kids these days

Here are some examples of what young people used to do, before Global Action Clubs, when they started working with YPW: New Global Citizens. New Global Citizens is here to provide ideas, support, and training when you are ready to tackle a big, global issue. These people and projects profiled are from a wide range of backgrounds. However, they all have two things in common:

1. Each person on this page was under the age of 18 when they started their project; and
2. Each person saw something wrong in the world and fit themselves into a solution.

Photo: Shari Young Kuchenbecker

Education for Street Children

Orissa, India
Amanda Gelender & Nicole Marcotte

Ruchika Social Services teachers hold classes at Indian train stations to reach impoverished children that must work on the train platforms for survival. While at a YPW conference, Amanda and Nicole learned that the 40+ schools were in desperate need of a mobile library to move books and toys from station to station and were inspired to take on the project.

With YPW support, they have held events over the past year to raise $8,000 which will be matched by another anonymous teen donor to provide the $16,000 needed to buy a bus, hire a driver and maintain the library for one full year.

We believe that education is a basic human right. — Amanda Gelender & Nicole Marcotte

Photos: Maria Porter, Christina Fletes

Schools for Indigenous Children

Chiapas, Mexico
Danny Acosta & Christina Fletes

In the southern-most part of Mexico, on the border of Guatemala, thousands of Indian children in Maya communities do not have ready access to schools. To get a formal education, children must walk miles and are often ridiculed by teachers and classmates once they arrive. They speak indigenous languages - not Spanish - and find that much of the education offered is irrelevant to their lifestyle.

In partnership with the organization Schools for Chiapas, Danny and Christina galvanized their high school to raise money to help build indigenous schools for these children. They felt a particular draw to this issue, as their families are from Mexico and Central America. They taught their community here in the United States about the struggles of indigenous people in the developing world and created new educational opportunities for dozens of children.

Photo: YouthVoice

Fighting the HIV/AIDS Pandemic

Sub-Saharan Africa & California
Youth Voice

Youth Voice is a group of students at Pacific Collegiate High School in Santa Cruz, CA, who as members of YPW's Youth Together Against AIDS, have collected HIV/AIDS related stories, poems and artwork from African pen pals and their own classmates for a book.

In partnership with the Firelight Foundation, Youth Voice will donate all proceeds from the sale of the book and related events to support HIV/AIDS prevention amongst youth in sub-Saharan Africa.

We really wanted to create something that would connect the youth here in America with youth in Africa… Our hope is that this project will spread awareness of AIDS by bringing the voices of those affected by AIDS to as many people as possible. — Youth Voice

Photos: Katharine Kendrick, Annalise Blum

Economic Independence for Refugees

Darfur, Sudan
Annalise Blum & Katharine Kendrick

Over the course of a school year, Annalise and Katharine held events to raise awareness throughout the Bay Area about the human rights crisis in Darfur, Sudan. By selling green ribbons for $1 each, they raised over $4,000.

Directed through Relief International, these funds were used to supply livestock to refugee families, an essential step toward re-establishing livelihood.

I couldn't ignore the chilling parallel between the genocide in Rwanda a decade ago and the atrocities occurring today in Sudan… I knew I wanted to do something to help and YPW gave us invaluable support and advice. — Katharine Kendrick

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