Friday, February 7th, TechSoup's NonProfit Commons in Second Life will be recognizing National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. 

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a nationwide HIV/AIDS testing and treatment community mobilization initiative designed to encourage people across the United States to get educated, get tested, get involved and get treated around HIV/AIDS, as it continues to devastate Black communities http://nationalblackaidsday.org

“AIDS continues to claim the lives of too many African American men and women. Blacks account for almost half of all those have died from AIDS in the United States since the beginning of the epidemic. African American youth continue to be one of the groups most severely affected by HIV infection in the United States. In fact, black youth represent more than half (57%) of all new HIV infections among young people aged 13 to 24. These numbers underscore the need to reach a new generation with effective HIV prevention programs and messages. We simply cannot afford to lose the next generation to this potentially deadly, but preventable disease.”

(Centers for disease Control and Prevention-CDC)

Join us in Second Life! 

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, February 7th, 8:30 AM PT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL

AGENDA (all times below PT)

• 8:30 am Introductions
• 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
• 8:45 am Mentors Central - Storytelling Through Short Video Apps
• 9:00 am Featured Presentation - National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day - presentation & discussion 
• 9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

http://nonprofitcommons.org

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions. 

• 8:30 am Introductions
• 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
• 8:45 am Mentors Central 
• 9:00 am Featured Presentation - Tom Kujawski (INCARN8 in SL), Nonprofit Financial's: How to Read an IRS Form 990    
• 9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

Friday, January 10th, TechSoup's NonProfit Commons in Second Life meeting will feature Elijah van der Giessen, community manager of TechSoup's NetSquared community, who will present on creating community for nonprofit technologists.

NetSquared Local (Net2Local) connects the nonprofit and technology communities. Powered by a network of volunteers, we hold monthly meetings in cities around the world where people can come together to share best practices, case studies, and support each other’s projects.

Sounds a lot like the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life, doesn't it?

Join us for a short overview of Net2Local, followed by a discussion of how these two nonprofit communities are both similar and different. 

• What are the strengths of hybrid online/offline communities and how can they be created?
• How has NPSL created a strong sense of community and what Net2Local can learn from NPSL's experience
• The unique characteristics of synchronous events like (Net2Local and NPSL) vs. asynchronous communities (message boards, forums , etc.)

Learn more at http://www.netsquared.org

Presenter:

Eli strives to be a connector - the interstitial tissue that holds the muscle of a community together. He's been a volunteer manager, an event organizer and a digital campaigner. Basically he'll take any gig that allows him to enable a group of passionate people to create things they love.

Currently he's the NetSquared Community Manager supporting a global volunteer network of 50 monthly meetups for the nonprofit technology sector. Together they hold over 450 events per year. You can follow Eli on twitter at https://twitter.com/elijah and read more on his site at http://www.vandergiessen.ca.

Join us in Second Life!

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, January 10th, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL  

AGENDA (all times below PT)

• 8:30 am Introductions
• 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
• 8:45 am Mentors Central 
• 9:00 am Featured Presentation - Creating Community for Nonprofit Technologists: How NetSquared's Volunteers Contribute to a Nonprofit Commons, OR: Kissing Cousins: The Forbidden Love Uniting NetSquared and NPSL
• 9:45 am Open Mic / Announcements

http://nonprofitcommons.org  

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions. 

Friday, December 13th, TechSoup's NonProfit Commons in Second Life meeting will feature Evelyn McElhinney (Kali Pizzaro in SL), who will present a snapshot of her findings from her first study which explored the health literacy skills of people who accessed health information in 3D virtual worlds and the influence on physical world health behavior.

Kali will go onto discuss her second study of her PhD with the aim to raise awareness and recruit participants. The study is investigating how participating in virtual world communities/groups influences peoples ability to 'live with' or 'cope with' their long term health condition in the physical world. A long term health condition is defined as a condition which lasts more than one year and impacts on a persons life and may require ongoing help and support (Scottish Government).

Bio:

Kali Pizzaro/Evelyn McElhinney is a Registered Nurse and Registered Nurse Lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland. She is also a part time Doctoral Student at Glasgow Caledonian University. She was in clinical practice for 13 years and has been full time at the University for 8 years. She has presented at national and international conferences and published in peer reviewed journals.

Join us in Second Life!

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, December 13th, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL  

AGENDA (all times below PT)

• 8:30 am Introductions
• 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
• 8:45 am Mentors Central 
• 9:00 am Featured Presentation -  Evelyn McElhinney (Kali Pizzaro in SL) Study of Virtual Health Literacy Skills and Real Life Impact 
• 9:40 am Open Mic / Announcements

http://nonprofitcommons.org  

The mission of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is to create a community for nonprofits to explore and learn about virtual worlds, foster connections, and discover the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize the unique environment of Second Life to achieve their missions. 

World AIDS Day @ NonProfit Commons in Second Life, November 29, 2013

This Friday, November 29th, Nonprofit Commons is happy to feature members of the nonprofit Protect Yourself 1 (PY1), Executive Director Monique Richert (Chayenn in SL), Social Media Director Ricky Davis (Tank Thibedeau in SL) and PY1 Development Consultant Tom Kujawski (Incarn8 in SL), who will commemorate the 25th annual observance of World AIDS Day 2013.This year we are coming together under the World AIDS Day theme, “Shared Responsibility: Strengthening Results for an AIDS-Free Generation.”

World AIDS Day brings together people from around the world to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and to demonstrate international solidarity in the face of the ongoing pandemic. Marking the day provides an opportunity for public and private partners to spread awareness about the status of the pandemic and encourage further progress in HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment everywhere around the world. World AIDS Day also offers each of us the opportunity to show support for people living with HIV, remember loved ones and colleagues who have died from the disease, and renew our commitment to combat HIV-related stigma in all its forms.

The Protect Yourself 1 team will share information about their program Safe2Live and how we can all contribute to an AIDS-Free Generation.

About Protect Yourself 1

Protect Yourself 1, Inc. (PY1), a non-profit 501 (c) (3), was founded in April 2004, and began operations in Maryland in August 2005. PY1 has been working for eight years to perfect a model of community empowerment aimed at enabling minority and other disenfranchised populations to address fear, stigma and other barriers to preventing and mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS.

PY1 uses innovative media-driven strategies to disseminate effective messages on HIV awareness, education and prevention to targeted groups; promote skills building to reduce risk behaviors; and conduct culturally inclusive social marketing HIV media campaigns.

PY1's mission is to increase precautionary awareness and individual responsibility with respect to HIV/AIDS through music, art, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and other media via educational events, programs and activities. PY1 strives to eliminate the taboos, myths and stigma associated with HIV, and to reduce risky behaviors and new infections.

• http://www.protectyourself1.org
• https://www.facebook.com/PY1US
•  https://twitter.com/PY1US
• http://www.youtube.com/protectyourself1

Join us in Second Life!

Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting

Friday, November 29th, 8:30 AM PDT / SLT

Plush Nonprofit Commons Amphitheater

http://bit.ly/NPCinSL

AGENDA (all times below PT)

• 8:30 am Introductions
• 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements
• 8:45 am Mentors Central 
• 9:00 am Featured Presentation - World AIDS Day 2013 with PY1
• 9:45 am Open Mic / Announcements

Also, on December 1, 2013. PY1 invites you to join  “The Red Party” and celebrate togetherWorld AIDS Day withDJ Steele and a live performer with Adusay Imamuat Protect Yourself 1, Inc., (PY1) SL office (235, 165, 29) http://goo.gl/VARZL