You may have heard about Dell’s “Education for Social Good” program. It is designed to allow leading social and digital strategists to partner with a local school and a local non-profit to do something really cool with social media- all to benefit the local community.
When Ellen and I received the email from Richard at Dell, we jumped at the chance to participate. We both graduated from the University of Texas, College of Communication, so we immediately knew what school/class we wanted to teach. We gave Dr. Neal Burns a ring, and he pinpointed a group of his students who were excited to learn more about the Dachis Group’s vision for social business and how it can be practically applied to communicate with stakeholders.
From there, we spent some time thinking about what local cause was near and dear to all of our hearts. It was obvious. Food.
Austin is known for its foodies and farmers. The whole city is really conscious about eating locally grown food, supporting local businesses, and promoting eco-friendliness. So, the Sustainable Food Center was a logical partner.
The Sustainable Food Center coordinates many education initiatives such as Grow Local, Farm Direct, The Happy Kitchen, and Sprouting Healthy Kids. They also organize the Austin Farmer’s Markets. The Markets support local growers and the community by creating a social venue that provides opportunities for individuals to make healthy food choices and to participate in a vibrant, local, food system.
We thought that this real-life social community could be naturally extended to Austin’s online social communities. In fact, on a larger scale, the national food blogger community is vast and vibrant, likely because of the movement towards eating fresh, unprocessed, and local food.
All of that said, tomorrow (March 10th, 9am-3pm CST) Dachis Group, in conjunction with our partners from Texas Advertising, Sustainable Food Center, and the Austin foodie community will be talking about why local food is important to us.
We would love for you to participate in our conversation on Twitter.
Just search for #ed4good #AUS
Every mention those hash tags receive will put the Sustainable Food Center one point closer to receiving $10,000.
Thanks for helping us to use social media for social good!
Thank you Dachis Group, from all of us at SFC and those whom we serve. This campaign has already given us the opportunity to reach out to new supporters and update existing followers on our current programming.