Give a Book. Change a Life.

Community Outreach@rtp will be running a book drive from April 19 to May 15, and we need your new and gently used children’s books!

Books in the home are the single biggest predictor of academic success – yet more than half of our country’s low-income children do not own a single book, setting them up to struggle in school and to perpetuate the cycle of poverty.

The books we collect will be donated to Books on Break, a program to enable Durham’s low-income children to select up to ten books to take home and keep at the end of the school year.  These books will help arrest the summer slide that plagues low-income children and that contributes to the achievement gap.

There are a few easy ways to participate:

• Between now and May 15^th, simply drop your book donations in the specially marked bins located at RTP Headquarters, 12 Davis Drive (and at the Food Truck Rodeo on the 19^th).  Your company may be hosting drop off bins as well.

• If you don’t have gently used books at home to donate, please consider purchasing new books.  To make it even easier, buy books from Books on Break’s Amazon wish list and have them shipped directly to the RTP Headquarters:  http://amzn.com/w/1HQGXBNUBPF0X
  OR
  Stop by the Regulator Bookshop on Ninth Street in Durham and purchase a new book to donate to Books on Break; you’ll receive a 20% discount.

We need books for elementary school children (1^st through 6^th grade), from picture books to chapter books.  And we are grateful for both new books and gently used books that your kids may have outgrown.

Books on Break is a joint project of Community Outreach@rtp (a committee of the RTP Owners and Tenants Assocation), Book Harvest and Durham Public Schools.

To learn more, please visit www.bookharvestnc.org and www.rtp.org/community. And if you’d like to host a drop off location at your office, we have sign templates and flyers available at www.rtp.org/community.

Thank you for helping Triangle kids experience the joy of book ownership this summer!

The Earth Day Celebration Roundup

April has easily become a month dedicated to increased awareness and activity in the arena of sustainability, and Earth Day is right around the corner (April 22^nd).  Over the next few weeks, many companies are putting together events for their employees to help engage and educate them on ways they can improve the planet.  Companies like IBM, Cisco, and BASF are inviting organizations to share some of the great information they have on ways employees can help the planet.  For example, SmartCommute@rtp will be providing information on ways employees can green up their commutes.

Of course, even if your company isn’t offering an event, there are still lots of ways to celebrate Earth Day, right here in RTP.

RTP Earth Day GetConnected Event
If you haven’t already heard, RTP will be hosting its very own Earth Day Celebration in conjunction with the Triangle Green Business Challenge Kickoff on April 23, from 4pm to 6:30pm at the RTP Headquarters.  This event will include food, beverages, raffles, and guest speakers.  (You can register here.)  You’ll likely be hearing more about this event in the coming days.

RTP Electronics Recycling Day
Environment@rtp will be hosting its annual Spring Electronics Recycling Drive on Wednesday, April 25th for RTP for employees to drop off unneeded household electronics for donation and/or recycling. Visit www.environmentrtp.org/news-events/electronics-recycling-events for more information on this free event.

Books on Break Book Drive
Community Outreach@rtp will be hosting its inaugural “Books on Break” book drive for elementary students.  Instead of disposing of those gently used books you have lying around, donate and allow them to be reused, the best form of recycling.  Visit www.rtp.org/community for more information.

And if that’s not enough, here’s my roundup of upcoming celebratory Earth Day Events around the Triangle for the whole family: Read more »

Paying it Forward

A few months ago, I blogged about how the spirit of generosity that started RTP is alive and well in the region’s business community and overall ethos. Late Tuesday, we got yet another example of what makes the Research Triangle region a special place.

Ryan Allis and Aaron Houghton, co-founders of iContact (which they started while still students at UNC-CH) announced donations to CED, the Southeast’s largest entrepreneurial support organization, totaling $270,000.

Ryan and Aaron recently sold iContact to Vocus, a publicly-traded provider of cloud-based marketing and PR software.

The two have been engaged with CED since they were students: they volunteered at CED events as undergrads and in later years, served as members of the CED Board of Directors. The donation was a way of making good on a stock pledge after they started the company in 2003.

