Friday, July 29, 2011

Knowing What's Happening in our World

I feel a greater responsibility to know what's really going on in the world...outside my own suburban world and even the issues in our own nation...and here's a great help list from Lauren Seibert at ACTS World Vision group...I do love that we can be so educated about global issues and needs in this generation...and with seeking to be informed comes responsibility to share what we know and respond...

1. Check out these TV network series:

•CNN’s “Freedom Project” - launched March 2011; tells powerful stories that turn the spotlight on modern-day slavery
•PBS’s “Wide Angle” - created in 2001 as a response to the lack of U.S. in-depth international news coverage; covers international current affairs documentaries

2. Customize your Twitter account. Make your Twitter a constant flow of up-to-the-minute news and advocacy stories by following news organizations (@nytimes, @alertnet), humanitarian groups (@WorldVisionUSA, @SaveTheChildren), key activists (@NickKristof) and others like @NGOBuzz. Check out our lists:

3. Find apps for your smartphone or iPod. Call+Response has a great app that keeps you updated on interesting news stories about human trafficking and slavery. The ONE Campaign also has an app to keep you up to date. Browse around; see what other apps you can find!

4. Sign up for email newsletters from relief, development, advocacy, and other nonprofit organizations. You can sign up for biweekly activism updates from us at World Vision ACT:S; for World Vision eNews with its broader focus on disasters, development, and stories from the field; for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting; for customized news reports from the Council on Foreign Relations, etc.

5. Download reports. Many major aid agencies and other nonprofits publish monthly, annual, or special reports. International Crisis Group publishes Crisis Watch every month to summarize the world’s most urgent conflicts; Save the Children has an annual State of the World’s Mothers report; W.H.O. has a World Malaria Report ; the State Department has a Trafficking In Persons Report.

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