Get in Touch with Us

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

We love to hear from you! And yes, we are available to help when you need something from us. How do you get in touch with the Humanity Project? Well, there are several ways. First, of course, go to the Contact page above. You’ll find our phone number and email address. If we’re not immediately able to talk with you, we’ll get back to you very soon. Then there’s our social media. Look over on the upper left side of this home page and you’ll see them: Social media tabs for our main pages. (We actually have additional pages on Facebook and Twitter but these icons will take you to our major social media sites.) You can always send us a message or post something on those pages. And though the Humanity Project isn’t a crisis center or hotline, we now offer something for teens who need help right away. Check out our amazing teen-created website for socially isolated teenagers, including many LGBT students. www.thp4kids.com — “The Humanity Project 4 Kids!” It now includes a national hotline, something we can provide through our partnership with the North American Alliance of Child Helplines. Here’s a link to our info page for kids about this hotline: 121help.me …

I’m telling you all this today for a couple of reasons. First, because we want to hear from you. We’d welcome your feedback, suggestions and any support you may care to provide for our efforts. Second, I will be out of the country for a few weeks starting soon. NO Humanity Project money is being spent on this travel, by the way. But I’ll be in some exotic places for a while. In my absence, Humanity Project Vice President Gabriela Pinto will be in charge of things. Again, you can contact us as always through our Contact page info or social media. The Humanity Project is always here for you … through our websites, through our social media and more. To see what we offer, browse through this main website — there’s a lot already posted here that may help answer your questions about things like school bullying or teen driver safety. And if not, feel free to get in touch with us. No kidding, we love to hear from you!

Testing Shows I Care Program Works

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

Yes, early results are in … at last. Surveys conducted by Barry University sociology majors for the Humanity Project show that our unique I Care: Just Let Me Drive teen driver safety program works — just as we always thought it would. We also have some results from students at Royal Palm Beach High School. And those numbers tell us the same thing. I Care works! Remember, this is a very new program. Two years ago at this time, we were supervising a talented team of high school journalism students just to complete the written portion of the program. That’s our I Care book, the centerpiece of our efforts. And one year ago, other high school students were wrapping up work on the I Care website. Now we have the book posted on that website for free downloads at www.thehumanityproject.com/icare … and we also have I Care pages on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram. Wow, lots of progress in a short time. We’re very pleased that, through a generous grant from our major sponsor, State Farm, we have been getting the book across the state of Florida. From Tallahassee to Jacksonville, from Palm Beach County to Miami-Dade County. And I Care is an official part of teen traffic courts in Broward County and Miami-Dade County. Not bad, huh? So, ok, let’s get back to those test results. They show that about 85% of students tested say the I Care program changed their personal driving habits, making them “more aware of the need to avoid distractions while driving.” That was true for those tested by Barry University and others tested by the adult advisor of the SADD Club at Royal Palm Beach High School. We believe it’s such a great program that I Care needs to be more widely available nationally. That’s our goal.

Meantime, State Farm continues to be the key supporter for I Care, joined now by new official sponsor, Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. We were confident of the results. But now empirical evidence is proving we were right all along. Most definitely, I Care works.

Kids Hospital with a Heart

With longtime JDCH clown, Lotsy Dotsy

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

Today, we thank our loyal friends at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. They have stepped up now as an official sponsor of our truly innovative I Care: Just Let Me Drive teen driver safety program.

JDCH also renewed their longtime sponsorship of our acclaimed Anti-bullying Through The Arts program. Both programs now will be offered through their great Community Relations Department, headed up by the dynamic Milin Espino. The Humanity Project is excited about this new level of partnership. In addition to our own efforts, Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital’s extensive community connections will help us to reach many more kids who need us. The major sponsor of our I Care program continues to be State Farm, which generously helped us to create it and now provides the vital funding to expand I Care each year. We couldn’t make this happen without State Farm.

A year ago, JDCH became very interested in I Care and wanted to help us spread the word about the program. Now Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital is even more excited about what they see happening: I Care is in Florida schools from Tallahassee and Jacksonville to Palm Beach and Broward counties and down into Miami-Dade County. We’re also an official part of the teen traffic court system in Broward and Miami-Dade. And survey results are proving what we always suspected: Teens report that I Care is changing their driving habits — and they say it also can help many other teens to do the same. As a result, JDCH stepped up with additional support this year for I Care. Their logo and link even are on the back cover of the I Care book, along with the logo and link of State Farm.We believe this is a partnership that can connect with thousands of teens all over Florida and well beyond, helping to save young lives on the highways. The Humanity Project, State Farm … and Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. For more information about JDCH, visit their website at www.jdch.com. I Care is demonstrating a new way to prevent distracted teen driving — through friendships and positive peer pressure. Our amazing partners are helping us accomplish this by showing how much they care.

