alphaindex
December 2008 
penny on - BE someone
Posted on Aug 16th, 2007
by 
Michael
Michael
YOUR PLANET
Listen to the children ...
they are saying ... Your Planet needs YOU !
Some Alarming Facts
Education
Penny On is being led by young people. The issue is urgent and important so it needs new thinking, new logic and fresh eyes. As part of Penny’s school enrichment programme, young people get to choose where funds get allocated, they’re learning about the most effective solutions to poverty at the grass roots level, they’re learning from the heroes and heroines of the voluntary sector who work behind the scenes to tackle deprivation, exclusion, marginalisation and environmental issues.
Inclusion
Our pilot programme is focusing on twinning, bringing together grass roots communities and working in partnership with a wide range of specialists in both local and international development. The principles behind Penny On transcend politics and religion, they resonate with people at an emotive and humanitarian level. Common goals call for common sense and collective intelligence. There is an old saying … none of us are as smart as all of us!
Community
The young people get to see first hand the scale of the challenge, seeing for themselves the most effective strategies and become involved in building awareness, raising funds and getting to the heart of the problems that affect their community. By twinning grass roots communities we foster peer to peer relationships between ordinary people who are often “in the problem” they know first hand through their lives about the reality of deprivation and exclusion. These heroic people are the experts who hold the key to eliminating poverty from the grass roots up.
Environment
Nature sustains us, it feeds us, protects us and nourishes us. When we work with nature we can create solutions to poverty that empower people, that support life, economy and community. Working with nature means encouraging bio-diversity, thinking beyond the current accepted norms and towards greener, self sufficient and abundant environments. Here’s how 5,000 people benefited from natures solutions.
A Child's Appeal to the UN
Mankind's role is to fulfill his heaven-sent purpose
through a sincere heart that is in harmony with all creation and loves all things.
Morihei Ueshiba
through a sincere heart that is in harmony with all creation and loves all things.
Morihei Ueshiba
Mitchell High School and Penny-On
This note aims to address two questions of particular relevance to the Penny-On project, and is based on a recent visit to Mitchell High School. The two questions are:
1. What’s so special about what’s happened at Mitchell High School
during the last five years?
2. What value can the Penny-On team bring to the Mitchell project and the
wider community of Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme?
What’s So Special About Mitchell High School?
Six years ago, before the arrival of Debbie Sanderson, Mitchell High School was a fairly typical “failing school”. Situated on the edge of the Bentilee community, near Stoke-on-Trent, the school draws from a catchment area that has many unpromising features, including high levels of long-term unemployment, crime and drug use.
In the five years since Debbie’s arrival (in 2002), the school has made enormous strides, including the following key features:
• High levels of engagement with the local community;
• Provision of adult learning services to well over a thousand people;
• Extraordinarily sophisticated information systems, including the deployment
of over 150 “thin client” terminals to pupils’ homes in the community;
• Achievement of special status as a Business and Enterprise Academy.
An Epicentre for Education and Enterprise
The key to Mitchell’s success is that it has established itself as an epicentre for education and enterprise, not only for the pupils but also for the wider community. This is all the more extraordinary, given that many of the families from which the pupils are drawn have experienced several generations of unemployment.
The irony, of course, is that the Stoke-on-Trent area has a long history of extraordinary commercial activity, itself being enormously influential in the development of the pottery industry during the industrial revolution. However the last hundred years have not been kind to the area, with dramatic declines in both the pottery and coal industries.
If Mitchell High School can provide the catalyst for a new generation of entrepreneurs in the area, its service to the wider community will go way beyond that of any normal school. It has the opportunity to spark a transformation across the entire Stoke/Newcastle conurbation.
The Role of the Penny-On Trust
This last point introduces one of the opportunities for the Penny-On team to make a big difference in the Stoke/Newcastle area, which is to publicise and propagate the success of Mitchell High School. If we can capture and then disseminate the key lessons from Mitchell, to other schools that face similar challenges, we can play an invaluable role in ensuring that Mitchell is viewed by other schools as a valuable resource and a beacon, to be engaged and learned from, rather than viewed with suspicion and resentment for “making them look bad”.
Work has already begun to engage young people from other parts of Stoke/Newcastle, with a view to sharing the lessons from Mitchell with them. Martin Dewhurst has met with a group from a youth club in Chesterton, and a similar initiative is underway in Trentham.
