I had the occasion some time back to have a pleasant conversation with Jackie Krick of ECU Communications www.ecucomm.com With her usual diplomacy and tact, she informed me that Liberty's Promise has a lot of great stories, and that we've failed spectacularly to share them with the rest of the world. Another friend, Mike Jones of The World Bank, says the same thing. The fact of the matter is, everyone says it.

Maintaining a web site is no easy feat. Whoever said that creating the site is 10 percent of the work, and keeping it updated is the other 90 percent, wasn't kidding. Working to develop and strengthen our programs, monitor our interns, and raise money to keep it all going is a full time job for three people. All my nonprofit colleagues tell the same story. Outreach, telling more and more people about our successes, is crucial for the success of the organization, and almost always takes a back seat to other priorities. The result: our work ends up being our best kept secret.

And that's too bad, because we ARE doing a lot of great things that we'd like you to know about. We've helped young men leave gang life. We've helped young women aspire to careers in the sciences and technology. Best of all, we've helped 125 young people in Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland realize that America is the land of opportunity, that they, as immigrants, are not doomed to menial, unskilled service jobs. With a little hard work and determination, they can succeed.

In our first full year of operation, we've updated this web site twice. We plan on doing a lot better in year two. Stick around and see.

Please feel free to send us your comments and thoughts. We can be reached at lp-info@libertyspromise.org

Best wishes,

Bob Ponichtera
Executive Director