Youth Venture

October 24, 2008 - 11:35am — abby

D.I.D.I. Press Release

http://www.globalkids.org/?id=126

This fall, Global Kids and Ashoka’s Youth Venture are excited to announce opportunities for teens and young adults to receive $1,000 in seed funding and social entrepreneurial training through the Dream It Do It Initiative in Second Life. D.I.D.I. seeks to utilize the connecting forces of these virtual worlds to empower young people to implement sustainable projects that will bring positive change to their communities’ health.

Through January of 2009, the D.I.D.I. Initiative is supporting teams of young people to launch their own ventures that benefit their communities, either within or outside of Teen Second Life. A venture can be a club, organization, business, or program that is ongoing and benefits the community. With the D.I.D.I. Initiative’s support, each team of youth 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
• A supportive network of fellow D.I.D.I. Venture Teams
• Identity as part of a global movement of young changemakers

To get started, email meghan@globalkids.org or contact Coreina Grace in Second Life to receive your D.I.D.I. Action Plan Toolkit!

The D.I.D.I. Initiative is made possible with generous support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. To learn more about D.I.D.I. click here.

About Global Kids, Inc.
Launched in 1989 and independent since 1993, Global Kids' mission is to educate and inspire urban youth to become successful students and global and community leaders by engaging them in socially dynamic, content-rich learning experiences. Global Kids, Inc. is a nationally recognized leader in using digital media to promote global awareness and youth civic engagement. Global Kids’ Online Leadership Program (OLP) integrates a youth development approach and international and public policy issues into youth media programs that build digital literacy, foster substantive online dialogues, develop resources for educators, and promote civic participation. Currently, the OLP is accomplishing its goals through initiatives within four broader areas: the development of socially -conscious online games; youth-led online dialogues; Virtual Worlds; and the Digital Media Initiative.

About Youth Venture
Ashoka’s Youth Venture leads an international community of young people who are powerful now, changemakers now. Youth Venture inspires and invests in teams of young people to create and launch their own sustainable, community-benefiting Ventures and then connects them into a global movement of young changemakers who are together redefining the youth years as a time of leadership and positive social change. This is the foundation of an Everyone a Changemaker™ world - the key factor for success in every part of society.

October 7, 2008 - 11:02am — abby

Support Sessions on both MG and TG!

Hey Venturers!

We'll be holding workshops on both the main grid and teen grid this week. Please stop by to talk about how your ventures are going!

Teen Grid: Tue, Oct. 7 1PM SLT (4PM EST) at the coffeehouse on the DIDI Island
Main Grid: Wed, Oct. 8 1PM SLT (4PM EST) at the Global Kids Headquarters

See you there!

September 16, 2008 - 3:02pm — Sally

Team Forms

D.I.D.I. Team Members:

Please click on the attachment below to download the Team Member Form (MS Word doc). Please have at least two members of your team complete and sign form and mail it to:

Sally Shapiro
Youth Venture
25 Washington St, Suite 406
Brooklyn, NY 11201
USA

If you have any questions about the form, contact Sally in-world (MG: SallyYV Lungu/TG: Sally YouthVenture), or by email (sshapiro@youthventure.org).