When one’s passion is used to serve a cause — or right a wrong — it literally provides an emotional release, restoring a sense of meaning and balance.  It’s for this reason that I am highlighting some of the amazing ways youth have been using their passions to assist with the tragic elementary school shootings that took place in Newtown, CT just one week ago.

CRAFTIVISM: sending symbols of peace and hope

• Operation Sandy Hook: Peace to You was inspired by the Japanese tradition of sending paper cranes in time of tragedy, representing peace and good wishes.  16 year old Calista Frederick-Jaskiewicz hopes to get 1,000 origami cranes in the schools.
• 500 Sky & Sun Ribbons were made by 12-year old Camren Mangun, a boy with autism wants kids at his own school to take comfort in the colors of sky & sun.  He has made over 500 blue and orange ribbons for fellow students to wear.
• Ribbons of Remembrance is an initiative started by 17-year old Larisa Schadt who is using her art-form to raise money for the Newtown Memorial Fund, created to memorialize the victims and support survivors.  Larisa has also created donation collection boxes in partnership with local businesses to raise additional funds.
• Snowflakes for Sandy-Hook is a student art-project that aims to create a magical winter-wonderland of paper snow-flakes for returning students, not just at one school, but in all elementary schools in Newtown. These paper crafts are being made as far away as Kuwait!

GIVING: selfless crusades

• Capes For Kids are “super hero” capes being collected by 13 year old Allison Anderson tor the children in Newton.  More than 1,000 capes have been collected so far!
• GiftsFor20 was created by 11 year old Noah Hudon-Peralta who hopes to inspire more kids to donate new toys in honor of the Sandy Hook 20.

WRITING: finding your voice

• Days after the shooting, college student Simone Bernstein encouraged others to take action through writing. Simone also listed several ways that any young person can contribute to the recovery of the Newtown community in an article for Huffington Post Teen. Her suggestions included ways to express sympathy and fund-raise for survivors; she also urged young people to find ways to prevent violence from happening again, by organizing a town hall or contacting a legislator about gun control policy.
• 14 year old Hannah is giving away 600-copies of her book, Yoga For Kids, as a tool to help kids find a new calming outlet.

SOCIAL MEDIA: making our virtual worlds virtuous

• Using Twitter, high school senior Mac Morris started a simple week long fundraiser which is fueling daily collections at the high school using the #CMSforNewtown hashtag. Many students are joining in, tweeting updates and contributing to the collection.  As of 12/20/12, close to $3,000- dollars have been raised.

The feeling of helplessness can overwhelm anyone to a point of inaction.  ’What can I do?’ is a rhetorical question, perhaps.  Yet within each and every one of us exists something we’re good at — something about which we’re passionate.  Pursue your passion.  Make a difference.

Lee Fox: Nonprofit Partnerships with Youth from Social Media for Nonprofits

At the Social Media For Nonprofits conference, I stepped in front of 300 non-profit leaders and said: “I’ve been given 30 minutes to convince you that YOUTH need NEW APPROACHES to volunteering, service and philanthropy. AND, more importantly, if you DO empower young people, your organization will achieve change for the causes you serve more rapidly and more effectively.”  I’ll be saying the same thing on 08/14 in Los Angeles, 08/28 in Boston and 10/23 in Austin (register here, and enter “KooDooZ” as the promotional code).

As bold as that statement may be, it is true.  We have before us a new generation of activists who are mashing up philanthropy in ways that most organizations have yet to understand or empower.  Unfortunately, “activism 2.0” tends to be mistaken as “slacktivism” — a derogatory and damaging label, particularly when associated with youth.  The term suggests that their efforts are less consequential and therefore, not as meaningful.  Simple actions such as signing an online petition, changing the appearance of an avatar, and social sharing may be signatures of a “slacktivist,” but they’re also the first powerful steps of a cause champion.

“ONE CLICK TO BROADCAST”

Thanks to technology, the world’s youth are sensitized and aware of the humanitarian challenges that surround them globally.  Their penchant for knowledge-sharing makes youth — 52% of the world’s population — a powerful broadcast force for awareness-building.  And awareness building is a huge part of how nonprofits earn donors and volunteers!

So while charities report persons in their early twenties as being the least likely to volunteer, Millennials and Generation Z’s are self-identifying in higher and higher numbers as “active volunteers.”  Case in point, of the 6,522 respondents from the Millennial Impact Report, 63% said they volunteered for a nonprofit in 2011. Both traditional and non-traditional “volunteer” activities need to be embraced.

