aim of The Birthing Woman Project is to balance ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ in a positive way. The project will not only have creative, cultural and personal outcomes for all who engage, but will affect all participants, in a way that promote crucial shifts in perceptions within the collective psyche.

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Inside of Hannah’s global game The Birthing Woman Project has developed far beyond an ‘art piece’ for a festival. The project will compete in the Central Australian Desert in 2012 following events across metropolitan and regional Australia in 2010. The Project will have a major staging at the Burning Man Festival (Nevada, USA) in 2011, with a possible European Tour later in 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlvEkL76Evc

EXPRESS YOURSELF

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‘EXPRESS YOURSELF’

Georgia Bruton-Team Sydney, AustraliaT1, Q 2

Imagine not having access to the tools that allow us to create and the tools that allow us to be self-expressed. The tools that let us explore our talents and live lives we love. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of thousands of homeless Australian kids who do not have this opportunity and are just struggling to survive.

This was our inspiration in creating ‘EXPRESS YOURSELF,’ an exhibition to raise money for ‘Youth Off The Streets’ (YOTS).

Youth Off The Streets is a community organization whose mission is to “help disconnected young people discover greatness within by engaging, supporting and providing opportunities to encourage & facilitate positive life choices.”

For More information go to http://www.youthoffthestreets.com.au

The mission of this project is to educate and inspire people to be fully self-expressed in all areas of life.The goal of the project was to generate funds to supply an art program to underprivileged children in Australia so they can also have the opportunity to express themselves.

The vision for the project is to create a world where “every child has the tools to be self expressed.”

‘EXPRESS YOURSELF’ was a successful, exciting, fully self-expressed event by our team in the form of an art auction featuring a range of fantastic art pieces created for the event by both homeless kids and famous local Australians. It was held at Bondi Beach and included break-dancing and musical performances by incredibly talented homeless kids along with well known DJ’s and singers. The head auctioneer from a leading real-estate agency brought an extra flair to the auction. The header logo on this article is one of the images created for the event.

Over 150 people attended the high-energy event. Express Yourself generated a lot of good PR and over AUS$12,500 was raised to start an art program at the local YOTS schools, now in the process of being launched. Many of the homeless kids involved in Express Yourself are now inspired to include some form of creative expression in their future career choices. This event is now ready to be rolled out in Melbourne, Australia, and Auckland, New Zealand and is in the Sydney calendar as an annual event.

The vision of homeless kids, with the tools they need to be fully self-expressed, inspired, moved, and consistently motivated everyone on the Youth Off the Streets team to be in action creating an event that no one would forget.

This project was created and completed by Georgia Bruton as part of the Team Management Leadership Program. The project not only provided funding for YOTS and homeless kids. It allowed Georgia to get back in touch with her own artistic self-expression. This project allowed her to both work with what she loves and to make a difference in ways that mattered to her and others on her team. With this training in managing teams, Georgia now has the freedom and ease to expand her own work and foster more projects that contribute to her community and the world.

DREAM MACHINE-SHOUT IT OUT!

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DREAM MACHINE-SHOUT IT OUT!

Jesse Tale-Team Sydney, Australia, T1, Q4

For his Game in the World in the Team, Management and Leadership Program, Jesse Tale created “Dream Machine – Shout It Out”, an online tool that helps people create and achieve their dreams.

It allows people to share ideas and action plans, and the vision is one of millions of people all around the world helping each other explore their passions, solving their problems creatively and powerfully.  Dream Machine has the potential to seriously impact the world, but Jesse says he can’t go into more detail without getting you to sign an NDA! (nondisclosure agreement).

Jesse and his team have created and presented a working prototype and business plan of the project to groups of potential partners in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and as of today, have a remarkable team of twelve people with amazing skills and diverse experiences, working towards a common goal of a worldwide launch.

Landmark Education’s Team Management and Leadership Program has been an enormous benefit in the training, through the program’s coaching and support structure. Jesse declares he never gets stopped any more in creating structures and effective planning, bringing generosity, integrity and responsibility to the project. The team members create inspiring contexts that keep lifting the lid off of what is possible for the project.

Jesse’s and his team’s Dream Machine Game in the World has allowed them to discover partnership, excitement, and working relationships where they can say anything to each other and where they inspire and push each other to be the best.  Jesse feels that in taking on such an amazing project, it has been a source of inspiration for others in his life to take on their own projects. He says he now knows himself as someone creating a project with the potential to change the world.

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