Global Kids' Digital Media Initiative

This Monday, before our Dream It. Do It. Workshop, we had a special guest visit from Kyle Taylor from Youth Venture’s Road Trip America.

According to their myspace page,

“There is a movement going on. Youth all over the world are standing up and taking action to change their schools, their neighborhoods, their cities, their countries, and the world! Yet their stories go untold.

To change this, Youth Venture’s very own Kyle and Malena are hitting the road and traveling across North America, collecting video, blogging and taking pictures of young people who are truly changing their communities. During their 40 days travel across 32 US States and 3 Canadian Provinces, they’ll be highlighting the hard work of young Venturers across the planet who are launching their own initiatives for social change.”

This holds true, even for the TSL D.I.D.I. Teams! Using a live audio stream from Sally’s office in NYC, Kyle came and spoke to current DIDI Venturer’s, as well as some residents who are new to DIDI, about the Road Trip America. Kyle shared about his own venture that he started in 2003, a tutoring and mentoring program for at risk urban youth. He also talked a bit about the Youth Venture mission - and explained why he was traveling the country to spread the word!
After his talk, and a few technical mishaps, Kyle was able to answer some questions from the crowd with Sally’s assistance. I was impressed how naturally Kyle, new to the SL experience, was able to work the TSL crowd into an inspiring conversation about their own Venture ideas and dreams.

I really thought it was great to have someone from the outside world come and talk to the TSL Venturers. Although they are members on the GenV web site, I think it’s incredibly important for the TSL teens to know and feel that they are connected to this fabulous network of young changemakers. My hope is that Kyle was really able to help the D.I.D.I. kids feel they are part of the larger mission.

Sally YouthVenture shows Kyle around TSL...

Kyle blogged about his experience visiting TSL. Kyle says, "The highlight of New York (besides hanging out with Kumar) had to be the Teen Second Life Virtual meet-up we did." Read the rest of Kyle's blog entry about TSL!