AT THE GRASSROOTS/'Johnny Appleseed'

Friday, May 09, 2008

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JOHNNY APPLESEED AWARDS

Two images have inspired me in the work of traveling the U.S. since 1990 in search of the nation's most innovative grassroots programs: The notion of the old-time minstrel who hears a pretty song in a country town, then sings it again for the entertainment of the people in the next town down the road; and the story of Johnny Appleseed.

Even as a child, I loved and was personally inspired by the story of this mythical American hero (based on a historical figure from Leominster, Mass., named John Chapman) who went around the young nation planting apple seeds, leaving behind acres of orchards that nourished families for generations. I'd like to believe that @GRASS-ROOTS.ORG does a little of this, by spreading the stories of America's grassroots heroes in the hope that the ideas they represent will take root and grow in other cities, villages and towns.

The real John Chapman, historians say, was not a scatterer of seeds as many people believe. He was a practical nurseryman. He realized that there was a real need and an opportunity for service in supplying seeds and seedlings. For the most part, moving ahead of the pioneers, Johnny started many nurseries throughout the Midwest by planting seeds which he bought from cider mills in Pennsylvania. For much more information about Chapman, I recommend a visit to the Johnny Appleseed Trail Association, which was kind enough to grant me permission to use their Appleseed logo for this page.

It is in the spirit of both the real and the legendary "Appleseed," who gave to his community without asking much back, that I've singled out for special notice about 50 of the hundreds of community organizations in @GRASSROOTS-ORG as winners of the "Johnny Appleseed Award." Although this is a totally informal honor that carries no certificate or prize of value, the compliments and gratitude that it conveys are considerable.

While every organization in these pages is noteworthy and deserving of all the honor and success that fate and a grateful public can give them, there was something about each of the following exemplary groups that made them stand out even in this outstanding company.

Here's the list, in alphabetical order, with my brief thoughts on what makes each one special:

Access to Real Choices (ARC) Unlimited, New Iberia, La. Because they provide real jobs and dignity for mentally retarded people and don't know the meaning of the word "can't."

Appalachian Center For Economic Networks (ACENet), Athens, Ohio. Because they've found a replicable way to create serious commerce through cooperation.

Boston Can, Boston. Because their idea of making real money from returnable cans is brilliantly simple, and it works.

The Bridge, Phoenix. Because they use the engine of church and civic voluntarism to make a practical difference in the lives of homeless people.

Berkeley Cares, Berkeley, Calif. For their creativity in finding a way to harness individual charity without waste.

Bethel New Life, Chicago. Because they didn't give up on their community but rebuilt it instead.

Breakthrough Urban Ministries, Chicago. For finding a working way to make jobs and income for homeless people.

Cafe 458, Atlanta. For creating one of the nation's first "homeless cafés and, through love and hard work, making it a model.

California Emergency Foodlink (CEFL), Sacramento, Calif. Because they weren't satisfied simply to be a major food distributor but found a way to use it to train people and create jobs.

The Carver Promise, Richmond, Va. For mobilizing the idealism of college students to give new hope to youngsters who don't get many chances.

Center for Economic Options, Charleston, W. Va. Because they demonstrate extreme creativity in the quest to create work and jobs for West Virginians with such happily outrageous efforts as teaching women to drive bulldozers.

CFLS/Third and Eats, Washington, D.C. Because they run an excellent Capitol Hill eatery ... and hire homeless people to work there.

Chrysalis, Los Angeles. For proving that even Skid Row homeless can get and hold jobs, with just a little help to get them started.

The Church Health Center, Memphis. For the saintly voluntarism of Scott Morris, a physician and minister who's given his life to see that poor people get decent medical care.

Cleveland Works, Cleveland. For creating a national model that shows the way to move people from welfare to work.

Colorado Women's Employment and Education, Denver. Because it's another national model demonstrating that it's not that hard to give low-income people job training and get them jobs.

Columbia Park Boys and Girls Club, San Francisco. Because it shows how even an excellent national organization can go one step beyond, as its teen-owned graffiti-removal "business" demonstrates.

Community Technology Institute (Community Voice Mail), Seattle. For extreme creativity in the face of a major challenge, making free voice mail available for serious use by homeless people across the U.S.

Computer Clubhouse, Boston. Because it gives inner-city youngsters the same shot at computer careers that their more affluent neighbors consider routine.

DC Central Kitchen, Washington, D.C. For its role as a national model for linking perishable food recovery with effective job training for homeless men and women; and for effective advocacy in replicating this idea in every state.

Delancey Street Foundation, San Francisco. Because it is a remarkable demonstration of the way teamwork and tough love can turn even the most hard-core homeless into productive workers and contributing citizens.

Detroit Self-Employment Project, Detroit. Because it is one of the most effective entrepreneurial-training programs for welfare recipients that I've seen yet.

