NEW YORK, July 8, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Global Kids, Inc., in partnership with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), is commencing the fourth annual U.S. in the World Summer Initiative for New York City public high school students.

The innovative and unique program brings high school students, primarily from NYC public high schools, together with world-renowned experts to learn about critical foreign policy issues, gain leadership skills, and organize projects that stimulate dialogue within the larger youth community.

This year's three-week summer institute began yesterday, July 7th, and will run through July 25th at the Council's headquarters in New York City. Students will interact with leading experts on global issues and will participate in continuing educational activities throughout the following school year.

The U.S. in the World Initiative provides an unparalleled environment in which young people of diverse backgrounds can gain the knowledge and skills necessary for informed and active participation in the discussion of international affairs and decision-making. Over the course of this summer's three-week session, participants in the program will gain a fundamental understanding of U.S. foreign policy and examine its relationship to such issues as international law, development and trade, globalization, women's and children's rights, global health, ethnic conflict, and the environment, among others.

The U.S. in the World Summer Institute is grounded in Global Kids' highly-regarded approach to youth leadership development and global education, which reaches more than 17,000 young people annually.

"The need has never been greater for American youth of all backgrounds to be become informed about international affairs and active participants in the discussion of foreign policy," said Carole Artigiani, Executive Director of Global Kids. "This valuable initiative takes advantage of New York City as a global crossroads and of the Council's resources as the world's leading international affairs think tank to challenge its participants and open the door for them to begin gaining the knowledge and skills required for success and leadership in a range of international fields."

The 28 students in the Institute will gain first-hand knowledge in world affairs by taking field trips to the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and the U.S. Mission to the U.N. They will hear directly from a wide range of international experts and leaders, including:

 -- Ted Sorensen -- Former Special Counsel and Adviser to 
    President Kennedy  
 -- Leslie H. Gelb -- Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist and 
    President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations  
 -- Dr. Jeffrey Sachs -- Special Advisor to United Nations      
    Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Director of the Earth 
    Institute at Columbia University  
 -- Rachel Mayanja -- Special Advisor to the United Nations   
    Secretary-General on Gender Issues and the Advancement 
    of Women  
 -- Gene Sperling -- Former National Economic Advisor to 
    President Clinton and Director of the Center for Universal 
    Education  
 -- Francis Deng -- Former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs 
    of the Sudan 
 -- Laurie Garrett -- Award Winning Journalist and Senior Fellow 
    for Global Health at the CFR  
 -- Max Boot -- Writer and Senior Fellow at the CFR.

The program builds on more than a decade of collaboration between Global Kids and the Council on Foreign Relations. Together, the two organizations conduct international affairs roundtables and a range of career programs that engage youth - primarily from disadvantaged communities - in dialogues with experts and promote their pursuit of careers in the international affairs arena.

Participants will engage in workshops led by Global Kids staff members that will build their leadership, communication, and critical thinking skills. They will use these skills to stimulate public dialogue and action concerning critical international policy issues and to develop projects to be implemented at schools and colleges during the next academic year. Global Kids will also provide participants with year-round coaching, support and access to the Council's resources. Students will be invited to participate in Global Kids' ongoing roundtables at the Council on Foreign Relations.

U.S. in the World is being made possible through the generous support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Arkin Family Foundation, and an anonymous donor.

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

About the Council on Foreign Relations

Founded in 1921, the Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, national membership organization and a nonpartisan center for scholars dedicated to producing and disseminating ideas so that individual and corporate members, as well as policymakers, journalists, students, and interested citizens in the United States and other countries, can better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other governments.