We’re delighted to welcome Aman Kundra to The Purpose Project as a half-time volunteer. Aman is a graduate of University of Connecticut, School of Business where he recently completed his Masters of Business Administration majoring in Venture Consulting & Operations. Read the rest of this entry »

“I’m comiiiiinggg!” Archbishop Tutu sings out from the adjacent room, the words rolling off his tongue in a playfully high-pitched refrain, before he comes wheeling and teetering—all 5’2” of him—around the corner of his suite at the Atlanta Grand Hyatt.

Deep breath in. The adrenaline unleashed by excitement and nervousness takes hold. Mouth is dry, heart is beating fast, and mind is racing, searching for the proper greeting for an Archbishop. “It is an honor to meet you, Father.” Or, should it be, “Your Grace?” “Your Holiness?”

Archbishop Tutu joins us at the dining room table. His smile is gracious and slightly mischievous, his eyes sparkle, and his face matches the image of a man who has been signing his emails to us “Love and blessings, Arch.” Formality fades, and we begin our conversation with a kindred spirit, a man far too excited about life and people to be bothered by titles.

Read the rest of this entry at The Huffington Post

Following correspondence with Archbishop Desmond Tutu over the past few months, we are proud to announce that he has agreed to share his experience creating social change with The Purpose Project!

Through this partnership, we will feature a portion of Archbishop Tutu’s story in one of the twelve chapters in our forthcoming book and use his leadership experiences as the basis for parts of the accompanying curriculum.

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We’re excited to announce the support and partnership of The Redwoods Group, a leader in providing risk management services, property and casualty insurance and claims management to YMCAs and Jewish community organizations throughout the nation.

With a mission “to protect and improve the quality of life in the communities we serve” and a motto to “Serve Others®,” Redwoods is pushing the envelope of corporate social responsibility; while many progressive corporations have integrated a social mission into their profit model, Redwoods has made it the driving factor of its bottom line.

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Over the past several months, we have built a number of exciting institutional partnerships that will help  us to serve our local Connecticut community while simultaneously creating resources and pilot models that we will be able replicate on a national scale in the future

Focus: High School Students

In partnership with The Connecticut Forum, The Purpose Project is developing the curriculum for a program to inspire and equip high school students to become effective agents of social change within their communities.

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Our generation is often referred to as the young and invincible–full of ambition, and ready and willing to throw ourselves headlong down the path of our dreams. Some may even call us brazen. We have entered the professional world with great expectations about what we will accomplish and plenty of energy to get us off to a good start. But how are our drive and dedication affected when things don’t go according to plan?

Recently, I have discovered that the path between our aspirations and accomplishments can be longer and more complicated than anticipated. And, as we move from inspiration to action, most of us will encounter at least a few detours and dead-ends along the way. The question that we must ask ourselves when this happens is, will we allow these obstacles to lead us off course, or will we use them as guideposts that reveal a more productive direction?
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I wanted to share some exciting news: my colleague and co-author Michelle Cote was selected from 3000+ applicants to represent The Purpose Project at Women Rule!—a joint initiative of The Oprah Magazine and The White House Project to support 80 women, each with an “idea that could change the world.”

Michelle applied and was selected earlier this year, but we had to wait until now to share the news since O! Magazine was the first to “announce” the women in the October issue of their magazine, which hit newsstands Tuesday.

This is a great achievement for Michelle and a great opportunity for The Purpose Project. In addition to a three-day leadership workshop earlier this year, Michelle will receive ongoing access to mentoring, coaching and a great network of women changemakers. (It also moves us one step closer to getting our book on Oprah’s book club list one day!)

You can check out the short profiles of Michelle and the other women in the online version of O! Magazine here. The Hartford Courant also had a short article in yesterday’s paper, which is available here.

Warmly,
Matthew

One Challenge Met
We want to thank you for your response to our recent challenge grant. Together, your contributions pushed us past our $20,000 goal and secured the matching funds! This achievement comes at a critical time for us and helps us establish a base of funding for the project that we will be able to draw on into the coming year.

One More to Go
This weekend, we will participate in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (PMC)–a 192 mile bike-a-thon supporting cancer research–as part of our efforts to share the story of its Founder, Billy Starr.

Shortly after losing his mother and two other family members to cancer during his final year in college, Billy lost his direction in life–for a while. And it was cycling, his favored outlet for coping with his grief, that brought him back on track. After graduation, Billy began getting up before dawn and setting off on a new personal challenge: to bike 140 miles from his parents’ house in Newton, MA, to Provincetown in time to catch the 3:30 PM ferry home. Read the rest of this entry »

The story behind the story of this year’s primary elections has been the power and influence of America’s youth vote. Record numbers of young adults are turning out to make their voices heard; in some states, turnout rates among young adults have doubled or even tripled. Barack Obama, in particular, has struck a chord among young adults with his message for change: among the under-30 crowd, voters are breaking almost 2:1 in his favor.* We’ve found these statistics interesting not only as indicators of political strategy, but as evidence of a new level of growing civic participation among young adults. According to Peter Levine, director of the civic engagement research group CIRCLE, rising youth turnout rates are reflective of this generation’s “deep concern about the critical issues at stake and the impact of this election on our country’s future.” Young adults are anxious for change and are now considering voting as one way to play a role in determining our collective future. Read the rest of this entry »

An Overview of Our Vision and Plans for the Next Two Years

April-September, 2008: Fundraising and Research

During this period, we will work to fundraise and establish a solid base of support for the project. Both of us will meet with prospective funders and work to establish partnerships with publishers, college and university faculty and student groups, community groups, and organizations promoting civic engagement. Our secondary focus will be on continuing to conduct interviews and writing the next two chapters of the book with Billy Starr, Founder of the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, and Liz Titus Putnam, Founder of Student Conservation Association. Read the rest of this entry »