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Gen Y Volunteers Fueled by Real Change

February 23, 2011 by

[HTML1] During this past holiday season, Y Gen Out Loud and Offers.com presented a contest to recognize and celebrate Gen Y who give back to their communities, whether that’s locally, nationally, or globally. In today’s episode of Keeping Up with Gen Y, we talk with Stephanie Hood, the second winner of the “Y Gen Cares at the Holidays” contest. The 27-year-old is executive director and a board member of the More than Me Foundation, whose mission is to get girls off the streets and into school in Liberia, West Africa.

Stephanie talks about how Gen Y volunteers are fueled by the desire to see real, tangible results from their work. She also discusses how a support network can help motivate volunteers to push through feelings of overwhelmingness, of powerlessness, to achieve amazing changes in this country and beyond.

More about Stephanie Hood
Stephanie Hood is executive director and a board member of the More than Me Foundation. Based in our nation’s capital, the nonprofit’s mission is to get girls off the streets and into school in Liberia, West Africa.

The 27-year-old Washington, D.C., resident is in her eighth year working in the nonprofit sector as a community organizer, a researcher, and an advocate. She has a Bachelor of Science in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from the University of Maryland and a Master’s in Nonprofit Education from The University of Tennessee.

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About Tamara Bell

Tamara Bell is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Y Gen Out Loud, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that provides a platform for Generation Yto discuss national politics and public policy issues.

Tamara began her journalism career as a staff reporter for the Dallas Times Herald. A few years later, she moved to York, Pa., as a political reporter for the York Dispatch, covering local, state, and national government as well as writing investigative stories for the mid-sized daily newspaper.

A Texas girl at heart, Tamara returned to Dallas a year later to work as press relations director for the re-election campaign of U.S. Rep. John Bryant. The next year, she moved to Austin and the Texas Legislature, where she stayed for 15 years. While at the Legislature, Tamara worked for Democratic House members as Chief-of-Staff and Press Secretary, and as a Senior Policy Analyst for the Senate State Affairs Committee chaired by a Republicansenator.

In 1996, Tamara became co-owner of a political newsletter covering state issues and elections. As Editor-in-Chief, Tamara helped shape the weekly publication into a must-read for state officials, legislative aides, and lobbyists. More recently, Tamara wrote a regular column analyzing coverage by the Texas Capitol Press Corps for an online political publication. She also works as a lecturer in the Advertising Department at The University of Texasat Austin.

Tamara has also been a judge for the 2010 Bright Ideas Award given by the Texas Daily Newspaper Association, served as a panelist at the Society of Professional Journalists 2010 Region 8 Conference where the theme was How to Save Journalism, and has been a guest lecture for the Advertising Department’s Internship course, speaking about the jobs outlook for graduating seniors.

Tamara earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin, and her B.A. in Journalism from Texas A&M University. She resides in Austin with her son, Jackson.

Tamara Bell is also the Host of Keeping Up with Gen Y on WomensRadio. Keeping Up with Gen Y offers discussions, interviews, and commentary about important issues of the day from the perspective of Generation Y (18-to 30-years-old). Aimed at all generations interested in learning about and inspiring young people, this show features professionals, experts, researchers, and members of Gen Y who share insights and experiences about the topics on the minds of today’s young adults.