“The National Urban League may be 100 years old but we don’t have any gray hair.  We are more energetic, more focused and more determined than ever before to create a level playing field in our nation, especially as minorities are disproportionately suffering from the effects of a battered economy.  The I Am Empowered initiative not only strives to galvanize a nation to serve others, but positions the National Urban League in the right place to connect with more people and to serve urban communities better in the 21st century and beyond”  said NUL’s CEO Mike Morial.

According to Black Web 2.0, the new platform allows you to consume content (written and video) however what’s more impressive is how you are able to measure your Social Impact.  You simply complete tasks/actions and you can earn points.  The more points the more of a social impact you have.  Right now some of the tasks include recruiting others to your network on the platform, connecting your account to Facebook, and RSVPing to NUL Events.

The National Urban League also established a unique partnership with global non-profit One Economy,to break down the barriers to broadband adoption through engaging and relevant online content that will bring more than two million people into the economic mainstream through technology.

Take Action today! Take the I Am Empowered Pledge:

I PLEDGE to responsibly commit my time and talent to ensure that the nation is empowered to achieve the following goals by 2025:

• Every American child is ready for college, work and life.
• Every American has access to jobs with a living wage and benefits.
• Every American lives in safe, decent, affordable and energy efficient housing on fair terms.
• Every American has access to quality and affordable health care solutions,

President Obama released the Open Government Directive to encourage participation and collaboration while developing a more transparent government.

The Open Government Directive required all federal government agencies to receive public feedback and integrate advice and ideas from average citizens. The Directive was designed to make government think more strategically and function more efficiently while improving the overall availability and accuracy of information.

The first version of the Dashboard tracks agency progress on the deliverables set out in the Directive and links to each agency’s Open Government Webpage. You can see a full timeline of Directive milestones and deadlines here.

The U.S. General Services Administration has provided the technology, powered by IdeaScale under a free citizen engagement license, to make it easier for you to interact with each federal agency.

The Agency Contact Information for IdeaScale is a list of all agencies and their contact information. Ideas and comments submitted via email, phone, or other means will be posted on the agency’s website by moderators which will allow others to comment and vote on these ideas.

Americans are also encouraged to use social networking tools like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

By now you’ve heard that Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, was hit by a magnitude-7 earthquake on Tuesday. The Creole- and French-speaking Caribbean country was still struggling to recover from the 2008 catastrophic storms when disaster unexpectedly struck again.

Many schools, hospitals and other buildings collapsed and now fires are spreading quickly with no water to contain the flames. The numerous deaths and destruction have only contributed more suffering to an already impoverished nation. Haiti needs immediate aid and will continue to need aid to rebuild.

The support of the online community has been overwhelming between people using Twitter and  Facebook to share information on ways to help and ways to donate and the U.S. Department of State’s use of their blog and Twitter to provide updates and attempt to reunite families.  Organizations like the Red Cross and musician Wyclef Jean’s nonprofit Yele acted quickly by accepting donations through cell phone text messages.  Rescue teams from the D.C. metro area,  in particular Fairfax County,VA and Prince George’s County, MD, united with other organizations from across the country to support our brothers and sisters in Haiti during this time of need.

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