Gotham Gal

Loving the High Line

On Wednesday night I went to an event for the High Line that was held at Jeff Koons studio.  I had been there a few years ago and was just as wowed this week as I was in 2009. 

The event was a memorable one.  First of all Fred was stuck in Canada due to weather and thankfully my dear friend Mo said yes at 530 to be my date for a 630 event.  That night Mayor Bloomberg announced that Barry Diller and Diane Von Furstenberg were giving another $20 million to the High Line after kicking off the High Lines fundraising efforts at the very beginning with a donation of $15 million.  Pretty damn amazing. 

I was speaking about this with a few people earlier in the week who are just starting to do some great work as philanthropists.  They are in their early 30's.  They are a little overcome that this money wouldn't go to something like saving lives.  I get what they are saying but as you get older understanding the value of what the High Line has given to NYC as an cultural institution as well as a park that will be enjoyed and part of the NYC landscape for basically ever is an incredible gift not only to NYers but to people who visit it across the globe.  You can't put a price tag on that. 

Fred and I are delighted to be donors to the High Line and I joined the board last spring.  I feel amazing every time I walk it.  Are we still giving money to help save lives. Donors Choose is doing that and quite frankly so is MOUSE and Hot Bread Kitchen.  Perhaps not saving lives but making a difference in peoples lives.  The High Line is making a difference in peoples lives too if you really think about it. 

Bravo to both Barry Diller and Diane Von Furstenberg for leading the charge in making sure that the High Line will get completed from the beginning on Gansevoort Street right up to 34th Street.  They are making their mark on the city and leaving a legacy behind that hopefully next generations will continue to repeat and learn from. 

One.org

I was asked to participate in the campaign that One.org is putting on right now.  Trying to get as many women bloggers to write about their mission as a group of people are in Africa right now creating awareness on many of the issues One.org is involved with. 

Women seem to be the leaders in different communities where change takes place.  In Africa, it is the women that are the driving force behind the economy as they are focused on making a better life for their children. 

One.org's mission is to fight extreme poverty and preventable diseases in Africa.  They work with government leaders to support cost-effective solutions to makes those changes in Africa.

I applaud all the people who are trying to make Africa a better place.  From an investor perspective, I hear about a variety of investments that are now taking place in Africa that are socially driven.  Socially driven because although the companies might be manufacturing suits or making cotton they are hiring many women who for the first time will have the opportunity to make money and put food on the table. A win win for everyone.  As more organizations like One.org create awareness in Africa, the more opportunities for creating economies take place.

If Africa was a place where the best and brightest people wanted to stay in their homeland instead of leaving to find jobs somewhere else because they felt safe and empowered by their community as well as had opportunities for personal growth then the world would be a better place.  I am a big believer that many businesses in local communities make for better global economies.  We need that in Africa. 

Go to One.org and see what they are doing, what they really need is your voice in supporting their role in persuading governments to support effective policies in Africa.

 

 

Catchafire, a new way to look at pro-bono

Pro bono is from the latin phrase, for the public good.  Generally used by professionals who give their services away for free.  Lawyers are the first thing that probably comes to mind.  I believe it is recommended by the American Bar Association that lawyers contribute a certain amount of their time for free over the course of each year.  What an amazing world it would be if every professional gave away 50 hours a year of their time for the public good.

This week is National Volunteer Week.  I am thrilled to be part of Catchafire's Powerful Woman Campaign in support of National Volunteer week. I much prefer the word pro bono over volunteer.  To me, pro bono means that you are taking your professional skills be it writing code, marketing guru, architect or logo designer and giving your services to an organization that could never afford to hire someone as well versed in your particular skill as you are. 

The hardest part is how do you find an organization that would want your services.  There is now an answer for that Catchafire.  Catchafire, a company that I am involved with and have written about before, has created a data base of non-profit organizations looking to fill certain short-term projects with professionals.  We have also created a data base of qualified professionals to match the needs of the non-profits and we need more.  A social good organization that charges a fee to the non-profits for the service of matching the right professionals with their project.  By charging a fee we are making the non-profits put skin in the game. In essence forcing them to really use the pro bono work and manage it properly to insure the success on both ends. 

Currently we are doing this in NYC only but there is no doubt that we plan on rolling this out across the country and eventually the globe.  If everyone could give back their knowledge and skill sets for so many hours a year to make an impact in the non-profit world that is trying to do public good...wow, think about what we could be accomplished.  The world would definitely be our oyster. 

