Nonprofit Focus: Civic Education Project

This is the third in a series of 12 posts, each highlighting a nonprofit organization that I care about and want to raise awareness of and money for. The first can be found here, and the second here. Enjoy!

Way back when (I can say that now that I'm approaching 30, right?) in my junior year of high school, a teacher randomly grabbed my arm as I was walking through the hallway on my way to lunch and told me to come check out a presentation from group at Northwestern University that was talking about doing a service-learning spring break trip to Washington D.C. focused on hunger and homelessness. I ended up signing up and having one of the most awesome learning experiences of all of my high school years - I learned about myself, living in community, asset-based community development, government, and some of the awesome nonprofits working to end hunger and homelessness in the D.C. area. And that's what the Civic Education Project (CEP) at Northwestern University has done for over 2000 students in the past 15 years - they provide immersive experiences designed to engage students in civic involvement and service learning, and to prepare the next generation of leaders in social justice work.

That's me on the bottom right, rockin' the
backwards Nike hat. :)

I became a bit of a CEP junkie, one might say. I loved traveling to new places, I loved learning about different issues, and most of all I loved the deep relationships/friendships that form when you are with people 24 hours a day doing intense volunteering and learning. I went on five more CEP week-long trips: to Kentucky to study rural poverty, to Boston, MA to study the support available for people living with HIV/AIDS, to Cincinnati, OH to study race relations, to Detroit, MI to study violence and crime among youth, and to Tahlequah, OK to study Native American issues. It was the Tahlequah trip that truly changed my life, because on that trip I met my husband Savva! On the last night of the trip, at ages 16 and 15, Savva and I snuck away from the group to sit under a tree and actually take that scary first step of saying "I like you." And the rest is history! Less than one week from today, on April 2nd, Savva and I will celebrate the 13th anniversary of that evening. :) :) :)

This photo was taken less than 3 hours after we first met!
Clearly, we were made for each other. And for donuts. 

So here's why you should donate to the Civic Education Project: while not everyone will find their life's love on a CEP trip, they most certainly will have a passion ignited in their soul for social justice. High school students, on the brink of becoming adults, will learn new things about our society, about themselves, and about how to effectively work for positive social change. CEP's programs aren't cheap; for a week, the cost is just over $1,000. Totally worth it, but outside the reach of many families, which is why they aim to provide scholarship funds to families who qualify. Your donation will go straight to their scholarship fund!

You can give at http://www.ctd.northwestern.edu/cep/support/, or mail a check to
Civic Education Project, Center for Talent Development, 617 Dartmouth Place, Evanston IL 60208. If you do, please let me know via email so I can include the amount in my fundraising total!