“RELINQUISH CONTROL”

The way I see it, nonprofit leaders are making a big mistake if they only value traditional activism (that they control and plan), such as participation at rallies and events, structured volunteerism, or raising funds for donation.   According to a TBWA\Chiat Day study, not only do youth find traditional activism unsatisfying, 40% don’t feel these activities have viable impact!

More importantly less than 1-in-10 youth have faith in the nonprofit sector to address the very issues they care about most — such as lack of job opportunities, inadequate education, vulnerable working conditions and insufficient government investments as illustrated in the 2012 World Youth Report.

 “SHARING = SOLVING”

There’s a great infograph detailing the “rise of the slacktivist” which illustrates the fact that social media promoters are 4x’s more likely to encourage others to sign a petition, or contact a politician, and twice  more likely to volunteer, ask for donations or take part in an event!  In essence, the very outcomes nonprofit leaders desire!  Again, the Millennial Impact Report stated that an astonishing 75% of respondents gave a financial gift (albeit micro-sized donations averaging ~$100 dollars), and 71% raised money for a cause they cared about.

 “CO-CREATION = TRANSFORMATION”

For-profits have pivoted enough to understand how powerful it is to have brand-champions re-imagine a product’s purpose, use and message.   I contend nonprofits need to allow for the same kind of co-creation with causes and philanthropy to stay relevant.  (Being that three-in-four young adults agree companies have the material resources needed to support social causes, nonprofits have to recognize that they are not always going to be the leading authority in today’s cause conversations.)

Gone are the days of broadcasting how “you” can support “us” to help “them.” Young adults need to know how “all of us” — working together — can meet and overcome our world’s most pressing challenges.

Since the one thing we all share is narrative and story-telling, the first thing a nonprofit can do is enable co-creation networks.  Youth aren’t passively consuming information, they’re mashing it up with their own productions of videos, music remixes, games, and written pieces – all of which exist and can be credited online.

“ONLINE ENGAGEMENT = OFFLINE ENGAGEMENT”

As if that isn’t convincing enough, according to a 2012 student Internet usage study, youth who create and pursue their passions online are more likely to be engaged in civic and political issues.   Passion-driven communities are directly associated with increased volunteer and charity work, as well as increased collaboration on community issues.  Therefore, it’s critical that nonprofits cultivate (or partner with) online and offline spaces which give youth the ability to (i) share, (ii) learn, (iii) participate, (iv) collaborate and (v) impact.

A big heartbreak from all the work I’ve done with youth, is their perceived lack of value from their own communities.  Project Cornerstone issued a report recently which serves as a point-in-case example.   Though young people place high value on promoting social justice and taking personal responsibility for the betterment of their community, the data clearly shows that youth perceive adults as not valuing them in that context.   (Note:  To my dismay, this report actually has better numbers than the national average.)

WHAT NONPROFITS CAN DO

ONLINE:  At least in the U.S., the “digital divide” between socio-economic groups no longer has a gulf.  94%-to-98% of American youth has access to a computer that connects to the internet, and three-quarters of teens (77%) have a cell phone.  Online is their playground, so please engage with them there.

1. Be social and be seen
   (Youth use websites, social media and e-newsletters for information gathering.  According to the Millennial Impact Report, 67% of youth who have interacted with a nonprofit have done so on facebook.)
2. Keep your online visuals compelling
   (photos and videos tend to be more powerful than words for enticing early engagement.)
3. Share your mission, but make it concise
   (your nonprofit is simply the conduit by which people engage with the cause.  Stakeholders are not giving TO you, but THRU you.)
4. Share information resources
   (avoid shameless self-promotion, youth want to learn about the cause you serve.)
5. Give credit where credit is due
   (if you notice youth supporting your initiatives online, retweet, comment back and consider opportunities such as guest blogging or highlighting a youth philanthropic mash-up in your own social sharing.)
6. Calls to action must be clear and easy to execute
   (young people expect to get it done in a “click” so make sure you’ve got a one-step process with which to engage.)
7. Mobilize with mobile
   (young people are receptive to text-messages but only if the content is meaningful and not “SPAM.”  63% of all teens say they exchange text messages every day with people in their lives, according to the PEW “Teens, Smartphones & Texting” study.  Additionally, as exemplified by the Text To Haiti case-study, mobile donations are often fueled by spur-of-the moment decisions that spread virally through friend networks.)

