Preparing the Next Generation of Global Leaders

Global Citizen Year makes commitment at Clinton Global Initiative to send 1,000 students abroad to prepare them for effective leadership in a globalized world.  

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This week at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City, Global Citizen Year, a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, has made a bold commitment to send 1,000 diverse American high school graduates to the developing world annually by 2015.

At a time when 9% of Americans speak a second language and only 22% have passports, Global Citizen Year (GCY) is building a pipeline of new global leaders by creating opportunities for young Americans to engage in a transformative global service "bridge year" before college. Simultaneously, while over 30% of American college freshman do not return for a second year and students now take an average of six years to complete degrees at four-year institutions, there is growing evidence that students who take a structured "bridge year" before college arrive more motivated and better prepared to persist and complete college.  A recent study published in Education Week suggests that students who take a structured year off before college reported significantly higher motivation in college in the form of "planning, task management, and persistence than did students who did not take a gap year." (Source: Research suggests a 'gap year' motivates students. Education Week. September 15, 2010).

GCY founder, Abigail Falik, is a Harvard Business School graduate who has spent the last decade refining a blueprint for a movement to engage American high school graduates in a global "bridge year" before college. "I remember graduating from high school, ready for an academic break, and calling the Peace Corps to see if I could join.  When they told me I needed to go to college first, I was struck by the irony that at 18 my only option for serving overseas would have been through the military. Ever since, I've been trying to answer the question of how our country can create opportunities for many more – and more diverse – young Americans to live and work in the developing world, before beginning their higher education."

GCY began with a pilot program in the fall of 2009, and in one year alone, has tripled the size of its second class of fellows.  This year's cohort of participants hails from 13 states and represents a cross-section of our nations' diversity. Over 20% of the class is made up of students of color, and 82% percent are receiving some level of financial aid to participate. Fellows are already accomplished as community organizers, athletes and poets, and aspire to careers ranging from politics to mechanical engineering to global public health.

Over the next two weeks, the cohort will participate in the first phase of training by developing the skills and knowledge they'll need to succeed in their placements abroad. Instruction will include workshops with former US Senator Harris Wofford, architect of the Peace Corps under President Kennedy, as well as experts from Stanford University, the Clinton Foundation and Current TV. Additionally, fellows will visit local organizations including Room to Read, Kiva.org and Twitter, and will be challenged to spend a day living in San Francisco with nothing more than $5 and a directory of local social services.

With Global Citizen Year, Alberto Servin is preparing to embark on an entirely different kind of higher education. Having recently graduated from Branham High School in San Jose, Alberto has deferred his admission from Middlebury to take a Global Citizen Year.  While his classmates are rushing fraternities and slogging through required courses, Alberto will be living in rural Ecuador and teaching at a local school. "Global Citizen Year is an experience I look forward to because I want to learn about the world. With that knowledge and first hand experience, I hope to use it to help address the global issues that my generation faces."

About Global Citizen Year

Global Citizen Year (www.globalcitizenyear.org) is a non-profit organization which is building a movement of young Americans who engage in a transformative "bridge year" between high school and college.  Through an innovative cross-sector model that partners with high schools and colleges in the US, and NGOs around the world, we create opportunities for emerging leaders to work as apprentices in Asia, Africa and Latin America.  By providing intensive training and support, we ensure that our Fellows develop an ethic of service, the ability to communicate across languages and cultures, and a deep commitment to becoming agents for social change.

Global Citizen Year has benefited from generous investments from the Draper Richards Foundation, The Mind Trust,  The Hewlett Foundation, and the Peery Foundation.

Global Citizen Year is a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit corporation.

SOURCE Global Citizen Year