About Sloane Berrent

Recent Posts by Sloane Berrent

Ghana On The Horizon During November

The big news continues! Last week I relaunched The Causemopolitan and can’t tell you how much it means to me the incredible response I got from people all across the globe.

This week I am excited to announce a trip that has been in the works these past few months and has finally all come together.

I’m headed to Ghana!

My partner-in-crime Taylor Davidson and I have talked a lot about the way we want to contribute in the world, and we know photos, videos and stories can have a huge impact. I also have a connection to Ghana because of the Cause It’s My Birthday series from last fall and then also Kiva has a presence there and from my time as a Kiva Fellow I have been wanting to visit other countries and field partners.

My friend, Drew Meyers, whom I first met through microfinance, helped with the birthday series and is just an incredible friend and like a brother to me, is going to be in Ghana in November with his friend Dan. They are volunteering for the microfinance institution Lumana Credit as part of their around-the-world journey.

With Drew there, the connection to Lumana, and a little bit of malaria nets left to deliver from Cause It’s My Birthday, it’s just too much coming together and too big an opportunity to pass up!

Taylor and I will be joining Drew and Dan in Ghana from November 8th until the 20th. We’ll be leading a few malaria net drops with local charities and NGOs, planning a “tech day” visit around Accra including Google’s office there and few startups we found through BarCampAccra and BarCampGhana, visiting a few cooperatives, exploring the countryside and making the most of our time there.

We’re always looking to make the most of our travels, and certainly my trip to Ghana is no different – and here’s where we could use your help!

• People to connect with — Are there people in Ghana – whether they be techies, social entrepreneurs, or just amazing individuals passionate about what they do — that are “must meets” while we’re there? If so, I would love an introduction to see if we can coordinate something with them.
• Connections at technology companies based in or near Accra – As I mentioned, on the November 11th, we’re looking to organize a few “tech visits” in Accra.
• Tips, tricks or otherwise about Ghana.

I can’t wait for this trip, and to share much of it with you during and after with the content we create. I’m also going to be writing about what it takes to set up a trip like this (which has been a ton of work believe me)! If there are other things I can do to help YOU, as always let me know.

Here’s to Ghana!

The Best of New Orleans This Week

EAT — It’s a “blink and you’ll miss it” gem of the Lower Garden District! Maya’s is a Latin fusion joint that will satisfy every part of your taste buds. From the delicious yucca fritas on the appetizer list, to the amazing fish, chicken and veggies on the dinner menu, this tiny place has something for everyone. Their specialty mojitos are famous in the neighborhood and some of the most authentic in the city. They offer an affordable 3-course lunch special Tuesday-Friday for $12.99. Dinner is Tuesday-Thursday 5:30PM -10:00PM, Friday-Saturday 5:30PM – 11:00PM. Sunday Brunch 11:00AM – 3:00PM. 2027 Magazine Street.

SEE — Miss Sophie Lee is one of those Frenchmen Street gems that tourists would thank their lucky stars to stumble upon, and who locals adore for her syrup-smooth crooning. The Chicago native migrated to New Orleans in 2001 armed with a killer set of vocal chords and a hunger for the city’s exceptional music scene. She has since released an album with members of the Jazz Vipers and holds a regular set at the Spotted Cat (not to mention a special place in our hearts). Get a taste of her lovely, understated standards this Thursday at 6:00PM – 10:00PM. 623 Frenchmen Street. FREE.

EAT — Any restaurant that gives back to up and coming chefs is cool in our book. Recently, The Emeril Lagasse Foundation and NOCCA partnered with three kids from their culinary arts program to create original dishes inspired by Louisiana cuisine. We were on board for the judging and can say without a doubt you are going to be in for a treat! All three dishes will be featured in every Emeril’s restaurants around the country during the entire month of October. The Emeril Foundation also donated a $100,000 grant to NOCCA to finalize their culinary arts program. Please support these local kids by eating at any Emeril restaurant helping develop NOLA’s next great chef!

DO — It doesn’t matter if you’ve lived here your entire life or just a few months, you can always find out something new about NOLA every time you leave the house! Sign up for DAT NOLA RACE 2010 and use your wit to solve clues, your charm to get help from the locals, and your speed to overcome your competition and conquer the course in the least amount of time. After being briefed, teams of two or more will receive the first of a series of challenging clues leading them to the next location/activity. This will continue for the next few hours until you have arrived at the finish line. Saturday October 23rd. Begins at 2:00PM in Washington Artillery Park.

