Children's Aid Society: One organization, many partners

The age-old saying, "It takes a village to raise a child", never gets old at Community Optimization, and it certainly doesn't at the Children's Aid Society. The Children's Aid Society is known as an organization that "helps children in poverty to succeed and thrive." How do they do it? They've managed to create a village with numerous partners that help them provide services ranging from legal advocacy to after-school and family programs to name a few. To learn more about the work that the Children's Aid Society does, visit their website http://www.childrensaidsociety.org/.

As has been said before on Community Optimization, partnerships create "villages." "Villages" work because the people in them support each other. Likewise, the Children's Aid Society gets around children and families and gives them the support they need. A "village" more proof that the problems of society cannot be solved alone. A problem's complexities require engaging many strengths amongst many sectors.

The Last Word and UNICEF partner for Kids In Need of Desks (K.I.N.D.) initiative

MSNBC's "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF joined together over a year ago to provide desks for children in Malawi. Due to overcrowding, these children would otherwise have to sit on the floor. When launched, the fundraising drive planned to raise $2 million to produce 46,000 desks for 172 schools in their priority areas. The partnership was set to be a "promoter-program implementer" type relationship. "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" uses its position as a media entity, with the ability to reach millions of people, to promote the drive and UNICEF carries out the program (including collects the donations). Now a little over a year later, the campaign has surpassed its goal and is still continuing. To learn more, visit the K.I.N.D. website for the Last Word and the UNICEF page.


The K.I.N.D. initiative is a great example of how media can be used in a positive way to make a difference. In this case, due to the partnership, both parties and the Americans that donate everyday participate in the process of providing desks, which leads to a chance at a better education, and ultimately a chance at a better future. The underlying effects of the program are the jobs that it provides to both people in the U.S. and in Malawi.

The Trevor Romain Foundation and the USO team up to support military children

The Foundation of entertainer and educator Trevor Romain, Trevor Romain Foundation, and the United Service Organizations (USO) have found an interesting way to partner to provide support to military children. The Foundation has developed two kits that help kids in the event of a parent's deployment or the loss of a parent. For every $21 donated to the USO for this purpose, the Foundation provides one deployment kit for one military family.

The partnership between the USO and the Trevor Romain Foundation is a great idea. Every partnership that the USO engages in allows them to provide a broader range of services to our service men and women and their families. I'm sure that the kids appreciate this program.