I Can’t Find You: How To Self-Promote Without Being a Douche

When you send an email, do you have a permanent signature on the bottom? If you do, YEA! If you don’t, why not?  Even if it is your private email, you are  missing opportunities to promote yourself. My email has the following signature:

My email signature

If you are uncomfortable with the idea of promoting yourself, think of it as providing a service to others. Frequently, I need to find people’s websites, blogs, or other online information. It is so easy if they include that information in their email. If they don’t, I have to search for it, which can take several minutes.

Here is a short list of easy things I believe we all should be doing to become more searchable and to promote ourselves-not in a spammy way, but in a professional, appropriate, and helpful way.

1. Email Signature (as mentioned above)

As you can see above, I include a tagline and links to my LinkedIn profile, this blog, and my Twitter account. Once I have a website up, I will link to that, which will include my blog. You can certainly include a phone number, an email address, Facebook page, or any of your other online accounts. I always thought including email was redundant. But it isn’t incorrect to do so.

2. Comment on Blogs

When you read blogs, do you leave comments at the end?  I make it a point to comment on blogs for a number of reasons.

• It is a way to acknowledge that you appreciate the effort someone took to write that post. We all can look at statistics to see that people are visiting our sites, but it is the comments that really provide the proof that folks are reading and thinking about what they read–that we actually had an impact with our writing.
• Great conversations can result from commenting. It gets me thinking and understanding the issues more thoroughly or from a different perspective.
• Commenting on blogs increases my “search-ability” on Google. Yes, really. Comments show up and move you higher up in search.

3. Complete Profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn and Elsewhere

A Twitter profile without a bio or a link to a site means I generally don’t follow them back. That bio and site link give me back ground information so I know a bit more about who he or she is. Plus, why skip an opportunity to promote your website or your blog? LinkedIn is also an incredible way to promote yourself appropriately. Websites, blogposts, volunteer experiences, skills. People are looking at your profile. Why withhold information that may help them hire you or promote your work for you?

There are most certainly many other actions we can all take to promote ourselves without appearing promotional. What did I leave off of this list? Remember, if you comment, it’s great for your “search-ability.”  ;)

 

Because He Is All Of Our Sons Now

(Special thanks to my friend Dwana De La Cerna, for her permission to include her Facebook comments. To read more of her thoughts on the Trayvon Martin killing, see her post here.)

My online network was definitely discussing the murder of Trayvon Martin. I shared a link on my Facebook page to an incredible blog post by Gina Carroll. However, I don’t think I really had internalized what had taken place. We are bombarded by so many stories every day, that we sadly become numb. As a white woman living in the suburbs, the story hadn’t felt personal to me. Until my friend Dwana posted a comment on my Facebook post.

Dwana's comments on Facebook

Dwana and I had shared stories about our sons because they are very close in age. When she posted these comments, the story became personal. This story was no longer just another story. I now felt like I had been hit in the gut when I thought  about Trayvon Martin.

Later in the week, I heard Jonathan Capehart on Al Sharpton’s show on MSNBC. He talked about African American teenaged boys getting taught a list of things they shouldn’t do when out in public. I understand parents having lists of things to teach their children. I taught my kids to say please and thank you. To treat others kindly and with respect. To brush their teeth. To follow through on tasks. But Capehart discussed a different list that was not a part of my world. He was told not to run in public because people would think he was in trouble. He was told never to run in public with something in his hands or people would think he stole it. I googled to see if others knew about these “lists” of items to teach African American teenaged boys. Sure enough, there were several blog posts in which people described these lists.

I want to swear at the top of my lungs at all of this. How can we raise a generation of young, proud, African American men when they are taught these lists? And how can my white sons and African American sons co-exist in fairness, justice, and peace when the terms under which they live in this country are so rife with inequality?

We must speak up about this. Not just African Americans, but all of us. We must do everything in our power to fight racial injustice in our communities. Because I now know that Trayvon isn’t just Dwana’s son. He is all of our sons now.

A relevant quote believed to be by Martin Niemoller: 

First they came for the communists

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left to speak out for me.

 

Building Community Connections: Collaboration Facilitated

I am a really good connector. Connecting is like my crack cocaine. I see the extraordinary potential of putting the right people together. I want to see it happening on a much larger scale, beyond what I, as one person, am able to do. A few years ago, I had an idea. And now I am ready to plant my flag in the sand to make it happen.

