Global Kids' Online Leadership Program

Our Mission

The overall goals of the OLP are to:

• Create teams of digitally literate Global Kids Leaders who understand the connection between technology and global human rights and are experienced in online youth development.


• Promote civic engagement and social activism of youth through the Internet.


• Establish Global Kids as the foremost organization creating and implementing online youth development, civic participation and global education programs.

About Global Kids, Inc.

GK Mission: Global Kids (GK) is committed to educating and inspiring urban youth to become successful students as well as global and community leaders. Using interactive and experiential methods to educate youth about critical international and foreign policy issues, GK provides students with opportunities for civic and global engagement. Through its professional development program, GK provides teachers and educators with strategies for integrating a youth development approach and international issues into their classrooms. Global Kids addresses three urgent and specific needs: New York City public school students possess a range of assets – including foreign languages, cross-cultural communication skills, and a first-hand understanding of global trends and events – that are in demand from business, government, and nonprofit institutions – but are not nurtured or cultivated in the current educational curriculum. Urban public schools – too frequently – fail to engage students in the learning process, develop sophisticated skills, or educate them about international relations, global health, sustainability, development, and other issues facing the United States and the world. Since September 2001, the American people and our leaders have come to realize that a lack of knowledge about other countries and global issues seriously impedes our capacity to assure a secure and sustainable future. For more information, please visit the Global Kids website.

About OLP

Our Online Leadership Program (OLP) was created in 2000 to bring new media into our after school programs, introduce these programs into online communities, and explore how the combination of the two could develop 21st Century Learning Skills. Through programs utilizing video games, virtual worlds, online dialogues and social networks, youth involved in our programs now have the opportunity to have their voices heard and make a global impact in ways that were previously unimaginable.

A healthy democracy requires an informed and engaged citizenry.

Urban youth are all too often marginalized from public decision making processes, lacking essential skills required to be successful students, workers and citizens.

Since 1989, Global Kids has responded by supporting urban youth to be global citizens and community leaders and, through its Online Leadership Program (OLP), become a national leader in the educational application of digital media.

• Civic Participation Through Gaming
  “I learned to be a leader and not just a follower.” -- Theodore, GK Leader
  
  Since 2002, with funders like the Microsoft Corporation and partners like the New York Public Library, Playing For Keeps has used the playing and designing of video games to develop youth leaders empowered to make a difference in the world. GK’s first game, Ayiti: The Cost of Life, focused on the relationship between poverty and education in Haiti and has been played over two million times.



• Global Issues Through Virtual Worlds
  “I never knew I was this smart.” -- Egypt, GK Leader
  
  Since 2005, Global Kids has used virtual worlds to develop informed youth leaders who identify as global citizens. With the I Dig Science program, through funders like the MacArthur Foundation and partners like the Field Museum, youth have collaborated across multiple cities with their peers and scientists in the field to learn about paleontology and contemporary issues affecting African countries.



• 21st Century Learning Skills Through Social Media Production
  
  Global Kids programs use a wide array of social media tools, such as photo and video sharing sites, blogging, social networks, digital comic books and more, to prepare youth with 21st Century Learning Skills. Media Masters was produced through a partnership with M.I.T. to create visual assessments of youth’s digital literacy skills and support them in their acquisition through the production of social media about global issues.



• Professional Services
  “The thoughtful design of the program and the dynamic teaching and training methods of Global Kids staff has set a high bar for future teen courses.” -- Elaine Charnov, New York Public Library
  
  Global Kids offers professional development trainings, event simulcast production, and consulting services to support others using or advocating for the educational use of digital media. Global Kids has trained the New York Public Library to offer “serious game” design programs, simulcasted the launch of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, consulted on initiatives for IBM, and trained grantees of the Covenant Foundation on the educational uses of social media.