FAVORITE BRIDGE ACROSS THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
Hewlett-Packard's e-Inclusion Solutions
Few would argue that Senegal, India, Ghana, Costa Rica, and Brazil are logical extensions of Silicon Valley, but with the help of one high-tech giant, they may be home to the next generation of computer genuises. e-Inclusion Solutions is Hewlett-Packard's far-reaching effort to bring opportunities created by an information-based economy to people, especially children, in the developing world. HP doesn't see these projects as charity cases; in fact it is a business intitiative designed to turn a profit by creating new markets where none had existed before. Indeed, e-Inclusion Solutions is perhaps the greatest example of how big business is now a critical participant in the movement to provide "technology-excluded" people all over the world with the tools to support themselves sustainably, using cutting-edge technology and a little know-how.
:: Learn more about HP's e-Inclusion Solutions.

FAVORITE WAY TO EXPAND A CHILD'S WORLD VIEW
Debra Frasier's On the Day You Were Born
One look at the wonderful Matisse-like illustrations in Debra Frasier's classic "birthday" book, and you'll know why it's on this year's list. With vivid simplicity, they beautifully help to describe the universe on the day of a child's birth. And with the help of wonderful language, the book lyrically and whimsically paints a picture designed to open a child's eyes to ecology and global interconnectedness before she can even think not to: "On the day you were born, a forest of tall trees collected the Sun's light in their leaves, where, in silent mystery, they made oxygen for you to breathe..."
:: Buy your copy of On the Day You Were Born.

FAVORITE RESOURCE FOR STRENGTHENING FAMILIES
PEPS (Program for Early Parent Support)
Raising healthy children is a daunting and difficult task. A multitude of resources exists for parents, but sometimes what's really needed, especially for first-time parents, is a supportive community environment where new parents can share concerns and ideas and lend encouragement to one another. PEPS facilitates such parental support groups, believing that "parents who are confident and connected to positive friends and resources will enjoy their children more and help them to reach their highest potential." Parents participate in weekly neighborhood support groups and community-based educational discussions. Through their "Teen Parent Program," PEPS offers young parents the opportunity to build a supportive network of peers and learn about positive childrearing practices.
:: Learn more about PEPS.

FAVORITE INSPIRATION BEHIND A CAUSE
Deep Roots
Early this year, we told you about Deep Roots, a non-profit organization created in the memory of former Peace Corps volunteer, Joie Kallison. When Joie was killed in a car accident in rural Namibia while working as a teacher with the Peace Corps, her friends and colleagues rallied to pay tribute. In 1998, they created Deep Roots, a Minneapolis-based group dedicated to improving secondary educational opportunities for Namibian schoolchildren. The group enables gifted students to receive full scholarships, literally the only way most of them can continue going to school. And as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said, access to education is especially important for young girls, since sixty percent of the world's children not in school are female. With passion and commitment, the people of Deep Roots are bringing powerful meaning to Joie Kallison's legacy.
:: Read the GoodLetter about Deep Roots.
:: Learn more about Deep Roots.

WorldWise
The non-profit brainchild of sailing enthusiast Kate Menser, WorldWise transports good the old-fashioned way -- with the help of gentle breezes and favorable ocean currents. WorldWise reaches ports throughout the world with the help of the tall ship Picton Castle. Before shipping off from Nova Scotia in November 2000, Menser collected more than twenty donated tons of educational textbooks, National Geographic maps, and other school supplies, and has since been delivering them into the delighted, waiting arms of schoolchildren on isolated islands in some of the most remote corners of the world. As an added motivation behind their journey, Menser and the WorldWise team are using their Web site to teach North American students about their cultural experiences in distant lands. WorldWise represents a unique and refreshing marriage of passion and mission, where feeling good and doing good are impossible to distinguish.
:: Read the GoodLetter about WorldWise.
:: Learn more about WorldWise.