Click on Catchafire today and sign-up.  Think about Catchafires tag line....give what you are good at and be part of National Volunteer Week by doing a little pro bono work.   

hot bread kitchen event

Last week Hot Bread Kitchen inaugurated their new location at La Marqueta on 115th and Park by throwing a party.  Of course throwing a party for a non-profit includes raising awareness and money.  One of the reasons I initially got involved with HBK besides loving the mission is that I knew that overtime HBK would become sustainable non-profit business.  Through the sale of their breads, tortillas and crackers, they would eventually be able to create enough revenue to fund the social mission of the organization.  To me, that is what I'd like to see all non-profit organizations do.  It isn't always that clear cut because many organizations don't have products or information that can create a viable revenue stream but if they do they should figure out how to leverage that to pay for the mission. 

The event was great.  Daniel Boulud came and baked Morrocan breads.  Tortillas were made too.

The best part of the night, hands down, were the bakers that spoke.  Marie Poison from Haiti talked about how HBK had given her the ability to bake and speak English while getting paid at the same time. 

Antonia Garcia from Mexico talked about how much she has grown in this community.

Lutfunnessa Islam from Bangledesh talked about how not only did she learn to feel more comfortable communicating in English she was able to practice her religion over the course of the day with no problems.  That she was embraced at HBK.  She has two children who are in their teens and found herself having time to go to work.  HBK allowed her flexibility to be with her family.  She discovered not only did she like to work she liked making money.  Still feeling connected to Bangledesh and having children as first generation Americans, she herself is becoming an American too.  She was moving beyond words. 

At the end of the night there wasn't a person in the room who wasn't completely moved by how HBK has made a difference in immigrant women through baking.  It has been transformative for all of them.  Having women work together in a kitchen where they can feel comfortable among peers is so important to a crop of immigrants who are still very dedicated to a certain family life.  HBK give them income and the ability to feel confident in speaking English and becoming bakers and entrepreneurs.  HBK is truly a special place. 

I'd also like to thank everyone who came and supported this event.  Truly appreciate it!

 

 

Hot Bread Kitchen event

To celebrate the opening of Hot Bread Kitchens new facilities at La Marqueta we are having an event.  Please come and support this fantastic organization that is not only making delicious breads, tortillas and crackers but changing the lives of women. 

 

 

the womens initiative

The Women's Initiative is a non-profit organization located in the Bay Area which provides job training, resources(think micro-lending) and on-going mentor support to lower income women to improve their quality of life and their pocket book.  They do great work.  La Cocina, a commercial kitchen space area in the Bay Area that provides many of its immigrant clients the ability to rent inexpensive space to grow their own food ideas came out of a feasibility study done by the Women's Initiative in 1999.  It is probably the impetus behind La Marquetta where Hot Bread Kitchen is doing the exact same thing. 

I have been talking with the Women's Initiative for a while now.  WI is now taking the success that they have had in the Bay Area and bringing it to NYC.  Years of successes and of course disappointments but they have fine tooled their business model and know exactly what it takes. 

They help women who can't find jobs create their own.  70% of the women who come through their program are still in business 5 years later.  That is an impressive statistic.  The average household income increases almost by $13,000 after 12 months of training with The Womens Initiative.  This shows a $30:1 ROI as women create businesses, pay taxes, employ others and come off public assistance.  One year after training 90% of the WI women are employed or self-employed and after 5 years they provide an average of 2.5 jobs. 

Last year, WI in the Bay Area trained more than 3000 low-income women who are now on they way to either launch their own businesses or be employed.  Pretty damn impressive.  The cost to WI to create these jobs is roughly $4000 per person.  They have figured out how to mentor and train to success. 

WI is bringing the model to NYC and I believe Chicago.  If they can do it in the Bay Area, why not do it across the country.  Changing the economies of lower-income women can essentially change a neighborhood while providing role models for the children at the same time. 

I am very impressived with this group.  Women run, women backed, women power. 

iMentor event at Google

Unfortunately I didn't get to stay through the entire event last night but I was there for awhile.  iMentor had a panel to talk about volunteerism. 

There are a few things about panels, they must have amazing moderators in order to make the conversations flow between all the people on stage or it ends up people just talking about themselves. We are having panels are the Womens Entrepreneur Festival this weekend and we are hoping our format will work.  We will see.

I went to the event because both Rachael Chang from Catchafire.org and Jessamyn Waldman Rodriquez from Hot Bread Kitchen were on the panel.  Two companies I am involved with and two women I highly respect. 

