Non-profits are making a huge impact on cleaning up the water. They are raising awareness for the issue and they are creating a community that works together to help change what is wrong. These organizations or businesses are created for the soul purpose of benefiting the general public without shareholders and without the goal of making a profit. Right now there are many different non-profits working hard to help water quality improve. Many different non-profits are working to create a sense of urgency to help improve the water quality as well as working to get the public involved. This can be done in a variety of ways including making the public emotional and want to help, by encouraging people to donate to the cause. One of the most important things non-profits do to get people involved by using a call to action. This can be as easy as setting up tables discussing the issue to coordinating parades with media coverage to protest different issues. The public has many different ways that they can get involved which can be really easy or to difficult to help get to the root of the problem. One of the simpler ways to get involved would be to buy and donate water to a local water crisis, for example Flint, MI. A bigger way to get involved would be to change out the pipes that are leaking lead into the water supply and hurting the residents of Flint. Non-profits are working toward the second but they do not have the money to do so yet and they need both public and political support. These are the challenges that face all non-profits. They are not all being fully supported by the public or those in political power which cause even greater hardships on those who are suffering from the water crisis.
There are a few important things to consider when viewing the issue of polluted water. One of the main things is how difficult it is to clean up different areas/bodies of water. This is also a very very expensive task that would take an extremely long time for a non-profit to raise and for the governments surrounding each area to give the green light. As beneficial as non-profits are, it can be quite a while for them to take off and be able to follow through with what they are trying to accomplish.
The justice-oriented citizen model has three different levels to it. A personally responsible citizen would act responsible in their community, donating water or money to different non-profits so that they will be able to do their part. A participatory citizen would volunteer for the non-profit for a certain amount of time and dedicate a portion of their life to help serve the cause the non-profit is helping. Finally, the social-justice oriented citizen would start a non-profit and seek out and address the area of injustice that is occurring. They would dig deeper into the cause and act in ways to solve the root cause of the problem, in this case water quality. This last model is the most beneficial but also takes the most time and dedication.
I found an amazing ted talk about how the way we think about charity is dead wrong. My major take away was how important it is. Sometimes charity is the only way for people to get what they need, and it is crucial that they get it. Most of us think about charity as a way to make ourselves feel better and get tax benefits but it is so much more. It can help improve or even save lives.
The link is: https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about_charity_is_dead_wrong#t-124594
Reflection:
The speakers from class had a really big impact on my way of thinking. They showed us that there are many different ways to get into non-profits and help others. The speakers had such different back stories but both ended up doing something they love. My thinking really changed from the goal of each non-profit being all about the outcome to it being more about the journey to get there. Each of the speakers talked about how they ended up in the business of working with a non-profit and they both said that they really wanted to help others but that they enjoyed their work so much that it wasn’t even work anymore. The speakers also brought to light that a non-profit can work with different countries which would be huge for many different issues surrounding the globe. Additional things to consider while exploring my issue is that working with a non-profit should not only help others but should be enjoyable! Both of the speakers really believed in and loved what they were doing and it seemed to make it more productive and fun for all the others who worked or volunteered there.
My biggest takeaway from this class was that there are many different ways to get involved and many different non-profits that are working hard to try to help many different issues. Also there are many different ways to get involved with a non-profit, whether it is out of college or after you enter the country and want to do the same for other families.
One thing I would personally like to do is volunteer at a non-profit, learning about how they work and how I could possibly start one myself. There are so many different things that could help those in need but a non-profit would definitely be an amazing way to kick it off.