GlobalCommit - A program of LAHAF, Inc.

GlobalCommit

GlobalCommit is a series of public benefit projects focused on connecting committed global citizens to causes and solutions they care about.

CONFLICT MONITORING & RESOLUTION

• CoexistSTANCE - https://www.facebook.com/groups/CoexistSTANCE

CIVICS & CITIZENSHIP

• Civility Movement -https://www.facebook.com/groups/CivilityMovement/

URBAN REDEVELOPMENT

• Neponsit Home Redevelopment - https://www.facebook.com/groups/NeponsitHomeRedevelopment/

AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

• Feeding Liberia (FELA) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1495965897330291/

DISASTER RESPONSE

• Philippines Typhoon Aid - https://www.facebook.com/groups/PhilippinesTyphoonAid/

• Rockaways - Hurricane Sandy News - https://www.facebook.com/groups/RockawaysHurricaneSandy/

GlobalCommit is a program of LAHAF, Inc., an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit based in New York City. 

—=•=—

1. Feeding Liberia (FELA) - Formed to help Liberia grow its own food. This program is to help stop the chronic undernourishment in the country and alleviate dependence on foreign food imports. The first step is to create a 50-acre working farm in rural Liberia. This farm will be a source of good, locally-grown food for the people of the village where it is created. Surplus can be sold at market to help develop local economies around food production. It will also serve a model implementation for the creation of other farms across Liberia.

2. CoexistSTANCE - a group standing for, calling for, and working for tolerance, peace and mutual understanding around the world. Created in the wake of an ongoing series of violent attacks around the world. It is opposed to extremism, especially religious, racial and nationalist movements who breed violence, intolerance and incivility. It is a citizen-led, individually-driven, crowdsourced and contributory project to work to create opportunities for peace, reconciliation, mutual understanding, all in the hopes of reducing or ending violent extremism in the world, wherever it occurs, either domestically and internationally.

3. Civility Movement - an effort to promote pro-social, civic-minded behavior and to minimize and ameliorate anti-social behavior. The civility movement stands for a united, peaceful and progressive society. We stand against criminal violence, gangs and gang violence, domestic violence and abuse, bullying, workplace violence and discrimination within society. Focused on fostering domestic civility within the United States.

4. Neponsit Home Redevelopment - a project to help foster civic dialogue around the restoration and redevelopment for the former site of the Neponsit Hospital in Rockaway Beach, New York. The site is presently owned by the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC). The project will help envision the best use of the site, and encourage civic participation and input in the redevelopment process.

5. Rockaways - Hurricane Sandy News - A Social Media Emergency Management (SMEM) group formed in response to the 2012 Hurricane Sandy disaster (also known as “Superstorm Sandy”). More than two years after the storm, the Rockaways community still is facing long-term recovery needs. This social media project is presently focused on keeping the community informed of programs and issues relevant to disaster recovery, such as major disaster recovery financing, changes to flood insurance programs, opportunities for employment, and specific needs of individual families, businesses and homeowners.

6. Philippines Typhoon Aid - A Social Media Emergency Management (SMEM) group formed at first in response to Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan in 2013, and then reactivated in the face of Typhoon Ruby/Hagupit in 2014. Supports the Philippines during time of natural disaster, specifically tropical cyclones. Work with on-the-ground agencies and other online communities-of-interest and need. Help aggregate and share information, highlight activities and needs, and provide a common forum and medium for communications.

—=•=—

Get Committed

GlobalCommit is now happening. It is the equivalent of a "non-profit incubator," with a focus on "triage" for the world's problems, big and small. The implicit challenge for everyone is to find a cause that you care about around the global, and then commit to it.

Don't just be aware.
Don't just be interested.
Don't just be influenced.
Don't just be involved.

Get committed.

That means taking the full plunge. All the way in! And no checking your watch, saying "Look at the time. Gotta run. Thanks! It's been fun." Nuh-uh. We're in it for the long haul.