OFFLINE:  Provide youth leadership opportunities.  Consider what passions and skills they have that your organization can leverage.  Youth want to know exactly how their time, money or action is making a difference so communicate that effectively.

1. Offer youth positions of leadership
   (77% of GenY are seeking a seat on a nonprofit board, and 48% are wishing there were better ways to apply their professional or academic skills when volunteering.  Young people feel morally obligated, and better equipped to help support social causes than previous generations.  Consider a youth advisory council, a spot on your board, a youth-directed philanthropic fund, and/or partner with youth-founded nonprofits, social enterprises and initiatives that are in the same cause conversation.)
2. Offer a continuous string of short-term volunteering opportunities
   (58% of youth activists prefer short term volunteering, though almost half (46%) are happy to keep their efforts ongoing so long as they can clearly see the impact, according to the Millennial Impact Report.  Youth verbalize that they’d volunteer more, but often feel they miss out on opportunities to support charities, because they don’t learn about them.  Volunteering opportunities which re-occur over time, but can be achieved in short time-spans are most effective.)
3. Develop a “rewarding friendships” program
   (a majority of youth (81%), participate in “real world” activism because of their friends.  Consider gamifying or rewarding individuals for telling their friends, and ask them how they’d integrate “fun” and “social” with the volunteerism.  Remember, the friend network is a power house.)     
4. Be considerate
   (Passion for social causes is very personal, consider programs that are inclusive of gender, lifestage and circumstance needs.)

ONE MORE THING YOU CAN DO… CONTACT ME FOR MORE INFORMATION…
I’d love to start a conversation with you.

So accustomed to a fast-paced and ever changing landscape of digital experiences, today’s generation of K-12 learners are struggling to find relevance in their school work.  It’s not just that their places of learning ban Generation Z’s preferred social and mobile communication tools — or that crowd-sourced wikis like Wikipedia are treated as “unverified reference” sources by many educators — the heart-breaking reality is that youth under the age of 18 (an ENTIRE GENERATION OF PEOPLE) are not getting the message that they matter.

And we all know, without “mattering” there is no learning.  Students who are given critical thinking and problem-solving opportunities are more likely to prove themselves as entrepreneurs and innovators over students who are asked to memorize and regurgitate.  Just a few months back, a study published in the research journal, Child Development, found that discussions with peers and parents –not teachers –fueled political engagement among low-income youth.[ii]  To me, that is significant.

With one third of the world’s population online, and 45% of internet users below the age of twenty-five,[iii] the unconscionable divide that exists is perhaps, less about point of access, and more about giving everyone an equal opportunity to matter.

Each and every age should have an equal opportunity to matter.

A good part of the world today (aside from the most remote regions), enjoys mobile or internet connectivity.  It is significant then, to recognize that ALL of today’s learners (elementary, middle and high school students) are born with the digital native mind-set.  Despite their religious, national and socio-economic differences, the advance of social and mobile technologies have united this entire generation as global citizens.

Ten years ago, educator Sugata Mitra and his colleagues, installed networked PCs in the most desperately poor areas of the world without instruction of how or what to do.  Without exception, these digital natives were able to organize, collaborate and learn complex data.  This ground-breaking study serves to remind us why technology has been credited with being an evolutionary marker for mankind.

Experiments like these show that youth in Self Organized Learning Environments (SOLEs) – are capable of answering questions many years ahead of the material they’re learning in school.  As a point of illustration take these 2 examples:

• 17 year old Angela Zhang, is a typical American teen who used the internet to discover a new way of treating cancer.[iv]  When Angela was just a high school freshman, she began reading doctorate level papers on bio-engineering.  Some scientists are calling her design revolutionary as it delivers a drug directly to tumor cells and doesn’t affect healthy cells around it.  Since 2009, Angela has spent more than 1,000 hours on the project.
• 17 year old Luis Fernando Cruz, is from the impoverished nation of Honduras.  He created an advanced eyeball tracking computer device that could dramatically change the lives of thousands of disabled people in developing countries.[v]

Studies have shown that the brains of GenZ kids (born 1996 through 2010) are structurally different because of a constant exposure to tech.   Technology is literally training us to be nimble thinkers, capable of processing new ideas quickly.  Specifically, digital fluency opens us up to new ideas, so that we communicate more freely and frequently.[vi]

Moreover, youth are fueling the compassion boom[vii] by connecting with like-minded people worldwide.  Research proves that youth brains favor emotionally-stimulating information[viii], which is perhaps why more and more kids gravitating towards, and actually solving some of the world’s most complex problems.  The simple truth is, youth will learn to do, what they want to learn to do.[ix]

My call to action with this blog is to ask each of you to support Angela Maier’s movement in noticing youth — or anyone for that matter — who are making a difference.  It can no longer go unnoticed that young people across the country and around the world are setting world records, performing selfless acts and making major innovations in science and technology.

