As you get ready to enjoy a long weekend and the start of summer, it’s important to take a moment to reflect on Memorial Day as a day of remembrance and celebration for the men and women who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Whether you’re a pacifist or a geopolitical hawk, we believe you’ll agree that the men and women who’ve given so much in the service should get the help and support they deserve when they return home and leave active duty. The nonprofit beneficiary of our next monthly Music for Good forumWednesday, May 29th at Cafe du Nord is Swords to Plowshares, a community-based, not-for-profit service organization that provides health and social services, supportive housing, employment training and legal assistance to in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Party Corps is very pleased and honored to present musicians...

The Nile Project is a unique organization with an ambitious mission: to address the Nile basin’s cultural and environmental challenges using an innovative approach that combines music, education and an enterprise platform.  Party Corps interviewed Nile Project co-founders Mina Girgis and Meklit Hadero in preparation for our April 24, 2013 Music for Good forum event, which will deepen the exploration of their project and feature Meklit’s spellbinding music.  Mina and Meklit shared with us the origin of the visionary Nile Project.  In a region rife with decades of cultural, environmental and economic challenges the Nile Project is creating cross-cultural music collaborations, unique learning activities and supporting training and support of East African entreprenuers who are developing holistic strategies to a range of societal challenges. The Nile...

Did you know that the average American family throws away $2200 worth of food every year?  And nationwide, this adds up to billions of dollars, millions of barrels of oil and vast amounts of water wasted.  Those are the harsh realities that Food Shift is working to change.  At the same time, CoFED, is helping to start student run food cooperatives to deliver “Real Food” – food that fundamentally respects human dignity and health, animal welfare, social justice and environmental sustainability --  to students around the country. At our March Music for Good Forum, Party Corps is excited to highlight these two growing organizations tackling the problems of food waste and food sustainability.  Both were founded by young, committed individuals dedicated to changing the way how food is grown, distributed, consumed, and discarded. Food Shift,...

“We need a four syllable word,” stated Erin Bregman, founder of Little Opera, to her first through fifth graders. “Entirely!” one answered quickly. “Justin Bieber,” another hesitantly responded. “I think I heard entirely,” Bregman prompted.  The chorus of young voices then rang out, “Little Opera, we act, we dance, we sing. Little Opera where we do everything, entirely, entire-la, entirely, entire-laaaa …” Inspired by her work as a teaching artist with the San Francisco Opera, Bregman launched Little Opera during the 2011-2012 school year at West Portal Elementary School.  Supported by individual donors and tuition based on a sliding scale,  Little Opera is a comprehensive seven-month afterschool program that leads each class of students through the creation and performance of an original opera. I...

Women’s Earth Alliance (WEA) emerged from a meeting in Mexico City where 30 women leaders from 26 countries gathered to create solutions to a common concern: the lack of support available to women working on the front lines of social and environmental challenges. Launching the group in 2006, after working internationally for organizations like Care and the Natural Capital Institute, WEA’s Founder and Co-Director Melinda Kramer is leading an organization that aims to strengthen women’s leadership, help secure women’s rights, and meaningfully address some of the biggest environmental challenges facing our world today. Melinda was kind enough to answer a few questions about how it all got started and what the future may hold for WEA. 1. What moved you to start this organization? Environmental issues are women’s issues. The pollution of our water and the...

Remember when parents were outraged by the Rolling Stones? Neither do I. But it happened.  While today we’re about as threatened by Enya as the Rolling Stones, it wasn’t always that way. In their early days the Stones were counter-culture, dangerous, and drove parents crazy.  But as Jon Parales addressed in Sunday’s New York Times, the hard edges of their reputation have worn away over the past fifty years.  It had to be that way really. There’s no relevant band of senior citizens that manages to tap into the angst of youth.  It seems though, that their stubborn popularity has less to do with their ability to adapt and stay relevant, than with their ability to stay exactly the same. They only seem soft now because society has hardened around them. A whole lot of punk kids rebelling against their parents listened to the Stones in...

After returning from a trip to India, where she was researching the effectiveness of micofinancing in impoverished countries, Svetha Janumpalli, CEO and Founder of New Incentives, was inspired to help solve the complex problem of global poverty.   “I wasn’t looking to start a new organization. I saw no reason to add another NGO,” said Janumpalli.  During her time in India she repeatedly heard wealthy, prospective donors complain about the lack of effectiveness many non-profits had when offering loans to individuals who were already poor and who were now going to be burdened with a loan they may not be able to repay. “How can people take out loans for their children’s healthcare and education and be expected to pay them back?” wondered Janumpalli. After moving to the Bay Area in 2009, Janumpalli began doing research, and was soon...

More than just an opportunity to eat more hot dogs than Kobayashi, Labor Day is a celebration of the economic and social contributions of workers.  Since 1894, when Labor Day became a federal holiday, millions of Americans have been putting on their seersucker suits and lining parade routes of Anytown, USA in honor of those who fought for the labor rights we all enjoy today. While many think of Labor Day as a day to recognize those who decades ago built our roads and bridges and worked in mines and manholes, it is important to remember that Labor Day is also celebration of all of us who are responsible for keeping our great engine of opportunity and ingenuity going today.  The Bay Area is a region where millions of workers occupy high rises and board rooms, research labs and classrooms, assembly lines and stock rooms all in an effort to provide for their needs and for the...