LAGNIAPPE – John Thompson and Norris Henderson were innocent all along, but the broken criminal justice system of Louisiana landed them behind bars for a collective 45 years. Now they are fighting back through the powerful stage performance Voices of Innocence, during which they recount the harrowing, sickening experience of life in Angola prison as innocent men. Their upcoming appearance at Loyola University comes on the heels of Thompson’s October 6th Supreme Court battle to hold accountable the district attorney whose misconduct cost him 18 years of his life. Be sure to come out to hear these incredible men tell their stories, and learn more about Voices and wrongful incarceration through Resurrection After Exoneration. Loyola University’s Nunemaker Hall. October 25th, 7:30PM. Open to the public, FREE.

Join Blog Action Day Today

“You ain’t gonna miss your water ’til your well runs dry.” – Bob Marley

Almost a billion people on the planet live without access to safe drinking water. Maybe you run a nonprofit that focuses on international access to water, maybe you’re a cause-based blogger, maybe you have heard of organizations like charity:water and water.org but haven’t known what you could do to pitch in and help their cause. Now is your chance to get involved!

Thousands of bloggers are joining together this Friday, October 15th, for Blog Action Day in a unified front to discuss the impact of water. Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. By creating a tidal wave on one unified day, sponsor change.org hopes to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion around an important issue that impacts everyone worldwide.

Why should you get involved? Besides of course that it’s an important global topic, this is a great opportunity to network with other bloggers, nonprofits and activists. Many nonprofits tell us here at WhatGives that you’re looking to join the conversation but don’t have a lot of time. Or that you are looking for others in your space but had limited time and resources to find who the big players are in your space.

Blog Action Day is one of those easy, low-hanging-fruit opportunities to get out there, and blog about water issues. Since access to clean drinking water affects all of us, I encourage you to find a way to make it fit your mission and join this initiative. Much of the cause-based conversation online on Friday will circle around water, and what better opportunity to add your voice to the mix.

Past years have driven ideas, advice, plans, and action to important causes. 2007’s theme was the environment, 2008 was poverty, and last year the conversation was around climate change.

According to Blog Action Day, less than 1% of all fresh water is readily accessible for direct human use, representing only 0.007% of all water on earth. As the final push of encouragement to join this movement, here are five things about water you may not have known:

• Unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation kills more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.
• More people have access to a cell phone than to a toilet.
• Every day, women and children in Africa walk a combined total of 109 million hours to get water.
• It takes 6.3 gallons of water to produce just one hamburger.
• The average American uses 159 gallons of water every day – more than 15 times the average person in the developing world.

More more information, Water.org just put together a resource guide for Blog Action Day 2010 bloggers providing a base for information and education around water access in the developing world. Ready to take action? Register your blog, sign the petition, start a fundraising campaign and/or grab an action widget, and get ready for an amazing day of blog activism.

Baking Cause Into Your Company

The title of my talk was: Who Dat! How social entrepreneurs bring people together for a cause. Here are the main highlights, and you can view the presentation on slideshare.

• Know who it is that we’re talking about. Definition of a social entrepreneur: A mass recruiter of local change makers in society — a role model proving that citizens who channel their passion into action can do almost anything. – Ashoka
• Historical Examples of Leading Social Entrepreneurs
  • Susan B. Anthony (U.S.): Fought for Women’s Rights in the United States, including the right to control property and helped spearhead adoption of the 19th amendment.
  • Vinoba Bhave (India): Founder and leader of the Land Gift Movement, he caused the redistribution of more than 7,000,000 acres of land to aid India’s untouchables and landless.
  • Dr. Maria Montessori (Italy): Developed the Montessori approach to early childhood education.
  • Florence Nightingale (U.K.): Founder of modern nursing, she established the first school for nurses and fought to improve hospital conditions.
  • Margaret Sanger (U.S.): Founder of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, she led the movement for family planning efforts around the world.
  • John Muir (U.S.): Naturalist and conservationist, he established the National Park System and helped found The Sierra Club.
• The most dangerous word in the English dictionary is “someday” – you have to make someday today. Start small, start anywhere to make things happen.
• Always have a plan of attack. If you are looking to build a social enterprise or cause into your company, all of the pieces don’t have to be perfect, but you should have a plan and a reason for your nonprofit partnerships just like you would with for-profit partners.
• Not everyone has to be an entrepreneur to make a change. Some people are intrapreneurs working within large organizations for change. Examples include Tide Loads of Hope and Disney CSR.
• Entrepreneurs don’t let opportunities pass them by. But they don’t jump on every bandwagon either. You have to pick your battled.
• Bake cause into your company as early as possible. The social gumbo will help build your company and also help strengten your commitments.
• Integrate cause into your brand and listen to your shareholders. Ultimately, they have to support and endorse what you do. Every company has shareholders and influencers, engage them early to get feedback to any new program, campaign or longterm initiative you’re looking to launch.
• Don’t keep it a secret! Share what you do and why. Transparency is more important than ever before.
• Quanitfy your campaigns. Cause campaigns aren’t charity campaigns. They still should tie to the bottom line and track them as such.
• Make the information easy to find. If people visit your website, can they find information about your cause-based campaigns or partnerships? Don’t make people dig to find the good you do.
• Highlight your partners. Highlighting others helps highlight you. It’s that simple.
• It’s easier to get started than you think. If you’re starting from zero, even a little bit will help. If you have a program in place or are looking to launch a new social entrepreneurial endeavor there are many resources to help you get your product, service, website out the door. Launch, analyze, build – then rinse and repeat.

