Approach, goals and vision
World Bank’s Definition of Empowerment: The process of enhancing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes. Central to this process are actions which both build individual and collective assets, and improve the efficiency and fairness of the organizational and institutional context which govern the use of these assets. (www.worldbank.org/empowerment)
Global Potential’s philosophy is rooted in the idea that all youth can empower one another to transform their own communities. Youth are entrusted with the responsibility of identifying a need in their own community, developing a plan of action (social venture) to address this need, and then actually implementing the plan. This is accomplished first through intensive educational workshops, social entrepreneurship and life skills training, and a formative international summer service homestay in a rural community in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Upon return, the students receive additional mentoring from Global Potential staff to implement their action plan for community change.
The program draws its strength from many sources, including strong local and international partnerships, diaspora community support, a comprehensive and sustainable model of youth and community development, and an action plan rooted in both social entrepreneurship theory and critical pedagogy. Global Potential is unique in its vision of mutually enhancing and sustaining community development across cultures. In this sense, it seeks not only to provide underserved New York City and Boston youth with a formative summer experience, but to actually effect long term social change within the international host site (Batey 7, Batey 8, Cuchilla, and Los Blocs in the Dominican Republic and el Barrio Maria Jesus Olivas in Nicaragua). GP youth and youth of the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua are collaborators in a reflective process of shared growth and renewal directed at both socio-economic development and justice.
This year, Global Potential’s 20 NYC youth from the International High School @ Prospect Heights and Bushwick Academy of Urban Planning and 10 Boston youth from the Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers in the Fenway neighborhood and the John D. O’Bryant School of Math and Science in the Roxbury neighborhood will spend 6 weeks immersed in materially poor but spiritually vibrant rural communities. For the students and community, the structure of the stay includes:
- homestay with a local family – community infrastructure projects – women’s enterprise projects (funding from WorldVision and IDDI) – internships with local leaders in a field of the student’s interest (education, development, health, sanitation, agriculture, engineering etc.) – development and implementation of a summer day camp for local youth (organized by students and facilitators) – Community town meetings on relevant local social issues, like racism and poverty – Evening reflective group meetings with GP youth – Classes/workshops led by a GP facilitator on key development and justice issues related to our work in the Batey – Ethnography and interview project of community members by GP youth – Documentary project – Journaling and blogging