When you find yourself swept along in a raging sea of party, you need a beacon to guide you.  The googly-eyed Panda-on-a-Stick is Party Corps’ beacon, and having proved its worth, now our mascot. He came up big at San Francisco’s epic three day festival, Outside Lands, guiding wayward members of our crew home through the storm. We swam among the masses like salmon, darted like Frogger, and partied with tens of thousands of other good people that converged on misty Golden Gate Park, knowing we could always find our way back to the Panda and our crew of friends.   This huge, diverse and uniquely San Francisco festival satisfied and saturated even the greediest music fan with an excellent and diverse lineup, delicious local food, wine, and beer, comedy and many surprises.  Another Planet Entertainment crafted an all-star lineup: from Stevie Wonder’s...

I’ve just spent three weeks in Brazil, working to advance ocean conservation at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (“Rio+20”).  It was winter in Rio, which meant chilly weather with frequent downpours, filthy puddles, and an especially dark edge to poverty on the street.   The American fantasy of Rio de Janeiro as the ultimate spot for beach, babes, and beats glosses over the grimy reality of daily life in the city.  But the rain could not obscure the vibrant, indefatigable musical potpourri that is the heartbeat of Brazilian culture. I kept my ears open for the sweet sounds of Brazilian music – samba, bossa nova, forró, and more --  and I was rewarded.  What I had not expected was how familiar many of the sounds were, and how frequently I encountered signs of American influence and the blending of influence from...

Paving over our farms and forests disconnects us from nature and our supply of food. Joni Mitchell’s song “Big Yellow Taxi” is a classic reminder that what seems like progress may not always be a good idea for our communities and our environment.  Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got Till it's gone They paved paradise And put up a parking lot. But in the Bay Area and around the country, there are a growing number of many great stories of community organizations that are turning the tide to bring life back to formerly barren concrete jungles [such a good song!]. Small plots of lands in cities are being turned into productive miniature farms by organizations like Alemany Farm in San Francisco and City Slicker Farms, in Oakland.   A group called Urban Farming -- supported by Atlantic Records...

The two most recent non-profits added to our Good Cause Directory have awesome commonalities: healing and women.  The Women’s Community Clinic’s mission is to improve the health and well-being of women and girls in the Bay Area. Through their innovative volunteer model, they are able to provide $5 worth of health care services for every $1 donated to the Clinic. Party Corps had the great pleasure to feature the Women’s Community Clinic at one of our early events a few years back.  We had some logistical challenges with that event – it wasn’t one of our best -- but Executive Director Carlina Hansen, and Development Director Tara Medve were gracious and supportive, offering feedback and helping us learn from that experience.  They are great role models! The Women’s Community Clinic has a big benefit event coming up on May 10...

Welcome to Party Corps’ shiny, fabulous new website.   Huge thanks to Eddie Drieman at Letter Five design and Ryan Leglu at Net Acceleration for their excellence in designing and developing the site.  We are so happy to have this fabulous new web space where Party Corps can connect our Good Causes, Musicians, our Members and the public to fulfill our mission.  This new site has many features that will help us achieve our mission – connecting good people to good causes through music.  ·       The Good Cause Directory, is a resource for people who want to learn about non-profits and get involved in good causes.   Small and micro-sized grassroots organizations can create a profile in the Directory, and they then become eligible for to be beneficiaries of a Party Corps...

Over the last three years, as an informal social network Party Corps, threw events for 100-450 guests each, raising money and support for amazing Bay Area Organizations.  We threw events to benefit an urban farm providing fresh fruits and vegetables to underserved San Francisco residents(Alemany Farm); a program to send physical therapists to the Democratic Republic of Congo (The Rehabilitation Initiative); a free women’s health clinic (The Women’s Community Clinic); an organization that helps homeless San Francisco youth build lives of excellence (At The Crossroads); and a volunteer legal aid program for the homeless (General Assistance Advocacy Project ). Our past events let us test how music can motivate and galvanize a community of active citizens.  Past experience also verified the significant need among grassroots nonprofit organizations for the...

We chose the name Party Corps because it evokes two things. First, the Party CORE.  The Core is central or innermost part of a thing.  The core of a Party is connection.  Parties build community and connect individuals.  Music is often the magical element that draws people in and joins us together. Think of those moments when you’re at a dance party or filled with sound at a live performance and you realize there’s magic connecting you and everyone else in the room.   It’s the music.  Music is a powerful connecting force and a pulsing energy in our daily lives.  Then, there’s the CORPS. Esprit de corps is defined as acommon spirit of comradeship, enthusiasm, and devotion to a cause among the members of a group.  Like us, the Army Corps and the Peace Corps build things. Party Corps is building better...