A key point about Penny-On is the way in which it calls on young people to adopt a “giving” orientation to the world, rather than a “getting” orientation. Young people gain an understanding that there are people in the world who are much less fortunate than themselves, and that, by their efforts, they can make a big difference to the lives of those people. This is a world away from the “entitlement mentality” that can all too easily affect a community such as Bentilee, which has experienced relatively severe economic conditions during the 20th Century.
Community-Level Engagement is Key
One of the principles of Penny-On is the principle of connecting communities. Any money raised by Penny-On will always be spent either in the local community or in another specific, known community in the developing world. It will never disappear into a general pot, its destination and purpose to be determined by an unknown bureaucrat.
The implication of this is that the people in the community that raises the money will always have sight of where that money goes, ensuring that they retain psychological ownership of the outcomes, whether those are in the UK or elsewhere.
From the standpoint of the community in the developing world that receives the funds, there is also a big positive impact. This is money that comes with love, from a specific group of people, giving the recipient community a clear message that they are known and cared for, by a group of people they’ve never even met.
.
This note aims to address two questions of particular relevance to the Penny-On project, and is based on a recent visit to Mitchell High School. The two questions are:
1. What’s so special about what’s happened at Mitchell High School
during the last five years?
2. What value can the Penny-On team bring to the Mitchell project and the
wider community of Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme?
What’s So Special About Mitchell High School?
Six years ago, before the arrival of Debbie Sanderson, Mitchell High School was a fairly typical “failing school”. Situated on the edge of the Bentilee community, near Stoke-on-Trent, the school draws from a catchment area that has many unpromising features, including high levels of long-term unemployment, crime and drug use.
In the five years since Debbie’s arrival (in 2002), the school has made enormous strides, including the following key features:
• High levels of engagement with the local community;
• Provision of adult learning services to well over a thousand people;
• Extraordinarily sophisticated information systems, including the deployment
of over 150 “thin client” terminals to pupils’ homes in the community;
• Achievement of special status as a Business and Enterprise Academy.
An Epicentre for Education and Enterprise
The key to Mitchell’s success is that it has established itself as an epicentre for education and enterprise, not only for the pupils but also for the wider community. This is all the more extraordinary, given that many of the families from which the pupils are drawn have experienced several generations of unemployment.
The irony, of course, is that the Stoke-on-Trent area has a long history of extraordinary commercial activity, itself being enormously influential in the development of the pottery industry during the industrial revolution. However the last hundred years have not been kind to the area, with dramatic declines in both the pottery and coal industries.
If Mitchell High School can provide the catalyst for a new generation of entrepreneurs in the area, its service to the wider community will go way beyond that of any normal school. It has the opportunity to spark a transformation across the entire Stoke/Newcastle conurbation.
The Role of the Penny-On Trust
This last point introduces one of the opportunities for the Penny-On team to make a big difference in the Stoke/Newcastle area, which is to publicise and propagate the success of Mitchell High School. If we can capture and then disseminate the key lessons from Mitchell, to other schools that face similar challenges, we can play an invaluable role in ensuring that Mitchell is viewed by other schools as a valuable resource and a beacon, to be engaged and learned from, rather than viewed with suspicion and resentment for “making them look bad”.
Work has already begun to engage young people from other parts of Stoke/Newcastle, with a view to sharing the lessons from Mitchell with them. Martin Dewhurst has met with a group from a youth club in Chesterton, and a similar initiative is underway in Trentham.
A key point about Penny-On is the way in which it calls on young people to adopt a “giving” orientation to the world, rather than a “getting” orientation. Young people gain an understanding that there are people in the world who are much less fortunate than themselves, and that, by their efforts, they can make a big difference to the lives of those people. This is a world away from the “entitlement mentality” that can all too easily affect a community such as Bentilee, which has experienced relatively severe economic conditions during the 20th Century.
Community-Level Engagement is Key
One of the principles of Penny-On is the principle of connecting communities. Any money raised by Penny-On will always be spent either in the local community or in another specific, known community in the developing world. It will never disappear into a general pot, its destination and purpose to be determined by an unknown bureaucrat.
The implication of this is that the people in the community that raises the money will always have sight of where that money goes, ensuring that they retain psychological ownership of the outcomes, whether those are in the UK or elsewhere.
From the standpoint of the community in the developing world that receives the funds, there is also a big positive impact. This is money that comes with love, from a specific group of people, giving the recipient community a clear message that they are known and cared for, by a group of people they’ve never even met.
Sexy Integral Models
For WHATEVER reason, Sexy Integral Models IS NO LONGER available @YouTUBE
Please accept my appologies because IT IS well worth watching in the context of
Steve McIntosh's work. IF you watch AQUAL: A Graphic Presentation
and then select to watch from the menu The Pattern That Connects
Holons - AQUAL to Spiral Dynamics - ALL will BE revealed.