Imagine a space that serves as the central connecting spot for social good in Chicago. The purpose of this space would be to bring together nonprofit organizations that are working on the same issues and help them join efforts. I see three major components to what this space could provide.

1. Community Meeting and Programming Space

If we want nonprofit organizations to work together, we need to have affordable (or free) spaces in which they can meet. They need to learn about each other and will hopefully want to provide exciting community events that they create together.  We would have facilitators to help develop these relationships because getting organizations to understand, let alone embrace, the concept of collaboration, when they want to protect their turf, is no easy task. Years ago, at a volunteer recruitment event, I met people from two west side nonprofits. One provided literacy and tutoring for children and one ran a summer baseball league for children the same age. They didn’t know about each other but they should have. There are unlimited possibilities for those two organizations to work together to inspire baseball players to do better in school. This scenario repeats itself over and over again in Chicago. By introducing organizations to each other and bringing them together on a regular basis, we can begin to form these partnerships that will lead to exciting collaborations.

2. Group Purchasing

Nonprofits use office supplies like paper and ink jet cartridges. They hire professionals like web developers and lawyers. But they are not coordinating these efforts with other organizations to save money. There is power in group purchasing. The vast majority of nonprofit organizations are struggling financially. By bringing organizations together for purchasing, there will be significant financial savings. Additionally, by having a preferred vendor list, we will save time for nonprofits who need to hire professionals or companies for services because they won’t need to spend time finding these vendors. Eventually, this could also lead to discounts for membership in professional organizations or for participation at conferences.

3. Training

Nonprofit professionals need to wear many hats. And there is no one reliable and affordable place to receive additional training. Whether it is how to best utilize social media, learn about the best technology tools for content relationship management (crm) or how to find corporate sponsors, we need more opportunities for our nonprofit professionals to continue to improve their skills. This site could be a provider of those great learning opportunities.

So now, my calls to action for those who want to help:

1. I need to  find a partner-someone who has business skills who can be the anchor.

They don’t need to provide financial backing, but they do need to be able to create strategy, to break large tasks into small digestible pieces, and to know a thing or two about running a business. If you know anyone who might be a good fit to work with me on this in Chicago, send them my way.

2. I am going to set up a weekly meeting for anyone in the nonprofit world who wants to come together to talk.

We may not have a physical site, but we can begin to talk and to meet and to get to know each other. We will be meeting initially at ING Direct Cafe starting Thursday, March 29th from at least 10:00 am until 12:00 noon every week. (Probably most of the day.)  Join me there. And tell other people too. I will be available to chat about anything you are interested in and over time, I will arrange to have some interesting people with different areas of expertise join us.

If you like this idea of a nonprofit connecting space, please share it with others you know. If you want to help me build it, please join in! And if you have any input or feedback, please share that as well. Let’s meet in the comments for more conversation. I am eager to hear what you have to say.

Thanks!

 

So your organization needs some technology? Perhaps it’s free…

“At the juncture of tech and nonprofits.” That is one of the descriptions I put in my Twitter bio. It is a relatively new place for me. I am not really a highly skilled techie type. However, living in this space has exposed me to a boatload of folks doing all kinds of great tech work for nonprofits. And much of what is available is for free. Yes, you read that right. For free. There are almost an overwhelming number of outstanding tech resources available for nonprofits that are totally free. I have never seen a list of all of these resources. So I decided to create one that includes the best of the best. The folks who run these initiatives are rockstars who you should not only know, but talk to about how they can help your organization. Please share any I missed in the comments. And hurry up and take advantage of all of these great opportunities!

Creative Cares

Connects nonprofits to creatives (photographers, writers, graphic designers, etc.) for pro bono project work.

EPIC

Advertising and design professionals in Chicago work on rallies, (8 week campaigns) to create programs and materials for nonprofits. Limited to organizations that focus on education, children, and families.

FreeGeek Chicago

Provides free recycling of electronic waste (like old computers) and incredibly low priced refurbished computers and other hardware. Their Earn-A-Box training program teaches participants about the workings of computer hardware as well as the environmental impact of e-waste. Graduates of the program can earn a free computer.

