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DC meeting of young and the restless
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Should every city have an event like this to catlyze the synergy of young professionals?

http://blog.trendctv.com/glamorous-life-blog/2009/04/10/one-week-until-the-big-ygl-event/

May 21, 2009 | 5:39 PM Comments  0 comments

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Young staffers in the Obama Administration
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic


There are a lot of young people serving in very senior positions in the Obama administration. Here are three:

Joshua DuBois, 26, Head of White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1877501,00.html

Jon Favreau, 27, Director of Speechwriting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Favreau_(speechwriter)

Chris Hughes, 25, Coordinator for Online Organization of the Obama Campaign
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hughes_(Facebook)


May 15, 2009 | 10:44 AM Comments  0 comments

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Advice for the obama administration
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Sure, I'm aware that this "advice" might be published somewhere.

Sure, I'm aware that this "advice" could be used for the Obama-Biden administration staff selection process, which I'm interested in, so I'll go with a first person narrative.

In 2000 I co-founded the Global Youth Action Network, with a dream, much like Obama's platform, of empowering greater youth participation in politics. I believe that when young people are given a voice, a place to stand, or a voice, and are inspired and unencumbered, they are capable of great things. Many have called young people the "world's greatest untapped resource."

My advice to the administration is to set in motion a series of structural and political "opportunities" that open the door for citizens, and especially young people, to "participate" in greater and greater ways.

I helped Brazil develop its national youth policies. One piece of legislation requests that all high schools in the country create environmental councils. Picture students organizing to be stewards of their school, working together to map its carbon footprint and reduce waste. It's inspiring a new generation of environmentalists. Another policy, created by earlier creative legislators, requests that all schools have student unions and elections. They encourage democratic participation early on. Another "innovative" idea, in the laboratory of social technologies, which is Brazil, is the "Participatory Budget." Picture a city setting aside 1% of its annual budget, each year, to projects determined by consensus-inspired, citizen-led decision-making processes. Imagine dozens of young people getting together to determine whether their town should invest in a job training center or a music recording studio. They learn from each other in the process, and realize that "job training" serves a greater community. I saw it happen and that kind of deliberative process created more trust, ensuring that the Job Training Center was very successful, with lots of participation, doing much more than your traditional center could ever do.

Brazil is just one of many countries in the world with innovative social technologies that bring people (especially young) together in new ways. 45 of the 46 countries in the Council of Europe have "National Youth Councils." They provide a platform for young people to engage in the democratic process and deliver their political recommendations to national legislatures. Dozens of countries around the world have "National Youth Service" programs where "conscription" doesn't mean serving the army, but serving communities instead. Malaysia has National Youth Awards which recognize the extraordinary contributions of young people to their communities each year. The honor inspires many to choose community participation over materialism. My friend in Viet Nam runs a radio show where young people talk about their solutions for the country's problems. Another friend manages a Latin American network of young people who read newspapers, identify mis-representations of youth, and youth issues, and then respond by writing editorials and educating journalists. Another friend in the Gambia brings truck loads of city youth into the countryside. They connect with the land, the produce, the origins of their food, and commit themselves to an organic, independent future. The global food security alarms that went off earlier this year were silent in his backyard.

The world has a lot of wisdom and ideas to offer us, here in the USA. Many of these programs don’t cost a penny. All we need is the idea, or the visibility, or the convener, or the wave of the legislative wand. Maybe it's coming?

The Bush administration looked out into the big unknown world with fear and suspicion. This new administration doesn't. I think we should create a Presidential Commission on Youth and Intergenerational Partnership. I'd be happy to share my vision of what it could be… but who's ear do I have? Yours? Email me: jonah@youthlink.org (www.bridgingnetwork.org)

November 20, 2008 | 12:30 AM Comments  0 comments

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Quick catch up
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

I haven't posted to my own blog for years.

I'm now living in the USA, near Washington, DC. I'm a dad. My son is almost four. I helped build the Leverage Alliance (a network of young philanthropists) and then the Bridging Network (www.bridgingnetwork.org) to consult on young philanthropy.

In July of 2007 I launched www.ezintouch.com to help people with contact management and email marketing and in September of 2007 I became the chief system geek at Distributive Networks (www.distributivenetworks.com) to be part of the team that developed the technology for Obama's text messaging platform.