The conversation began asking each panelist why they got into a career of social good and then an addition to that a few other things which was way too long but that is another story.  What we found out after time is how few people volunteer in NYC and NY State and certainly the question is how do we get more people to volunteer their time.

When my Mom moved to NYC she wanted so desperately to volunteer somewhere that she was interested in.  In the end, she did a lot of work for the Obama campaign but never found anything else fulfilling in NYC and btw, it wasn't so easy to find.  That is why I so like what Catchafire is doing.  Taking people who want to give back their time, their time means not photo copying paper for the office but using their professional skills sets.  Catchafire matches professionals with a non-profit that could use their skills for a short focused project.  I really believe she is on to something.  I know she is by the growth of ther business. 

Hot Bread Kitchen is essentialy changing the world one person at a time.  A different take on social good.  What is interesting is Jessamyn came up with the concept of Hot Bread Kitchen over 10 years ago and slowly retooled the idea in her mind until the time came.  I like that.  Perry Chen did the same thing with Kickstarter.  He came up with the idea 10 years ago. 

There are so many ways all of us can give back to our communities.  It is worth checking out each of the sites above.  I will say the only downfall of last nights event was how it was organized.  I was invited to go and had no idea there was a suggested donation.  They literally held Fred and I hostage downstairs and called us out on the table before letting us in if we didn't get $20 a piece.  It wasn't a big deal but the way they did it was completely unprofessional and aggressive.  Didn't win any points in my book...just for the record. 

Hot Bread Kitchen at La Marqueta

Thanks to the EDC(New York City Economic Development Corporation)and the City Council of New York City La Marqueta has opened.  At 115th and Park now stands a completely renovated state of the art kitchen that provides not only space for Hot Bread Kitchen but opportunities for food purveyors who need space to grow their companies.  Think of it like an incubator.  There are a few companies that have already begun to use the space besides HBK and they are all geared towards sweets and they are definitely in need of some savory food vendors.  If you are interested, please contact HBK. 

Hot Bread Kitchen is a non-profit social enterprise that is creating better lives for low-income women by giving them an opportunity to become bakers by teaching them how to bake multi-ethnic breads as well as the skills of managing a business.  HBK has built an incredible bakery at La Marqueta with the ability to bake 24/7 which will expand the workforce and sell more breads to retail operations including the Greenmarkets where HBK has a booth (currently at Union Square Market and Jackson Heights Queens).  HBK is sharing/renting parts of their commercial kitchen space to food vendors who need small spaces to grow their own businesses. 

It looks fantastic and is quite exciting.  Here is the frustration.  The back of the marketplace which houses HBK looks amazing.  Soon it will be burgeoning with new businesses all working their trades and HBK baking 24/7.  The frustration lies with the front of La Marqueta. 

The front of La Marqueta is being managed by the EDC.  The concept is to bring in food retailers and create something like a Chelsea Market or Essex Street market for the neighborhood.  Even could be a destination location for people within a 30 block range.  The upshot of this is if they really create something special and the positive aspects and economic opportunities will seep into the community.  Sounds great, right? 

It would be great if the EDC was paying HBK to create that but sadly they aren't they are managing it themselves.  This should not be managed by a Government agency because that is certainly not their skill set. So at this point there is still a wreath and Christmas decorations hanging up in front.  There are 3 vendors there that are pathetic.  One selling terrible smelling dried fish, another selling sad looking fruit and the last selling soft potatoes.  Chelsea Market wouldn't stand for the way these vendors look or for how they are going about their business.  La Marqueta should be stocked with fantastic smart food vendors and the people of that area would stand up and applaud.  The vendors in there now says something about how the EDC feels about the neighborhood.

My suggestion would be give away the retail spaces for a year for free.  Let people apply for them.  Then based on the application give each vendor a free space for a year or even just six months and get the place going.  Make sure every booth is filled.  Get all the top food vendors at Brooklyn Flea or Amsterdam Market because most of them don't have a retail space.  I guarantee you that if Porchetta had a booth there they would sell out daily, if Robertas had a pizza oven there it would be terrific, if Anne Saxelby had a cheese shop there it would have plenty of business and more importantly why doesn't HBK have a retail cart in the market.  If they are making bread in the neighborhood they should be selling their wares in the neighborhood.

