NEW YORK, July 7, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Global Kids Inc. will launch a special summer institute this week aimed at training secondary educators on the best practices for integrating global issues and interactive teaching techniques into classrooms and after-school programs. Global Kids is the foremost nonprofit organization in New York City specifically dedicated to educating students in underserved communities about international affairs.
Global Kids' International Affairs and Civic Engagement institute, which begins today, July 7 and runs through Friday, July 11, will combine workshops on a broad range of issues including Human Rights, Global Health, Ethnic Conflict and War, and U.S. Foreign Policy. Guest speakers will include international affairs experts from esteemed institutions such as the Council on Foreign Relations, Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations.
Global Kids, through the International Affairs and Civic Engagement institute, is addressing a need identified by leading educational experts, while building on the growing demand for the organization's work. Education policymakers and experts increasingly believe that after-school programs are ideal settings in which to develop global literacy.
Global Kids believes that International Affairs and Civic Engagement has the potential to become a model that can be replicated in New York and other locations.
A recent report, After School for the Global Age by Asia Society and The George Lucas Educational Fund, states, "After-school and summer programs . . . provid(e) a unique opportunity to promote understanding and tolerance as well as social development and life skills. Global literacy, at its core, is also about character development and authentic learning gained through exposure to global diversity and complexity."
The week-long summer institute is funded by the Longview Foundation, which is dedicated to helping young people in the United States learn about world regions and global issues. In an effort to accomplish these goals, the Foundation supports leaders in education and new strategies and innovative activities that help educators to teach these subjects.
Global Kids is among the only direct-service organizations with long-term experience conducting such programs. Since its inception in 1993, Global Kids has involved thousands of urban youth in its innovative after school programs, created and refined hundreds of interactive workshops and curriculum materials, and developed a highly successful set of professional development services.
Global Kids reaches more than 17,000 educators and youth each year, along with over one million who participate online in its pioneering digital media projects. Global Kids' current initiatives include a highly respected international affairs-focused high school, the High School for Global Citizenship in Brooklyn; a range of programs, including an intensive summer institute with the Council on Foreign Relations; educational travel opportunities for youth; and one of the nation's leading youth technology programs.
Global Kids recently moved to a new headquarters, the Center for Global Citizenship, which includes a center for teaching, and has also increased its curriculum development and training services programs. Currently, a highly substantive service-learning curriculum that the organization developed is being implemented at 80 sites across New York City.
About Global Kids, Inc.
Active since 1989, the mission of Global Kids (www.globalkids.org) is to transform urban youth into successful students and global and community leaders by engaging them in socially dynamic, content-rich learning experiences. Through its leadership development and academic enrichment programs, Global Kids educates youth about critical international and domestic issues and promotes their engagement in civic life and the democratic process. Through professional development initiatives, Global Kids provides educators with strategies for integrating experiential learning methods and international issues into urban classrooms. Over ninety percent of the high school seniors who participate in GK's leadership program graduate and attend college.
The Global Kids, Inc. logo is available at http://www.primenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=4850