What is
the White Hats Program All About?
White Hats is a revival of an inspirational program initiated by the Harry Singer Foundation in the early 1990s. It has two goals:
#1- to publicize the many good things that are going on across the country in our schools and local communities and
#2- to honor and encourage volunteers
The Foundation will guarantee a contribution of at least $1,000 to honor and encourage the program voted best each month.
The Harry Singer Foundation also intends to sponsor a annual conference at its headquarters in Carmel, California where ideas will be exchanged and the best programs will be displayed and hopefully, replicated.
The White Hats program also reaches out to elected officials and government employees.
The general public has gotten the message that bureaucracy is too large and too costly, but they haven't heard about all the corrections and adjustments that are taking place within many government agencies. The Harry Singer Foundation collects and publicizes the exemplary in the public sector sent to us by you and sometimes adds the results of its own research. National, state and local legislators and other government workers who have implemented innovative and cost-effective procedures will be honored by those who nominate them as potential recipients of the White Hats lapel pin. The pins signify that these public sector workers are part of the solution, not the problem.
The Foundation will provide (1) community lapel pins; (2) student lapel pins (3) hints on locating White Hats in a community and involving local chapters of national service clubs and local public officials (4) application forms (5) suggestions on ways to honor new White Hats (6) various certificates of recognition by the Harry Singer Foundation including suggested ceremonies to honor members of the general public, public officials and students and (7) publication of the project on our web site where visitors will soon be able to cast votes for the best program of the month.
We are currently renovating the entire web site and by the end of the year will have online posting and voting in place. For the time being a volunteer or an observer can call 831-625-4223 or send an email to staff@singerfoundation.org describing the type of service involved.