Earth Corps for Global Service

Eric Utne "is in the midst of launching two new initiatives (from the Executive summary of the Earth Corps for Global Service business plan):

"The purpose of ECGS is to build the field of social entrepreneurship by dramatically increasing the number of people working for social and environmental service organizations worldwide, and to deepen the quality of their service. By establishing programs to help high school and college students, people in mid-life, and Baby Boomers find their service callings, and connecting them with organizations that need what they have to offer, we intend to double the number of people working in these service organizations by 2012, and to quadruple the number by 2015. As an educational think tank and social enterprise incubator, ECGS is partnering with several other organizations to create a number of synergistic initiatives:

"1. The Earth Corps for Global Service (ECGS), a kind of "Peace Corps for the whole Earth," offering accredited undergraduate and graduate courses and one-day workshops for the general public. These offerings are designed to help people find their service callings, prepare them for effective service, and connect them with service organizations worldwide. Currently being developed with the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality and Healing (CSH) and Goddard College's Health Arts and Sciences: Bridging Nature, Culture, and Healing (HAS) program, ECGS courses and seminars will be offered in 2008 and eventually on college campuses worldwide.

"2. Earth Councils will bring together young people (16-28) and elders (50+) to create local community-building initiatives that address social and environmental issues. Sponsored by high schools, colleges, businesses, civic and fraternal associations, faith communities, and other organizations, Earth Council programs foster the arts of mentoring, group facilitation, and social entrepreneurship. Building on Utne Reader’s Neighborhood Salon movement, and modeled after the American Leadership Forum, Earth Councils enable people 50 and older to become true elders, while engaging the next generation in service projects that help them develop their gifts and find their place in the community.

"3. ECGS is in discussions to partner with Paul Hawken’s WiserEarth.org to develop online tools to help people connect with optimal service opportunities. WiserList would be a sort of Angie’s List of service organizations, providing ratings and reviews of more than 100,000 social and environmental service organizations, generated by individuals who know the organizations through their own paid or volunteer work experience. WiserMatch will enable individuals seeking service opportunities to enter their own search parameters and access a list of service organizations that best fit their gifts, experiences, and aspirations. Together, these web-based functions offer a dynamic and effective way for people to find and contribute to a highly compatible service organization.

"ECGS’s Board of Advisors includes authors Paul Hawken and Frances Moore Lappe, polar explorer Will Steger, and Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the Peace Corps (’93-’95) and UNICEF (’95-’05)."