Global Citizen Year

Are you concerned that young Americans are not adequately prepared for the roles and responsibilities of Global Citizenship? Does it bother you that so few Americans have opportunities to experience what life is like for people living in extreme poverty? Do you believe it's time to provide alternatives to the Peace Corps?

I am currently in my second year at Harvard Business School where I am designing a new model for ensuring that many more – and more diverse -- young Americans to have transformative experiences with global poverty and development at a younger age. Specifically, I am working on a concept for institutionalizing a Global Citizen Year -- a program which would engage young people as apprentices with community development organization in Asia, Latin America and Africa during a gap year between high school and college. Ultimately, I envision a national program with the ethos of City Year, the impact of Teach For America, and the reach of the Peace Corps, but for a younger set of participants.

I am actively seeking partners for the business plan competitions and beyond. I am based in Cambridge, MA with plans to begin building the organization in the Bay Area beginning June 2008.
If you're interested in learning more, please contact Abby Falik (afalik at gmail.com)

Stakkit

We're building a community website for avid book readers.

This can be a highly profitable venture by monetizing a mature, educated and affluent audience and by enabling authors, small publishers and independent booksellers to connect with communities of dedicated and intellectually engaged readers.

It can also have positive social impact by resisting the homogenization of culture and promoting literacy, especially among the younger population, by adding a social dimension to books.

We're looking for a current graduate business student or recent grad to contribute to our social and marketing strategy and help us win the Global Social Venture Plan Competition.

Contact
Those interested please contact florianpestoni at hotmail dot com.

InterLangua

People and technology making language learning come alive

InterLangua provides ‘foreign’ language tutors from developing countries to U.S. universities, corporations and individuals. The tutors live in their own countries and work over Internet using a high quality, low bandwidth video conference. Currently Spanish language tutors from Guatemala work with U.S. students at Yale, Duke, Marist College and Nextel, among others. InterLangua-Chinese will launch from Shenzhen, P.R. China in January 2008, the only wholly foreign-owned company located in a Chinese government sponsored business incubator..

InterLangua is committed to training knowledge workers in emerging economies. Our tutors provide U.S. clients with one-to-one tutorials in their native language. The student logs on to their language tutorial from the convenience of their laptop or desktop. Tutor and student see each other with full-motion video, and hear and speak synchronously. These one-on-one sessions, based solely on the curriculum needs of the student, allow for maximum language speaking fluency and convenience. The tutors also learn how to use an advanced set of technologies and to develop collaborative teaching methods. By moving their language tutoring skills from isolated locations to the U.S., tutors earn substantially more than they otherwise would.

InterLangua seeks assistance to resolve issues pertaining to scaling an entrepreneurial, transnational service business. Some of the business skills we seek include the following:

• Analysis of current consolidated business plan
• Prepare current business financial model for venture financing
• Synthesize marketing and coordinate sales strategies in new market segments
• Provide cross-cultural training and team development systems

Explore our website at www.interlangua.com to understand our exciting services. Please note: the InterLangua-Chinese website will launch in two months so all available tutorial services are currently for Spanish.

InterLangua contact information:
Elisabeth Montgomery, Ph.D. – General Regional Manager/Pacific Rim
elisabeth@interlangua.com
Office: Emeryville, CA Contact: 510-301-2104

Kid Scoop

Kid Scoop is a newspaper feature published in more than 400 newspapers in the United States, Thailand, Uganda, Canada, and Korea. The page’s weekly circulation is 7.5 million.

As a company, Kid Scoop addresses two key issues: youth disenfranchisement and the state of journalism.

Research and educational experts agree that disenfranchisement, a lack of connection to school and community, and low academic skills lead to problems that diminish human potential creating serious social problems.

Kid Scoop’s program provides community newspapers with proven tools and structures to improve literacy rates and provide children a way to connect with their community.

Kid Scoop’s potential for integrating its proven and easily replicated educational program into the structures of thousands of community newspaper business models worldwide opens a door for global communication and understanding on a weekly, even daily basis.

The goal of the Kid Scoop Foundation is to develop funding for outreach and educational programs that support community newspapers in setting up partnerships with schools to forward literacy and civic participation.

A graduate student would assist in the development of a strategic plan, identify potential funders and partners and develop proposals for these potential funders and partners. We are particularily interested in a student with knowledge of the web and how we can expand training and programming to small newspapers around the world in a cost-effective way using the internet.

Contact
Vicki Whiting
President and Founder
Kid Scoop
(707) 996-6077
181 Andrieux Suite 200
Sonoma, CA 95476
vicki@kidscoop.com