Google Apps

Communication, collaboration, and publishing tools, including email, all using your own domain name. If you aren’t a Google Apps shop, why not? It’s easy to use and will elevate your efficiency and productivity as an organization.

HandsonTech Chicago

Founded by Handson Network, Google, and Americorps Vista to help nonprofits deliver their services more effectively through the adoption of new technology. They have chosen 33 nonprofits in the Greater Chicago area for assessment and implementation of technology. They are also doing technology workshops for nonprofits and classes for low income community members.

Mobile Citizen

Cutting edge mobile Internet service for nonprofits and schools, including equipment, service, and access to the Internet. Yearly Internet charge is $120/year. Yes, per year! RUN IMMEDIATELY to sign your nonprofit up for this service.

NetSquared

An initiative of TechSoup Global (see below.) From their site: “Enables social benefit organizations to leverage the tools of the social web.” As an organizer of the local (Chicago) NetSquared meetup, I tell people that we focus on tech, innovation, and social good. If you aren’t attending your local NetSquared meetup, you are missing out on some of the coolest people in your town. They are heavily focused on building community and impacting social good.

NTEN/NTC

Nonprofit Technology Network. Focused on helping people use technology to benefit their nonprofit organizations. They are a membership organization and hold a very large conference each spring, called NTC-Nonprofit Technology Conference.  

Salesforce

This tool is used for customer relationship management (i.e. donors, volunteers, sponsors, etc.) Receive up to 10 free licenses (10 users) for your organization.

Serve.Illinois.Gov

Provides great information on volunteerism, including volunteer opportunities, a volunteer management network, resources on managing volunteers, and more. A highly under-utilized resource. (This is the link for Illinois residents. Check it out for your own state.)

The Analysis Exchange

This unique mentoring program strives to increase the number of people who know how to correctly do web analytics. They provide pro bono analytics for nonprofits. That’s free analytics for your website.

TechSoup Global

A global nonprofit that has created a network of people working to create and share innovative technology solutions. Through TechSoup’s partnerships with large technology companies, nonprofits can receive donated hardware as well as advice about which tools to use.

Volunteer Spot

Online sign up sheets, volunteer scheduling software, and volunteer management software. Loads of folks swear by them and are very satisfied. I love founder Karen Bantuveris. Especially great for schools.

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What did I miss? What are some of the other great free technology resources available to nonprofit organizations? Add them to the comments. And if you have worked with any of the above, let me know how that went.

 

If You’re Gonna “Do” Social Media, Do It!

This past week I went to a Facebook page of a nonprofit organization. I was excited to have the opportunity to engage with people there. However, when I got to the page, it was filled with posts, a few comments, but NO conversation. The organization had posted different links and pieces of information. The few people who had actually commented got no response from the organization. My reaction? What’s the point?

Organizations and businesses are being strongly encouraged to join the social media game. Many are. That’s great. But, unless folks are willing to put the time in to learn how to utilize these tools effectively, it really isn’t worth showing up. It is called “social” media for a reason. You gotta be social! That means engaging in conversation. Too many believe social media is just a broadcast medium. But if that is how you are using Twitter or Facebook or some of these other tools, you are missing out. It’s ok to tell followers/friends what you are up to. But that is just a small sliver of what you should be doing. Most of what should be happening on social media is conversational or promoting other people’s stuff.

Think of it this way. Imagine walking into a room filled with people. Now stand on a chair with a megaphone and start shouting about yourself. You know exactly how people would respond. They would try to ignore you or give you funny looks. Some might ask you to be quiet or even to leave. The same is true with social media. If you just shout at folks, they will block you, hide your comments, unfollow you or just plain ignore you. And they should. You are not really contributing to the conversation. Because social media isn’t about you. It is about everyone. And when you make it about you, only you, most or all of the time, you miss the whole point. And no one is really going to care what you have to say.

So if you have a Facebook page, respond when people post or comment. They will want to comment again if you do. If you are on Twitter, don’t just send out a bunch of tweets about yourself or your organization. Respond to others’ tweets. Retweet what others are tweeting. Engage. It really works. And if you aren’t willing to do that, then just stay home.

