Social entrepreneurship never looked so good! Long-time Free The Children supporter Elias Roman, along with two friends, has recently launched Amie Street, a digital music store like no other. Amie Street is a social network of users focused on discovering and buying independent music.

With a unique focus on community, Amie Street is a site dedicated to the discovery of new and independent music. To encourage people to share new music with their friends, members are rewarded with free downloads when they share their favourite songs with users in their social network. All tracks are initially free to download; the price of a track increases based on the number of users who download it, giving new artists an opportunity for much-needed exposure. Sound cool? Business Week magazine thought so too, recently recognizing the Amie Street team as among America's top 25 entrepreneurs under 25-years-old.

This group of recent Brown University graduates is redefining the way music is purchased online, enabling users to directly support Free The Children by purchasing songs in the Benefit section of their website. The songs in this section have been generously donated by the artists.  Giving back to the community is a core value of Amie Street's principles. The company’s founders believe socially responsible business should be an industry standard, and are striving to incorporate these values into their business model.

Founded by former Free The Children youth member, Elias Roman, Amie Street is a digital music store like no other. Listen to great music and supporting Free The Children on Amie Street!

How can you get started with Amie Street? Support Free The Children by downloading a benefit track by State Radio (the same artists as Dispatch) or jazz legend Sonny Fortune. All Free The Children members have access to one free music credit (good for one benefit track) by visiting http://amiestreet.com/members/signup.php and entering “FTC” as the promotion code.

One track at a time, Elias and Amie Street are proving that with a bit of thoughtfulness and passion, business success can be synonymous with world change.

In fall 2005, St. Christopher Catholic Elementary School in Mississauga, Ontario embarked on a fundraising mission: to build a school through the Adopt a Village: Brick by Brick campaign in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is a small West African country that was torn apart by a brutal 11-year civil war. Adults and children suffered intense violence and much of the country’s buildings were destroyed, including 90 per cent of all schools. The reconstruction process has been slow, but education has been the key to helping war-affected children rebuild their lives and to laying the foundation for peace and stability.

Last fall, the school community at St. Christopher came together and achieved their goal in record time. Students sold bracelets and teachers asked for donations instead of holiday gifts. Within one week, they raised enough money to build and outfit a school in Sierra Leone. In total, St. Christopher raised nearly $10,000! 

St. Christopher School’s student parliament in front of their Adopt a Village: Alternative Income project poster.

On October 19, Free The Children speaker Mikey Opatowski visited St. Christopher to deliver a powerful speech. He congratulated all 590 students and educators on their accomplishments and described the huge impact that their actions this year will have on the lives of children in Sierra Leone.

Passionately dedicated to peacebuilding through rebuilding in Sierra Leone, the staff and students of St. Christopher are on the road to true world change.

If you would like to invite Mikey to speak at your school, please contact Aileen by e-mail at aileen@freethechildren.com or by phone at 1.416.925.5894 ext. 129.