The Passionista Playbook is a life improvement blog and the best way to improve your own life is to give back to others. After all, humans are by nature communal creatures, right? When it comes to people doing good things in your community, if you see something say something! This is the true “good life.” This is real passion. Let’s talk gratitude and local non-random acts of goodness…
Seen any good, lately?
Every Thursday night I co-host #ThankfulThursday on Twitter from 10-10:30pm (@abiolatv) with #Divinity25. We share everything that we feel grateful for and encourage others to do the same using the hashtag #IAGrateful. At the end of the half hour of this simple stream of tweets there’s no way not to feel full, inspired, high on life and joyous at the wonder of it all. It may sound corny but finding joy in life really comes down to whether we focus on the good or the bad. That focus is YOUR choice at any moment to make.
The good folks at Allstate, with that YES energy in mind, invited me to participate in their #GiveItUpForGood Campaign.
My mission? To uncover acts of goodness and positivity in my African American community. As a born and bred New Yorker, I have the great fortune of a community that spans 5 beautiful boroughs. I kicked off my #GiveItUpForGood mission by sharing images on my Instagram page with that affirmation-style hashtag.
Guess what? Tweeting and Instagraming #GiveItUpForGood was as inspiring as my weekly #ThankfulThursday #gratitude tweet up! The point is that bad gets enough coverage. Let’s find the good and give it some love.
How you can participate:
Visit the special Allstate website, follow @giveitupforgood on Twitter and tweet acts of goodness and greatness using the hashtag #GiveItUpForGood!
About my local community: Former NYC Mayor David Dinkins once called the five boroughs of Gotham “a beautiful mosaic.” As a native New Yorker, I can vouch for this truth. Below I reveal acts of goodness in four of the five: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.
In one day in my city you can interact with people of every race, creed, color, nationality, orientation, belief system and religion. As the African American daughter of Guyanese immigrants, this is very important to me. I grew up knowing that even black folks like me didn’t only come in one flavor. African Americans may be predominantly descended from West Africans but we can have recent direct roots one generation back anywhere from Virginia, Georgia, South Africa, East Africa, Trinidad, Jamaica, Haiti, Antigua, Colombia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, the UK, or France and anywhere in between.
Here are 7 Acts of Goodness in My NYC Community:
1. Let’s give it up for the Harlem Center for Healthy Living.
For the past few years, Vivian W. Kurutz has been an angel in Southern Harlem. Operating from New Song’s Harlem Center for Healthy Living she has empowered and educated the community in all matters of health, fitness, mindfulness and wellbeing. Her coaching was transformative in my life and it was important for me to give back by heading up a body acceptance workshop for the women of HCHL.
Vivian is now bringing five years of HCHL work to a close but will continue to be a teacher and leader in the community. Whether she’s leading a yoga or dance workout class, giving a cooking lesson or exposing Harlemites to local farmers, Vivian is doing great things in the community!
She told Get Healthy Harlem, “You really need to have a balance and awareness in all areas of your life. You are not addressing your whole health if you exercise but have a poor diet, or exercise and eat right but don’t sleep, or if you are deprived of spiritual needs. We try to show people many health methods. For example, we teach the value of stress reduction, good sleeping habits, detoxification and elimination, healthy relationships, the power of natural food, and natural healing modalities, such as body work and acupuncture.”
2. Give it Up for Volunteering at the Langston Hughes School.
We previously interviewed Adana Collins about her life-affirming practice of making jewelry by hand that reflects African beauty. Well now, new congratulations are in order. Adana is the well-deserved recipient of a citation from the City Council for her work at the Langston Hughes School in Queens, New York.
Adana generously and tirelessly gives her time, not only for the empowerment of her children, but all children. Volunteers truly make the community happen and she definitely deserves the award and much, much more. Leroy Comrie is the elected Deputy Majority Leader and District 27 Council Member and Christine Quinn is the speaker.
3. Let’s give it up for the Harlem’s Museo del Barrio biennial.
The Museo del Barrio’s Biennale 2013 exhibit is named “Here is Where We Jump!” The photo features a patron enjoying the work of video artist Damali. Exhibits like this are important not only to showcase and celebrate culture but for cross-cultural exchange and dialogue.