 

Businesses and Social Good: It Takes Work to Make it Work

It has become trendy to do social good. Everyone is getting in on the act. This includes the business world. However, businesses doing social good is not a new idea. Think of the Ronald McDonald House or Target’s give back program. What is new is the number of businesses that are beginning to participate. Some companies, like Tom’s Shoes, have begun masterfully. Other companies and nonprofits have not been able to create meaningful partnerships and giving opportunities. As a nonprofit professional, I have followed this topic closely. So when I learned about Manifest Digital’s Insight Labs led by Jeff Leitner, I was intrigued. This think tank brings together corporate and business leaders for a 3 hour conversation with a government agency or nonprofit to work on an issue or problem. I was invited by Jeff to participate in a session so that I could blog about it afterwards.

The session I attended was with Genesis at the Crossroads. Their request was that the group work on the idea of converting fans into supporters. I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Jeff went around and introduced each person. Some of the most innovative and successful people from Chicago’s business community were in that room.

I have struggled to write this post for six weeks. With that much brainpower in the room, I expected there to be some very sophisticated solutions for Genesis. The conversation was interesting and there was some great input on the value of telling the right story with the right voice. And the concept of, “You can’t destroy and create at the same time.” was a discovery that has some wonderful implications for a nonprofit trying to convey why making music in conflict zones is important. However, I am not convinced any of it will make a real difference in the impact of Genesis. The founder could have gotten the same information at a coffee shop with some fellow nonprofit professionals. It was a really interesting conversation, but I’m not sure that the participants felt that they had done anything terribly important. And without that piece, they are less likely to want to do more.

I really like this idea of businesses getting involved with nonprofits and social good. I think it makes everyone better. But this involvement is still in its infancy and there is much more that needs to be learned in order to optimize this connection. To truly make this a valuable proposition, I think there should be much more conversation between nonprofits and businesses to learn about each other and about what each stands to gain from these relationships. There will be many attempts at this engagement. But until there is some real conversation, negotiation and learning that shapes this engagement, it will look more like wheels of a car spinning on a snowy day than something important and significant taking place.

 

Mother’s Day 2011: Moving On

Mother’s Day 2011. Caught me totally off guard. I thought it would be just another Mother’s Day. The day has been bittersweet for me since I lost my own mother 25 years ago. But having my three children certainly added meaning back into the day. And as time passed, the sting of not having a living mother on Mother’s Day lessened. But this year was different. And I didn’t realize it until I got to the day. There were some inklings. I was finding it difficult to post about To Mama With Love. I had committed to tweeting and posting on Facebook but I just couldn’t seem to embrace those tasks. Finally, when I posted an old photograph of my mother, (she was probably around 18) and the comments started rolling in, it hit me. This Mother’s Day is a loaded one for me. I mean, it is loaded every year when you lose your mother. But this year is my last year as a mom with my children living at home with me. This fall, my twins will be leaving for college. It is a time I have lived for. I truly adore my children. I love spending time with them. I genuinely like them as people. But after being a single mom for really all of their lives, I am ready to take care of me. It was in that mindset that I approached this annual celebration of mothers. When I posted my mother’s picture on Facebook, I mentioned that, after 25 years, I still missed her. Almost immediately people started posting about how beautiful she was and how she was watching over me. And so in the grocery store, reading those comments, I started to cry. Because as much as I am tired and ready to take care of me, I have loved being a mom. There is nothing in this world I ever wanted to be as badly as I wanted to be a mom. And it has been a very sweet ride. In spite of the fights and the exhaustion and the many, many, many thankless hours of never ending tasks, I wouldn’t give it up for anything else. Being a mom has added meaning to my life in ways nothing and no one else could. So, although I am ready for this next stage of my life to begin, I am feeling a little sadness about the end of this amazing and monumental stage of my life. I can’t wait to eat cereal for dinner and go to 5 night time meetings in one week and not feel guilty about not being home cooking and emotionally available to my kids. But for just this moment, I will be a little sad about what is ending and will acknowledge how lucky I am to have been able to be a mom and follow in the footsteps of a long line of proud, loving and strong women.

 

To All The Men I’ve Loved Before

MEN! How often in the past few days, weeks or months have you heard someone exclaiming negative generalities about them? I know I have far too many times. In the 50 years since I was born, there has been considerable effort put into empowering girls and women. And rightfully so. But while we are building girls and women up, do we have to also put down boys and men? I know that in many circumstances men have many advantages. I don’t want to push aside important conversations about equalizing access and power. But I am really tired of hearing so often about how terrible men are.

