Mid-year retreats: Across the country Allies took time out from their work to reflect and refuel See more photos �

Public Allies alum Charles Adams says an education is what separates him from three cousins who've spent time in prison.  Charles, a 1996 graduate of Public Allies DC, is the Head of School at The SEED School of Washington, D.C., a public boarding school where 94% of the graduates go on to college.

The SEED School, featured on "60 Minutes" and in the film "Waiting for   'Superman,'" provides a safe yet challenging environment for disadvantaged kids to flourish. Charles has led his school through four successful years and transformed the lives of hundreds of children, passing along the same values he practiced at Public Allies. Read more�

Los Angeles' Skid Row: Streets littered with trash. People sleeping  under cardboard boxes. Drug use in broad daylight. Whereas many would  see only problems  and needs, LA Ally Narinda Heng finds that Skid Row  is, in her words, "full of potential  and a sense of possibility."   Read her first-person account of the people she's met and the community she's found in Skid Row.  Read more �

Half a dozen of your co-workers form a circle around you and each takes turns telling you what they appreciate and find difficult about you. You want to interrupt, protest, interject - but all you're allowed to say is "thank you" after each co-worker has their say. This describes the "Gift Seat" exercise, one way Allies get   feedback from one another. It's both a little scary and exhilarating, says one Chicago Ally who went through it recently.   

The group of Allies gathered one recent evening at the offices of Public Allies Chicago have worked together since September, so they know each other well. Read more�

For Kanwar Singh all it took was meeting a group of Allies and he was, in his words, "immediately hooked." So hooked in fact that he went on to serve on the board of Public Allies Chicago for 10 years and has been on the national Public Allies board for the last eight.

Recently Kanwar was elected chair of the Public Allies national board. Read more � 

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