Global Shapers

New York Hub

 

Project Lead: Georges Clement

Project Completed!

What and why: Avenues for Justice is an alternative to incarceration nonprofit with centers in East Harlem and the Lower East Side. Kids (mostly high school age) come to AFJ every weekday to check in and engage in various programs, including tutoring and drug and mental health counseling.

Results/Impact: 5 Shapers have volunteered with Avenues for Justice, delivering fantastic workshops which inspired over 80 kids -- a particular highlight was a global shaper (Isaac Stonefish) who hosted workshops about China, including a cooking class with traditional Chinese cuisine.

Fundraising and in-kind donations in 2017 were put toward renovations and equipment for a brand new computer lab in the Lower East Side center.

Next Steps: The project has been completed.

Giving NYC youth access to career advancement and support for the arts and culture industries locally.

Harnessing the power of new book creation technology and our diverse backgrounds as Shapers, we will work to author, illustrate and publish diverse children’s books for speakers of underserved language groups in NYC.

Project Manager: Jehane Akiki

New Project!

Problem: With the future of work becoming more uncertain and disrupted by technology, the future of education has to change to teach skills that are becoming more necessary for today and the future. Unfortunately, a lot of the underserved communities in the world are stuck doing the routine work that will become obsolete because of machines and have greater risk of being left behind and falling into the skills gap because they have smaller chance of learning and applying skills that are becoming increasingly in demand.

Solution/Concept: This project aims to develop a design thinking workshop to help underserved Black Lives Matter youth learn some of the crucial competencies of the 21st century to create projects that solve real problems faced in their communities. Design thinking is a powerful framework to teach such relevant skills in an engaging, student-centered manner by working on real-life team projects that also help the community.

Next Steps: This is a new project that has just started. Details on results once completed.

Project Lead: George Batah

Ongoing Project!

What and why: Syrian Youth Empowerment (SYE) is an initiative to support the higher education of Syrian high school students by offering mentorship, along with free TOEFL and SAT classes, to secure scholarships in universities in the United States.

Results/Impact: Global Shapers helped developing the mentorship curriculum, fundraising strategy and provided pro-bono legal assistance to kick-off the process of registering SYE as 501(c)(3). Additionally, Shapers reviewed and provided feedback for 20+ essays for Syrian and refugee students..

SYE Project Success! 10 shapers have helped secure over $3.564 Million of scholarships for 10 Syrian Students coming mostly but not exclusively to America.

Admission and full scholarships came from: MIT(2), Cornell, Brown, George Washington, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Denver, West Virginia University, Lafayette College, University of British Columbia(Canada), Bard (Germany), Jacobs (Germany), Bennington, Western Reserve, University of Oklahoma, Cambridge (UK).

Next Steps: Obtaining the legal status, expanding strategically to countries other than the US (Canada, Australia and some countries in Europe are our top choices for expansion), ramp up fundraising and continue engaging Shapers in the applications review process.

Project Lead: Neil Yeoh

What and why: A new, interactive one-day program bringing 10 NYC climate-tackling startups to a roundtable of experienced academic and business leaders to address their challenges. Organised by the World Economic Forum Global Shapers New York Hub in partnership with Echoing Green.

The four objectives of the NYC Climate Braintrust were to:

1. Build on existing solutions to climate change already being implemented in the local area
2. Facilitate collaborative support that mutually benefits entrepreneurs and advisors
3. Be impactful by developing actionable steps, and long-lasting support networks and relationships
4. Be duplicated through the Global Shapers network to generate impact nationally and globally

Results/Impact:

• Brought in and engaged 35 expert advisors from multidisciplinary fields
• Supported 14 local climate-tackling entrepreneurs with their start-up challenges
• Ran 10 Braintrusts Over 2 sessions with 5 facilitators supporting the flow
• Ran 4 workshops including topics: Leadership for Social Impact; How to Fail Fast & Fail Upwards; Designing Your Startup Culture To Be An Asset

Next Steps:

• Consolidate and package resources to share model with other Shaper Hubs
• Planning a SF Climate Braintrust, currently in place for September 2018

Project Lead: Omar O. Abboud

What and why: NHNY is a website dedicated to helping recently arrived refugees and immigrants with the information, tools, and services necessary to start their lives in New York State. The site contains valuable guides on the benefits system & medical care relevant to immigrants, refugees, and their case workers.

Results/Impact: Our guides were adopted by volunteers affiliated with the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) in New York State, one of only seven authorized refugee resettlement agencies in the country. Volunteers have used NHNY to assist refugee families with navigating the public benefits system, seeking legal recourse and fair hearings, and filling out important documentation such as Medicaid recertification.

Next Steps: Expand the website to include guides on more topics -- such as medical care -- and work with legal aid organizations to proliferate the guides we’ve already written more widely.