Global Citizen Year

Global Citizen Year is launching a generation of leaders with the perspectives, skills, and networks to solve humanity’s most urgent challenges. Each year the organization recruits talented young people who represent the world’s diversity. Using the formative transition into adulthood, they help these young people shape their values, identity, and purpose in ways that classroom learning alone cannot. Through a virtual Academy and immersive Fellowship, Global Citizen Year combines curriculum, coaching, and lived experience to help students develop the power skills of the 21st century: resilience, empathy, agency, and leadership. Ultimately, in partnership with colleges, companies, and communities, their goal is to unleash a critical mass of leaders to build a more just, equitable and sustainable world.

History

Global Citizen Year was founded after Abigail Falik won first place in the 2008 Harvard Business School Pitch for Change with her blueprint for the idea.[1][2] After graduating from high school, Falik had looked for an opportunity for global service before college but found that the Peace Corps would not accept 18-year-olds, and that few similar programs existed for that age group. Abigail has since dedicated her professional life to creating new opportunities for young Americans to learn about the world. Falik received a B.A. and M.Ed. from Stanford University, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.[3]

Global Citizen Year designed a Fellowship that used the power of a deep, cultural immersion to equip exceptional high school graduates with skills and perspectives that can’t be learned in a classroom alone. For the equivalent of an academic year, Fellows experienced life for the global majority—living with a family in Brazil, Ecuador, India, or Senegal and apprenticing to local efforts advancing education, health and sustainability. Fellows developed resilience living in their stretch zone, became part of a community a world away from home, and learned to question their assumptions—about themselves and the world around them.

More than 1,000 young people completed the Fellowship, and embarked on the next phase of their lives with powerful skills and a radically new perspective.

When the COVID-19 pandemic halted international travel, the organization was forced to reimagine what a Global Citizen Year could look like.

In 2020, a virtual Academy was launched—bringing the organization's signature leadership curriculum to exponentially more students in more countries.[2]

Program

Global Citizen Year recruits talented young people from across the globe who are committed to fixing the broken world they are inheriting. Instead of selecting for perfect transcripts or prestigious degrees, the organization looks for a spark of potential, a track record of determined hope, and a hunger to tackle the biggest political, economic, and social challenges of our time. The organization is committed to equity and inclusion: >80% of participants receive need-based financial aid, >50% self-identify as BIPOC and >50% come from outside the U.S.

The Global Citizen Year experiences—an immersive Fellowship and a virtual Academy[4]—create opportunities for young people to understand and fulfill their potential as leaders. They are given a structured curriculum, a diverse cohort of peers, and an inspiring coach to guide them. In turn, they stretch beyond their comfort zones as they navigate divergent world views and explore their identity, values and purpose. Students build powerful and connected communities across lines of difference, as they develop the “REAL” skills of the 21st century:

Resilience to find comfort in ambiguity, and problem-solve in an uncertain world.

Empathy to connect with people from a range of cultures, backgrounds, and economic classes.

Agency to define their own path and the confidence to choose it.

Leadership to drive real change with curiosity, conviction, and courage

As a result, when alumni graduate, they have more than a diploma—they have a purpose. They know their “why.” They approach the next stage of their lives with a set of burning questions, ready to declare a major and a mission. They’re empowered to choose a different path, to pursue a life in service of something bigger than themselves. Ultimately, alumni are equipped to drive change in their own communities, with an impact that reverberates around the world.[5]

Recognition

In 2021 Global Citizen Year was named the #1 place to work in the U.S. by Outside Magazine.[6]

CEO and Founder, Abby Falik, is an award-winning social entrepreneur. A recognized expert on social innovation and the changing landscape of education, Falik has been featured in Forbes, NPR, The Washington Post and The New York Times. In 2018 she was named one of Goldman Sachs’ 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs, and in 2016 Fast Company named her one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business. For her achievements as a social entrepreneur, she has been recognized as an Ashoka Fellow and a Draper Richards Kaplan Entrepreneur. She currently serves on the advisory boards of World Learning, Teach for All and the Harvard Business School.

References
  1. Kristof, Nicholas (2010-10-03), "Teach for the World", The New York Times, retrieved 2 August 2011
  2. "Global Citizen Year » About Us". globalcitizenyear.org.
  3. "Global Citizen Year » Our Team". globalcitizenyear.org. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  4. "Global Citizen Year Academy". globalcitizenyear.org.
  5. "Global Citizen Year's Impact". globalcitizenyear.org.
  6. "The 50 Best Places to Work in 2021". Outside Online. 2021-11-09. Retrieved 2022-04-07.

Further reading
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.