See Beautiful Grant Applicant: World Peace Connection

The feature below is brought to you by World Peace Connection, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about our giving initiatives, please click here.
 
To learn more about the featured organization, please visit their website here.

Giving back to communities in need

World Peace Connection advocates for courageous change-makers who want to bring solutions to problems happening within their communities. In order to create a better future, we must invest in the youth. The Young change-makers will be the ones to reshape the world ahead by using their creative skills to solve social problems happening right now. However, many young change-makers lack educational resources, safe spaces, and a community, which will help them fully launch their social initiative. In our experience, 70% of young change-makers face a lack of financial support; 80% feel they do not have enough community and mentorship guidance, and 85% do not have a strategy for the social impact they want to make.

Change makes the world go around and without it, we stay stagnant. We know the importance of shaping young leaders to be equipped, educated, and heard. The conversations around social justice, diversity, and inclusion has quickly accelerated and has demanded our attention. We realized to address social issues; new methods of innovations are not just between policymakers but the inclusion of our future, the youth.

We create beauty throughout our programs by providing a safe space for changemakers to experience transformative methods of self-discovery, leadership skills, and materials to launch their social initiative. Each young changemaker launches a social initiative to bring solutions to problems happening within their community by utilizing what they learned throughout our 6-week program. We prepare them to launch and activate. Fully equipped to make an impact! 

In order to lead change makers, we must lead by example. In 2015, Dane and I launched our social initiative World Peace Connection. Backpacking across 50 cities. We noticed a common thread among each person we met. Many of them had the desire to make a change but didn’t believe they could bring it to reality by putting action behind their inspiration.                          

We identified that as an aspiring changemaker in need of resources, education, and an ear that will listen. Human to human connection. A community dedicated to nurturing their ideas and igniting their passions to fire up change. We created a program that takes an aspiring change-maker to become one. In order to discover that person, we lead with one question. “What inspires you the most about life and living?”. Sparking impactful conversation with strangers. We did this for two years. We traveled to many places, such as southeast Asia, Africa, Dubai, and Europe. Sharing their stories diversity, we interviewed over 200+ aspiring changemakers.

Meeting changemakers around the world inspired us to continue our mission of World Peace Connection. Pulling from our experience traveling and conversations with wise mentors led us to the development of our curriculum. That will guide young changemakers through the process of self-development, leadership, and how to execute their own social initiative.

In 2018, we launched our educational curriculum “Peace Projects” helping minority high school students to become changemakers. So they can lead their own social initiatives addressing problems within their communities. Peace Projects has launched over 30 student-led initiatives within various communities, many of which are still sustaining today. In 2019, we traveled to Bogota, Colombia with two graduating seniors, who launched a plan to educate inquiring minds more about the Colombian community in hopes to better create a better future for their local community. This project was in partnership with Impact 46, called Common-unity. In 2019, we launched a series called “The Connection Series”, a travel web-series interviewing changemakers around the world who are making productive contributions with their work. We also have conducted over 20 Connected Spaces globally. We have met changemakers in Ghana, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Budapest, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Jamaica, Dubai, the Bahamas, England, Iceland, Amsterdam, and the USA.

This year, due to Covid-19 our programs and traveling have shifted. We can no longer physically be in schools or launch Connected spaces abroad. In 2021, we planned to launch the Changemaker Connection Program, a three-phase program, providing a space for marginalized changemakers to work at and bring their ideas to life. A home away from home. Our digital workshops teach the start to finish process of launching a social initiative. As well as travel outside of their community. In addition to how to apply and receive microgrants for their project. With foundations like See Beautiful, with your help, we can acquire proper software to host our educational workshops and provide funding and more opportunities for changemakers to launch their impact projects. See Beautiful will help us give at least 6 creatives micro-funding to launch their impact project and participate in a 6-week educational course. The Changemaker Connection program anticipates each participant to increase the ability to launch and sustain a problem-solving project that matters to them and brings awareness to their community.

Our program births the changemakers we need to address community issues with creative solutions providing a productive impact.

Each phase in the program equips the future change-makers with everything they need to succeed. To be leaders within their communities and have the skill set to address social issues. Resulting in a better future, and a more beautiful tomorrow. Change makes the world go around and without it, we stay stagnant.

Each person has a special gift to offer the world, and especially their community. We are grateful for the opportunity that Sees Beautiful is providing for us. In closing, we want to invite you to take the first step to become a changemaker. By asking yourself one question “What inspires you the most about life and living?” Now go make the world more beautiful!

Submitted by Chari Chin-Young Casto

Founder, World Peace Connection