Humanity Club

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See that photo, a fifth grade student helping a younger child? This is one example of the Humanity Project’s acclaimed “Humanity Club” program. And so we offer you this latest peek into the program as a way of saying “Thank you” to every person and organization that supports the Humanity Project in any way. You make it possible for us to give away this program for free to schools in our community.

Humanity Club is about inspiring feelings of confidence and self-worth in youngsters. We handpick fifth grade student leaders, then help them to recognize their own value and the value they can share with others. This is accomplished through discussions, stories, videos, music, games, roleplaying and more. Once our kids have a firm grasp of their own worth, they find ways to teach younger kids at their school about self-worth as well as equality and respect for all human beings. We’ve been offering this program for more than 12 years now — and it works. You don’t have to believe us about the Humanity Club’s success. Just check out some of our many testimonials. As one school principal wrote to us: “Students have learned how to identify bullying, how to prevent bullying, and how to build positive relationships through interactive events led by the Humanity Club student leaders. Since the induction of the program, we have seen a reduction in behavioral incidents, particularly in 4th and 5th grades, by 47%.” We call that measurable success. And, again, it’s possible only through your support for the Humanity Project — whether that’s through direct donations, volunteering, sponsoring a child or simply following us on social media. It all helps. “Equality for each, respect for all.” That’s the Humanity Project.

A Valued Addition

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Celia Negron Marino

The Humanity Project is very pleased to welcome Celia Negron Marino to our distinguished Board of Directors. She brings to us her extensive experience with educating both adults and children — and a passion for improving the lives of individuals.

An educator for more than 30 years, Celia has taught students at many levels – from elementary school to high school to adult education. Her focus has been both on teaching ESOL classes (English as a second language) and training other ESOL educators. After developing and teaching adult education at a Long Island community school and at York College Queens in New York City, she began her long career in Broward County, Florida schools. Celia has served as Broward ESOL Council president, ESOL trainer for the district’s Cross Cultural Course and as New Teacher Mentor & Coordinator. A curriculum specialist, she has worked extensively in elementary schools coaching and training regular education and ESOL teachers.

The addition of Celia Negron Marino also helps our efforts to make our Board of Directors as diverse as possible. Not only do we have more women than men among our directors, we also boast diversity in sexual orientation, ethnic background and professional experience. Celia is originally from Puerto Rico, strengthening our ties to the Hispanic community that’s so well represented in our South Florida home base. We believe she will make important contributions to the ongoing work of the Humanity Project to promote “equality for each, respect for all.” Welcome aboard, Celia! We look forward to working with you.

Nonprofit Integrity

We are less than one month into 2024, as this blog is written. But the Humanity Project already has earned a 2024 Candid Gold Seal of Transparency from GuideStar, the highly respected national nonprofit information service. This means the Humanity Project is open about our practices and our finances. It means our organization operates with integrity. And it means you can have confidence when donating to our work to “inspire greater respect for the goodness and inherent value of humanity”… our mission. The Humanity Project is now in our 19th year, founded in 2005. During this entire period we’ve taken pride in maintaining high ethical standards. We use the money from our wonderful sponsors and individual donors in ways that further our mission. That’s one reason we get funding from important organizations such as State Farm and The Our Fund Foundation, among others. A big thank you, then, to GuideStar for this 2024 demonstration of support for the Humanity Project. We will do our best to justify their opinion of our nonprofit and the vital work we do. “Equality for each, respect for all.”

Lean But Effective

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Our Thousand Youth March for Humanity — the nation’s first mass children’s march against bullying

As the Humanity Project nears our 18th birthday, we’d like to share a fact you may not know: Since our founding in 2005, we have never paid anyone a salary. We think that’s quite a record for an organization that has accomplished all that we have.

We have created from scratch several acclaimed programs, including I Care, Antibullying Through The Arts and Humanity Club. And we’ve offered them for free, reaching tens of thousands of children and adults. We organized and led the nation’s first mass children’s march against bullying, our Thousand Youth March for Humanity. The Humanity Project has made many dozens of our own original videos for kids and grownups as well as original music, stories, blogs and podcasts. We currently have two websites, our main site at thehumanityproject.com along with our site for parents of teen drivers at thp4parents.com … We’ve a social media following in excess of 10,000 people and our main website attracts visitors worldwide every day of the year, folks who want to learn our inspiring message. Hundreds of those visitors have signed our Pledge For Humanity, promising to treat others and themselves with respect in their daily lives. We could go on … and on. But we hope the point is clear: The Humanity Project has made a difference.

We couldn’t have done this without our great sponsors, including State Farm, The Our Fund Foundation, Children’s Services Council of Broward County, Google and others. They help us pay the essential bills. But those bills do not include paychecks. Our founder and president, our board members, our volunteers, our teachers and guidance counselors and students — everyone works without a salary. Small stipends to defray expenses are sometimes given, but they are very small indeed. Typically, $500 or less. And they are awarded carefully, very few and far between.

This history is part of the reason the Humanity Project consistently earns the Candid Gold Seal of Transparency from GuideStar, the respected national organization that oversees nonprofit integrity. We are very proud of that history. And we hope to continue doing what we do for many years to come, instilling greater respect for the goodness and inherent value of humanity. “Equality For Each, Respect For All.” That’s the Humanity Project.