This Week in New Orleans

DO Halloween in New Orleans is fast approaching. Get in the mood with the Historic New Orleans Collection tour “Historic Haunts: The Myths and Legends of the Vieux Carré” throughout the month of October. This exploration reveals the truth behind New Orleans more seedy legends and the French Quarter’s most infamous characters. It’s spooky and informative and most of all, really fun! Tours Oct 1-31, Tuesday through Sunday at 2pm. $5, free for HNOC members. Note, intended for adult audiences. Meet at 533 Royal Street.

GO Join us in this adventure outside of Orleans Parish! Head north to Natchitoches for the 56th Annual Fall Pilgrimage/Candlelight Tour. Experience the charm of Louisiana’s original French colony by touring some of the most famous plantations including the Rusca House and Scott Corner House. Guests may visit the homes in any sequence, but make the Steel Magnolia House your last stop for wine, cheese and music. Tours Friday, October 8th from 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM. Tickets range $15-$38 per person. More details here.

EAT We’re superfans of the cozy, colorful Lebanon’s Cafe which serves up some of the freshest Lebanese food in the city. Lebanon’s is our #1 Middle Eastern restaurant pick in New Orleans, and with good reason – from the warm, soft pita bread and bottomless Lebanese iced tea that kicks off the meal to the bright, crisp tabouli and juicy chicken shawarma, the scrumptious and authentic cuisine here is high quality and generously portioned with a kind pricetag to boot. The oft-neglected vegetarians of New Orleans will find refuge in the plentiful meat-free options as well. Open daily for lunch and dinner. 1500 S. Carrollton Ave.

SEE Fashion in New Orleans can range from just-woke-up nonchalance to over-the-top insanity. See it all at the I Heart Southern Style, an evening of art, fashion and music that celebrates New Orleans style and culture and the relaunch of two of our favorite local blogs, I Heart NOLA and Slow Southern Style. Vendors will be selling locally-made apparel and there is a range of live performances headlining with The Breton Sound. Held at The Factory (next to The Maple Leaf). Admission $5 in advance, $10 at the door. 8:00 PM – 11:30 PM.

DO Get ready for a pub-crawl like you’ve never seen. Teams of 2 to 5 people will have to make their way through a French Quarter Pub Crawl and answer questions and complete challenges based on HIV prevention information for the first ever GAY-Mazing Race: A Pub Crawl with a Twist. Prize baskets include Halloween party passes, bar and restaurant gift cards and a few things for use in the boudoir. Sunday October 10th. 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM. $10 registration includes brunch. 21+ only. Saints viewing party to follow. 507 Frenchmen Street.

LAGNIAPPE Join us in showing some love for the residents of the New Orleans Women’s Shelter at their first ever I’m Every Woman fundraiser at Howlin’ Wolf. The event will feature celebrity women monologues, a silent auction, musical performances, and tastes from an array of different local restaurants. Patron Party will be from 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM. and the main event is 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM. Tickets are $25 for students, $50 regular priced. 907 South Peters Street.

Best of New Orleans Photos, Wrapped Into One

38 – August 30 to Sept 6 37 – August 24 to 30 36 – August 17 to 23 35 – August 10 to 16 Welcome to September! 34 – August 30 to Sept 6 What we’re loving… Floodlines: Community and Resistance from Katrina to the Jena 6, by Jordan Flaherty Canon S95 – NEW Baking Cakes in Kigali, by Gaile Parkin

Rockefeller Tulane Urban Innovation Challenge

Calling all aspiring social innovators! The Rockefeller Foundation and Tulane University’s Urban Innovation Challenge invites people of all ages, backgrounds, experience levels and geographic locations working in urban revitalization, health, public education and economic development to come up with a solution to a systemic problem in New Orleans. You provide the plan, and in turn, they provide the funding to turn your idea into a sustainable and successful business.