THP Service Learning

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

This week, a new video for you … So we won’t take much of your time with reading our blog. We hope you will want to check out this newest Humanity Project YouTube video, though. You’ll hear a brief discussion by one of our great student volunteers, a high school student named Aaron. The video is only about one minute-long. In it, Aaron talks about his work on the amazing redesign of our Humanity Project website for socially isolated students, including many LGBT kids. That site is www.thp4kids.com (The Humanity Project 4 Kids). Listen to Aaron describe how much he has learned by working with the Humanity Project. We’re proud of the service learning opportunities that we’ve provided to many students — middle school and high school students, even some in elementary school. Click on the link to watch the video, please. We think you’ll enjoy it.

Something New ... and Hopeful

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

If you still haven’t signed up for our free monthly email newsletter, we hope this might, well, inspire you to do so now. Because the newsletter has changed, coming to you in a more concise form that also is more uplifting than ever. We’ll keep this post brief — just long enough to show you a few of the changes we’ve made to the once-a-month-only Humanity Project Newsletter. This screen capture image isn’t large enough to include the lovely photo at the top of our April 2014 newsletter. But we think this gives you the idea.

Focused on Safety

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

As we had noted in a recent blog, April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Since our very cool, teen-created I Care teen driver safety program is mainly about the dangers of distracted driving, we felt that another blog on this topic is a good idea.

Did you know that if you take your eyes off the road for two seconds or longer, you double your chance of having a car accident? And did you know that on average your eyes are focused away from the road for five seconds when texting — and that at only 55 mph you travel 100 yards during that time? That’s like driving the length of a football field, blindfolded. These are just two of many examples of distracted driving’s perils.

At the Humanity Project, we hope to encourage teens to keep their focus where it belongs when on our highways. I Care, of course, avoids scare tactics. All the horrific movies showing car crashes and injured victims, all the dire warnings … they don’t work. Research has long shown that this approach simply doesn’t stay in the minds of teens. Or anyone else, for that matter. Who wants to sit behind the wheel of their car and remember the terrible things that could happen to them in an automobile? It’s simply too scary for us, so we push those memories out of our minds and go on our merry motoring way. Texting, checking email, looking at sports scores, etc.

But I Care uses humor and pathos and appealing graphics to deliver our message, then we ask teens to share that message with their best friends and parents in ways that can alter behind-the-wheel behavior. Still, it is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month afterall. We hope the facts quoted above can serve as a reality check to each of us. Let’s face it, nearly every motorist could do a better job of paying attention to their driving. Maybe this month is a good time for us to begin.

Major National Blog Lauds The Humanity Project

Just a few members of our large thp4kids student team

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

The Humanity Project comes in for some very nice praise in a new blog just posted on Daily Kos. Click here to go to the Daily Kos article. If you’re not familiar with Daily Kos, here are some basics: It is the largest progressive community website in the United States, with more than 2.5 million unique visitors monthly and a quarter of a million registered users.

That is some wonderful new exposure for our ideas and programs — and we thank the article’s author, Golda Velez of California. Golda has worked on this blog for several weeks, conducting interviews and reviewing the latest research on bullying. You’ll find the blog enlightening, we think. She focuses especially on the Humanity Project’s new website for socially isolated teens, including many in the LGBT community. That site is www.thp4kids.com … and we’re very proud of it. If you haven’t checked it out lately, please do. You will discover an all-new, much edgier design created by students to appeal to our teen audience. There’s also a national hotline for kids who need immediate guidance. We’ll be telling you more soon about some of the changes to thp4kids, which of course stands for “The Humanity Project 4 Kids.” For now, though, we wanted to let you know about this latest round of national media attention for the Humanity Project … and to again thank Golda Velez and Daily Kos for helping more folks find our free materials.

More Social Than Ever

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

Check it out! Look at our home page — yes, at the icons that have been added to our website. Those icons are new … and overdue. Because the Humanity Project has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to using social media to spread an uplifting message. Indeed, we’re proud to say that this organization has hosted our own Facebook and Twitter and YouTube pages far longer than many major national and international nonprofits.

In the past year or so, we’ve also added Tumblr and Instagram pages. And we’ve had a Humanity Project blog and podcast since our group first came before the public in 2006. (We were incorporated in 2005 but spent several months developing our original edgy website before announcing the birth of the Humanity Project.)

All this to say we’ve at last linked our website to our social media in a way that makes it easier for you to find us out there among the millions of other pages on Twitter and Facebook and the rest. Try them out for yourself, those new icons. They will transport you straight to our main social media pages. On those pages, you can interact with us quickly and simply. We’d love to hear from you, btw! Just click an icon and tell us what we can do for you … you’ll hear back from us very soon, we promise!

National Distracted Driver Awareness Month

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

Several years ago, I was in a car accident. Only a fender bender, luckily — but I caused it and got a traffic ticket for following too closely. My mistake? I got distracted, probably for no more than 3 seconds as I drove beside the South Florida ocean and gazed toward something by the sea. Traffic in front of me had stopped abruptly, I had noticed too late. Boom. 

