In what ways can we distinguish between a human and bot behavior?

How to become an advocate for your community as a young adult without a degree? Personal stories preferred?

• I'm looking to become a volunteer advocate for my community. My hopes for this cause would eventually result in raising money to provide help for abuse victims at centers around my county that are already open but have lost many helpful programs due to recent budget cuts. Many law makers seem to think that cutting 10% of the budgets used to help domestic violence as well as rape victims in crisis, will not effect the community greatly. However, resources for these women, children, and men are limited as it is, and can be hard to seek in the mental state that comes with being a victim to this type of violence. I feel that these programs should be focused on in a more serious manner, rather than looking the other way when the government comes in and retracts their support and settling for it. I would like to hold concerts, art shows, 5k walk & run events, block parties, to get children and families together in their communities, basketball tournaments etc. to raise money to go towards developing perpetual help for victims and their families. I want these services to be available free of charge, so as to encourage the community to get together, to seek out these events eagerly, and to realize they have the opportunity to participate in events to showcase their own talents in a time that makes it nearly impossible to harness your dreams and passions without disposable income. The concerts, sports games, and artists would be recruits from the communities within, allowing every dreamer a chance to share their talents; be it lyrically, rhythmically, artistically, etc. Specific events would not only be general art, but the emotional art that comes from surviving abusive lives. Also, I'd like a portion of this to be dedicated to focusing on self esteem. Anyone, anywhere can fall victim to domestic violence, many victims don't realize they are in a relationship with a violent or emotionally abusive person until the abuse actually happens. Even at that time, it can be hard to distinguish the full impact of the meaning of their behavior, until the victim is well into the abusive relationship, and has been hurt on a constant basis. Self esteem plays a huge factor here. I myself was one of the people that would hear about programs that focused on building positive "self esteem" and thought to myself 'okay, sure, tell yourself you really like what you're wearing and sure, you'll feel better about yourself - right' However after my experience with domestic violence, I look back at the times in the years before the physical abuse took place, times where I'd find myself hopelessly weighing my options of leaving, (without the means to do so financially), but would ultimately succumb to the relationship with my ex. I feel that if I had believed in myself the way I did before I was in a relationship with an abusive person that broke down my faith in me, I would have had the strength to leave well before I was ever injured physically. My idea is that if a plethora of information and free events for the community are available to encourage women, men and children to stay active with one another and stay aware of themselves while participating, the likelihood of these people allowing themselves to fall victim to people that treat them less than what they deserve, will lessen greatly, and a potential victim will have more of an empowered sense, being a part of their community, in ways they can not participate due to financial (as well as class) boundaries. I want the people that sleep and breathe "under the rug" of society's help, to find their voice, use it, project it, and share it with others like them. My only problem is that I don't know where to start. I'm thinking I'll try to speak with shelters, write letters to our leaders, find out where I can organize one of these art shows or concerts, recruit the individuals within my community...... It would be great to hear personal accounts of your road to community advocacy, from scratch to the day you finally made an imprint in your neighborhood and successfully touched the life of another. Thanks for reading.

• Answer:

  You could create a meetup and invite like minded people to join you in planning a fundraising project. An election year is approaching. Possibly if you contact some lawmakers up for election, they might want to lend support to any fundraising effort you might plan. Check out volunteer match and look up your area. You might be able to tap into existing activities that already have the same goal.