Members in Action
The projects listed below are a sampling of the many campaigns, projects, and activities that ENGAGE members are involved with throughout the United States and around the world. You are encouraged to use these ideas as inspiration to take action on an issue that is important to you or a community that you care about, or to contact these members for further information on how you can be involved in the projects or organizations that they are working for. If you are an ENGAGE member and would like to submit a project for inclusion on this page, please click here to send an email to the webmaster (select Webmaster from the drop-down menu).

Campaign Virginia
Richmond, VA

ENGAGE member Antigone Ambrose is the development officer for Campaign Virginia, a small environmental group working for responsible solid waste policy. Virginia receives about 7 million tons of garbage from other states each year, enough for each citizen of the commonwealth to claim a ton for their own! When local and state governments can make their waste disappear and become someone else's problem, they are not incentivized to find bettner ways to handle waste or to reduce the waste that is created in the first place. In the meantime, poor rural minority communities in Virginia are being forced to take on this burden.

Antigone works with Campaign Virginia to promote national legislation that would allow states around the United States to limit the amount of waste dumped by other states in their landfills. Campaign Virginia is also working to rasie awareness at the local level as waste companies come in to woo local officials. Through in-person canvassing, they inform local citizens about what going on, answer their questions, and provide them with information on how they can get involved. Antigone believes that no matter how advanced our technology becomes, face to face will always be the best way to communicate. To learn more about Antigone's work, you can contact her by phone at (703) 895-1593 or click here to send her an email.

Change to Win
Oakland, CA

ENGAGE member Doug Bloch works as the Port of Oakland Campaign Coordinator for the organization Change to Win. Without harbor truck drivers moving freight containers into and out of our ports, the U.S. economy would virtually come to a halt. But instead of being treated with dignity and respect, many truckdrivers are treated like "sharecroppers on wheels." An estimated 60,000 port drivers work extremely long hours with low pay, cannot afford health or retirement benefits, and many have one foot in bankruptcy court. They currently have no legal ability to improve their situation because they are often deliberately misclassified by their employers as independent contractors instead of as employees.

The status of port drivers affects everyone because of the troubling implications for national security, highway safety, and environmental pollution. Change to Win and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are partnering to improve ports protection by raising the job and
security standards for truck drivers at our nation's ports. For more information about this project, contact Doug Bloch at (510) 893-7106 ext. 24 and visit Change to Win's website.

Sustainable Living Community
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

ENGAGE member Arianne Peterson is working to create a “sustainable living community” in one of the dorms currently under construction at her school, Arizona State University. During her time studying abroad in the CIEE-Khon Kaen (Thailand) study abroad program, Arianne’s vision for the project expanded. For her senior thesis, she plans to propose and implement a community and experiential-based program available to undergraduates who are majoring in “sustainability.” Arianne wants to unlock the possibilities that an campus-based, student-driven, environmentally and socially conscious community holds. She also hopes that her project can play a part in expanding the ENGAGE network, and intends to link up with ENGAGE members who are motivated to transform educational opportunities in the United States. To connect with Arianne, click here to send her an email.

School of the Shoals
Spartanburg, SC

ENGAGE member Allyn Steele teaches an independent school in South Carolina. For the past two years, he has been developing community allies with the hope of creating of the School of the Shoals, a future community-based center in Spartanburg, SC. He plans to model this school on the community-based, experiential learning model of the CIEE Thailand program. To learn more about the alternative education movement and about his work to form the School of the Shoals, click here to email Allyn.

Swarthmore College Earthlust
Swarthmore, PA

ENGAGE member Ashley Werner is a part of Swarthmore College’s student environmental group, Earthlust. Earthlust is currently working to secure a commitment from Swarthmore College to purchase 35% of the college’s energy needs from national wind farms, with a long-term goal of pushing the college to purchase 100% of its energy from renewable sources.

In Spring 2006, Earthlust partnered with Environmental Capstone Seminar students in a comprehensive analysis of the college’s environmental impacts, from fertilizer choice to waste water management. With the completion of this analysis, the group plans to form a broader outline for "greening" Swarthmore. In the future, Ashley dreams of working on a unified, country-wide student movement to demand that politicians cut ties with “Big Coal and Oil” companies that help fuel global warming and deepen social inequities. For more information about Earthlust's work or to learn how you can take action with Ashley, click here to send her an email.

BRAC
Dhaka, Bangladesh

In 2005, ENGAGE member Michael Mintz learned about microfinance while interning at the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.  He designed a business and feasibility plan for a small enterprise development project at BRAC. He currently studies business and development at the Fletcher School, Tuft University's graduate school for international relations. To learn more about Michael's work in microfinance, call him at 305.720.3790 or click here to send him an email.