ORGANIZATION: GlobalGirl Media

GlobalGirl Media  is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization that is dedicated to empowering high school age girls from under-served communities around the world through media, leadership and journalistic training to have a voice in the global media universe and their own futures.

GlobalGirl Media grew out of a coalition of women broadcasters and journalists from around the world who recognized that much mainstream reporting focuses on flash points of violence, celebrity or disaster, while the everyday experience and voice of the invisible majority, particularly young women, passes silently under the radar. With the explosion of social media networking and user-generated content on the web, the fact remains that this media is only open to those who have access to these technologies, leaving many youth, especially young girls in at-risk or impoverished communities, falling hard into the digital divide.

GlobalGirl Media seeks to address this disparity by supplying the equipment, education and support necessary to help young women become digital and blog journalists, bringing their own unique perspective on their lives, their communities and world events to the global web and social media community. All students go through a rigorous 10-day workshop that is designed thematically around the main principles of good journalism, instilling ethics, methodologies, and the importance of good sources. Each class develops creative and independent thinking, and provide participants with the tools they need to understand and accurately cover an increasingly diverse world. Instruction is multifaceted and includes hands on field practice, guest lecturers, case studies, role-playing, small group work, group discussions, writing, and reflection.

After each 10-day training, a Media News Bureau is set up.  Participants are divided into teams, and then set out to  produce unique videos, blogs, new media and print content for digital upload and distribution on a wide range of topics.

There have been at least 3 Global Girl Academies, in Soweto, Morocco, and Los Angeles.  Reports from these media bureaus can be seen on the BBC, on the Huffington Post, on YouTube, on Al Jazeer, and on a host of other media sites.

Two new trainings have been announced for this summer (2012) in Chicago and London.  To find out more about these and other GlobalGirl projects, visit their website:  http://www.globalgirlmedia.org

Here’s an article about the most recent Soweto training:

http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2012/04/20/life-changing-stories-from-soweto-teens

Here’s a video about one of the first GlobalGirl trainings in Soweto in 2010. You can find many more videos on Youtube, including one which features Moroccan girls interviewing (and being interviewed by) Ambassador Melanne Verveer

In his copious freetime, he blogs at http://www.clownlink.com and http://www.dadapalooza.com, as well as a few other places.

You can find out more about his clown work at http://www.acmeclown.com

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