FAVORITE INTERNATIONAL HEALTH ORGANIZATION
PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health)
This non-profit's ambitious mission is to improve health around the world, particularly that of women and children. PATH focuses on improving the quality of reproductive health services available to people in developing countries, as well as on preventing and reducing the impact of widespread communicable diseases. Through partnerships with local clinics, community-based groups, ministries of health, non-governmental organizations, private companies, and funding agencies, they work to bring affordable health-related technologies to resource-poor populations. Their services range from family planning to providing health workers with products, supplies, and training. PATH is recognized not only for its success in building and sustaining working relationships in both the public and private sectors, but also for effectively helping the people most in need around the world.
:: Learn more about PATH.

FAVORITE INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LEADER
CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere)
CARE is one of the world's largest relief organizations, last year improving the lives of over 27 million people around the globe. CARE prides itself on bringing a holistic approach to poverty alleviation not only by addressing symptoms but also by working to amend the underlying root causes of poverty. The majority of its staff of 10,000 are citizens of the countries where they work. CARE envisions "a world of tolerance and social justice, where people have overcome poverty and live in dignity and security." With comprehensive, on-the-ground programs everywhere from Peru to Papua New Guinea to back that vision up, CARE has established itself as the standard-bearer in the fight against human suffering.
:: Learn more about CARE.

FAVORITE KID-FRIENDLY WORLD MUSIC
Putumayo's World Playground 2
Think an appreciation for a wide range of world music requires the kind of refined musical taste reserved only for snobs and graduate students? Guess again. This glorious compilation is a playful cross-section of songs from places like Trinidad, Spain, Algeria, India, Colombia, and South Africa about things that capture children's imaginations. It is melodic multiculturalism for your favorite kid to hum along to (the album's accompanying booklet is filled with beautiful pictures and stories to help you teach children about what they're hearing). What makes this collection even more significant is that record label Putumayo has provided 12,000 families directly touched by the September terrorist attacks with copies of the CD and has developed an accompanying diversity activity kit now being used in 5,000 elementary schools. Putumayo continues to set the standard for helping music lovers access a world's worth of both amazing sounds and rich cultures.
:: Get your copy of World Playground 2 and learn more about Putumayo.

FAVORITE WAY TO CONNECT THE ARTS AND JUSTICE
Artists for a New South Africa
When apartheid was the rule of the day in minority-governed South Africa, the eyes of the world were shocked by the nation's racial inequity and shameful history of human rights violations. Then, Nelson Mandela ushered in a new South Africa in 1994. Still, apartheid's grim legacy of segregation and discrimination lingers, resulting in the need for non-profits like Artists for a Free South Africa, which was organized in 1989. The "Free" in the name was changed to "New" when apartheid collapsed. Now, the group of artists, entertainers, and civil-rights leaders lends its muscle to the ongoing effort to bring an end to poverty and AIDS, improve education, preserve culture, and establish a strong constitution. With luminaries like Danny Glover, Johnny Clegg, and Alfre Woodard among its ranks, ANSA is an inspiring example of how celebrities and other people of means and influence are joining together to increase awareness of important causes.
:: Learn more about ANSA.

FAVORITE "LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD"
Earth Island Institute's SAVE International
In 1997, the plight of an odd-looking endangered bird -- the black-faced spoonbill -- garnered the attention of a small group of students and faculty from the University of California at Berkeley. Its wintering wetland habitat in southwestern Taiwan threatened by plans for development of a major petrochemical plant, the spoonbill became the inspiration for a new grassroots organization, SAVE International. With the support of local Chi-gu fisherman, whose livelihood was also threatened by the development proposal, and a cadre of high-profile environmental leaders, SAVE stopped the development and even saw its primary Taiwanese proponent elected to public office. SAVE confirms late anthropologist Margaret Mead's prescient words: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world."
:: Learn more about SAVE and the Earth Island Institute.

FAVORITE OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUTH INVOLVEMENT
City Year
It's a familiar scene in dozens of cities across the US: fifty young people in red jackets and work boots gathering for morning calisthenics. It's not an exuberant gym class, but rather City Year volunteers -- youth committed to a year of community service, leadership development and civic engagement. Over a thousand 17- to 24-year-olds serve each day as teachers' aides, youth mentors, tutors, camp counselors and diversity trainers. It's all a part of a vision to create an ethic of national service, to help foster community and communication between diverse groups of people, and to change the future through action today. Not a bad way to spend a year.
:: Learn more about City Year.

