Grow your Capacity: Earth Day, Free Tools and Apps, Volunteer Engagement and More

Central to the work of the Anacostia Park and Community Collaborative is building the capacity of members and the community so that together, APACC and communities in the Anacostia River corridor can advance a shared community-driven agenda to improve the quality of live in Wards 7 and 8 and protects and restores natural resources. APACC posts resources and articles which can help you build your personal or organizational capacity. Check out this week's list!

Local Events

Volunteer on April 21 with Anacostia Watershed Society and Many Others to Celebrate Earth Day

The Anacostia Watershed Society is hosting its largest volunteer event of the year and you are invited to pitch in in cleaning the watershed! Learn more and register: http://anacostiaws.org/earthday2018

If cleaning up parks and streams isn't your thing, Dreaming Out Loud and partners City Blossoms and Beet Street Gardens are leading the community volunteer day to build the youth garden area at the Farm at Kelly Miller (301 49th St, NE, behind Kelly Miller Middle School). It will be a day of fun for friends and family in the community and sponsored by National Geographic Society. Healthy salads provided by sweetgreen. Register and learn more: 

The Smithsonian National Zoo is celebrating Earth Optimisim Day on Saturday, April 21 from 10a.m. to 2p.m. The Zoo will celebrate conservation stories since to honor Earth Day. The event will feature family activities, hands-on learning and interactive demonstrations.

DC Affairs Community of the DC Bar’s “Meet the Press” Program, Thursday, May 3:

6:00-8:30 pm at DC Bar Headquarters (901 4th St, NW). In addition to the panel discussion, the event will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the event. For more information is available from Sally Kram (202-841-4226) or Ann Wilcox (202-441-3265).

Boot Camp for Nonprofit Directors, Saturday, April 28

Sponsored by the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center and the Center for Nonprofit Advancement, the event is *perfect* for new board members. This one-day course is designed for individuals who have recently joined a nonprofit Board, and existing Board members who wish to enhance their skills as directors. Among other topics, the course will cover: the Board's role in the governance of a nonprofit,  organization, the Board's role in ensuring that the organization has sufficient funds to carry out its mission , and evaluating and compensating the CEO. There is a modest fee to participate. Learn more and register.

EZ Street now on WHUR

DCRTV recently reported the news. “DC radio veteran  joins Howard University's adult urban contemporary WHUR, 96.3. Doing Saturdays noon to 4 PM.” His first show was April 14. Follow EZ Street on Twitter: @ezstreet.

Tools and Resources

  • Thread reader is a tool to use when you want to present Twitter threads in an easy-to-read narrative. It strips out all the distracting bits like date, time, handle, etc. 
  • Looking for an online photo editor? Try LunaPic. In the LunaPix toolbox: filters, adjustments, rejiggering in a user-selected art style, and much more. Maybe best of all: It's easy to use. And it's free.
  • Head over to 82 Free or Low-Cost Online Tools & Mobile Apps for Nonprofits for a terrific selection of tools. Some have been shared here before but most not. In the not but you should definitely check out category:
    • Squared :: squared.one Squared is a service that enables Instagrammers to print their favorite Instagram photos or convert them into magnets and posters. Ideal for staff and volunteer appreciation.
    • Noisli :: noisli.com Noisli is a background noise and color generator that can help you focus while working and brings to you the healthy benefits of the chromotherapy.
    • IFTTT :: ifttt.com IFTTT is a free applet creation service based ont he the premise of if this happens, then do this. You can user applets created by others or create your own for sites such as Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.
  • The Magazine Rack. Enter "The Magazine Rack," the Internet Archive's Collection of 34,000 Digitized Magazines says it best: "Before we kept up with culture through the internet, we kept up with culture through magazines."

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Good reads

Measuring Social Capital. Two decades ago, in his book “Bowling Alone,” Robert Putnam popularized the idea of social capital, the notion that widely shared norms of reciprocity and networks of loose ties underpin equity and economic success. The term has been easier to describe than to measure. A new report from the office of US Senator Mike Lee of Utah presents a set of state and county indicators intended to measure variations in regional social capital. The state measures are based on a rich array of survey data, mostly from the US census that looks at everything from family structure (single-parent households) and children’s television watching habits, to rates of voting and volunteering and the numbers of non-profit organizations in a community. Similar to Putnam’s original results, this index shows the strongest social capital in the center of the country, in a belt running from Wisconsin to Utah.

Building Capacity, Capacity BuildingAnacostia Park and Community Collaborative