www.cuentaconmigoespana.es

The Cuenta Conmigo España campaign is a result of the Service Innovation Summit held in Madrid Spain from March 28-30, 2012 and hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Spain, the Rafael del Pino Foundation, and the Meridian International Center’s Global Service Leaders. The Summit convened leaders from government, nonprofit and corporate sectors from Madrid, throughout Spain, Europe, and from around the world to explore innovations in volunteerism and service as a solution to address two of Spain’s most pressing social challenges: unemployment and economic development.

Unemployment is high, particularly among youth, public service offerings are diminishing.  We need innovative solutions to address these realities.  Have you ever thought about how you can make a difference?  Have you thought about how you can serve your community? While service can have many meanings, we see it as the engagement of citizens in addressing social issues—whether in their communities, cities or nationwide.

This is a challenge to each person to find a tangible way to make a difference in your community. We are eager to hear from you and what you view as the potential challenges within your communities, along with any proposed solutions. We welcome you to upload your stories, short videos and photos to our virtual community bulletin board that would answer the question of “How could I contribute?” Through your posts, we hope to create a visual collage of real, on the ground solutions that can be publically shared to get input and explore ideas.

Follow this campaign online through Twitter with #cuentaconmigo

Projects:

Cuerpos Sanos, Vecindarios Sanos - San Blas Service Project

The project took place on April 20 with participants from the Summit and students from the Gomez-Moreno Institute in the neighborhood of San Blas. The day's activities included exercise and sport activities, English word games, and beautifying a local park.  

Service Project Proposal Contest

To encourage people to put their ideas into action, there is a contest in which we are asking our friends in Spain to submit proposals for a volunteer service project that impacts their local communities. The project must utilize 60-70 volunteers and the winner will be able to manage their project from start to finish and receive up to $5,000 in funding to cover the costs of the project. All proposals must be submitted by May 20 at 6pm.

Click here for more details in Spanish.