The older I get, the more aware I become of how distracted I often am inside a car. Not just by cellphones, which I tend to avoid behind the wheel whenever possible. No, I also find myself distracted by good music or by looking at the scenery as I did that day at the Atlantic Ocean. Or by drinking coffee in the car or by reaching for something I want or simply by a preoccupation with my thoughts and feelings. Or … the list goes on.

I’m working at stopping this behavior in no small part because the Humanity Project created our own program to combat distracted driving among teens. How can I be a hypocrite by not practicing what we preach at this organization? I shouldn’t. Though we tend to take driving far too casually in the United States, the reality is that it’s by far the most dangerous thing most of us will ever do. Each time we set foot in a car we also put at risk our property, our health and our very lives … as well as our freedom. Ask those serving time in jails and prisons for serious traffic infractions what I mean.

I’m writing about all this today for a good reason: Next month is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. It’s a good chance for drivers of any age to heed the wake-up call from the Humanity Project and the many other organizations working to stop folks from driving while paying attention to something else. Our great friends at State Farm are the main sponsor of the Humanity Project program I mentioned, which is called I Care: Just Let Me Drive. Like us, State Farm is spreading the word about the dangers of distracted driving through efforts that include their consistent support year in and year out for I Care.

We are very grateful for their funding, the money that makes it possible for us to continue expanding I Care — a program that reaches now into Florida teen traffic court and into high schools from Tallahassee to Jacksonville to Miami. And still growing, thanks in part to the help from our partners at Florida SADD and their dynamic state leader, Danielle Branciforte. During April, we’ll be reminding you about National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. For now, the Humanity Project just wanted to let you know about the important attention that will be devoted all next month to a very serious issue. As for me, well, you may be happy to hear that I’ll be trying even harder to stay focused whenever I’m on the roads. It’ll be a lot safer for all of us that way.

Our Anti-Bullying Hand Sign

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

Have you seen it yet? The video? If not, you must … and then pass it along to a young child you love. We’re talking about our short video about the cool hand sign created by the Humanity Project as part of our Anti-bullying Through The Arts program. (We invented this hand sign in 2012 as one additional program element intended to help our elementary school children remember the main message we repeat during our in-school visits: “Bullying hurts everyone in this school … and it takes everyone to stop it!”

We now have this video posted on our Videos/Music page here on www.thehumanityproject.com as well as on our YouTube page at www.youtube.com/hpflorida. But we want to make sure you know about it so we’re posting it again in our blog. We offer the anti-bullying hand sign free, of course, like everything in all Humanity Project programs. Our great sponsors make that possible by providing the funding we need, day in and day out.  The only thing we ask is that when you share it, you let others know it comes from the Humanity Project. Thanks … Take a look and the video now, please.

More Than Skin Deep

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

We have known Dr. David Sharaf for more than 15 years — and used his services exclusively during that time for our personal health care. A few years ago, this fine and respected physician also became a sponsor of the Humanity Project. And in February, he renewed that sponsorship again on behalf of the dermatology practice of which he’s a key part: Skin and Cancer Associates and the Center for Cosmetic Enhancement.

You’ll find links to Dr. Sharaf at their website: http://www.scacce.com. As always, everyone at the Humanity Project is very grateful to Dr. Sharaf and his colleagues. If you’re searching for a first-class dermatologist, and you live in South Florida, we urge you to consider looking into Dr. David Sharaf. We’ve found him to be caring, thorough and highly competent … as well as a very nice guy to boot. But we’re also impressed with his willingness to help our cause. We’ve come to learn that he is a man who truly does want to help people and is willing to back up that desire in a tangible way. His efforts help us financially as well as medically, keeping us healthy so that we can assist others through our innovative and much-needed programs. Thank you, Dr. David Sharaf. You’re both a good doctor and a good man.

Grownup Fitness and Fun ... to Help Kids

Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

It is an annual event in South Florida that seems to grow bigger every year. They call it the Tour de Broward, a day of five fitness activities offered by our good friends (and much appreciated sponsors) at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. JDCH hosts the Tour de Broward to raise money for its well-respected hospital. In 2014, the funds will benefit their Pediatric Cardiac Center.

That center is an important part of Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. As they note on the Tour de Broward website, congenital heart defects are the most common birth defect in the United States. The money that comes in from Tour de Broward will buy high-tech equipment and also pay for emergency assistance for families. Presented by zMotion, the Tour de Broward is a fun day that involves 100K and 50K cycling, a 5K timed run, a 3K family walk and the Power of Play Kid Zone.

It all happens this Sunday, February 23, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Miramar Regional Park in Miramar, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale. For more information, just check out this link: http://tourdebroward.com. We are proud of our association with JDCH, which has now sponsored the Humanity Project for three consecutive years and counting. We look forward to many more years of close collaboration on Humanity Project programs such as our innovative I Care: Just Let Me Drive teen driver safety effort and our nationally acclaimed Anti-bullying Through The Arts program. If you’re in South Florida, we hope you’ll find the best way for you to help out during this year’s Tour de Broward. There are many options to explore at that Tour de Broward link above. The weather should be lovely, the people are sure to be upbeat and fun … and the cause is important. What better way to spend a Sunday?