The Elephant Men, Memphis. Because two guys from the projects cared enough to build a simple, caring program to help keep young folks out of trouble through sports and mentoring.

Esperanza Unida, Milwaukee. Because it is one of the most innovative organizations anywhere, starting with a non-profit auto-repair shop to train skilled mechanics and then moving on and up from there.

Farm Share Inc., Florida City, Fla. Because it cared that tons of nutritious produce were wasted every year, and reduced that waste by creating a simple process to ship it to emergency-feeding organizations.

Focus: HOPE, Detroit. For being the nation's first and most innovative "teaching factory" and for turning out hundreds of skilled workers for the 21st Century.

Fresh Start Farms, San Francisco. To Ruth Brinker for creating two national model projects in her long lifetime, this one a lovely effort to put homeless men to work growing herbs and salad greens for the city's finest restaurants.

The Garden Project, San Francisco. Because it is an inspiring initiative that helps ease ex-offenders back into the system by giving them work in the supportive setting of an urban garden that pays its own way.

Habitat For Humanity International Inc., Americus, Ga. Not only Jimmy Carter's favorite charity but, perhaps, America's, helping tens of thousands of families build housing worldwide.

Health Care Center for the Homeless, Orlando. Because it offers a working model for providing decent, free medical care for the homeless people who need it the most.

The ICA Group, Boston. For aggressive and competent efforts to help stem the flow of jobs out of New England by fostering worker-owned cooperatives.

L.A.'s Best, Los Angeles. Because it's not just L.A.'s best but one of the nation's best examples of harnessing the energy of parents and volunteers in partnership with schools to provide safe activities in safe places after school.

Lakefront SRO, Chicago. For its innovative model of redeveloping "fleabag" urban hotels as safe and dignified low-cost housing.

The Lakota Fund, Kyle, S.D. For boldness in the face of adversity, generating capital and technical assistance to build small businesses on an Indian reservation with 90 percent unemployment.

The Land Institute, Salina, Kan. Because it remembers how agriculture used to be on the prairie, believes it can be that way again, and does something to make it happen.

Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Philadelphia, Miss. For proving that Indian reservations don't have to be poor, developing an industrial park that would be the pride of any community, and creating good jobs for the region.

New Community Inc., Newark, N.J. Because it gathered neighbors in the wake of devastating riots and slowly, gradually but consistently rebuilt a decent urban community.

The Open Shelter, Columbus, Ohio. For Kent Beittel, a charismatic guy who knows that tough love is the only way to get homeless men off the streets and back to work.

Project Quest, San Antonio. For building a national model that's not easy to replicate but worth the effort, involving corporations in the effort to train people for high-skill jobs that the companies need.

Projecto Azteca, San Juan, Texas. Because it's helping people build decent housing in the Rio Grande colonias, which until now were among the worst places in the nation to have to live.

Redlands Christian Migrant Association, Immokalee, Fla. Because it provides excellent quality day care for the families of migrant workers ... and doesn't do it for them but with the workers' families as managers and partners.

Room in the Inn, Nashville. For creating an innovative model in which a city's churches effectively share the burden of emergency shelter.

Rural Affairs Center, Walthill, Neb. Because it is one of the most effective initiatives in the nation aimed at keeping the family farm alive.

Rural Development Center, Salinas, Calif. For its unique effort to retrain migrant farmworkers as self-sufficient family farmers.

Self-Help, Durham, N.C. Because it was one of the first and still one of the best community-based credit unions, now expanded into a range of low-cost housing initiatives.

Shop & Ride, Knoxville, Tenn. For its simple and common-sense approach to helping low-income consumers take the bus to the grocery.

Sisters of the Road Cafe, Portland, Ore. Because it's a lovable place to eat and a working model of creating jobs for homeless people.

Southern Mutual Help Association, New Iberia, La. Because it is an exceptional example of community organizing that brings together neighbors and employers to make things happen in a very poor, rural community.

Suburban Job-Link, Chicago. For doing a very good job of connecting the places where the people are with the places where the jobs are.

The Education and Employment Ministry Inc. (TEEM), Oklahoma City. Because it shows the way to get unemployed people back to work quickly while treating them with dignity and respect.

The University of Richmond, Richmond, Va. Because it is a model of community service that every education institution in the nation would do well to emulate.

Upper Sand Mountain Parish, Sylvania, Ala. Because it brings together tiny congregations to do large work, including a productive cannery and a stunningly simple way to build decent houses for families that have none.

Women Entrepreneurs of Baltimore (WEB), Baltimore. Because it is one of the nation's most effective entreprenurial-training programs, with a substantial track record of creating new businesses and jobs.

Young & Healthy, Pasadena, Calif. For demonstrating how to inspire voluntarism among physicians sufficient to fill the primary-care needs of an entire community's uninsured youth.

Programs listed by type

Programs listed by state