William Penn Life, 2003 (38. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2003-03-01 / 3. szám
Charitable Ideas it Starts With Us June 21, 2003 The William Penn Association and America’s Fraternal Benefit Societies, in partnership with The Points of Light Foundation, invite you to be part of the second annual JOIN HANDS DAY, Saturday, June 21,2003. This day is dedicated to bringing youths, adults and community groups together to plan projects for their neighborhoods. Join us as we join hands for a better tomorrow. Call 1 -877-OUR-l DAY today for registration information. A JOINfrOÄKlOSDAY it starts with us Sponsored by America’s Fraternal Benefit Societies In Partnership with The Points of Light Foundation www.joinhandsday.org Join Hands Day is changing attitudes THE FIRST JOIN HANDS DAY WAS in June 2000. With three volunteer days in the past, Join Hands Day is already changing attitudes. Young people found adults value young people, and adults discovered young people to be more responsible than they expected. Join Hands Day was designed as a day for youth and adults to connect across generations, to come together and learn something about each other while doing volunteer work in their own neighborhoods. Changing Attitudes One key goal was to bridge the generation gap and help youth and adults change their perceptions of each other. Why is this important? No more than two in five adults, parents or even the teens themselves, say young folks today will grow up to make America a better place. In reality, teens place high value on honesty and hard work, and the vast majority are thinking and planning seriously for the future, says Susan Nall Bales, president of FrameWorks Institute, a communications think tank to help nonprofits reframe their public discourse about social problems. On the other hand, young people see adults as controlling, inflexible and distant. And for good reason. According to a study of adult behavior by the Search Institute and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, most adults are not involved at all in the lives of neighborhood teens. They don't even know their names. Is Join Hands Day changing opinions and attitudes? Yes, more than half of youth and adult participants found their attitudes toward the other generation changed. Those who participated in both 2001 and 2002 generally had more positive opinions about other generations than first-timers. And most of these participants also found they enjoyed being with people of other generations. The evaluation also learned that participation in planning had a significantly positive impact on the change of attitudes of both youth and adults toward each other. The interaction that goes into organizing an event helped. Forming Equal Partnerships The majority of participants—more than 70 percent of adults and 67 percent of youth-felt that youth and adults were equals and that the event was a partnership between generations. They also found the activity fulfilling. Most youth and adult participants-more than 90 percent— were satisfied with what they accomplished on Join Hands Day and want to be part of more intergenerational events. These findings come from the Join Hands Day 2002: Evaluation Report prepared by the highly-respected evaluation team at the Center for Urban Policy and the Environment, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Join Hands Day is sponsored by America's Fraternal Benefit Societies in partnership with the Points of Light Foundation and the Volunteer Center National Network. Plan a Project The WPA invites all our branches to organize a project for the next Join Hands Day, June 21,2003. For all the information you need to plan a project, log onto the Join Hands Day website at xmvw.joinhandsday.org, scroll over "Plan a Project" and click on "Action Guide" and the other resources available online. Or, contact John E. Lovász at the WPA Home Office at 1-800-848-7366, ext. 135. [ffPL 6 Williia Pen Life, March 2003
