Social Justice Shopping List

holiday present

Tis the season for giving.  That usually means agonizing over what to get everyone on your shopping list.  Have no fear, we have a few gift suggestions for the aspiring social justice advocates in your life!

Social Justice Shopping List

Give the gift of knowledge

Books!  Social justice advocates are always yearning to learn.  For your friends and family interested in sports, protests, and racism Football’s Fearless Activists by Mike Freeman is a must read.  Evicted by Matthew Desmond focuses on the epidemic of homelessness in America.  Elisabeth Rosenthal’s An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back looks into the past and future of healthcare.  These are just a few of our favorite books and there are plenty more!

Make a gift that makes a difference

Make a donation on behalf of your social justice advocate.  If your friend or family member is passionate about fighting racism, make a gift to a charity like the NAACP or Black Lives Matter.  For various civil liberties, donate to the ACLU.  If women’s rights is an issue of interest, make a donation to charities like UN Women, She Should Run, or Girls Inc.  Or make a donation to a think tank, such as the Brookings Institution or the Center for Strategic and International Studies, that’s working to inform and advance policies.  You can also make a contribution to the Teen Think Tank Project’s scholarship fund to help award a college scholarship to outstanding future changemakers.

Gift a subscription

Gift a subscription to a publication or magazine.  Help your aspiring social justice advocate stay up to date with international and domestic news. Consider weekly publications like The Economist or Time Magazine.  Or gift a monthly or quarterly subscription to publications such as Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic, or Social Justice: A Journal of Crime, Conflict & World Order.  Just be mindful to research which publications are peer-reviewed and/or follow journalist ethics and standards.

Buy from socially-conscious companies

Even if you’re not buying a social justice focused gift for the advocate in your life, you can still support social justice issues by buying from socially-conscious companies. Jane Mosbacher Morris, author of “Buy the Change You Want to See,” says that consumers can greatly affect social change by only supporting socially-conscious companies. Find out which products and brands are doing their part to make the world a better place and encourage your friends and family to support those businesses whose missions align with causes that are near and dear to you.

For more information about social justice programming for exceptional teens, follow us @teen_thinktank or subscribe to our podcast, Here’s the Problem. Happy shopping!

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