Action Ideas

Education Projects

1. Organize a book drive with your family, co-workers, school, club or faith community and donate the books to a local library, jail or shelter.
2. Stuff backpacks with school supplies and deliver them to local schools.
3. Organize transportation to a summer reading program at the local library for kids in your neighborhood.
4. Call your local library and volunteer to help re-shelve books or run a children's program.
5. Allow a high school student to shadow you at work and show them how you apply the things you learned in school.
6. Work with an agency to organize an outing for a group of children to a local museum, exhibit or play.
7. Mentor an at-risk youth at your neighborhood school.
8. Invite a friend, neighbor, family member to attend a school board meeting with you.
9. Create a family story hour and read to children in your neighborhood.
10. Organize a "making music" afternoon for kids in your neighborhood. Help them make instruments out of coffee cans, bottles, beads, etc.
11. Collect art supplies for kids in shelters or hospitals.
12. Teach computer skills at a literacy center, community center or shelter.
13. Record your favorite book on tape for a child who is visually impaired or for a literacy group.
14. Donate a newspaper subscription to a local school.
15. Donate old musical instruments to a charity or community center. Offer to teach kids how to play them.
16. Host an arts and crafts fair for mentally challenged adults and auction the finished products.

Income Projects

1. Host a preview party of the PBS documentary series Unnatural Causes to spark discussions about racial and socioeconomic inequalities in health.
2. Bring a group of children to a bank for a tour and show them how to open a savings account.
3. Tutor at an adult literacy or technology program.
4. Participate in a poverty simulation to better understand economic disparities in your community.
5. Donate new or gently used professional clothing to an organization assisting individuals seeking employment.
6. Volunteer to prepare tax returns for low-income families to help them acquire additional dollars in earned income tax credits.
7. Organize a food drive with your coworkers or school.
8. Knit baby blankets for expectant mothers or newborns.
9. Bring bags of groceries to a shelter.
10. Help build a home or shelter.
11. Contact your local representative about an issue affecting working people in your community.
12. Provide babysitting services for parents participating in job skills and training programs.
13. Help seniors in your community make their homes more energy efficient.
14. Find out which banks offer free checking and savings accounts to low-income families and promote them in relevant neighborhoods.
15. Engage with youth-serving agencies to teach a class on how to save money and watch with them as it grows.
16. Help senior citizens learn how to detect and prevent fraud.
17. Take your family or friends with you to prepare, deliver or serve meals at a homeless shelter.
18. Plan a summer jobs fair for high school students and offer tips on job preparation and interview skills.
19. Start a vegetable garden and donate part of your harvest to a food pantry.
20. Organize a voter registration drive to support local and national issues important to you and your community.
21. Distribute emergency preparedness packets in your neighborhood.

Health Projects

1. Organize a field day or health fair with a local school or your neighborhood to get kids active and exercising.
2. Contact your local health clinic to offer assistance in anything from distributing flyers to serving on an event committee to writing a letter to the editor on their behalf.
3. Find out what your local schools are doing to promote good nutrition and fitness among students and find ways to help them improve.
4. Start a walking group for friends, families, neighbors and/or community members that meets regularly at a set time and location. 
5. Buy pedometers for your friends and have a friendly "most-steps-in-day" competition.
6. Purchase personal care items (deodorant, shampoo, toothbrushes, feminine hygiene products, etc.) and donate them to a local women's shelter.
7. Organize a sing along at a children's hospital.
8. Fill diaper bags with items for new mothers and donate to a crisis pregnancy center.
9. Invite children over to bake cookies then deliver them to a local nursing home or other families in your community.
10. Organize a "beauty day" for a women's shelter and give manicures, makeovers or haircuts.
11. Volunteer to drive homebound residents to medical appointments, the grocery store or to visit friends.
12. Certify your pet as a "good citizen" and bring it to a nursing home to spend time with residents.
13. Canvass neighborhoods with information about low or no cost health services in the community.
14. Organize regular kickball games for kids in your neighborhood.
15. Sign up for a 5K, half-marathon or marathon to benefit a cause. If you're not a runner, offer to help with registration or refreshments.
16. Collect sports equipment and donate to a local school, shelter, community center or after-school program.
17. Create care packages for overseas military personnel.
18. Reclaim a neglected park for kids in your neighborhood.
19. Deliver meals to homebound seniors.
20. Coach a youth sports team.
21. Take a group of teens on a brush-clearing hiking trip to keep park trails in good condition.
22. Take five friends to a CPR class.
23. Take friends with you to give blood.
24. Organize a senior prom at a nursing home.