Civic Engagement
Servenet
www.servenet.org
is organized by Youth Serve America, an alliance of more than 200 service groups dedicated to getting youth to volunteer. This useful site informs young people about volunteer opportunities through a search engine that lists opportunities by ZIP code, interests or skills. The site also provides helpful links to many nonprofit organizations in need of volunteers.
Education
National Center for Education Statistics
www.nces.ed.gov/ccd
is an excellent U.S. Department of Education resource for people interested in public school trends. The site boasts a directory of all 92,000 public schools, cross-referenced by grade and location, and lets visitors create a customized table of education data. Basic information is also easily attainable in the Quick Facts section (click on About CCD), which uses a question-and-answer format.
Fires in the Bathroom
www.whatkidscando.org/firesinthebathroom.pdf
is a special section of the What Kids Can Do website that presents research findings from universities studying effective teaching methods for urban youth. The data presentations include quotes from high school students formatted in a dramatic script. The dialogue is raw and uncensored. The site is supported by the MetLife Foundation.
Funding
E-Grants
www.egrants.org
features resources and opportunities to help nonprofits widen their funding bases. E-Grants offers a downloadable guide to online fund-raising and information about workshops in major U.S. cities. Organizations can also get help arranging a “Donate Now” page for their websites. E-grants is funded by the Tides, Packard and Kellogg foundations.
Health
Entitled to Respect
www.entitledtorespect.org
outlines the joint Centers for Disease Control-Epilepsy Foundation’s teen outreach program, designed to support epileptic teens and educate their friends and family. Inspired by a November 2001 survey showing that epileptic teens are more likely to be socially ostracized, Entitled to Respect dispels myths about the disease and provides accurate statistics. The interactive site allows teens to post messages and chat with each other.
Substance Abuse
Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Centers
www.partnerstturc.com
highlights the work of leading researchers in alternative tobacco-use prevention methods. The site offers links to the seven research centers located at major universities throughout the U.S. The initiative is funded by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