Four winners will each receive a $45,000 stipend to spend the year living and working in the learning labratory that is New Orleans. Along the way, you’ll receive mentors and support from Tulane University, including an office and access to the college’s resources. After the program is complete, your business can continue to grow and be poised to join incubators like Ashoka or Echoing Green.

Now, about the plan itself: the point is to think big. Beyond just revitalizing a specific program, the strongest applicants will offer radical, original ways to create change citywide. For example, Tulane Community Health Center’s evolution since Katrina demonstrates a process of creating new, more efficient ways to deliver healthcare to New Orleanians, such as mobile medical units and neighborhood-based healthcare centers. The goal is to come up with an approach that is so effective in an urban environment that it creates positive change across the city.

Initial applications, which center around a 3-page proposal for your year-long program, will be accepted until December 1st, 2010. Applicants do not need to be living in New Orleans currently. Expat readers of NOLAlicious, take note! The program will run March 2011 to March 2012. For more information, visit the Urban Innovation Challenge website.

Top Influencers From Clinton Global Initiative

I attended the Clinton Global Initiative last week, I was very focused on sharing and telling stories. When I was there, I decided that while I’m not a full-time journalist, I wanted to be the best version I could using the skills that I have. I thought it would be valuable to live tweet most of CGI because I know for many people in circle and network, they would love to attend, and soak in the information like I did. But most people CAN’T be there, for a variety of reasons.

Something I’ve learned from my time spent volunteering in developing countries and year of travel is that people love to share in the experience. So blogging and taking photos and videos, using Facebook and Twitter, all of these online tools allow many who are just as deserving (if not more so) to be able to go, see and attend events I’m at, simply can’t.

That’s where sharing the experience comes into play. By live-tweeting CGI, I received scores of messages from people saying simply “THANK YOU.” Thank you for sharing the information presented there to us. Yes, CGI had a simulcast, but we all know that for most people watching a video all day while they are at work is not feasible. Pulling quotes and stats from speakers and sharing them in 120 character bites (less than 140 so they could be retweeted and shared further) is a great way to spread the CGI mission – and indeed the mission of any conference or closed-invite event.

President Clinton meant when he asked, “How can each person and each organization leverage their core strengths in the most effective way, turning good intentions into real changes?” Below are the top 10 Twitter influencers* from CGI gleaned from twendz pro™, who were seen to have a strong voice in their respective areas of influence. Keep in mind, a person’s influence ranking changes day to day, given the fluidity of the Twitter landscape. These people were the most engaged influencers during the CGI because not only did they have a high number of followers, they were actively engaged in questions, replies, shared links, and constantly used hashtags in their tweets. Most of these influencers were retweeted at a high volume, demonstrating their broad reach.

CGI’s Top Ten Twitter Influencers

1. @changemakers (307,137 followers)- Ashoka Changemakers is a global online community of action that connects people to share ideas, inspire and mentor each other, and find and support the best ideas in social innovation.
2. @ClintonTweet (11,282 followers)- The host of last week’s events, the Clinton Foundation addresses urgent global problems through collaboration with the private sector, NGOs and other government entities. CGI gathers world leaders annually to turn ideas into action.
3. @echoinggreen (330,900 followers)- Echoing Green is a global nonprofit that provides seed funding and technical assistance to emerging social entrepreneurs with ideas for social change.
4. @johnwoodRTR (317,672 followers)- John Wood is the Founder of Room to Read and author of ‘Leaving Microsoft to Change the World.’
5. @witnessorg (273,673 followers)- WITNESS is a human rights organization that provides training and support to local groups to use video in their human rights advocacy campaigns.
6. @lancearmstrong (2,654,892 followers) – This iconic, 7-time Tour de France winner and full time cancer fighter is the spokesperson for LIVESTRONG.
7. @sloane (7,721 followers)- A KIVA fellow, Sloane Berrent is a cause-based marketing and social branding consultant who blogs at The Causemopolitan.
8. @VanJones68 (6,217 followers) – Van Jones is the award-winning pioneer in human rights and the clean-energy economy. He wrote the NYTimes bestseller: Green Collar Economy.
9. @WomenforWomen (4,733 followers) – WomenforWomen International helps women survivors of war rebuild their lives. Zainab Salbi is the ever-inspiring Founder and CEO.
10. @govgranholm (16,325 followers)- Jennifer Granholm is the Canadian-born American Governor of Michigan (D).

« Previous Page — Next Page »