Please join our Facebook Page and follow us on Twitter … and stand by for a new product built to give youth world wide the opportunity to really matter!

For most teenage girls, “Sweet 16” brings to mind an extravagant celebration of their sixteenth birthday. For 15-year-old Tori Pimentel, Sweet 16 is a way to give back to soldiers for serving our country.

Tori started Operation Sweet 16 as a way to raise money for soldiers who are in need of financial assistance. The money they receive is donated to Operation Once-In-A-Lifetime, which handles the distribution of the money for things like auto repair, medical bills, and necessary travel expenses for members of the armed forces.

Tori has a long history of wanting to help the less fortunate. When Tori was seven years old, she asked her parents to “make sure Santa gave any gifts he planned to bring her to children who needed them more than she did.” For her 10^th and 12^th birthday parties, she asked that people donate money to the Make-A-Wish foundation rather than bring presents.

Operation Sweet 16 operates, both by encouraging online donations, and by holding fundraising events. They partner with local businesses as well as business chains, such as the Southlake, Texas Chic-fil-A.

Operation Sweet 16 operates pages on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

The current fundraising goal of Sweet 16 is to raise $16,000 for troops and their families. So far, Tori has raised $7,098.92 of her goal (as of November 11, 2011).

The end date for this goal is Tori’s actual sixteenth birthday – March 16, 2012.

Operation Sweet 16 is also currently in the process of becoming its own 501(c)3 organization – which will grant it the status of a tax-exempt charitable organization.

Of the general population in rural areas of the U.S. 11.5% are veterans.

Of United States Armed Forces veterans aged 18 to 24, nearly 20% are below the poverty line.

It’s believed that most victims can’t emotionally deal with the social isolation which comes with being bullied.  Likewise, many bystanders don’t feel they can socially “afford” to help, lest they become associated with the victim, and become bullied themselves.   In her NY Times op-ed,  senior youth researcher at Microsoft Corporation, danah boyd further observed: “Owning up to victimhood requires <kids> to recognize themselves as a victim — or perpetrator — which requires a serious emotional, psychological, and social support, an infrastructure unavailable to many teenagers.”

What’s really interesting here, is the potential Generation Z bystanders have to offer that infrastructure of social support.  By way of example, students at Riverview High School (RHS) in New Brunswick, Canada put together a Facebook anti-bullying group page – which earned over 350 supporters in just an hour and a half.  Outraged at the bullying abuse suffered by one of their classmates, these GenZ kids organized a rally in just 24 hours which boasted over 250 attendees.

Common opinion right now is that we need to teach kids to move from an “innocent bystander” to an “active defender” as a bullying prevention measure – which is good because Generation Z adolescents and teens are characteristically not afraid to use their voice.  More to the point, at a recent KooDooZ Town Hall event entitled “The Power of Youth Voice – Solving The Problem of Cyberbullying” our teen panel unanimously articulated the importance of giving kids the lead on tackling the challenge of bullying, cyber-bullying and teen dating violence.  (See prezi presentation here)

There’s a gap between adult and youth perspective as to the “ownership” of this problem.  Kids see it distinctly as a youth issue, whereas adults feel they have to teach the kids how to cope.  While anti-bullying prevention programs provided in our schools are essential, they’re not enough to eradicate the problem entirely.  What will help though, is giving youth meaningful opportunities to engage with this issue themselves and take control.  Once this happens, I believe we will see 1) increased levels of youth engagement in the prevention of bullying abuse and 2) more young people prepared for their role as active defenders, capable of true social support.  (NOTE:  In the RHS student’s initiative to make their high school a bully-free zone, one student wrote: “It’s clear our school’s anti-bullying polices aren’t working as well as we’d like.  This is NOT a hate on anybody group, this is a change group.”)