We need stick-to-it-iveness. We need gumption. We need people willing to roll up their sleeves and to get stuff done. Now. Not tomorrow. NOW.

The world needs the help of countless committed individuals to make even part of these visions to come true.


By the grace of Jen Q. Adams, the Executive Director of LAHAF, Inc., now all of these projects have now found a home. I want to personally thank her for entering into a fiscal sponsorship agreement with me to help give a legal basis for all of these projects. Such IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) status will allow us to raise the funds necessary to flourish.

—=•=—

More Than Just "Global Understanding"

Doing advocacy, crisis management and conflict monitoring are not new issues for me, and, if anything, I feel remiss that creating Global Commit had not happened sooner.
Back in 2008-2009, people might remember how I had attempted to begin the Global Understanding Institute (http://globalunderstandinginstitute.blogspot.com/). For various reasons, at the time it did not go far, and never incorporated. Yet much of GlobalCommit is based upon that framework.

Yet rather than just "understanding" what the problems are — now's the time to commit to fixing what's broken, repairing what needs to be mended, and removing that which is standing in our way.

Even earlier, in 2006-2008, I had done research into the Balkans crisis of the 1990s (http://razumijen.blogspot.com/).

I have also been a passionate Wikipedian, working on a lot of various conflict-oriented pages and those related to violent extremism, especially the conflict in Somalia c. 2006-2008 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Petercorless#Africa).

All of this goes back to the military conflict simulation games I played, designed and developed going back to my childhood days. Yet rather than design "war" games, what we need now are more "peacemaking" games. Simulations, data models, and even roleplaying games that might help us resolve conflicts, and bring us to a new higher-basis of civility and social well-being.

As well, in the long run, there will need to be a clear commitment beyond just research and remote work, to partner with "boots-on-the-ground" individuals and groups. It is one thing to talk about resolving some of the world's largest problems. It is an entirely different thing — a humbling experience, really — to stand amidst a problem so much larger than any one of us, and consider how to tackle it.

That scale of magnitude is what I felt most from my on-the-ground trip to the Balkans, long after the conflict there had passed, mind you, and what I learned from doing hurricane disaster recovery in the wake of Sandy. Scope and scale will be key challenges going forward.

—=•=—

Where's Ebola?

Though I've been doing a lot of work with the Ebola public health emergency in West Africa, those projects are not on the list of GlobalCommit. For now, since I am only one member of a group of folks doing such work, I felt it was unfair to unilaterally drag my colleagues into GlobalCommit without long and serious discussions. I continue to work on Ebola, and have been in touch with Rebecca Williams of Disaster Info Team. She is very proud and pleased of what I am doing, but for now, again, my Ebola initiatives remain apart from the current list of projects for GlobalCommit.

—=•=—

How You Can Help

Wanted: Volunteers

• Pick a project! (Rules for submitting your own will be shared in the future.)
• Are you dedicated to the principles of the group? (ex: disaster response, communal advocacy, civility and peaceful coexistence)
• Do you know, or would you like to learn Social Media Management?
• Are you level-headed and fair minded?
• Do you like to settle disputes?
• Do you like to share vital information with communities of interest?
• Do you enjoy recruiting others to causes that can make a difference?
• Want to write essays and conversation-starters regarding critical issues of community interest?
• Do you have skills at mapping?
• Do you have graphic arts skills?
• Do you have web content management skills (wikis, WordPress, etc.)?
• Can you hack code?
• Do you work well with others?

All of the projects of GlobalCommit are currently accepting applications from people who would like to be admins, contributors and team members.

There is no need to travel to any community, conflict zone or crisis location, though, if someone is from an affected project area, you are certainly welcome to join to bring your perspective and to advocate on behalf of your community. All general work for GlobalCommit can be performed from the relative safety of wherever you are living.

Contact

Peter Corless
Founder, GlobalCommit

• Email: petercorless@mac.com
• Phone: 650-906-3134
• Twitter: @PeterCorless