Social Justice Challenge

Reading opens new worlds to us and can sometimes expose the injustice in our own. We have all been powerfully moved by the injustice we have learned about in books and decided we wanted to host a reading project that would encourage us to learn more about these issues in the world.

It can sometimes be overwhelming and disheartening to read about the powerful obstacles others in the world face. So this reading challenge is different. Not only will we be encouraging you to learn about issues of social injustice in the world through books, essays, blogs, and other media–we will also be challenging you to take an action step and make a difference as a result of what you’ve learned. Let’s put our knowledge into action and make a difference!

We have chosen to focus each month on a different area of social injustice in the world. During that month, we are asking that you read something from the list of resources or watch something suggested by that month’s host. That will complete step one of this challenge: Learn.

Throughout the month we will also be posting ways you can make a difference in this area. Don’t worry, we will provide several different options at many different levels of commitment. The important thing is to take an action step towards doing something to change things! That fulfills step 2–Take Action.

We realize that as the year goes on some months will be busier for you than others. Some themes may be more important to you personally than others. So the challenge is customizable each month to fit your needs by the month.

When you sign up the Social Justice Challenge you are committing to 12 months participation. The amount you participate each month, however, is up to you.

Activist–At this level you are agreeing to participate fully in the activities of the month. You will read at least one full length book as well as choosing something from the other media list. You will also complete an action step. By signing up for the challenge, you agree to do a minimum of 3 months at this level. You do not have to decide which months in advance.

Intern–You agree to either read something from the reading resources (it can be an essay or children’s book) or choose to do something from the other media list. You will complete an action step. You do not have to decide which months in advance.

Volunteer– You agree to read at least one of the recommended blog posts, essays or shorter novels. You will complete an action step. You do not have to decide in advance which months they will be.

Observer — Need a break? Just follow along with the blog for the month. This month has no commitment level. You can only do a maximum of three months at this level.

You can always do more, but you can’t do less. You can also customize the challenge in other ways. Already planning to read more about India this year? Choose your reading resources around the country of India!

Edit for clarification: The amount of participation is on a month-to-month basis.  One month you can be an Observer (topic may not interest you or you don’t have the time), another month you can be a Volunteer (read a blog post instead of a full length book), another month an Intern (watch a documentary), or another month you can be an Activist (read a book and watch something off of the media list.)  All levels with the exception of observer will have an action step as well.

If you’d like to participate in the challenge (and we want you too!), we ask you to choose at least a minimum of three months in which you’ll participate on the Activist level (you could do all twelve if you wanted, but three is all we are asking).  You can’t participate in all twelve months as on observer either, therefore the three months maximum at that level.  So you really can mix it up as much as you want as long as you participate in at least three months minimum as an Activist and three months maximum as an observer.   Let us know if that makes any sense and if you have any questions.

At the beginning of every month we’ll put up a mister linky where you can link to reviews of what you’ve read and where you share what you’ve learned. This is really important since we don’t all have time to read all of the books and resources we can learn from each other! We’ll also put up a mister linky where you share about the experience of taking your action step and share advice for others who also want to help. The host for the month will recap everyone’s posts and reviews.

The resource lists will be continuously updated throughout the year (they are only bare bones right now!) and we’ll do a weekly recap to let you know what has been added. Please do not hesitate to send us resources, we want the most comprehensive lists possible!

Interested in signing up? Please help us out by grabbing a button using the code located in the footer of this blog, writing a post on your blog and encouraging your readers to sign up as well.  No blog? No problem! Just contact us with your intention to join.

You can follow us on Twitter as well as subscribe to the feed of this blog. Both are very important for completing the challenge!