By: Rachel
Rachel is on the leadership team for Northwestern University's chapter of Allow Good.

Allow Good teacher engages
students at the first class at YOU.

"Not only do millennials lack the kind of empathy that allows them to feel concerned for others, but they also have trouble even intellectually understanding others' points of view," reported Time magazine writer Joel Stein in 2013. In his article, Stein accused millennials of having the lowest generational dedication to civic engagement but the highest rates of narcissism as the so-called "Me, Me, Me Generation." However, I feel this increasingly popular narrow mindset mislabels individuals as self-absorbed when in actuality many are empathetic and engaged and those who are uninvolved in their community simply are not presented with adequate accessible volunteer opportunities. The issue of disengaged youth greatly motivated myself and a group of my Northwestern peers to work with Allowance for Good in producing a high school program teaching students about philanthropy through a civic engagement and social justice lens. We felt high schoolers deserved a chance to be treated as competent young-adults, educated about their local non-profits, and then given the resources and skills to responsibly give $1000 back to their community.

The idea for this curriculum stemmed from a spring course my project partner, Imani Wilson, and I took at Northwestern called the Philanthropy Lab. We spent the course learning about the history of philanthropy, how to evaluate non-profits, and meeting with potential grantees to receive a portion of our class grant of $100,000, which was sponsored through the Once Upon a Time Foundation (OUTF). We worked on the class's Child and Youth Development Team and in the end granted $20,000 to Girls in the Game (GiG), a local Chicago organization that encourages girls to use sports to improve self-esteem and reinforce healthy lifestyles. Once the class ended, OUTF encouraged students in our class to apply for their Changemakers Grant of $5,000 to sponsor any project that would educate students about philanthropy.

Rachel, at the Allow Good teacher training

Shortly after, we were put in contact with Allowance for Good and discussed our vision of an adaptation of our philanthropy lab class taught to high schoolers by Northwestern students. Soon after filling out paperwork, we received the $5,000 grant and quickly found two more NU students, Fannie and Matt, to join the project as credit for our Civic Engagement Certificate non-profit internship class. Fall quarter, we worked tirelessly to create a pilot program with 14 lesson plans lasting 45 minutes each including a detailed teacher's manual. Last week, we spent 6 hours training teachers in philanthropy education and classroom facilitation strategies. Now, I am happy to announce that our first day of classes will launch last week at Niles North High School and Evanston Township High School's after-school program called Y.O.U.

Reflecting on the past few months, I believe the best part of working on the project has been seeing the assets of my team come together. Fannie joined the team with expertise in philanthropy curriculum development. As a passionate social justice advocate on campus, Matt brought a wealth of knowledge on teaching students about current inequality issues. And, Imani's ability to pay close attention to detail and insistence on meeting deadlines helped our group stay on pace. With their contributions, the curriculum and camaraderie among group members has surpassed anything I originally imagined.

Looking to the future, I can't wait to see the impact of the curriculum on high school students. Once presented with the opportunity to learn and give back, I am confident that these students will rise to the occasion and erase any association with the so-called "Me, Me, Me Generation."

By: Jeanne
Jeanne was a traveler on the Allowance for Good / Spark Ventures trip to Nicaragua this August.

During one of our trip participant dinners in Leon, Nicaragua, Jeanne, a 43 year-old, mother of two shares, “I have done some reading and studying about Nicaragua since my last visit.” The unexpected reply, “I love to read about history. I read about Nicaragua too! It was a wonderful book, called The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey by Salman Rushdie,” says Nina, 14 year-old member of Allowance for Good. I, Jeanne, sat back, amazed that this young woman has read this book. Amazed that she has chosen to take the time to prepare herself for her first experience with global philanthropy. This was just one piece of the tapestry of conversations that I would have, as we traveled with the youth group, Allowance for Good.

My husband, Jeff, and I have been Spark Ventures investors for many years. In 2013, we travelled to León, Nicaragua to see and participate in the work that Spark has been doing at a grassroots level. What we saw stunned and changed us in so many ways during that trip and for the months to come. Soon after our return, we decided that we would bring our boys, Luc (12) and Ben (9), back with us some day.

We were committed to the idea that we must raise global citizens. That we had to challenge our children to step away from their day to day lives, look up from the screens and frankly, out of their comfort zone. How can we make the world better if don’t truly experience many of the cultures, people and perspectives that make up our mosaic called Earth?

Early in 2014, we heard that Spark would be partnering with another philanthropy on the next trip to Nicaragua, a group that worked with teenagers in the areas of leadership and philanthropy. While 10 months was a bit faster than we had planned, we decided this was our opportunity and the group to share our family experience with, down in León.

Being in a completely different country, with a different socioeconomic environment, speaking a different language, eating different food, hearing different music and doing it all in a very different climate, can be unsettling. The closer it drew the more we went through our concerns. We didn’t know how our children would react. We weren’t sure how the other group would either. Would we and/or our children be welcomed or simple tolerated? Will they befriend our boys or think them too young to bother with on this trip? As it turns out, everyone exceeded even our highest expectations.

You see, these are not your normal teenagers, enamored with Disney, Xbox and the multitude of burgeoning social media tools. Remember that Rushdie novel Nina mentioned? It was just the first of many pleasant and impressive surprises they had up their sleeves. Spending time with Allowance for Good and the five youths that we had the honor to accompany on this trip was, frankly, an inspiration to us as parents with children just a few short years behind the AfG youths.

There was Turner, age 15, he came with an open mind and heart to everything that was happening around him. When matched up with children who couldn’t speak English, he kept smiling, made up a game and in no time had a shy little child at Las Tias laughing and happy. And Turner, well, he has a plan. A sophomore in high school already thinking about what he wants to be, where to go to college, what that means to his family and maybe win a few more diving medals in the process. Turner participates, he is present, he wants to learn about everything and everyone. And how was he with our boys? Well let’s just say that our son Luc is begging us to let him head out to Africa with Turner next summer, so that they can continue their journey of friendship and immersing themselves in global philanthropy. And there are so many other moments, memories and stories of how each of the teens made an impression that will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

It was very clear to Jeff and I how lucky we were to have our children spending time with and learning from our AfG companions. They are not the teenagers who move quickly away from something new and uncomfortable, or find their friends to avoid being part of the community. They engage, they learn, they teach and they are infinitely interested in growing.

Isn’t this what it’s all about? Our world is getting smaller, true. But it can also be more isolating. Social media gives young people windows to the world in ways that were never before possible. Yet, Nina, Turner, Nicky, Orleana and Sylvana, that just isn’t enough for them. They are not content watching from the sidelines, or watching a video of someone else creating an experience. They wanted to a part of every moment we had with the women and children of Las Tías. To learn and grow EVERY single day. It wouldn’t have been the same trip without them. We are blessed for having spent that time with them, they were a part of OUR learning and growth experiences, as well as our children’s.

It’s a tradition on these trips to share your experience with the other participants at the final group dinner. Well, AfG was already doing that in their daily Reflection sessions. We were just blown away how deeply these teens were thinking about the experience, how to build on it, how to integrate these thoughts and feelings into their development. And at that final dinner, their thoughtfulness, maturity and character was on full display. We’d heard from our peers during the other trip and spoken with many that had visited Spark partners in Zambia and Nicaragua. And these teens were just as self-aware, had grown just much, and were developing plans on how to continue on their philanthropic life journey.

Keep your eye on these kids, help them if you can and they will ‘help’ you in ways you hadn’t thought possible. These are the youths that will help us evolve as a global community. The kind that will lead their generation and others, into the future and do it for the betterment of ALL of us.

Jeanne, right, presents Las Tías with educational materials for their students.