Nonprofit-Performance-360-Vol-1-No-2-Sims

Tamim Younos & Angela Conroy

The Cabell Brand Center Think Globally, Act Locally

P lanet Earth faces many challenges, including poverty, peace, and environmental health. Many problems have local origins with global consequences. Therefore, solutions must be sought at the local level. Organizations with missions to bring benefit to society must think not only about immediate and local problems, but think holistically about issues facing the world and seek local solutions that address current and future global problems. Organizations that understand how global issues directly connect to their local mission are better prepared to impact their community. The Cabell Brand Center for Global Poverty and Resource Sustainability Studies (The Center) enacts “think globally, act locally” by inspiring social responsibility and global citizenship through education and outreach. We provide opportunities for understanding world resource issues and environmental trends that threaten the planet and undermine the human prospect, and facilitate local efforts to address them. This mindset reduces global problems to manageable size and brings the understanding and creativity of dedicated people to enhance the quality of life for their neighbors and beyond. To “think globally and act locally,”the Center: Creates awareness of society’s most critical and interrelated issues: use of world resources, poverty; Translates awareness into local action with public understanding and participation; and Transfers to younger generations the wisdom and experiences of the older generation and the importance of learning and participation.

opportunities for college students to study and participate in global issues with local hands-on projects through competitive scholarship and internship programs. This is a way to involve students, using real-world social and environmental problems as hands- on laboratories, to understand the nature of these issues and inspire practical solutions.To date, the Center has awarded more than 500 scholarships, all toward planting the seed of “think globally and act locally.” What does Think Globally, Act Locally look like in your organization? Here are some questions to inspire you: • What are you working on to impact major global issues? • How do these issues affect local, regional and global communities? • Why are these issues important for your local community and the global community? • How can you use your vision, mission, goals and values to connect global issues with your local community? This is a journey without easy answers, but those people and organizations will be better prepared for the realities of the future and better positioned to bring about lasting societal change! Dr. Tamim Younos is President and CEO of the Cabell Brand Center. He has more than 150 publications and most recently Potable Water: Emerging Global Problems and Solutions and Climate Change and Water Resources . Ms. Angela Conroy, Executive Director of the Cabell Brand Center, has provided senior environmental and management advisory services to the U.S. EPA, DOE, DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Army Corps of Engineers, BLM, VA, NSA, and FEMA.

To achieve this, the Center hosts public forums, symposia, and workshops featuring international, national, and local experts; publishes articles; connects people and organizations; promotes synergy among organizations and encourages pooled resources for collective impact; and funds local research with global implications. The Center has produced lasting impacts, such as: • Co-sponsored the first international Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) Home Building Competition in environmental buildings, leading to construction of a local C2C home and groundbreaking book. • Pioneered a rainwater harvesting design and implementation program, ensuring access to potable water/sanitary wastewater for thousands of Virginians and millions of rural Americans. • Established the Shepherd Poverty Program at Washington & Lee University, which now places up to 60 students from several colleges in two-month, full-time internships with nonprofits. • Facilitated a local Head Start program with over 30,000 participants. Our primary focus is on cultivating the next generation of global thinkers and local actors. We are inspired by civic generosity among young people, who often express their aspirations for personal career success while leaving the world a better place! We provide

34 I Nonprofit Professional Performance Magazine