Oh, I also just helped my Dad launch a bed and breakfast / vacation rental on his farm in Union, WV. Check out www.pynemountainfarm.com


November 20, 2008 | 12:24 AM Comments  1 comments

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life update - now in dc, now doing young philanthropy work

A few months ago the family and I moved to the Washington, DC area. I'm now helping to build the network of the Leverage Alliance. www.leval.org

February 14, 2007 | 2:04 PM Comments  0 comments

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proposal rejected

In May 2003 I re-submitted a proposal to World Economic Forum (I had done the same in Dec 2002) for a debate between youth there in Davos and in India at the World Social Forum (the two events will happen simultaneously in January of 2004). Last week the WEF turned down the proposal. I'm still waiting for a reply as to why - but insiders tell me that it is because the WEF gets approached with interesting proposals all the time and can only pick the best ones for their needs. I believe in this debate idea. How could we convince them that it meets their needs in a big way?

September 5, 2003 | 5:39 PM Comments  0 comments

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debate of the forums

i just recent wrote a proposal for the world economic forum proposing a video dialogue between youth in davos and youth at the world social forum in porto alegre. they responded. it is too late in the game to organize it for this january, but in 2004 it looks like we can do it! this will be a great opportunity to invite the media and bring the voice of youth to the globlization debate.

December 3, 2002 | 7:58 AM Comments  0 comments

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What various global youth networks exist?

There are new ones beginning all of the time:

I just found two more today by surfing the net for "global youth"

The UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention
http://www.undcp.org/global_youth_network.html

The World Conservation Union's Global Youth Reporters Programme
http://www.iucn.org/info_and_news/gyrp/

World Youth Organization on Climate Change
http://www.wyocc.org/

I've listed a bunch at the bottom of this page:
http://www.youthmovements.org/analysis.htm

... more to come ...


March 19, 2002 | 12:09 PM Comments  0 comments

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Want to see a list of articles and links researching/considering what is happening
to youth around the world and why youth should be involved in decision-making/democracy?

Please add links.

1.
My private set of links http://www.youthmovements.org/articles

2. Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development, "Rejecting the Isolation of Youth--Adults and Organizations Dramatically Benefit"(Preview of article from the Nonprofit Quarterly, Winter 2001). Historically adults and programs excluded young people in program development and decision-making. In the 1990's, people recognized and data indicated that this practice had negative consequences and leaders of all ages began to transform their daily activities and programs. The results have been enormously positive and have powerful implications for many organizations and the sector as a whole. Click here: http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/youth/rejectingisolation.php

3.
http://www.freechild.org/youth_involvement_main_page.htm
Welcome to The Freechild Project's SIYI. Around the world, there is a powerful movement that gains more momentum every year, and it is called youth involvement. Youth involvement seeks to include the voice of youth throughout society, in communities, governments, and organizations. Through the SIYI I am studying the implications, impacts, and outcomes of youth involvement. Here are some of the resources I have identified in that study. For more information on the SIYI contact info@freechild.org.

4.
http://www.atTheTable.org
Visit At The Table for massive information about youth involvement throughout the U.S., and ideas on how to get youth involved in your area.

5.
Nonprofit Quarterly Editors, "Hampton, Virginia: A City-wide Enabling Environment," (Preview of an article from the Nonprofit Quarterly, Winter 2001). This article highlights not only how one community came to understand the convergence between community health and youth development but also provides some practical suggestions for creating an environment for enabling youth and young adult participation. Click here: http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/youth/citywide.php

January 11, 2002 | 12:59 PM Comments  0 comments

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Youth funding opportunties and links

I want to see a comprehensive list of links to International youth funding opportunities. I get asked this question all the time and have too little experience with fundraising to give it an adequate answer. There are so many great resources but no primary linker of them. I think TIG will become that. Here are a few to start:

1)

New Publication Links Youth Organizations to Funding Opportunities The Office of Youth Services' "Sources of Funding for Youth Services" provides a comprehensive and up-to-date look at organizations funding youth services, including opportunities in health care, substance abuse and
technology. Tips on proposal writing are also included.

2)

http://www.doleta.gov/youth_services/maps-founding.asp

The Council of Europe has established special funds providing financial assistance for international youth activities:

http://www.coe.fr/youth/english/EYF/funding.htm

3) Here is a web guide to youth fundraising resources created by YouthActionNet.org which is a project of the International Youth Foundation

http://www.youthactionnet.org/files.fcgi/604_resource_guide.pdf

4) The Africa Youth Foundation, in Germany!??

http://www.ayf.org

5) Applying online:

TIG's ideafund: http://www.ideafund.org

GYAN's awards: http://www.takingitglobal.org/action/yiaa.html

Be the Change $: http://www.peacechild.org/bethechange/default.asp

6) I think the two largest youth funders in the USA are the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts

http://www.pewtrusts.org
http://www.wkkf.org

What more?

January 7, 2002 | 4:55 PM Comments  0 comments

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