FAVORITE PICTURES OF THE REAL WORLD
The Bread and Roses Cultural Project's Unseen America
Without fanfare, the workers of the world, day after day, keep the world moving forward. But they don't live to do low-paid, thankless jobs in anonymity; they relish beauty, leisure, kindness, and creativity as much as anyone. Unforunately, though, they don't always have the income or the opportunities to enjoy these things. When New York-based non-profit Bread and Roses provided groups of workers from New York's Health and Human Service Union with photography training, basic equipment, and a commitment to displaying their photographs, Unseen America was born. Otherwise ignored by the media, these people are now bona fide artists, their talent and insight onto the real world now visible to all. Unseen America gives new meaning to justice and dignity.
:: Learn more about Unseen America.

FAVORITE REALITY TV
PBS's Egg: The Arts Show
Despite employing the documentary style of many television news shows, Egg: The Arts Show is, no doubt, different TV. It features vivid vignettes about real people, all of whom are carving out their own unique niches in the arts world. You won't find the big names here. What you will find are scintillating glimpses into unique lives, such as those of descendants of free slaves off the coast of South Carolina who have their own musical tradition, or that of a gifted street photographer with a surprisingly keen eye. The show's refreshing content is organized around themes: one week, it's "Machismo"; the next, "What Is The Ideal Woman." Riveting in its informative variety, deft at its use of energetic storytelling and imagery, Egg reminds us what television could be.
:: Learn more about Egg.

FAVORITE RECIPE FOR FIGHTING HUNGER
DC Central Kitchen
"Waste is wrong -- be it food, money or the potential for productive lives." That's the premise behind DC Central Kitchen, a community non-profit in Washington DC. How does the organization make strides in preventing waste? By recovering unused food from local restaurants and food service institutions, DC Central Kitchen converts donated food into balanced meals to feed children and adults at local social service centers throughout DC, Virginia and Maryland. And the group also offers valuable food service training to prepare unemployed and homeless adults for careers in the food service industry. The end result: 3,000 meals per day plus hundreds of newly minted culinary professionals, equals less waste and more potential.
:: Learn more about DC Central Kitchen.

FAVORITE POVERTY SOLUTION
The Robin Hood Foundation
The Robin Hood of medieval lore was considered an outlaw who took from the rich and gave to the poor. The New York-based Robin Hood Foundation accepts the generosity of the compassionate and, in turn, offers much-needed support to those made desperate by poverty. And since September 11, the Robin Hood Foundation has worked to ensure that adequate relief has reached the families of lower-income victims of the World Trade Center attacks. By late November, Robin Hood had raised $48 million, 100% of which has gone directly to organizations reaching out to the needy: emergency services organizations, employment assistance agencies, and groups working to bring relief to those unable to otherwise access the relief funds and goods. The Robin Hood Foundation reminds us that even at a time when we all need something, there are always those who need more.
:: Learn more about the Robin Hood Foundation.

FAVORITE SMALL BUSINESS WITH A HEART
Annie's Homegrown, Inc.
It's hard enough to build a sustainable business, let alone build one that considers sustainability dear to its heart. So, it's good to know that small, socially conscious businesses like Annie's Homegrown are not only succeeding but thriving. People are gobbling up Annie's organic food products, like their phenomenal salad dressings and their mouth-watering macaroni and cheese. But Annie's not only wants its food to taste good; it also wants to do good. Through the company's "Cases for Causes" program, thousands of cases of pasta products are donated annually to community organizations. And recently the company inaugurated an annual environmental studies scholarship program to gave 25 college students financial assistance to pursue their passions for a healthier planet. Sometimes there's more than just profit at the heart of a business.
:: Learn more about Annie's Homegrown.

