Letters from an Advocate - December 2007

Are you an angel investor with your social capital?

"I don't care too much for money; money don't buy me love." or good health, clean-air, or a teacher who cares.

I am writing to you on behalf of the UnaMesa Association to ask: What's important to you? Is it just a lack of money that's failing to educate our children, making our citizens sicker, and limiting economic opportunity? If so, then this letter is not for you. Thousands of charities have identified these needs and will graciously accept your money and do the best they can.

On the other hand, if you believe that the problem goes beyond money straight to the heart of how we organize ourselves and provide for the common good, then please consider reading on. A few minutes of your time can make a difference in the quality of care that we as a people provide to all members of society.

Below you will find the stories of four social entrepreneurs supported by UnaMesa who are making fundamental changes in the way we practice health care and education.

Jeremy Ruston of Osmosoft created TiddlyWiki so that everyone can access Wikipedia and other digital information and participate in the information economy even if they do not have an Internet connection. Read more...
Jon Jackson of Dimagi created SharedRecords to that everyone can have and control their own secure electronic medical records. Read more...
Saq Imtiaz and Priya Raghavan are building a Mobile Research and Education network so that everyone who has access to a TV, radio, or mobile phone can learn from the teachers. Read more...

Taken together a new world starts to emerge where new stories become possible. For example a daughter living in rural New Mexico and caring for her ailing father could take a course via TV, Radio, or the Internet, taught by the local expert on treating hepatitis. Using her mobile phone to answer questions throughout the course and visiting the local clinic for additional materials:

the daughter earns a certificate in caring for that illness;
her father receives better quality care;
regional health experts get immediate epidemiological data and feedback on treatments;
the state see a dramatic decline in the cost of providing healthcare

Today, this story is just a fairy tale. It will take many years for stories like this to become expectations and not just hopes. For now, we must celebrate the small steps on this path. For more on these stories, see below or visit the http://www.projects.unamesa.org/Letters page on the UnaMesa wiki.

You can help accelerate these efforts. Through UnaMesa, we have the opportunity and energy to turn your ideas, enthusiasm, and connections into practical benefits for everyone. UnaMesa associates share a desire to raise the bar and create an environment in which high-quality educational and health care experiences become the norm.

If you share our desire, please take a look at one of our projects and consider investing a little of your social capital to:

Support our associates by sending a personal "Thank you" for devoting their skills to solving hard problems on your behalf.
Visit our project pages or send us email to tell us what problems matter most to you. See http://projects.unamesa.org/Feedback to provide your informed feedback, questions. We especially appreciate contact information for people working to create universally accessible medical records, learning materials, and related critical components of a healthy information economy that serves everyone.
Have an idea for serving a need or improving a social service? Willing to work on the problem but don't want to spend 80% of your time fundraising? Contact me (GregWolff@UnaMesa.org) and we'll see how UnaMesa could support your uncommon passion to serve the common good.

Enjoy these stories of UnaMesa associates as harbingers of a future that you can help create and make the time this holiday season to generate some social capital by acknowledging good work wherever you see it. I especially tip my hat to Jim Fructherman of Benetech.org and the amazing fellows of Ashoka.org. For me, they stand out as examples in our finest traditions of neighbors in a community who care beyond their own self interests.

As communities and a society, we must strive to collectively learn how to care for each other and the environment in ways that reflect our values and how we as individuals care. We look forward to your input and working together to realize common goals. If you care about these issues but cannot personally contribute, consider donating money to support an UnaMesa associate. UnaMesa is a public charity (US based 501(c)3) so all donations are tax deductible. We are thankful to Ricoh Innovations and other corporate sponsors for covering administrative costs, so 100% of your contributions will go directly to supporting social entrepreneurs like Jon, Saq, and Priya.

Cheers,
-Greg

http://stories.unamesa.org/