Participants discuss and analyze the solutions implemented by President Roosevelt during the Great Depression. The role that philanthropy played in helping to end the Great Depression will be central to the discussion.

Using primary source images and interviews, participants learn about life and economics during the Great Depression and how different sectors of society contributed to bringing the country out of this dark period.

Now familiar with how a community foundation serves the community, the learners form a Youth Advisory Committee and use parliamentary procedure to conduct business.

Music may bring joy or it may help people reflect on their feelings. The "freedom songs" may have motivated the Civil Rights activists as they sought to aid the common good, and we can bring music to someone in the community as a gift of generosity and inspiration.

"Freedom songs" were an important motivating force during the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968. Through music we explore the important figures in the Civil Rights Movement and their contribution to the common good.

Even the person viewed as the most powerful person in the world does not have unlimited power. Constitutionally, the president of the United States is limited by the "advise and consent" rule (and other checks and balances). The learners look at the importance of limiting government and identify how the common good benefits when citizens and students participate in their communities.

Through exploration, we see how six simple machines do their jobs together to get work done. Just as each machine is unique and valuable to the whole, so is each person unique and valuable to our group, to nature, and to the world. We see the value of deliberately respecting others and listening to the contributions of others for a strong community.

In response to activities that show empathy to self and others, participants reflect on roles of individuals in the communities to which they belong. They write a letter to thank someone and draw a picture that highlights the traits that make each member of the group special within the group. 

We learn a little history of the painters Van Gogh and Gauguin who were driven by a need to give of themselves to others through art. Participants study the techniques and draw their own portraits. They make a gift of the portrait to someone.

Students will define philanthropy as "sharing or giving time, talent or treasure for the common good."