(As the CED press release on the donation notes, the stock pledge program was “established in 1998 to encourage entrepreneurs to support the organization by identifying contributions that would be made at some point in the future at the time of a successful exit. Pledges are made by individuals who have benefited from CED’s programs and services, many of which are provided free or at reduced cost to early-stage entrepreneurs.”)

Giving Back to the Future… 320 Times

Three hundred twenty.  It’s the maximum determinant of a 10 x 10 matrix of 0′s and 1′s… but more importantly, it’s the number of stuffed backpacks that Community Outreach@rtp collected during its annual RTP Back 2 School backpack and school supply drive.  And most importantly, it’s the number of students in Durham and Wake counties that may have otherwise started the school year off without a complete set of essential school supplies.

Volunteers enjoyed stuffing backpacks with donated supplies.

The annual campaign invites employees in The Research Triangle Park (and others) to donate school supplies and backpacks just in time for the back to school rush.  Working in conjunction with Communities In Schools of Durham and Communities In Schools of Wake County, these much-needed supplies are distributed to students in both counties, and will make a difference in the lives of not just 320 students, but also in the lives of their family members, friends, and teachers.

In addition to the completed backpacks, numerous additional supplies were provided to CIS of Wake County and CIS of Durham to help supplement their continued efforts year round.

Read more »

Tax Free Weekend Makes Donating Even Easier

Community Outreach@rtp’s annual Back 2 School drive is well under way, and there’s just a little over a week left to get your donations in. And if you plan to do your shopping this weekend, it’ll be even easier on your wallet because of the NC tax-free holiday.  Take advantage of this opportunity to help provide much needed school supplies for less advantaged students in Durham and Wake Counties.

The tax free weekend for general merchandise purchased in North Carolina is scheduled for August 5-7, 2011 and applies to the following items:

• Clothing, footwear, and school supplies under $100
•  Sports and recreation equipment under $50
•  Computers under $3,500
• Computer equipment under $250

For more information about the RTP Back 2 School Supply drive, including lists of needed supplies and donation forms, visit www.rtpback2school.org and check out this video about our drive!

The New Voices Foundation receives some new support

Highlighting some great news for an RTP start-up company in the Park Research Center incubator space:

The New Voices Foundation (formerly the Triangle New School Foundation) has received a grant from the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust as a celebration of a “Day of Giving”.

The grant is part of a $6.3 million grant to nonprofit organizations across the country in 2009. These grants align with CVS Caremark All Kids Can, a signature program focusing on children with disabilities, as well as provide support for medical services for the uninsured, grants to pharmacy schools, scholarships for the children of CVS Caremark colleagues and funding for community organizations for which CVS Caremark colleagues act as volunteers.

The New Voices Foundation helps children with severe communication and physical disabilities maximize their learning potential. A three-stage approach of assessment to determine a child’s capabilities, classroom support for inclusion, and teacher training to build school capacities provides a comprehensive service mix. Eventually a transitional day school component will help children who need additional scaffolding.

A Generosity of Spirit

The Research Triangle Park was created in the 1950′s by a group of leaders pursuing the lofty goal of improving the economic climate and the human condition across the Research Triangle region and the State of North Carolina.

As we slow down over the holiday season, the Research Triangle Foundation would like to remember this important vision put in place 50 years ago, and make a New Years resolution to continually improve RTP’s contributions and engagement with the community in and surrounding the Park.

We have some ideas up our sleeves, starting with a successful World Aids Day event in December and making the RTP Headquarters a Toys For Tots/Tails dropoff location until Monday, December 21. Also, the Community Outeach@rtp committee is currently brainstorming a school supplies drive for underprivileged children for the summer, 2010. But, this is only a start and we realize there is much more we can do as we transition into the next fifty years for RTP.

If you’re a budding philanthropist, community-service champion, or just a curious regional citizen – we’re interested in hearing your ideas on ways the Park can further its reach. Do you have suggestions on how the Park community can extend the holiday spirit of giving through 2010?

-Posted by Cara Rousseau-