Please accept my appologies because IT IS well worth watching in the context of
Steve McIntosh's work. IF you watch AQUAL: A Graphic Presentation
and then select to watch from the menu The Pattern That Connects
Holons - AQUAL to Spiral Dynamics - ALL will BE revealed.
AQAL: A Graphic Presentation
THE CHILDREN are WATCHING and "LISTENING" for THE INTEGRITY of OUR ACTIONS
CHILDREN
"The integral worldview gives us an understanding of culture that allows us to begin to
address the global cultural problems that are at the heart of pretty much every problem.
What I mean is that every problem in the world has its solution at least partially in the raising of consciousness. And that's what the integral worldview does more effectively than any other worldview before it - it can literally raise consciousness at every level."
Steve McIntosh
address the global cultural problems that are at the heart of pretty much every problem.
What I mean is that every problem in the world has its solution at least partially in the raising of consciousness. And that's what the integral worldview does more effectively than any other worldview before it - it can literally raise consciousness at every level."
Steve McIntosh
ALL hail ! to my dyslexic friend and to Jon Symes & Phil Turner for their book
and particularly Ron Monnier for creating the superb copyrighted
"centre-piece" image at the top of this zBlog for the children.
and particularly Ron Monnier for creating the superb copyrighted
"centre-piece" image at the top of this zBlog for the children.
.
Access: Public
I believe ”poverty” to be a global illness that knows no boundaries. We have poverty of spirit as well as poverty in the body and mind, and this illness affects the rich as well as the poor.
Nishta
Mohandas K. Gandhi said “Poverty is the worst form of violence” - and TIME always referred to him in terms of his enlightened leadership & philosophy of non-violence.
Michael, how doe penny on work?
jenni
Hi Jenni,
Michael kindly invited me here to answer this one …
Penny On works by inviting you as you shop to simply add 1 penny to the things you buy.
Can you imagine everyone who could do so making that choice?
It uses all existing technology
It creates a new social fund for use in the community
It empowers, informs and educates people about the power of collective action
It shares its publically collected funds 50% Local 50% International on projects that empower people
It works through education to build social responsibility into the curriculum
Right now it's being piloted and led by young people in an area affected by poverty
They are building the campaign outwards from their community to other communities
Penny On has the annual potential to tackle the issue of hunger 6 times over
I hope that paints an inspiring picture Jenni and I look forward to sharing news of the arrival of Penny On on your shores.
With love
Martin
PS Thank you Michael for being the visionary you are :-)
PS
I should add this …
Why is Penny On different?
Penny On is a fund-raising brand that makes it easy for every individual to contribute, utilising modern technology in a new model for fund-raising. More than that, Penny On is the brand for young people, the consumers of today and the consumers of tomorrow. With a brand message enshrined within the school curriculum, young people will drive awareness throughout families and communities, through social networking and mobile telecommunications. Imagine fund-raising through EFTPOS, through pay per click, through text messaging and across global boundaries. The opportunity to align with this global phenomenon and drive awareness of CSR, for an organisation operating internationally, through retail, online, within schools and local communities is huge.
Penny On is a strategy that is both compelling and sustainable.
thank you for the information Martin. I had not heard of it before. I will look for it. jen
penny on’s underpinning raison d’etre of …
1. establishing a “brand” committed to raising money – a penny at a time – through every consumer transaction on earth,
and
2. giving the children the responsibility and support to administer & manage such a project and BE the ones who decide where/how, the money raised should be spent,
has the potential to establish penny on as THE lego building block template which could glue together all activities involved in the eradication of poverty, so often talked about by the ‘communities’ of politics, religion & science, in line with the UN Millennium Goals.
Zaadz IS a place of honesty.
Zaadz IS a place of integrity.
BUT above all Zaadz is a place of ACTION, walking the walk rather than WRITING or HAVING DISCUSSIONS about talking the talk - as exemplified by so much ACTION@zaadz
As the Rough Guide to a Better World and how YOU can make a difference says …
walking the walk is the ONLY way to address THE big target of the UN Millennium Goals –
ENDING POVERTY.
Beautifully said. Power to the children! The world could not be in better hands. Thank you for teaching them about love in action, Martin and Michael.
