Community IT Innovators. Established 1993. Serving social mission organizations with integrated technology services you can trust.

Adoption USA: A Chartbook Based on the 2007 National Survey of Adoptive Parents. And here’s coverage in NPR’s health blog of the Chartbook.

CITI is proud to have helped push some great climate initiatives forward this week. While 1sky and Earth Track are both awesome initiatives, I’ll lead with the one where you can win fabulous prizes –

1sky’s 1climate 1tweet contest is looking for your sweetest tweet on climate change to help fuel the fight for the the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act of 2009. The best tweet will adorn a 1sky t-shirt, and five finalists (including the most retweeted entries) will win prizes.

Look to EarthTrack.net for information on government subsidies for climate changing energy projects. It may seem a little wonky, but the roots of climate change are fertilized with pork. Admitting we have a problem is the first, crucial step towards change. All you have to win at this site is the planet you love.

I am so happy to be partnering with organizations doing this work, and proud of my colleagues here who’ve helped them realize their visions.

Each year on October 15th, Blog Action Day brings together the world’s bloggers to spread awareness on a single subject in a united social action. This year’s topic is Climate Change.  As a sustainable company, we’ve posted frequently on being green and green IT practices, covering ways to reduce your carbon footprint as an organization, with particular focus on improving your computer network’s efficiency.

Our CEO David Deal will be on a panel on an upcoming Green Success! event October 22nd, joining several other local businesses and organizations to discuss operating sustainably and green trends.

Some highlights from the Climate Change-focused blogosphere today:

• CITI client 1 Sky focuses on addressing climate change everyday.  You can check out their blog The Skywriter for news and information on climate change science and policy.  Just a few of their posts from Blog Action Day include the impact small businesses can have on the climate change issue, the Global Security Challenge of Climate Change and the Organizing Power of a Slogan.  To crowdsource a concise, powerful message supporting strong climate legislation, 1Sky has recently launched a Twitter campaign #1Climate, working with CITI to create a twitter tracker.  The best climate slogan will be chosen by popularity as measured by “retweets” (or RT’s).

• CITI client Sojourners, who focuses on “articulating the biblical call to social justice,” blogs about the Theology of Ecology and the need to pay attention to climate change.

• Social media and nonprofit blogger Amy Sample Ward discusses the importance of knowing your audience. If you really know them, you can find a way they can connect with any issue or event, even one that might seem peripheral to your main focus.

• Beth Kanter wishes everyone a Happy Blog Action Day 09 from her nonprofit social media blog.

• If you use an iPhone, you may be interested in TUAW’s (”The Unofficial Apple Weblog”) post on five iPhone apps to save the world.

Congratulations to Danielle Brian, Executive Director of the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) for being honored with the prestigious Smith College Medal for her work on investigations that have led to major reforms and cuts in wasteful government spending.  Danielle also appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC earlier this month discussing misconduct among government security contractors in Kabul, Afghanistan that has recently come to light. (Video link, contains images of a somewhat graphic nature)

POGO is an independent, nonpartisan organization working to expose “corruption and other misconduct in order to achieve a more effective, accountable, open, and ethical federal government.”  You can follow the POGO blog, Twitter feed, or fan their Facebook page to stay in the loop on their investigations.  CITI has been working with POGO since 2001, providing periodic database support and ongoing network infrastructure support.

A Washington Post article, From Pulpit to Policy, Souls to Stomachs, profiled Bread for the World founder Rev. Arthur Simon last week.  From the article by Greg Gaudio:

It was the early 1960s. Simon was a young man, but he knew something had to be done beyond dispensing food — something that attacked hunger at the roots and attempted to prevent it. Eventually, he created Bread for the World, which has grown into the country’s foremost citizens lobby on the issue. Its 61,000 members and their annual letter-writing campaign have helped to generate billions for the cause at home and abroad.

In his new book, “The Rising of Bread for the World: An Outcry of Citizens Against Hunger,” Simon, 79, who lives in Bowie, reflects on his life’s work.

The full article offers a closer look at Simon’s life and what he and his organization have done to combat hunger.  CITI is honored to have been providing technical support and planning to Bread since 1997, and over the past few years has provided Bread with a full-time support person for day-to-day support as well as engineer expertise for network planning and projects.  CITI is also conducting an in-depth data and process assessment for Bread for the World to help them maximize the value of their data.