I truly can’t imagine my life without the extraordinary men I know. I have a father, two brothers and two sons who encourage me, listen to me, bring me great joy and make me laugh regularly. I have so many wonderful male friends of all ages who inspire me, provide incredible emotional support for me and make every day more interesting and more fun. Some of the men in my life are the greatest champions of women I know. Far more so than many of my women friends. They are incredible husbands, boyfriends, fathers and friends and deserve credit for that.

So let’s take a moment away from all the male bashing to notice those truly wonderful men in all of our lives. They probably don’t get told often enough that they are appreciated. What you say to them might just be the nicest thing they have heard from anyone in a long time. And if you are surrounded by men you don’t really like, it might be time to move on to find those you do. In my experience, I have found that there are plenty of great ones out there.

 

The Joy of Success: It’s Not Always What We Expect

A few weeks ago, I made my kids pasta with pesto and sauteed green beans.  A fairly typical dinner for us.  But what made it unusual was that we picked the basil for the pesto and the green beans in our family’s organic garden.  A few weeks earlier I had decided I was a total failure as a gardener.  I had spent quite a bit of money to create this garden.

Our raised bed garden newly built

Unfortunately, in early September, I still had nothing to show for my efforts…or expenses!  I convinced myself it wasn’t a big deal and even laughed a bit about it.  But one day, while unlocking the door to my house, I glanced over at the garden and saw a big green bean waiting to be picked!  I ran to investigate and found that we had a whole bunch of green beans that were full fledged real food we had grown.  I was delighted!  I also learned from Peterson Garden Project‘s Facebook pictures that what I thought was spinach, was actually basil.  Thus, a home grown feast (at least partially) was born!

"Bountiful" Harvest of Success!

I created this garden because I thought we as a family would benefit from the experience.  I also felt it was a less expensive way to provide healthy food.   However, my expectations did not align at all with what actually took place.  The real benefits were ones I did not anticipate.  We really didn’t get much in terms of produce from our garden.  I found that, other than some limited time with my kids, I did most of the work alone.  However, when I first began this gardening project, I became a part of a large community of gardeners, both online and in face to face interactions.  Some of these interactions have expanded well beyond the concept of gardening and have blossomed into full blown engagement.  Additionally, when I first saw the beginnings of green things pushing up through the soil, I experienced a sense of joy that I didn’t anticipate.

And when I saw that one lone green bean, again, I felt a deep sense of happiness.  When I first embarked on this project, I assumed success meant lots of home grown vegetables for my family.  Although by that measure, the garden was a catastrophic failure, I am overwhelmed by how meaningful the experience was for me.  And I find that it aligns in significant ways with another recent experience.

About a year ago, I attended SocialDevCamp Chicago (SDCChi.)  Although much of the content at the conference was far beyond my ability to understand, I was moved by the incredible interactions I had with participants.  I suggested to Tim Courtney (one of the SDCChi founders) that we needed to do a similar technology conference for nonprofit organizations.  Tim said it was a great idea.

THE Tim Courtney

Over the next year I worked to build this nonprofit technology conference.  My vision was to create an event for 200-300 nonprofit professionals to learn about technology.  That event,  Chicago COUNTs: A NetSquared Camp took place on September 12.

(Created by Paul Saini Photography)

And like my garden, its success looked very different from what I first anticipated it would be.  We had 70 people participate, not 200.  However, those 70 people were a group of rock stars in my world.  And because the group was only 70 people, there was a feeling of intimacy among participants.  People felt as though they were part of a very special community that was filled with wonderful resources, insights and support.  The feedback I received both during and after the event confirmed my own reactions to the day.  People expressed feelings of being profoundly impacted and suggested that this event was the beginning of exciting new changes in the community.  Ultimately, I experienced the supreme joy that I had hoped I would at Chicago COUNTs…but not for the reasons I had thought.

So now, as I embark upon building my own nonprofit consulting business (please send organizations and individuals my way!) I am thinking about these two surprising experiences.  I have a sense of what I want to create.  I want to work with organizations to help them expand their networks and to design innovative and exciting substantive programming.  I am confident these are two areas in which I could have a strong and positive impact.  Once again, I have expectations about what my success will look like.  However, after this past year of surprises, I am a little curious too.  Because clearly, success isn’t always what we expect it to be.

