Sharing feel-good moments

E39: Why I have so much faith in the future of humanity; Meet David Dvorkin

I’m having a great week. And I’d like to share some of these feel-good moments with you:

Wyatt sir, you are an amazing human!!

“I’m praying this reaches this young man’s parents” … so starts this LinkedIn post. It is the story of a young man who didn’t think twice about helping out a young mother with three screeching children in her back seat. She was in the drive-through at McDonalds when she realized she’d forgotten her wallet at home. He reached into his pocket and swiped the total onto his own debit card.

Everyone can make a difference

What joy! As a Futurist, I get filled with hope when I see young hearts reaching out to do good in their local community. This group of young ladies - each a member of My Sister’s Keeper (MSK) - raised money for a diversity of local causes in Brooklyn, NY: Grandma’s Love, Inc, International Rescue Committee, Moms 4 Moms, Rising Ground. The causes work with different under-served segments of our community - foster children, single mothers, refugees and immigrants. If this seems like a dejavu post, you might be remembering E24 - To imagine, challenge, story-weave, (Chris!) when I talked about another Hire Cause event - the Kings and Queens of Impact project for the North Queens School District.

This time I was joined on the panel by Cynthia Isales a Principal Law Clerk in the Bronx Supreme Court who is running for judgeship herself, and Leonor Young, VP and Trust Officer at JP Morgan. These women inspired the young ladies (and me) with their words of encouragement to be bold and adventurous in their decisions. I am sure they made a big impact to the Brooklyn students listening.

Once again, the young students learned to do good while also practicing project planning, time management, communication, public speaking, team work, and engagement. These are persistent skills that will give back over their lifetime. The one phrase that I highlighted in my notes was spoken by a student at ITAVA aka It Takes A Village Academy (what a cool name for a school!) “Every one can make a difference” she said.

Possibility

When a young person feels that s/he/they can have an impact and make change, then our entire humanity finds hope. This is the reason I get excited when I read posts like this, and participate in such events.

I notice the noticing. It echoes a key message in edition E37: Niche - One of a handful. Teens who paid attention, saw a problem and set towards solving it. Go team GenZ!

Suddenly, the world seems a brighter place.

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Meet a member: David Dvorkin, Hire Cause

© Photos David Dvorkin

“I worked at the Grammy’s.” What an enticing opening line! So how did David become inspired to create Hire Cause?

“When I managed the Internship program at the Grammy’s I noticed that many students arrived with an education but lacked confidence and some essential workplace skills such as project management, decision making, negotiation and public speaking.”

David’s interest in getting students job-ready started early - he was inspired by his mother who is an educator. Hire Cause gives students the opportunity to develop professional skills during a short 5-week experential learning program. Each chapter first selects the community charity they will support, then creates and executes their plan for doing so. And in the final reveal, they present their story, success and learnings to a panel of judges.

The students learn a whole host of skills - project and time management, public speaking, goal setting, (and my favourite) how to deal with the unscripted and unexpected. These special projects give them so much more material to use in their college essays and job interviews.

And the charity benefits from increased awareness, supplies, funding and engagement with a new generation of volunteers.

Win-win-win.

Inspired to support this effort?

Are you in education? A teacher, superintendent or coach?

• Hire Cause pairs your students with a local community charity, and in turn the charity benefits from the increased awareness and fundraising.

If you are linked with a corporation, can you fund a scholarship?

• Are you linked with the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) goals at your organization? Are you looking for a way to invest in your next generation of employee and consumer? How about supporting a scholarship at Hire Cause? Can you provide internship opportunities?

We all feel a collective pride when we see young people like Wyatt and these students creating a new community-conscious generation.

I’m proud of Tilt members like David. He, too, found a problem, fixed a problem. What a great role model! Hire Cause was just recognized by the prestigious Milken-PENN GSE competition as one of 28 organizations across the globe for its innovation in education. 

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) that speak loudest to David are:

Find out more about David Dvorkin on LinkedIn, and his organization Hire Cause. Do reach out to him if you can support this very worthwhile cause in any way. … And particularly if it inspires you to do something equivalent - because “Every one can make a difference.”

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Congratulations, Tilters! We are a community of people doing our bit to make the world better, one action, one decision, one difference at a time.

I continue to enjoy spending time with my family in London. For those asking, my mother seems to have perked up a lot! Thank you for caring. Are you in Europe? I am London-based until the end of July, with side trips planned to Scotland and Amsterdam. Send me an email if there is a possibility of meeting IRL.

Something I have learned in London is the art of a simple salad dressing, made by my sister. I don’t know how she does it, but olive oil, salt and pepper never tasted this good! Must be the extra helping of love she throws in (remembering Simone’s special salad edition).

Karena

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Please feel free to share these feel-good moments forward.

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