Category Archives: Community Development

Community Development, Immigrant Rights, LGBT, People of color, Philadelphia, Women

ACLU

Founded in 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is the nation’s foremost guardian of liberty. They are a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending and protecting individual rights and personal freedoms.

Through advocacy, education and litigation, their attorneys, advocates and volunteers work to preserve and promote civil liberties including the freedom of speech, the right to privacy, reproductive freedom, and equal treatment under the law. They stand in defense of the rights of women and minorities, workers, students, immigrants, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, and others who have seen bias and bigotry threaten the rights afforded to all of us in this country by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Because the ACLU of Pennsylvania is a nonprofit organization with limited resources, they rely on volunteers and interns to accomplish their work. Most of their volunteer and internship opportunities are in one of their offices in Philadelphia. Some volunteers make a regular weekly commitment to volunteer; others help out on an as-needed basis.

The Philadelphia local chapter is made up of volunteers who help further the mission of the ACLU by alerting staff about civil liberties violations in their area, holding local events, and raising awareness in their communities about civil liberties and the ACLU-PA.

Have skills you’d like to volunteer, such as photography or graphic design, but don’t want to commit to regular schedule in the office? Email them at volunteer@aclupa.org to set up a time to discuss how you can get involved!

Website: https://www.aclupa.org/takeaction/volunteerintern/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aclupa

Contact: 215-592-1513, volunteer@aclupa.org or info@aclupa.org

Location: 1401 John F Kennedy Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19103

Community Development, Location, Philadelphia

ACTION United

ACTION United is a membership organization of low and moderate income Pennsylvanians working to build power through organizing communities to win changes on the issues that are important to them. We are a state based, membership advocacy group with chapters in Philadelphia and surrounding counties, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh. We organize to make change in our neighborhoods, our regions and our state.

ACTION United is the states’ largest low and moderate income community organization with over 54000 members statewide. ACTION United is a multi-issue organization that works to build power and a voice for its members. Our vision and goal is to build an organization that is powerful enough to have real impact on decisions that are made that effect our members and their communities.In Philadelphia, our action areas include:

ACTION United is a progressive grassroots organization is seeking, fun, talented, determined and outgoing activists to help mobilize support on economic & social justice campaigns.

Though, no previous experience is necessary, AU applicants should have:
Genuine commitment to making a difference
Energy, drive, confidence, and self-motivation
Communication skills out the whim wham
Humor obviously is a major plus
Interest in social & economic justice

A position you’ll love:
Empowering communities to take action
Help to frame and shift the debate in PA politics
Use your voice to inspire legislative victories
Reforming PA by being an action-oriented activist
Help Shape the ACTION United public brand
Real opportunity for dedicated employees to advance within the organization

Email your resume to:
rbradleyortiz@actionunited.org or drichardson@actionunited.org

Website: http://actionunited.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ActionUnited

Contact: 215-839-3390, rbradleyortiz@actionunited.org or drichardson@actionunited.org

Location: 846 N. Broad St, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19130

*This site is accessible via public transportation from the Bryn Mawr campus.

Please see transportation reimbursement policy.

Community Development, Immigrant Rights, Location, People of color, Philadelphia

JUNTOS

JUNTOS is a Latino immigrant community led organization in Philadelphia fighting for our human rights as workers, parents, youth, and immigrants.

JUNTOS combines leadership development, community organizing, and focused collaborations with other community-based and advocacy organizations to build the power of our community so may be active agents of change.  We believe that every human being has the right to a quality education and the freedom to live with dignity regardless of immigration status.

Website: http://vamosjuntos.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VamosJuntosPhilly/

Contact: 215-218-9079, Info@vamosjuntos.org

Location: 600 Washington Ave, 2nd Fl, Unit 18UA, Philadelphia, PA 19147

Community Development, Immigrant Rights, Labor Rights, Location, Media, Philadelphia, Youth

Media Mobilizing Project

MMP exists to build a media, education and organizing infrastructure that will cohere and amplify the growing movement to end poverty. We use media to organize poor and working people to tell our stories to each other and the world, disrupting the stereotypes and structures that keep our communities divided.

MMP grows out of two histories of anti-poverty, human rights and communication organizing – Martin Luther King’s Poor People’s Campaign and Indymedia. From these histories, we learned core lessons: that in an era of consolidated media that doesn’t tell true stories about poor and working people, we need a community-based media production and distribution infrastructure, and that new communications technologies offer vital platforms for disenfranchised communities to share stories and unite across powerful lines of division.