In their mission statement they emphasize that, “The artists’ methods and processes are of significance, as is the context in which they are created and interpreted. El Museo’s Bienal celebrates the experimental and experiential aspects of contemporary art, and supports the notion that this production is part of the history of contemporary American art.” Here-here!
4. Give it up for Global Kids!
Tene Howard is the Associate Director of Programs at Global Kids. Above she is pictured with student Kevin and a teacher also named Kevin. They are at the 6-year-old High School for Global Citizenship in Brooklyn, New York. When community members didn’t like what they saw in their local schools they partnered with Global Kids to create this inspiring charter school where kids are encouraged to excel, not just “pass.” Select students even took an extracurricular trip to Africa!
Tene gave the welcome and introduction at the Class of 2013’s recent commencement. One mission Tene is passionate about currently is installing green roof’s on NYC public schools. So she tweets! The Global Kids organization puts their energy behind their mission which states, “Global Kids is committed to transforming urban youth into successful students as well as global and community leaders. Using interactive and experiential methods to educate youth about critical international and foreign policy issues, GK provides students with opportunities for civic and global engagement.” Yay.
5. Let’s give it up for Jam Master Jay Way & Foundation.
As a hip hop baby I visited the Jam Master Jay memorial mural in Hollis, New York. Jay of Run DMC fame is the first DJ in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the first with a street named after him. The mural celebrates the work of the Jam Master Jay Foundation for Kids. They give scholarships and support music education and education in general. The community is fiercely supportive of this mission. I was there less that 60 seconds before someone offered to take my picture and turned the corner into a mini photo shoot and information session.
It’s important for community members to see their heroes affirmed. Here, they are paying tribute to Jason Mizell, the man who was by all accounts a positive and gentle soul in a great way. According to the New York Times, Councilman Leroy G. Comrie sponsored the street-honoring legislation, noting that band member DMC had donated memorabilia for the establishment of a proposed Hip Hop Museum at the corner of 203rd Street and Hollis Avenue.
6. Let’s Give It Up for Volunteering at Career Day!
Kudos to Nichole Pierre, a caring College and Career Counselor in the Bronx. If you’ve noticed a youth-oriented focus on this post, you’re right! It’s not just a song lyric that “our children are our future.”
When Ms. Nichole called, I answered. It was my pleasure recently to volunteer at the Bronx High School for Writing and Communication Arts, Evander Childs Campus on their second annual Career Day. I met with groups of students from all walks of life to discuss their career goals. I shared the good, bad, ugly and magic of a career as a writer. I started writing my first book when I was about twelve-years-old. I told the students although I “concentrated” (majored) in Creative Writing for undergrad and my first play “Goddess City” was produced when I was only 26, it was still many years as an adult until I had the courage to call myself a writer. Good for them that they are already there and good for Terri Lynn Grey, the Principal for encouraging them.
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Let’s give it up for educating, giving back, volunteering, donating and charity. Let’s give it up for good. When it comes to acts of good in your community, if you see something say something!
Homework Questions for self: How am I giving back for my community? Is there a way I can support others who are doing great things? Where in my life can I #GiveItUpForGood?
You can use what you have to give back. If you don’t know what to give, give your time. For example, I offer free coaching for female veterans.
7. About Give It Up for Good:
Allstate believes that there is Good happening all around us, every single day, right in our communities. We believe that this Good is more powerful than Bad – it has the power to change the conversation, change communities, and ultimately, change lives, and we want to give it the recognition it deserves. We are committed to unearthing the stories about Good – stories of hope, strength and perseverance, stories of positivity and optimism, stories of kindness and generosity – stories that will inspire even more good.
Check out stories, pics, tweets and videos of the good happening in our communities at http://giveitupforgood.allstateonline.com/and share the good you see using @giveitupforgood and #giveitupforgood on Twitter and Instagram. Let’s do more Good, together.
Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Allstate via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Allstate.