Due to their interconnectedness with social technologies, school administrators and parents have to recognize that this new generation of thinkers has a unique ability to pivot, react and mobilize faster than do most adults.  Frustrated by in-action to overcome this challenge, I think we’ll start seeing more and more kids design their own bullying prevention and awareness campaigns.  Below are a few recent examples in North America alone:

THROUGH WRITING & MUSIC:

1. MAKINLEE BLACK 9-year old writer with a published work called “The Lonely Kid.” MaKinlee wrote this book to raise awareness of the bullying that occurs and hopes her efforts will help deter kids from bullying others.
2. KYLIE MORGAN 16-year old singer/song-writer dedicated a song: “It Matters What We Do” to Phoebe Prince who tragically took her life after being bullied by classmates. In the first 3 days of the song’s rough-cut, there were 76,000 views.  Kylie’s efforts to raise awareness to the issue of teen bullying earned her the opportunity to become a key-spokesperson for PACER’s Teens Against Bullying a non-profit dedicated to the same cause.
3. MICHAEL & MARIS 13-year old and 14-year old singers released a song: “The Same” and have donated half the song’s proceeds toPACER’s Teens Against Bullying.
4. TRISTAN MCINTOSH  11-year old singer whose song “You Can’t Take That Away From Me” speaks to kids about the importance of recognizing personality and character over popularity and appearance.
5. CODY SIMPSON 14-year old up and coming singer who has used his new celebrity status to speak out about bullying at his concerts. He has become the face of “Defeat the Label,” an anti-bullying organization.

THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA:

6. EMILY-ANNE 17-year old who founded her non-profit WeStopHate.com after being bullied by her peers in middle school with constant gossip and rumors. Additionally, Emily’s YouTube and Facebook page offer to support victims, and invite listeners who agree to the following: 1) don’t make fun of people who are different from you, 2) think positive – not negative thoughts – about yourself, and 3) pick friends who make you happy, not stressed.
7. SCARLETT AIKEN, REBECCA CHAPMAN, CHEYENNE RISNER At 16-years old these three friends founded “Now!NotNever,” a social media campaign with online tools to help victims of bullying.
8. JULIA KORDON 13-year old speaker/anti-bullying advocate who joined the fight against bullying last November by creating a Facebook page for a girl in North Dakota who committed suicide as a direct result of being bullied. She gained momentum to continue her efforts and created an organization called “The Bullying Ends Now.” Today she travels to schools to talk to students about bullying.
9. KATELYN SWANEY 15-year old combating cyber-bullying on Facebook. She came across a Facebook page categorizing people in her local town as “Nots.” She openly commented on her disapproval of the page and made comments of what she liked about each of the people declared a “Not.” She has also been in contact with Facebook to take down the page.
10. ASHLEY CRAIG 14-year old student in Wantage, NJ who started “Students Against Being Bullied” at her school. Her motivation to develop this group came from her personal experience with bullying and from a classmate who opened up to her about contemplating suicide as a result of being bullied. This program initiates a three-tier system including a texting system that serves as a report line, a peer support group, and a safe-haven classroom before school hours.

THROUGH LEADERSHIP & BY EXAMPLE:

11. TYLER PAGE 14-year old Tyler Page launched his non-profit, “Kids Helping Kids” to help others kids in need. Together with his mother, Tyler runs a leadership academy purposed to teach other students how to help one another. Most recently, the leadership academy has adopted Rachel’s Challenge as part of their curriculum which teaches social / emotional education that is both colorblind and culturally relevant.
12. PAIGE LOGAN High school student inspired to make a difference after personal experience being bullied in middle school. Now, she is one of fifteen members of the Illinois State Board of Education Student Advisory Council and continues to be an activist in the fight against bullying.
13. DAVID CYRUS a high school student who developed the idea for a group “United Students Against Bullying” whose motto is “I am here for protection, not rejection.” The group has sold logo wristbands to raise awareness among their peers and initiated a “Ranger Saver Program” for anonymous reports of bullying.
14. CARLY JO LAUGHERY Elementary school student organized a project to order and sell anti-bullying shirts that read, “I love love, I hate hate, Kids against bullying.”
15. MARCO MELGOZA 14-year old student who stood outside his school in protest of bullying. Marco earned the attention of Daniel Puder, an MMA star, and formed an alliance with him in order to confront the school board to take a stand on the issue.
16. LILLY BALDASSARE 14-year old appeared on “Dateline” to talk about her experience with bullying and how to stand up to other kids.

What opportunities are you giving GenZ kids to tackle the challenge of bullying?