Teaching social change and peace in the world…one culture, one classroom, one kid at a time.
The future is coming, one way or another. And a better tomorrow starts right here. At Children’s Culture Connection, we believe in the power that comes when children find their voice and use it; and that young voices together can change the world. Connecting children who can teach about their lives – across oppressive regimes, war-torn regions and impoverished communities – creates mutual awareness, drives understanding, creates solutions to problems, and begins a changed tomorrow, today.
How do we do it?
Education and connection: two critical ingredients for changing the world. Working with U.S. middle schools, we bring our dynamic and cross-cultural programs right to the classroom, where students connect with kids in the world’s most remote places. They are immersed in these countries’ histories, cultures and ways of life – as well as the stunning challenges the children of these regions face just in the simple act of growing up. Imaginations are fired, awareness grows, judgments are unlearned, and young leaders on both sides emerge.
Introducing for 2012: CCC’s Afghanistan Program. Why Afghanistan? This savaged corner of the globe is home to an ancient and proud people who have forgotten what it means to trust the world, but who sit at the epicenter of its strife. Democracy is fragile here, illiteracy and extremism rampant, and the roots of gender oppression deep, but the young people of this country are strong and hungry to learn. There is no other country on earth that has affected us as directly in recent times as Afghanistan. Their future matters to us all.
Meet Fatima and Madeline, two CCC students who understand the need for change. Fatima is a teenage girl living in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is beautiful, funny, eccentric, and at the top of her class. She dreams of leading Afghanistan out of the misery of war–and into the modern world– by becoming a successful businesswoman. She wants to develop the economy and lead the charge for more girls to become educated, but the Taliban wants her silenced. Fatima desperately needs friends on the outside to who understand her plight and can help make her dream a reality. Friends like Madeline.
Madeline is a teenage girl living in Northfield, Minnesota. She met Fatima through CCC and knows more about her new friend’s country and its plight than most adult Americans. She was stunned by Fatima’s passion for education and is determined to make sure her voice is heard. Together Madeline and Fatima are taking on the Taliban by launching an online, cross-cultural newsletter dedicated to girls’ voices – their stories, and their support for one another. This groundbreaking newsletter – the product of Children’s Culture Connection students – is now a curriculum supplement in each of their schools. And that’s how social change takes root.
Help teach change. Our 2012 goal is 1,000 American kids participating in Children’s Culture Connection programs throughout the U.S. As of today, we’ve raised $25,000, but we are still short $220,000.
By April 1 we must complete this curriculum for the first 90 students who are waiting.
An investment of $235 will take a child all the way through our extraordinary leadership program. $117 will take him halfway – and $470 will produce two young leaders with the knowledge and the tools to change the world.
These children stand poised to be the leaders of tomorrow. Helping us eliminate this funding gap will produce the global leaders our world desperately needs. Your investment helps them help us all.
If you call it a dream, it stays that way. Call it reality and it will be. -Fatima, 14, Afghanistan
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Our Mission & Vision
Children’s Culture Connection is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our mission is to foster world peace through unique educational programs that connect young people across cultures and provide them with opportunities to become leaders and make a difference in the world. We see children as the future problem solvers and peacemakers of the world.
- Curriculum: Working with middle-school-age students, we create and implement educational programs and activities that teach children about culture in 12 different countries.
- Connection: Working with our partner charities that serve at-risk children in these 12 countries, American students connect with children abroad, who in turn participate in the international end of the programs.
- Community Service: Students explore social injustice issues that their international friends deal with, and then take action to help them create positive social change from within their communities.