CITI is pleased to announce the recent launch of the new StreetSense.org website.  Popular local blog DCist featured the site launch on their website.  As many Washingtonians know, Street Sense is DC’s own street newspaper, providing opportunities for homeless vendors to earn money and share their stories and raising “public awareness on the issues of homelessness and poverty in the city.”

Street Sense partnered with CITI to design and develop a new website, built using Wordpress, that incorporates features such as an RSS feed, blog, easily-updated content, greater interactivity, homelessness news from around the web, and links to the Street Sense Twitter and Facebook accounts.  The project work was done at a steep discount, offering a small community organization the chance to affordably implement a new website and better combat and raise awareness of homelessness.  Check out the DCist post and the new Street Sense site!

Community IT Innovators will be donating 10 hours of strategy consulting to PowerMundo, the winning team in the William James Foundation’s Socially Responsible Business Plan competition. On Friday, March 20, the William James Foundation hosted a finalist competition and awards ceremony, where the top three finalists competed. The final three teams each selected from a pool of prizes in order of finish.  We are happy to be one of the top choices of the top finisher, and one of more than 20 socially responsible businesses helping the foundation grow the next generation of social entrepreneurs.  We are excited to work with PowerMundo to provide technology and online strategy consulting to help them reach more communities.

PowerMundo grabbed the crowd’s attention and impressed the judges with their business plan to market and distribute affordable, sustainable gadgets to bring solar-powered light, radio communications, and other modern conveniences to poor communities in Peru, with the products distributed and sold by members of the communities they serve.  The business will make available clean technologies to replace kerosene lamps and indoor cooking fires, improving the quality of life for people in developing areas and reducing pollution. They will work with micro-finance institutions to create economic opportunities for individuals interested in selling the goods. Michael Callahan, principal, did a great job of telling their story, personalizing their business idea with the story of Maria, a vendor in a community in Peru where they tested their business plan, and showing a variety of the solar-powered lights and other tools that they make available.

Two other finalists, Black Oak Venture Capitalists, who plan to conserve agricultural land as a financial investment opportunity, and First Earth, who plan to support indigenous communities and sustainable agriculture, presented their plans as well. Seeing the finalists, panel discussions on social entrepreneurship, and talking with other socially responsible business leaders made for an inspiring and enjoyable occasion.

As the country excitedly prepares for a three-day weekend commemorating Abraham Lincoln’s birthday (and that of George Washington), some science and nature enthusiasts are commemorating the birthday of Charles Darwin. (Both Lincoln and Darwin were born on February 12, 1809.) While Darwin may be a controversial figure due to his theory of evolution and the modern political and religious conflict surrounding it, Darwin did leave us with one legacy that many people can agree on: knowledge of the great natural treasure the Galapagos Islands, a volcanic archipelago teeming with extraordinary and rare wildlife.

CITI client the Galapagos Conservancy works to support on-the-ground research and management, strengthen local institutions and “create local capacity to ensure long-term protection of the archipelago.” A recent article from the Canadian Broadcasting Company highlights the threats the increasingly popular tourist destination is facing, including increasing tourism, and some statistics from the Conservancy.  Excerpt from the article:

“More than 173,000 visited in 2008, up from just 40,000 in 1990, according to the Galapagos Conservancy, a group based in Fairfax, Va., that is trying to restore and protect the islands.  As the number of tourists has grown, so has the number of people who live on the islands providing goods and services to support the tourism industry. The population is now at 30,000, said Johannah Barry, president of the Galapagos Conservancy.”

Invasive animals and plants and resource exploitation that go along with the tourism industry are threating the islands’ antive populations, but the Galapagos Conservancy is working closely with Ecuadorian government leaders, who have committed to protecting the Galapagos.

Galapagos Islands, by Micah Dubinsky, from article referenced

This recent post on the DCist blog, a great blog for local DC news and infotainment, offers an up-close look at long-time CITI client, the Patricia M. Sitar Center for the Arts. The Sitar Center offers very low-cost art classes to youth in the community, providing a safe place for youth to learn and spend time in the Adams Morgan/Mt. Pleasant/Columbia Heights neighborhood, which “has seen an increase in youth violence in recent months.”

The blog post also mentions that, like many social mission organizations seeking to increase awareness and their base of support, the Center is increasingly using facebook and other social networking sites.  CITI provides network infrastructure support to the Sitar Center.

Our ever-innovative friends at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network are gathering valentines for clean energy at iheartcleanenergy.org. Add your photo and love note to help them meet their goal for Valentine’s Day! Here’s mine.