I so hope that this is not another great idea that gets its 15 minutes of fame through the press.  HBK and all the incubators in the back will certainly succeed but the EDC has to complete what they started.  Make this place a gem that creates community and respect for the neighborhood. The success of this idea can be easily replicated in other areas of the city and other urban areas around the country. 

Anyone listening out there?

 

 

catchafire.org

 I fundamentally believe we are in the midst of a cultural shift when it comes to the nonprofit world.  After meeting with Rachael Chong at Catchafire, I am convinced.

Rachael grew up around the world exposed to poverty.  She has always wanted to help the underserved. Her career lead her to BRAC where she was hired to start BRAC USA.  She was able to grow the organization in New York and raise millions of dolllars by leveraging her friends to do projects for her cause based on their skill set.  Having those friends allowed Rachael to spend her time raising awareness and money.  Volunteers were the key to her success.  Through that the idea of Catch a Fire was hatched.  It became apparent that skill based volunteers was the best way to leverage people and fit their skills sets in directly with a non-profit that needed their help.  A win win for everyone. 

Here is how it works.  You want to volunteer your time in some meaningful way.  You go online to catchafire and find an organization that interests you and see what possible proejcts they have available. Design a logo, create a marketing plan, etc.  Catchafire matches the skills of a volunteer with an organization.  Allowing people to identify short term or long term projects that work for them to incorporate in their already busy days.  They also estimate a value to each project. Brilliant idea.

I also like that they charge the nonprofits for this.  The cost is much much less than they would normally pay for the professional services.  Yet when these organizations pay for a service, it means more.  I am a big believer in that even if they only pay $250, they pay $250.  This almost insures that the volunteers will be managed with a different hand. 

The site is easy to navigate.  Think Kickstarter for volunteers with the concept of Donors Choose without giving money (and giving back to a broader field). 

One extra bonus which I really like.  Each volunteer will fill out a form after their experience rating the organization.  Think about college students and how they rate their professors.  Students can look up the information posted and think about each professor and if it is the right class or teacher for them.  Makes everyone accountable.  In the world of nonprofit there are so many organizations where money is going down a big black hole, where there is such control that nothing gets done, where there is duplication with other organizations in the same city, where they are branded well but can't figure their way out of a paperbag.  If we are going to give money and time to organizations doing good, let's make sure they are functioning financially and organizationally.  Smart volunteers can help assess that.

Catchafire just launched in the New York City area to start but hope to roll this out across the country if not across the world.  This defines Social Entrepreneurship.  Good will that is crowd sourcing volunteers and making money and impact at the same time.  That my friends is the future of the nonprofit world and I for one am thrilled about it.

 

Center for the Hearing and Communication Centennial Gala

I am not a fan of the big sit down galas but last night's event for the Center for Hearing and Communication was not only well done it was eye opening.  There are 38 million people with hearing loss in this country alone.  That number will rise to 50 million over the next ten years.  That alone is quite amazing. 

What is more amazing is the kids that they evaluate and treat early on.  Early intervention is the key to success.  Many now get cochlear implants at any early age allowing them to communicate as if they have perfect hearing.  Although it is not that simple because it takes a lot of hard work to learn how to pronunciate and hear the same sounds as others do with a cochlear implant. I know that first hand because the person who works for us had a cochlear implant put in a few years ago.  It has changed her life. 

Dr. Noel Cohen was awarded an award last night as a pioneer in cochlear and brainstem implant design and surgery.  Quite an impressive man.

The evening starting at 6pm for cocktail and was wrapped up by 10pm.  Love that.  Kassie DePaiva from "One Life to Live" kicked off the evening with her 13 year old son who was born deaf.  At the time her son was born, only 8 states tested the hearing of newborns at the time of birth.  CHC wants to change that.  CHC wants every newborn to have a hearing test as well as making an annual hearing test become as normal as having your teeth cleaned twice a year.  An excellent idea.  Kassie's 13 year old son gave a speech about how CHC changed his life.  Impressive young man not only for being mainstreamed into schools from an early age and having a cochlear implant put in at an early age but for standing up in front of a large audience of adults and speaking of his experience.

This picture is of Crystal Bowersox, an American Idol runner-up in the 9th season.  What I love about this picture is the large screen on top of her head with the words being typed out as she speaks.  Personally, I wish that had a screen like that at every event I go to.  The older I get, the harder it is to hear too. 

CDC is a great organization that until you have a hearing problem or a child with a hearing problem, you don't realize how a place like CDC is the key to a life, helping families continue to communicate regardless of being hearing impaired.