Sending love and beautiful thoughts for Penny, across the Atlantic…Janie
In the context of Michael Strong's concluding paragraph of his FLOW Principles statement, namely :-
But we believe there are reasons to consider expanding the realm of hip, cool entrepreneurial activity far beyond the politically correct boundaries that have been established through the current gate-keepers of politically correct left-liberal orthodoxies. Indeed, we believe that the most profound gains for humanity, in terms of creating world peace, prosperity for all, and ever-deeper levels of happiness and well-being for all, will be achieved by means of questioning existing orthodoxies of left-liberal political correctness.
I can only respond - WHO better to question those orthodoxies, than the generation of children who will inherit the produce of their own “seed sowing & growing” ….
in THE manner of walking the walk - which we experience at Mitchell High as a
'very fruitful day' - everyday.
There are many visionary one-liners in FLOW's - The Direction of FLOW - Liberating the Entrepreneurial Spirit for Good - which are succinctly descriptive of the REAL TIME ACTION taking place at Mitchell High, which will undoubtedly establish the THE lego building block template which could glue together all activities involved in the eradication of poverty, so often talked about by the ‘communities’ of politics, religion & science, in line with the UN Millennium Goals.
Gemma Clarke's brilliant summary of the campaign detailed by Martin above …
Why is Penny On different?
Penny On is a fund-raising brand that makes it easy for every individual to contribute, utilising modern technology in a new model for fund-raising. More than that, Penny On is the brand for young people, the consumers of today and the consumers of tomorrow. With a brand message enshrined within the school curriculum, young people will drive awareness throughout families and communities, through social networking and mobile telecommunications. Imagine fund-raising through EFTPOS, through pay per click, through text messaging and across global boundaries.
The opportunity to align with this global phenomenon and drive awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), for an organisation operating internationally, through retail, online, within schools and local communities is huge.
Penny On is a community wide strategy that is both compelling and sustainable…
which I would say establishes the appropriate community mindset shift, required to establish the most potentially creative template jigsaw piece - from which THE most realistic Global Social Responsibility model can be assembled.
The real challenge is to make international development a domestic issue.
Lynne Featherstone MP - Liberal Democrat Shadow International Development Secretary
Hello OUT there - WHAT are WE DOING for THE GRANDCHILDREN ?
Severin Suzuki's speech …thank you, Michael.
With the clearly established requirement to do more to achieve the UN Millenium Goals - there is a desperate need to evolve to a “walk the walk initiative” rather than being satisfied with a walk the talk advancement of talking the talk. I believe that the most appropriate solution would be an all-inclusive solution which harnesses the strengths of our global diversity. A solution which would establish at its core, a thinking environment based on the interconnected and fully integrated values of education & training, enterprise and the community.
A solution which would encourage those less fortunate than ourselves, to discover their own natural greatness, as a result of helping them to think for themselves, rather than just being trained to be good.
A solution which can be characterised by focus, appreciation, trust, delegation & a financial strategy based on an absolute necessity to establish, from the outset, a model of conscious capitalist stakeholder values. An ALL inclusive, conscious capitalist solution based on the very best business practices originally espoused & enacted by Josiah Wedgwood in Stoke-on-Trent, which if good enough to act as a model for Henry Ford's initiative, should be of equally appropriate value to Penny On.
Yes!
Feel your heart…
Walk the walk…
Think the thought…
Mold the clay…
Drive the car….
Share the pennies!….
Love + action = the solution
LOVE + ACTION = THE SOLUTION = BUILDING COMMUNITIES = BUILDING LOVE =
ERADICATION OF POVERTY before our children GET AS OLD AS WE ARE !
Awesome video Mick. :)
The one message that we are trying to promote all the time, that poverty in the world is an artificial creation. It doesn't belong to human civilization, and we can change that, we can make people come out of poverty and have the real state of affairs. So the only thing we have to do is to redesign our institutions and policies, and there will be no people who will be suffering from poverty. So I would hope that this award will make this message heard many times, and in a kind of forceful way, so that people start believing that we can create a poverty-free world. That's what I would like to do.
Muhammad Yunus
Great inspiration! Thank you for finding and sharing this Michael.
Samme
Love the picture and additions, Michael.
Loved all the positive inspiring posts here Michael except puzzled by this???
For WHATEVER reason, Sexy Integral Models IS NO LONGER available @YouTUBE Please accept my appologies because IT IS well worth watching in the context of Steve McIntosh's work. I do not thing that image raises consciousness in anyway….there is a good reason Youtube took it off I think. I like to hear your perspective Michael.
The reason for mass poverty in developing countries and the great accumulation of wealth in developed countries is the way our Temples of Capitalism namely banking and financial system evolved since coonial times following Bank of England & Rome.
see my pod or “google deep conscious capitalism”
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