This month Duffy and Partners wrote about “Ideas and Inspiration: Generosity”, and lauded Design for Social GOOD for tackling critical social issues with web 2.0 technologies! Driven by their underlying mission, “Design to make a difference”, Duffy highlights “bright ideas, hard at work to deliver generosity”.

We’re honored to be featured next to companies making a difference in every facet of our lives including Jumo, Aveda Men,Kickstarter, Print4Change, Natural Inspirations, Forgotten, Water for People, Gift Flow, Hands on Network, Sparked, Toms,Live Below the Line, Certified B Corporation, The Voice Project, Krochet Kids, Truck Farm, Global Poverty Project, Games for Change, Project 7 and Art for the River.

As the holiday season approaches, consider supporting innovative companies who are making a difference around the world. Whether it’s INFORMING a friend about the Global Poverty Project, EDUCATING your community about growing food with Truck Farm, PURCHASING with a purpose by buying products that support breast cancer research at Natural Inspirations or JOINING a network of do gooder at Jumo.

The world’s problems are overwhelming, the solutions are illusive. But what if everyone just did one thing to help? We think great change would occur.

Thanks to Duffy and Partners for recognizing our work and we look forward to another year of designing solutions that highlight critical social issues. Do GOOD by supporting GOOD.

About The Mercury Brief:

“The Mercury Brief is forging a global community of people who create stories of mythic proportions and want to describe what they learn from the experience.?

Hundreds of industry professionals, photojournalists and college students attended the three day conference, listening to speakers and attending workshops.

The list of speakers included Washington Post Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Michael Williamson, Miami Herald photojournalist Carl-Phillippe Juste, Four-time Kentucky Photographer of the Year David Stephenson and renowned photojournalist David Burnett.

To read more about the conference, Kirsten Aguilar wrote an opinion piece on Ms. Feanny’s presentation, published in The Spartan Daily.

Do1Thing and Design for Social Good founder Najlah Feanny Hicks welcomes guests to tonights events and speaks about the creation of the Do1Thing project.

We’d love for everyone in the are to join us for the event.

Meet Founder Najlah Feanny Hicks and Do1Thing Director of Photography Alexandra Daley-Clark along with homeless teen Lulu at the gallery event.

UPCOMING EVENT:
Do1Thing.org: An evening with the co-founder [ + Fundraiser ]
September 17, 2009 // 7-8:30
@ Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
561 Congress Street // Portland, Maine
Free + Open to the public

Please bring an item donate from the list below. Monetary donations also welcome. In celebration of the current exhibit at Salt, Do1Thing.org: Young Faces of Homelessness, please join us for an evening with one of the creators of the project. Weʼre pleased to welcome Do1Thing.org Founder, former Newsweek photographer Najlah Feanny Hicks to speak about Do1Thing.org, which sheds light on young adult homelessness in Maine and around the country.

Several powerful and uplifting multimedia pieces will also be screened. In addition, we are excited to premiere Lulu’s Story, a multimedia piece produced by Mainers:
photographer Alexandra Daley-Clark, Director of Photography for Do1Thing.org, and audio and multimedia producer Suzi Piker, an alum of the Salt radio program. Their intimate portrait tells the story of a young woman who is currently experiencing homelessness in Portland, Maine.

D4SG Director of Photography Alexandra Daley-Clark partnered with Sound Designer Suzi Piker to produce a documentary on homeless teenager “Lulu”.

Published in the Portland Press Herald, the project is an ongoing look at teenage homeless called “Do1Thing”. Created by D4SG Founder Najlah Feanny Hicks, Do1Thing launched a massive social marketing campaign to raise awareness for homeless teenagers while asking everyone to Do1Thing to help.

Read an excerpt from the Press Herald:

We’ve all heard the phrase “putting a face on homelessness” countless times. The idea is a simple one: show some flesh and blood to allow the rest of us to grasp the larger problems of poverty.

It’d be so easy to dismiss as another tired cliche if it weren’t powerfully truthful. Consider “Lulu’s Story,” a multimedia piece on an 18-year-old Portland girl who has been homeless since losing her mother at the age of 12.

“Lulu’s Story” is part of a showcase of work on teen homelessness at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies on Thursday starting at 7 p.m. Since August, Salt has featured an exhibit on Do1Thing.org, a national project that paired photographers with homeless youth around the country earlier this year.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because a number of local photographers and Salt students took part in the project in February.

Photographer Alexandra Daley-Clark oversaw the project locally, and co-produced “Lulu’s Story” with Suzi Piker (a Salt alum, and online producer for PressHerald.com) for Thursday’s event.

The event, called “Do1Thing.org: An evening with the creators,” will showcase the photography from the Do1Thing project and a talk from Najlah Feanny Hicks, co-founder of Do1Thing.

Read the entire ARTICLE IN THE PORTLAND PRESS HERALD here.

Recipients of 2009 Russ Berrie Award for Making a Difference – Honored at Ramapo College Ceremony

The Russell Berrie Foundation carries on the values and passions of the late Russell Berrie, through promoting the continuity of the Jewish people, fostering religious understanding and pluralism, supporting advances in diabetes and humanistic medical care, celebrating unsung heroes and elevating the profession of sales.

Last year the foundation honored Do1Thing founder Najlah Feanny Hicks for her work in co-founding the Heart Gallery of New Jersey Inc., a traveling portrait gallery that publicizes the plight of adoption-eligible children mired in the foster care system. To date, 191 New Jersey foster children have been adopted because of the Heart Gallery’s efforts.

She used most of her award to launch an organization called Do1Thing. It’s a nationwide effort of photographers, writers and Web designers to portray the face of homeless teenagers. The Web-based organization links to a number of non-profit partners that provide services to homeless teens. In recalling last year’s ceremony, Hicks said, “The beauty of this is that it allowed me to do one more thing. There is always something each of you can give.”

Read about the 2009 recipient: Patient care technician Angelica Mercado. Mercado assisteda driver whose gas tanker overturned and exploded. Driving by as the accident occured, she stopped, pulled the driver to safety and took him to the hospital. Healthcare professionals at The University Hospital in Newark, where the driver was taken, believe Mercado’s quick actions likely saved the man’s life.