FAVORITE FILM FOR THE SOCIALLY MINDED
Maysles Films' Lalee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton
Rarely does a documentary film inspire viewers to stand up at the end and say "How can I help?" Yet that is exactly what happened as the credits rolled at the Sundance premiere of this powerful documentary showing the devastating affects of poverty in the Mississippi Delta. One by one, various audience members asked the filmmakers in attendance -- Albert Maysles, Susan Froemke and Deborah Dickson -- what they could do to help publicize the film and help bring this invisible crisis to national attention. The documentary tracks the life of 62-year-old Laura Lee Wallace, who lives in a trailer without running water or electricity, and her struggle to support a large extended family. It also tracks the Herculean efforts of West Tallahatchie school superintendent, Reggie Barnes, to improve student performance and keep the poorest of children in school. Their individual tasks are daunting, their efforts heroic. This film is to be applauded, not only for telling these peoples' story, but for making viewers want to do something about it.
:: Learn more about Lalee's Kin.

FAVORITE WAY TO BE A DESKTOP ACTIVIST
Entropia's FightAIDS@Home Project
In an age of energy conservation and the fight against AIDS, this organization has come up with a way to tackle both fronts simultaneously. FightAIDS@Home, a computational research project developed by Entropia and the Olson Laboratory, harnesses the untapped computing power of individual PCs for use in AIDS research. The organization asks individual PC users to download a free software program called Entropia that runs in the "background" of the computer. The software takes the computer's idle processor cycles that would normally be wasted and applies them to model the evolution of drug resistance and to design the drugs necessary to fight AIDS, all while the PC user is checking e-mail. When an individual computer has finished a particular computation, the results are automatically sent back to Scripps researchers who collect and analyze the data. So for those of us who want to be a part of the fight against AIDS but don't necessarily have a Ph.D. in epidemiology, this a great way to play an active role in the research that might, one day, eradicate the disease.
:: Learn more about FightAIDS@Home.

FAVORITE WAY TO TEACH TOLERANCE
Peace Games
Wouldn't it be incredible if, in addition to reading, writing, and arithmetic, our schools offered classes about making peace? Boston-based Peace Games is partnering with area schools to do just that. The organization has developed a unique curriculum to teach 5th and 6th grade kids the valuable skills of cooperation, communication, conflict resolution, and community. Since 1992, Peace Games has worked with over 20,000 students to increase positive, pro-social behaviors within school environments. It's a great way to give kids tools for solving problems rather than reasons for causing them.
:: Learn more about Peace Games.

FAVORITE VISIONARY
Studs Terkel, author of Will the Circle Be Unbroken?
You might not consider Studs Terkel a visionary sort since he's built his reputation as an interviewer who, by design, speaks through the words of others. But it's exactly because he so effectively enables us to hear the voices of real people that he is worthy of this Favorite GoodThings honor. Having conducted countless interviews over the course of his career, Terkel has chronicled the passing of the last century through the voices of ordinary people speaking to him, and through him, to us, about the most complex of human issues -- war, work, race, death. History books can't relate the feelings of people enduring the Depression. But Terkel's oral histories have helped us hear authentic voices. His latest work, Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger For a Faith explores people's perspectives on death. Sixty very different people share their intimate views on dying, and in the end, readers realize that life and our choices in living are death's constant companion. In Terkel's own words: "These testimonies are...about life and its pricelessness..." Terkel's genius is in his adoration of the human experience, his belief in people's ability to use their own voices to tell their stories, and his trust in people's need to listen.
:: Buy your copy of Will The Circle Be Unbroken?

FAVORITE WOMEN'S ADVOCACY GROUP
RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan)
RAWA was established in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1977, as an independent political/social organization of women fighting for human rights and social justice in Afghanistan. Over the past 20 years, the women of RAWA have bravely advocated a free democratic process with full observance of women's rights. They have helped educate the world about flagrant human rights abuses in their country. They have established health care and educational opportunities for Afghan refugees in Pakistan. And they have stood up to the anti-cultural stance of fundamentalist regimes by promoting and creating music, art, and poetry for the people. For years, organizations like RAWA have been fighting for women's rights in relative obscurity and without formal recognition and support. Now, in the face of international pressure and awareness, RAWA's calls for justice, equality, and basic human rights for Afghan women are finally being heard.
:: Learn more about RAWA.

