Blogs

Who Are We? We are six young adults (18-21) working in the community of Dorchester promoting Dorchester's first community website, MyDorchester.org, dedicated to building social capital and increasing civic engagement by keeping the community informed of the opportunity available for them to be involved in the community and and also by keeping them informed of the resources and organizations that are available in the community.

We've been busy these past few weeks doing outreach in the Bowdoin Geneva community. We would like to thank everyone who took time out of their busy day to learn more about the site, register and create guide entries for the neighborhood guide.

For your convenience, we will be doing walk-ins, but feel free to give us a call to schedule a connection session. The connection sessions only take 15 minutes. Click on the picture below to see a connection session in action!

Connection Session Video

Visit us regularly, as we will be keeping you posted on our progress.

Don't for get to register, post, and create a guide entry. If you would like to set-up a blog, email Joao Ramos at joao.ramos@scidorchester.org.

Connecting the DOT is a summer technology initiative to connect the Dorchester community to the first community website dedicated to building social capital and increasing civic engagement in the Dorchester community - www.mydorchester.org.

Every week, there will be an opportunity to win a cool prize for joining the growing online community of users building Dorchester one click at a time. Click here to learn how.

Create a guide entry to the neighborhood guide, post a community event to the community calendar, or promote a program, job or service on the dot board.

SCI Dorchester has combined two of their major program elements - developing leadership skills of young people and utilizing technology to connect citizens - in order to meet pressing community needs in Dorchester this summer.

Through the Opportunity for Unity Collaborative initiated by the Boston Globe Foundation, SCI Dorchester will hire 6 youth (DOT leaders) ages 18-12 from the Bowdoin-Geneva neighborhood. These youth will work for eight weeks in July and August helping with web development and community outreach in Bowdoin Geneva, Codman Square, and Fields Corner.

This summer, the DOT leaders will: 1) learn technical skills for web content creation and management using the open source program Drupal; 2) find ways for MyDorchester.org to reduce violence amongst their peers; 3) learn and apply community leadership and marketing skills as they conduct outreach for the project; and 4) and expand the number of organizational listings from 150 to 500 and register 500 new users by the end of the summer.

To learn more about Connecting the DOT, click here.

Or, to meet the team behind Connect the DOT and help them reach their goal.

Check out web video:

Click on the links bellow to view the Connecting the DOT Video:

Mobilizing Event

Dorchester has some great beachfront - at Tenean, Savin Hill and Malibu - but not many use it. Seems there is a perception that the water is dirty. Back in July 2004, the Dorchester Reporter ran an article http://www.dotnews.com/beaches.html discussing some of the barriers to beach use. A more recent June 2007 Boston Globe editorial with some of the findings of the Metropolitan Beaches Commission, co-chaired by Senator Jack Hart  suggests better maintenance will help. I believe a group of determined activists, of which there are many in Dorchester, if they formed an active 'Dorchester Beaches Partnership' could figure out how to use programs like kayaking and kite fests to bring vibrancy back to our beaches. Anyone out there share this belief?

When the demand gets raised, pressure shall arise. People get frustrated and in the midst of that, we give birth to ignorance. Where are those people, when frustrated, just release the most vile language on your co-workers or boss? Hey, don't get me wrong. Giving your a boss a piece of your mind is great and all but it can be a little hard on the pockets if you get what i'm saying.

Or how about the people who just run from their cubicle and cry like a soft spoken moose in the bathroom when no one is looking? What about the people who hold everything in and then come back to work with laxitive brownies for everyone except themselves?

Well, my army of midget Irish men sing "if you are that type of person, do not be afraid! Medical advice is on the way to why you act this way! You have job stress!" According to article, STRESS AND THE WORKPLACE, by Positive Lifestyle, Job stress is a chronic disease caused by conditions in the workplace that negatively affect an individual's performance and/or overall well-being of his body and mind.

If left untreated, you could really wreck yourself or someone else. I know people might be thinking like "I ain't dumb. If im mad i wont go to work with a loaded .37 caliber and pop off a couple rounds because no one loves me." Listen, let go of the stereotype of white people and guns. If you are stressed find out why and if you are unsure, here is a list of symptoms. Please be cautious if it applies to you.

They are as the following:

• Insomnia • Loss of mental concentration, • Anxiety, stress • Absenteeism • Depression, • Substance abuse, • Extreme anger and frustration, • Family conflict • Physical illnesses such as heart disease, migraine, headaches, stomach problems, and back problems.

If you are having these symptoms, contact your physician today. Get healthy. Be smart. Live.