Social Citizens Blog

In researching the Social Citizens paper, I was struck by a potential problem in public life. We have been witness to an explosion in interest in volunteerism and nonprofit careers, while interest in government careers has waned. Elected officials and other community leaders regularly laud the importance of the nonprofit sector … but is it time for nonprofit leaders to extol the virtue of government service?

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Thanks to columnist Nick Kristof who highlights the inspiring accomplishments of the cause-immersed, do-gooder Millennial Generation in his NY Times column this week.

Whether it’s starting a school in Cambodia while sick in bed, dancing the night away in Australia to help protect kids from malaria in Africa, or bringing attention to the genocide in Darfur through a friendly school competition — Millennials are finding ways to leverage their social networks.

And now the trend is taking shape well before they even reach college. As Kristof notes, “The spotlight may be on billionaire philanthropists like Bill Gates, but one of the country’s healthier trends has been the rise of piggy-bank philanthropists.”

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