Inspired by Micro-Financing

DSVP hosted and Inspirational Evening with Lucy Billingsley to learn about the inspiration behind her decision to get deeply involved in this work through the establishment of The Chiapas Project. Our moderator, Dodee Frost Crockett, a Barron’s list “Top 100 Women Financial Advisers” and DSVP 2005 Chairwoman of the Board, engaged our guest in a informative and rich dialogue about this fascinating movement that is alleviating poverty around the globe.

Photo: Dodee Frost Crockett, Lucy Billingsley, Karen Akin - Current Board Chair

We invite you to listen to the podcast of this Inspiring Conversation.

LISTEN NOW (or download).

Intro:

In 2003, Lucy Billingsley, a real estate legend in Dallas, Texas, heard Alex Counts, the CEO of the Grameen Foundation USA, speak about the power of micro-credit around the world. True to form, Lucy began to study the concept of microfinance and realized it was a viable and proven business solution to poverty. She recruited 30 women to travel to Chiapas, Mexico’s poorest state, to see it at work. When they returned, they formed the Chiapas Project. They personally pledged and raised $780,000 to fund the expansion of that microfinance institution. Lucy now serves on the board of the Grameen Foundation USA.

Integrating web 2.0 technology in DSVP

At DSVP, we are exploring social media to amplify our message, organize our work, and help share our knowlege building efforts. We are trying a variety of platforms to see what resonates with our Partnership. This is a beginning, so please let us know if we are missing an opportunity to get connected and promote our work together!

Social Networks:

• “My-Sites” on the SVPI Intranet – this will be an excellent way for our Partners to gain a national view of the SVP movement and share and learn best practices and resources from other SVP’s. We are planning to host a webinar targeting DSVP partners in the early winter to walk through the different features on the Portal.
  
• Linked-in – http://www.linkedin.com/ This is a natural place to promote Partners at the local level to connect professionally. We will begin exploring how to best promote events to extend to our Partners’ professional network.
  
• Face-Book- Face Book is used more personal network and often connects friends and family members. However, it is a great tool for promoting events and even products. There is an “SVP Group” that partners can join, http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19444359000
  
• Twitter – Have you heard of Twitter.com yet? This is actually a lot like water cooler talk - in an industry or within a social network. You sign up on and start “following” people. Others will “follow” you (if you have something interesting to say). For example, I "follow" others to receive links to research, articles, resources on philanthropy, social innovation/change, etc. Others "follow" me (SCALDWELL) to read my micro-blog on the work of DSVP and my other (volunteer) community work. Life streaming does creep in, especially when one of my kids says something cute. If you want to see what I’m talking about, you can find me on their site http://www.twitter.com/ as: SCALDWELL

Rich Media:

• BLOG- As you may know, DSVP launched our Blog last week and can be found at http://dogoodbetter.blogspot.com/. This is a tool that we plan to use much like a newsletter, but more interactive. We think it is an ideal tool to help go deeper in our conversations about the work and educational opportunities.
  
• VLOG – Video Blogging – you can see an example of this on our BLOG. It is a video invite to the Early Childhood Affinity Group. You can also find it on the “DSVPORG” Channel on http://www.youtube.com/ Partners can subscribe to either our “youtube channel” or our Blog to receive updates.
  
• Micro-Blogging – currently, I’m micro-blogging via http://www.twitter.com/ as: SCALDWELL
  PodCasts – These are Audio files of interviews and presentations that can be listened too from the web or downloaded onto an MP3 player. Our new website will provide a home for these files and will be a source of inspiration and education to new and seasoned partners.
  
• Widgets – we will have several new widgets on our new website that allow people to subscribe to our blogs, bookmark our site (on http://del.icio.us; digg.com; etc.).
  
• PayPal- we are establishing a PayPal account so we can begin selling our Little Green Books over the web to other SVP Partners.
  

Early Childhood Learning and Development - Affinity Group

DSVP will explore the concept of an Affiinty Group that will focus on Early Childhood Learning and Development. This first meeting is intended for DSVP Partners and Investees only.
Friday, September 19th, 11:30am-12:30pm.
Limited Seating, RSVP required!!
214-855-5520 x300.

View Video Invite!

Resources:

LISTEN! PODCAST on:
Investing in Early Childhood Education: How you can make a difference
Keynote Presentation: 2008 Early Education Summit
Featuring David L. Kirp, Professor at Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California at Berkley and author of:
The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics .
Moderated by Krys Boyd, KERA.

Follow this Link to Listen now!
http://www.dfwvideo.com/webdisk/DSVPchildcaregroup.mp3

“Parenting and Childhood Development” - Research Brief by Kronkosky Charitable Foundation

The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis - Early Childhood Development Resource Listings

What's Up

This blog has been created to advance educational opportunities for DSVP partners and the North Texas community on children's issues and innovations in philanthropy.