[DIDI] The D.I.D.I. Initiative comes to the Main Grid of SL!
The D.I.D.I. Initiative is excited to announce that after extensive work on the teen grid since September 2007, we are excited to expand our efforts to the main grid this fall!
The Dream It. Do It. Initiative is an exciting partnership between Global Kids and Ashoka’s Youth Venture, open to young people and student groups in Second Life. Through January of 2009, the D.I.D.I. Initiative is supporting up to 40 teams of young people to launch ventures that benefit their communities, either within or outside the virtual world of Second Life.
D.I.D.I. empowers young people to identify social and health issues in their communities and to create and lead their own social ventures to address these issues. A venture can be a club, organization, business, or program that is ongoing and benefits one’s community in some way. With the D.I.D.I. Initiative’s support, each team of young people develops an action plan to design and launch their own social entrepreneurial projects. When the teams are ready to launch, the Initiative offers:
* Seed funding (up to $1,000 per team)
* Technical allies to provide additional advice and expertise
* Ongoing tools and support sessions
Over the last several months more than a dozen teams on the teen grid have been selected to receive venture funding. Venture ideas are varied with the majority of teens planning ventures to benefit their Teen Second Life community. Examples include:
* Raising awareness of human rights campaigns
* Creating interactive human body health rides that teach visiting users about the risks of smoking and drugs
* Combating bullying and cyber-bullying while raising self-esteem
* Creating peer support centers for teens who are new to Teen Second Life or may have disabilities.
With your help, we hope to launch 40 teams of young Venturers over the next four months. We would like to reach as many young people across the U.S. as possible with this exciting initiative, and hope you will join us.
If you are a young college-aged resident of Second Life or an educator working with young people on SL's main grid you are invited to attend one of our info sessions to be held at the Global Kids HQ in Second Life at the following times:
*Thursday 9/18, 1pm PDT
*Thursday 9/18, 6pm PDT
*Friday 9/19, 12pm PDT
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Teaching/222/165/24
If you are a teen who will be transferring to the Main Grid soon, you can email meghan@globalkids.org or IM Meghan GKid (TSL) to learn how to get involved!
