San Francisco – (BLOGGERS NETWORK)-- Silicon Valley NGO Black Achievers Matter has introduced its Angels and Ambasssadors Project, which allows Minority youth to build publicity campaigns for honored non-profits that are working towards racial justice and cultural diversity.
Black achievers at ASU
The program is free to join, teaches valuable skills, makes members and their marketable talents slightly famous, and most importantly, links each participant to a Cause permanently, because of its unique social networking capabilities.
"Protests are important, and we've supported them in recent weeks" says DeMarcus Ambrose, the group's Communications Director. "But at some point we have to stop pointing fingers and start building. Protests come from the conviction that OTHER PEOPLE are supposed to do something. But sooner or later you realize that it's YOU who will make your future, not other people. That's the central premise behind Black Achievers Matter. With us you can't complain about others, you have to CREATE something."
What members create is a publicity engine for one of 20 honored non-profits in the Civil Rights arena, abstracted from a revolving roster. Each NGO or non-profit has been chosen for its comprehensive approach, ethical stance, financial solvency, and clarity of message. (Right now they are the National Urban League, Color of Change, Higher Heights, NAACP, People's City Council, Women for Political Change, Other Paths, Equity and Transformation, The Marshall Project, White People for Black Lives, Freedom Writers Foundation, Know Your Rights Camp, Black Visions MN, Innocence Project, Advancement Project, Congress of Racial Equality, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights).
There is an established protocol to follow: Each Ambassador creates both a Facebook Page and Group devoted to their group and cause, plus accounts or pages on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Imgur, Tumblr, academia.edu, and sometimes Youtube and TikTok. They also start discussion groups on Reddit and Linkedin, and issue a press release. "What this does, as they learn the requirements of each platform, is establish each participant as a matrix of knowledge, information, and news for their topic, as far as the Internet is concerned. It also has the potential to build a sustainable source of revenue for the non-profit" says John Toomey, Director of Advancement. If an Ambassador wishes, a networking award is named after them. The world will always be aware of their passion for the cause, and potential business partners, employers, or other NGOs can easily evaluate their talents.
Ambassadors don't pay to participate, but must start and maintain the social network sites devoted to their group and issue. Angels, who donate to the GoFundMe campaign, have it done for them. Successful Angels and Ambassadors are highlighted every month in a press release, and mentioned in the group's social media which reach hundreds of thousands.
In addition, Angels can earn a Title associated with the cause represented by their chosen non-profit. They can join groups that guide the young Ambassadors, and have real administrative power within the organization.
The project was designed with the help of Fortune 500 executives who wanted to create an easily followed set of procedures designed specifically for young people of color to either build their own startups or join existing successful companies or non-profits. "We want to introduce young people to skills which will eventually help them to build a research team, a customer base, a Board for a startup incubator, or a cohort of investors" says Program Director Soani Gunawan.
"We want to combine the passion that young people have for Racial Justice and Cultural Diversity with a series of steps that, though simple in themselves, can teach powerful lessons in networking, team-building, publicity, and marketing psychology" says Ambrose. "Those who succeed will be invited to build AI's that achieve the same aim, while also introducing them to machine learning and neural networks. These are skills that can not only move the needle for social change, but help people succeed in enterprises also".
Will participation in the program lead to lucrative employment in Silicon Valley or with successful organizations elsewhere? "That's the long-term plan" says Gunawan. "We'll see how this pilot project goes".
Black Achievers Matter is supported by a GoFundMe page, which pays for administration, advertising, site maintenance, and upkeep. Anything left over is donated to the 20 currently recognized non-profits.
"What this does is ensure that a Donor's name is recognized forever" says Gunawan. "Their name is listed on our website and social media, as well as those of the Ambassadors they support, and on every monthly press release. The result is that support for BAM offers more 'Bang for the Buck' than other charities. Both Angels and Ambassadors achieve continuous recognition."
For more information contact blackachieversmatter@gmail.com, or call (937) 770-9816.
The website is http://www.blackachieversmatter.net
The GoFundMe page is http://gofundme.com/f/black-achievers-matter
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