Building on these insights, MMP formed in 2005 and has since strengthened dozens of existing and emerging grassroots struggles and organizations through narrative and resource development, media collaborations, and training; educated over 1000 immigrants, low-wage workers, and youth in audio/video production, digital literacy and human rights; launched radio, TV, and web platforms reaching nearly 50,000 people; shaped the public debate around poverty locally and nationally (including producing a PBS documentary on American poverty that has been seen by over 7.5 million viewers); and led a coalition to win Philadelphia $18 million in federal stimulus funding to break the digital divide.

Website: http://www.mediamobilizingproject.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mediamobilizing/

Contact: (215) 821-9632

Location: 4534 Baltimore Ave, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

Community Development, Immigrant Rights, People of color, Philadelphia

Boat People SOS

BPSOS – Delaware Valley is the local branch of a national Vietnamese American community organization with the mission to “empower, organize, and equip Vietnamese individuals and communities in their pursuit of liberty and dignity.”

Since 1980, one in 10 Vietnamese Americans has received assistance from BPSOS while still in Vietnam, on the high seas, in a refugee camp, or after arriving in the United States.

Through our 11 office locations in the U.S. and four office locations in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, we provide a web of services to support individuals, families, and communities. BPSOS-Delaware Valley works to promote a vision where Vietnamese American and immigrant individuals and families live in thriving, connected, communities which are free from violence.  We commit to this work through developing projects under four key areas that strengthen families and our community as a whole:

Southeast Asian Youth Empowerment Program (SEAYEP) : Programs during the school year and summer season focused on  youth including School-Year Youth Leadership Chapters for high school students;  after-school tutorials; Summer Youth Career Exploration Project; Journey Home and numerous short-term community service opportunities for Southeast Asian youth.

Citizenship Initiative in Vietnamese Immigrant Communities (CIVIC): Program to support eligible Vietnamese community members, and other legal permanent residents, through the citizenship process so that they will receive the benefits of citizenship including increased access to educational and employment opportunities, engage to a greater degree both politically and socially, will be less at risk for deportation, and will be able to reunify with family members.

Health Awareness & Promotion Program (HAPP): Informing and empowering Vietnamese-Americans to take health prevention into their own hands and become health advocates in the community. We are specifically working to tackle the issue of breast cancer, cervical cancer among Vietnamese women by reducing barriers to breast care.

Community Building Projects: Each year, we work with community members, leaders, and organizations to host our “hallmark” events in Philadelphia and South Jersey, which focus on building strong community connections through culture-based celebrations and engagement. Since 2009, these have been “Da Hoi Tinh Yeu (Love Festival)” in Philadelphia which celebrate strong families, and our “Tet Trung Thu (Mid-Autumn Moon Festival) in South Jersey). These events also act as fundraisers for BPSOS-DelV–with monies coming from our most important constituents–our community members!

BPSOS-Delaware Valley is invested in building and developing community-oriented leadership within the Vietnamese communities and allied partnerships in all of our work. If you are interested in working with the Vietnamese community–whether you speak Vietnamese or not–we need you! There are many opportunites and they change frequently, so please check back here.  Please note that these are generally volunteer and unpaid positions.

Contact: (215) 334-1500, philly@bpsos.org
Location: 600 Washington Ave., Suite 18U-A, Philadelphia, PA 19147
All Opportunities, Community Development, Education, Health Care, Housing, Philadelphia, Unemployment

POWER – Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower & Rebuild

We are Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower & Rebuild (POWER).  We are congregations from all across the city, intentionally bringing people together across the lines of race, faith, income level and neighborhood — lines which have historically kept Philadelphians divided.  We are people of faith committed to the work of bringing about justice here and now, in our city and our region.  By strengthening and mobilizing our networks of relationships, we seek to exercise power in the public arena so that the needs and priorities of all Philadelphians are reflected in the systems and policies that shape our city.

POWER employs a model of organizing often referred to as “Faith-Based Community Organizing” (FBCO) and which is sometimes called “congregation-based” or “broad-based” community organizing. Faith-Based Community Organizing is grounded in key principles and stories from our major faith traditions and also draws from the spirit and lessons learned from some of the main historical movements for justice and progress in our nation’s history including the American Revolution, the Civil Rights Movement and other popular movements for justice.

POWER congregations are promoting a 5-part, multi-year organizing platform for policy change in the areas of Jobs, Education, Housing, Public Safety and Healthcare, with a first focus on a jobs plan for Philadelphia.

Volunteer with POWER

In addition to being a POWER leader in your congregation, you can offer your time and talents to POWER in the following ways:

  • Helping create and manage our growing mailing list through data entry work
  • Helping communicate with POWER members through periodic phone banking

Website: https://powerinterfaith.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/powerinterfaith/

Contact: (215) 232-7697, info@powerphiladelphia.org

Location: 1429 N. 11th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122

*This site is accessible via public transportation from the Bryn Mawr campus.

Please see transportation reimbursement policy.