 

Low Income Children: Starting The Race Way Behind The Line!

I have been unemployed for over a year.  It hasn’t been because I haven’t tried all the best (and some of the not best) ways of obtaining a job.  The economy sucks.  And as a nonprofit professional, it is even worse!  I have 3 children and an ex-husband who has been unemployed and doesn’t feel any obligation to pay any child support.  So the past year has been a little rough.  However, we are a lucky family because we have a very big and strong safety net.  My father and brothers have told me from the beginning that they will provide as much financial support as we need.  It is pretty extraordinary that they are so generous and I appreciate the profound difference this makes in our lives.

It is within this framework of support that we have experienced this past year.  It has been challenging, but certainly not at the level that most low income families experience.  As the school year approaches, the challenges that summer seems to eliminate come back fully into focus.  This week, we had to begin navigating the system again as a low-income family, without anything nearly sufficient in terms of support or guidance.  Just purchasing school books for the year is full of complicated requirements.  We received no reminder that we needed to reapply for free books.  So when I brought my two teens to the school for some scheduling issues, I happened to remember to go into the appropriate office and ask what we needed to do.  My kids were supposed to buy books the next day, so we took the forms and worked on assembling the required documents.  However, we were not able to finish everything that was needed by the end of the day.  The next morning I went to school early to drop everything off.  While there, I was told about documents they would need that were not listed on the form.  So I went home and assembled those documents, some of which needed printing.  Of course being a low-income family, technology is a struggle.  Our five-year-old desktop computer can no longer print for some reason.  (Who can afford tech support or a new computer?)  And the laptop my brother bought me usually works, but this morning the printer was not responding at first.  Eventually I got it to work, but it did take a long time.  As I sat waiting for the school to approve our request for free books I was overwhelmed with frustration.  Ultimately, they didn’t have enough time to approve our application before the bookstore closed.  We have qualified for free books every year we have applied.  I would guess with less income this year, we will qualify again.  Of course, we didn’t know about it when my older son was in high school.  They don’t really advertise.  You just have to know to ask the right questions.  Cool, right!?!?

I tell you all of this NOT because I want your pity.  On the contrary.  We as a family feel extraordinary gratitude for all we have.  We know that we are doing so much better than most of the world and even much of the United States.  My point is that, if it is this complicated, frustrating and time consuming for me, a woman with a master’s degree, no significant worries about keeping my house and feeding my kids, what must it be like for the truly low income families?  What about homes where English is a second language?  What about families where parents work two and three jobs and kids are attempting the task of applying for free books on their own?  What about homes where there is a profoundly disabled or severely sick family member?  How are they, with fewer tools, less support and far more desperate situations, supposed to navigate a system that is pushing me very quickly to the point of wanting to give up?

We, the low-income families in the United States, are already stressed and tired and overworked.  Many of us are functioning with less sleep, less opportunity for stress relief, less support systems and with some real handicaps.  Until my brother bought me a laptop computer, printing was a real challenge at my house.  My kids would have to go to the public library and pay for copies or go to school early to print there.  When my kids are required to do projects for school they do not have access to so many of the technological tools that many of their peers have.  If asked to create a video of some sort, they are required to work within the constraints of what the school can provide.

Truthfully, much of this has been very positive for my kids.  They have an appreciation for their lives and an understanding of the reality of socio-economic status in the world.  They are pretty independent compared to others their age.  But we are NOT the typical low-income family.  I gotta believe we are really doing a profound disservice to the families who are more typical.  But nobody is asking the right questions to find out how to make the system better.  Nobody is trying to find out how to accommodate the lives of low-income families to bring those kids to the same starting point as the higher-level income families.  Kids shouldn’t be penalized because their parents make less money.  But that is EXACTLY what our system does right now.  If you don’t think this is so, just consider the education and opportunities my children get compared to those in low-income communities.  We are benefiting from living in a higher income community, which is just not available to so much of our population.

It is time for our schools, governments and entire communities to start talking with AND mostly LISTENING to our low income citizens and finding out what they might need to make life just a little bit easier…to allow their children to get the most out of their school years.  Ultimately, the changes we make will benefit the entire country, as our children, all of them, will be better able to learn and ultimately better equipped to function in the community as adults.