FAVORITE WORLD VIEWS
Transom.org
Are you a big public radio fan but often wonder why some folks are on the radio and others aren't? Enter Transom. Former New Yorker staff writer Bill McKibben had a dream of hearing a wider range of voices on the radio; Transom founder Jay Allison was determined to give life to McKibben's vision. As a result, Transom has become an Internet staging area for budding documentary-radio talent. Get your stuff on Transom.org and a whole world of radio resources becomes available to you. Public radio is one of the fastest growing forms of journalism and the harbinger of reliable, engaging reporting not found anywhere else. It's the Transoms of the world that are working to ensure that public radio's future remains spirited and bright.
:: Learn more about Transom.

BBC's Outlook
Next time you're thirsting for interesting feature-length news stories about a diverse range of global topics, check out the BBC radio show, Outlook. Analogous to NPR's All Things Considered, the radio program serves up in-depth, complex and engaging feature stories about all sorts of international topics: a television anchorwoman in Afghanistan, World Food Day, young Sarajevo artists, Dubronik's reconstruction, African musicians, the survivors of Siberian prison camps. The show offers refreshing, human glimpses of the world. An added bonus: the show's Web site not only provides audio files, but also text transcripts of the major stories.
:: Learn more about the BBC's Outlook.

FAVORITE SOCIAL GOOD FOR ANIMALS
The Elephant Sanctuary
Tennessee might not be the first place you think of when you think of elephants, but it is here, in the land of country music, that the giant pachyderms are finding refuge. The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, founded in 1995, is the nation's first natural habitat refuge created specifically for endangered Asian elephants. It sits on 800 acres of green pastures and old growth forests, 65 miles outside Nashville, and is a haven for old sick or needy elephants. These highly social and intelligent creatures face a major crisis in their native lands of India and Asia, where they are threatened with poaching and loss of habitat due to human encroachment. In addition to being a safe haven, the Elephant Sanctuary is an educational center where people can learn more about these lovable animals, the issues they face, and how to get involved or volunteer to help them.
:: Learn more about the Elephant Sanctuary.

FAVORITE ANIMALS FOR SOCIAL GOOD
Pike Place Market Foundation's Pigs on Parade
Colorful fiberglass animals hogged the streets of Seattle this past summer as part of a public art project produced by the Pike Place Market Foundation. The outdoor sculptures -- decorated by regional artists using paint, glazes, and other materials that could withstand the soggy Pacfic Northwest weather -- stood and sat in dignified piggy fashion around the city for four months before they were auctioned off to high-paying swine lovers. Proceeds from the sale went to the Pike Place Market Foundation, which works to preserve the history, traditions, and social fabric of this wildly popular national landmark. The Foundation helps fund services for low-income residents, historic preservation and heritage projects, and public improvements in the Market district.
:: Learn more about Pigs on Parade.

FAVORITE GIFT TO CONNECT PEOPLE
Ceiva's Internet-Connected Picture Frame
What could possibly be better than sharing photographs? Now, thanks to technology, it's easy to bring joy into the lives of loved ones far and wide, even those who aren't technologically savvy. Imagine this. Everyday, new pictures from the birthday party, the class field trip, the beach vacation, or the talent show are displayed, one after the other, on a picture frame in the living room. Everyday, twenty new digital pictures cycle through the frame and connect families in a profoundly simple but powerful way. Too many of us live long distances apart from our families. This little gadget is not a solution for the geographic distance, but it is a salve of sorts. And it certainly brings a smile to a face and warmth to the heart when you can walk by the frame one morning and see a young niece, nephew, or cousin dressed in a goofy costume, smiling a crooked grin right back at you. Sure, it's not going to save the world, but it is fun and relatively easy to set up, and it brings family just that much closer together. What do you cherish more than that?
:: Learn more about Ceiva Picture Frame.

::: GOODTHINGS

(Thoughts on "Favorite GoodThings 2001"? E-mail us -- don't forget to tell us your name, where you're from, and if we can use your words in a future GoodLetter or on our Web site.)