The Summer Institute provides underserved young people with significant exposure to the world of foreign policy and international affairs, including visits to governmental and human rights organizations, and meetings with policy experts. It addresses the need to engage diverse youth in learning about current events and the world of foreign policy, and equips them with the skills they need to make a positive impact.
Global Kids equips young people with the skills to be engaged citizens and achieve success in a technology-driven global society. Urban youth remain largely uninformed about global issues, and today's workplace requires a wide scope of competencies, from critical thinking to digital media literacy. GK youth are ethnically and socio-economically diverse, attend low-performing, high-need schools in NYC and Washington, DC, and face significant challenges such as poverty, drugs, and teen parenthood.
This microproject will sponsor five high school students from low-income communities to attend Global Kids' award-winning foreign policy institute at the Council on Foreign Relations. During the program, students learn about prevailing trends in foreign affairs through interactive workshops, meetings with experts in the field, film screenings and discussions, field trips to international institutions in NYC, and through the development of yearlong peer education projects.
Long-term, GK participants graduate from high school, enroll in college, and become leaders in their communities and the world at large. Last year, 99% of GK seniors graduated from high school, more than 30 points higher than NYC's average. 87% of those graduates are now in college. In an alumni survey, 97% agreed that GK helped to increase their leadership skills, and 95% agreed that they increased their civic and community engagement due to GK.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
