DreamNow's Blog

Fellowship and Job: Atlas Corp

Atlas Corps

Deadline: April 15th 2010

The Deal: The Atlas Corps has opened up new fellowship positions and is hiring entry level stuff for their DC office. Applicants who are Arabic speakers, Muslim, or sub-Saharan with IT skills and human rights experience are preferred. Atlas Corps facilitates international cooperation at the citizen level. Check out the video on their site to learn more and apply.

Apply Here

WorldChanging.com Reviews E-Book

In an article entitled Finding your Green Job, World Changing author Mark Tovey provided a full review of DreamNow's Make Money/Change the World e-book.  Check out the full article and worldchanging.com here. 

Below are some excerpts: 

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Finding your Green Job

MARK TOVEY
MAY 27, 2009 6:24 AM

How do you you make money and change the world? That was the question that the folks at DreamNow asked themselves, and it resulted in a book. Occupation: Change the World addresses a conundrum that many people, especially people in their twenties and thirties, face. They want a job that engages their values, but they also want to be able to support themselves, ideally in way that they don't have friends and family constantly asking: "So when are you going to get a real job?"

It seems easy enough to move from volunteer work to low-paying work for non-profits. But for those who hope to raise a family, or simply want to have enough resources to pursue other world changing passions, this is a live issue.

..........

Occupation: Change the World is freely downloadable (licenced CC by-nc-nd), so you can read it yourself. It's a quick flip, well-designed for on-screen reading, and you can probably easily make it through the book in half an hour. At seventy pages, it can only scratch the surface of a deep and complicated subject, however it has plenty of pointers to further reading, and offers some provocative take-aways.

Read the Full Article Here

Job: Social Innovation Generation, Communications Coordinator

Social Innovation Generation (SIG)

Deadline: April 29th 2009

The Deal:  SIG is a partnership between MaRs, The McConnell Foundation, The University of Waterloo and PLAN BC which has the purpose of building, scaling and researching social innovation growth in Canada. The position would be working under their Executive Director, Tim Draiman and with the team at MaRs in Toronto. This is a position with an organization that is a central hub of social entrepreneurship in Canada and an amazing opportunity. 

+DreamNow: DreamNow has worked on and off with MaRs over the past three years on our Occupation: Change the World project, and on some strategic thinking around our Continuum program. Tim is a member of our advisory board and we can vouch that he would be a great person to work for. 

Apply Here

CBC News Covers DreamNow

In an article entitled ‘Don’t worry Canada, we will be there’, the CBC mentioned DreamNow and our Occupation: Change the World project as an example of an organization that is making a difference in the life of Gen Y’ers.
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“This is a generation after all that has been "raised on volunteer trips abroad, climate change on TV and everything 'save the world,' " says Dev Aujla, 24, who would know.

Aujla is one of those dynamic young leaders, the founder of DreamNow, an organization that seeks to find ways for young people to make money and change the world at the same time.” ...

"I think because society judges engagement in policy debate either through the political process or benevolence, much of the work twenty-somethings are doing goes under the radar," argues Aujla. And he's absolutely right.

The reality is today's youth have a heightened understanding of the interconnectivity of the problems we face and are attempting to find small, digestible chunks that we can relate to and work with to bring about change.

Read the full article here

Job: Justmeans, New York + London

Justmeans

The Deal: Justmeans is one of the great places to search for a job that ‘makes money and change the world’. They are hiring for a bunch of positions from a European Business Development Director to people for their Editorial Advisory Board. Positions are in New York + London.

+DreamNow:  Just to illustrate how all of this ties together, the founder of Justmeans was the same person that founded StartingBloc, who we mentioned before. We were fellows of the StartingBloc program close to the beginning and got to know Martin and the kinds of companies that he starts back then. The work they have been doing at both Justmeans and StartingBloc has had a real influence on our work with Occupation: Change the World.

Apply Here

Job: StartingBloc, Executive Director

StartingBloc
Deadline: Rolling

The Deal: StaringBloc runs a fellowship program for university students that are interested in Social Entrepreneurship. It is an amazing network and an organization that is well connected to most major players in the social entrepreneurship world. Based out of New York, they are looking for a new Executive Director.  It is a small organization of two staff but has hundreds of fellows each year.

+DreamNow:  DreamNow attended the 2004 fellowship program in NYC. The networks that we built have formed the foundation for the Occupation: Change the World program in addition to introducing us to a number of people that we continue to work with today. If you want more information on the organization feel free to send us a message.

Apply Here

Job: Change.org Managing Editor

Change.org

The Deal: Change.org is a blog network for social issues which had over one million visitors in its first six months.  You don’t have to be in one particular location as their staff are currently all spread across the States and the salary is equal to experience. If you are into new media, social networking and social change then check it out.

+ DreamNow: Our friend Nathaniel Whittemore blogs about Social Enterprise over there and has had good things to say about the organization. Check out his blog it is definitely worth a read if you want to follow all of the latest in the social enterprise space around the world.

More Information

Funding: Gordon Global Fellowship

Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation

Deadline: April 15^th, 2009

The Deal:  If you are between 24-35 years old and are a Canadian working to improve Canada’s role on the world stage then you should apply.  The fellowship includes an amazing network of past fellows as well as a cash award of $20,000.  All you need is international experience (paid or volunteer) and a great idea.

+ DreamNow :  We can vouch for the caliber of the fellowship network. The WDG Foundation funded our Occupation: Change the World project and as a result we have had the chance to meet many great fellows through the foundation. It is definitely worth the application.

Apply Here

A Parable Dealing with Parents + Grad School

You are living in 2009. It is clear you want to get to Montreal and right now, today you are sitting in Toronto.  Your parents see only one way for you to get to Montreal – by horse. They are putting pressure on you to get on the horse to go. You are shown where the stables are and you have spent 20 years of your life learning how to ride a horse. As a result of both parent pressure and your familiarity with the stables you eventually visit them only to realize the horses have died.

All of a sudden you are released of the pressure to take a horse to Montreal.  Both your parents and you have heard of airplanes, trains and cars as methods to get to Montreal but your parents are unable to visualize what taking one of these methods of transport looks like.

You can’t ask your parents. They are scared. They don’t know where the airport is, how to get on a plane, or even what you use to power a car.  All they know is that they want you to be in Montreal, a place with stability, health insurance, financial well being and happiness.

Although you don’t know where the airport is either, all of a sudden as a result of the horses death you commit yourself to finding the answers, to learning how to take a plane, to getting on and jetting to Montreal.  Sure you have uncertainty about this new path—you haven’t spent 20 years learning how to take a plane.  That is normal but this is exciting.

You leave home and set off down a road which you have heard leads to the airport.

Congratulations.