Maria Perez, in this article on 4/23/15 from the Stanford Social Innovation Review blog, states that by 2043 the US will be a "minority" nation, and the Latino population will increase by more than 100% between now and 2060 when one in three people will be Latino. As a result of this, she argues that it is time to embrace the idea of new integration models that will increase Latino college graduation rates, wealth, income, representation in all professions, boards of directors, gov't, and business. The article goes on to describe what these integration models could be.

Report on the Huffington Post on International Women's Day, 3/9/15 on the Q & A on Facebook that actress Emma Watson did on how critical it is for both men and women to come together in the fight for gender equality.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations report on food security and how women play a decisive role in household food security, dietary diversity, and children's health. When looking at making sure everyone has enough to eat, involving women is crucial, yet in many societies they are not allowed to be part of the process.

Principles of Feminist Social Work Process by Jenny Gilmore. These principles mesh well with the work on systems leaders, as really all that is written about systems leaders are found in these principles which have been practiced since the 1960's by feminist leaders.

A Data-driven approach to gender equality shows that although some gains have been made, not enough have been. Since 1995, the baseline data year, shows mixed gains. For example, some women still don't have the right to vote, 1 in 4 girls was married before her 18th birthday, girls and boys test similarly in math and science yet women are still not entering those higher paying fields. On the plus side, more women are surviving childbirth and the general health of women has improved.

Melinda Gates wrote this for International Women's Day - when you invest in women, you invest in the people who invest in everybody else. Empowering women makes good economic sense because the GDP rises when women do. Since they are the ones who are encouraging and caring for their children, their investment in their children's education impacts the future generation as well.

Guide for organizations to plan how to convene f2f diverse groups to top into groups' shared intelligence and problem solving skills. Based on the Foundation's extensive experience with convening, they created this guide to foster more collaboration outside of their funding. The link to the guide, entitled Gather, is contained in this web page.

The Annex D of this report from the OECD outlines what adults can do at different levels of proficiency in problem solving, numeracy, and reading in technology-rich environments

New report about adult literacy in technology rich environments. Majority (greater than 60%) of those with low numeracy, reading, and problem solving capabilities are high school graduates. Hispanic and black Americans have the lowest skill levels. 2/3 of low literacy adults are employed, but 40% have earnings in the bottom 1/5 of wage spectrum. Talks about solutions - most are collective actions across a wide spectrum of public and private organizations. "...the first and overarching strategy of this national call to action is for stakeholders to act collectively to raise awareness that transforming learning opportunities for youth and adults is a means of reaching shared goals.

The authors Peter Senge, Hal Hamilton, and John Kania in this magazine article from Winter 2015 outline their belief that the deep changes necessary to accelerate progress against society's most intractable problems require a unique type of leader - the systems leader, the person who catalyzes collective leadership. They use Nelson Mandela as the supreme example of this, but state that they have met many systems leaders on a national, regional, and local level. Systems leaders have the ability to see the interconnection of all the moving parts of a problem, issue, or crisis and develop interventions designed to bring diverse views and standings together in supportive and structured ways to address differences. "The simple idea that you could bring together those who had suffered profound losses with those whose actions led to those losses, to face one another, tell their truths, forgive, and move on, was not only a profound gesture of civilization but also a cauldron for creating collective leadership. Indeed, the process would have been impossible without the leadership of people like Bishop Desmond Tutu and former President F. W. de Klerk."

Graphic depiction of the ALF Leadership process of I/WE/IT from Beth Kanter's blog of 2/18/15

"What You'll Learn: In this highly interactive three-day workshop, we'll take a deep dive into transformative leadership for social change. Employing the framework if "I/We/It" What you'll learn: Why mindfulness is a critical leadership skill How to shift from "ego" to "eco" or system-awareness The difference between organizational and network leadership How to identify your allies, build relationships, and map your network What "systems-change" is, and how to scale social impact   Why design-thinking is a critical skill for change-makers Case-studies of organizations and networks that have achieved impact at scale "

A network of regional leaders committed to serving the common good in Silicon Valley. They have created a Fellows program that brings together demonstrated leaders to explore process of collaborative leadership that can strengthen their capacity to address difficult issues. Graduates of the program are called Senior Fellows and they act as networked servant leaders

"This leadership is less about current position, authority, management, or control, and much more about facilitating the work of others: engaging, connecting, and catalyzing people, and helping them to self-organize and innovate around shared goals. It requires new mindsets, tools, and skills" This leadership is less about current position, authority, management, or control, and much more about facilitating the work of others: engaging, connecting, and catalyzing people, and helping them to self-organize and innovate around shared goals. It requires new mindsets, tools, and skills. nice graphic of ALF journey to impact

Lorenzo Grandi is founder of Startupbootcamp Amerstam. He outlines what makes a successful crowdfunding campaign. Ask: what do you or can you offer? Who is your competition? What has worked well for them? Feature a video - more likely to get funded if you have one. Although this is geared toward business, it has a lot of good tips and links to other blogs and sites (including Kickstarter and their help area), and is easy to understand and practical.

Blog from Nonprofit Tech for Good 1/5/15 10 processes to turn into goals for the year including: Write LinkedIn Recommendations and endorsements; Add cause awareness days; experiment with at least one new social network; download and study nonprofit mobile apps; refresh your social media training; experiment with crowdfunding; host or participate in a tweet chat; create a social media fundraising success spreadsheet; take an Adobe Photoshop class; take regular breaks from technology

From Nonprofit Tech for Good blog, 1/11/14 Interesting to see how this list meshes with the list from 2015 from the business and not for profit side. Top of the list is mobilizing online communications and fundraising campaigns. Although not free and costly to small not for profits, social media and responsive designs for websites, blogs, and e-newsletters will become common. Flat design - making sure everything is optimal for mobile is crucial. Donate buttons on social media sites. Google Wallet will be integrated into Google+ pages. Already on YouTube Channels that participate in YouTube's nonprofit program. Live reporting on social media of org events, maturation of mobile fundraising apps, and increased employment opportunities in new media jobs in the nonprofit sector are the other 2014 trends.

A great blog on content curation from Beth Kanter from October 4, 2011. The focus on this is content curation for non profits, but is really for any content curation. She quotes and paraphrases Harold Jarche in that content curation is really seek, sense, share. Mentions that content curation is a great professional development tool and helps everyone keep up with what is happening in their field.

Although this article concentrates on content curation for marketing, there are some great tips to remember such as identifying your audience, focus your sharing, make sure your curation is of impeccable quality, curate consistently, brand yourself not your company. Love this quote: " Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer publicly states his Twitter strategy is "find good shit and share it.""