One of the most philanthropic social movements I have seen is the MyCityRocks company. I've been trading emails for the last two weeks with the CEO of the company, Cliff Kurtzman. I want to share with you some of what he told me.

Let me try to place the charitable activities into perspective... It isn't just something extra that we do, it is a central piece of the our business model. Our mission is to help our members "ROCK" by helping them HAVE FUN and GIVE BACK to their communities. We are using Web 2.0 technologies to build a global brand around helping people have fun while giving back to their community in a wide variety of ways.

Giving back goes beyond just supporting established charities. It means making the community we each live in a better place. Whether we are talking about making Houston, Texas ROCK, or making Truth or Consequences, New Mexico ROCK, we're at the local level. Everywhere people seem to want to improve their local scene to make their part of the world a place in which they have pride in representing. And they want to represent that their community ROCKS... which is why the shirts are pretty popular.

Here's where I have to add that Cliff sent me dozens of pictures, I wish I could use them all. Everyone seemed to be having a blast and wearing the T-shirts he mentioned. I can tell they were "pretty popular"!

Cliff went on to say:

So doing these things is essential to our brand and our business model. MyCityRocks is all about thinking globally while acting locally, and using technology to enable people to do it.

Of course, this all led me to wonder if there was a MyCityRocks coming anywhere near me.

Well, here's their upcoming events:

• Friday, January 20th, MyCityRocks is sponsoring the United Music Alliance Throwdown '06 at Fitzgeralds in Houston.


• On March 10th-11th, MyCityRocks is sponsoring the Texas Rock Festival Tour, also at Fitzgeralds in Houston.