Equipping young people to be confident, practicing changemakers is the new imperative in today’s world in which change is increasingly the only constant. More than a premium on social responsibility, every young person must be skilled at social response ability. And this is something that must start at a young age.
The New Global Youth Apprenticeship
Based on my work at Ashoka Innovators for the Public with the world’s leading social entrepreneurs over the years that culminated in a book I wrote entitled, Changemaker Playbook—and particularly working closely with Dream a Dream from 2013-2019, here are the four key elements that can prepare every young person to be a changemaker:
- Master Empathy in The Early Years
In a world of interaction and complexity – one that relies on collaboration for success and contribution – the stakes for every child mastering empathy have never been higher. Learning in the early years must be focused on the mastery of empathy as a fundamental skill.
- Learn Around a Passion in The Youth Years
Learning around a passion is clearly a common feature of the young changemaker’s growing-up experience during those years between 7 and 12. Here’s where the many dimensions of education—from public speaking to math to marketing to logic—can all be overlaid onto a real-life learning experience.
- Put A Team Around an Idea in The Teen Years
The teen years are when young changemakers must become practiced at tearing down walls and bringing unlikely sides together around a challenge or opportunity. That is when innovation happens. It is a skill that will serve the young changemaker for life.
- Leave To Learn
The most transformational lessons come when a young person learns outside of a familiar environment. This doesn’t have to be in a foreign setting—a different country, for example. It could just be as simple as leaving one’s zip code.
This is the new framework for confidently commanding our world defined by explosive change. I think of it as the new global youth apprenticeship for enabling every young person to be a changemaker. But to prepare young people so uniquely differently, we need to change the script for how we think about the requisite skills and mindset needed to thrive in today’s world.
Enter Dream a Dream
Enabling a thriving life has been the central mission of Dream a Dream for twenty-five years, and this new growing-up framework comes right out of Dream a Dream’s playbook. Co-founder, Vishal Talreja, alongside CEO, Suchetha Bhat, had long ago locked onto the fact that young people needed empathy as a foundational life skill. They were convinced that to cultivate this ability in young people required the adults in their lives to model it. This led to a whole workstream aimed at training adults in school systems to be well practiced in modeling and activating empathy.
Another dimension of Dream a Dream’s programs has centered on helping young people learn around their passion. As evidence, in 2019, I met 14-year-old Lekha Sri during one of my engagements with Dream a Dream. During her younger years, Lekha had discovered her passion for playing soccer as a participant in Dream a Dream’s After School life skills program. She quickly became an outstanding soccer (football) player, and she developed a range of leadership skills around her passion. She became an advocate, teaching girls how to talk to parents about engaging in a questioned activity for young women. She organized the boys who played on teams to help the girls form their own teams and break down cultural barriers to female participation. She learned to work with schools and leagues to support all-girl teams. Through soccer, Lekha also traveled to other regions of India where she was able to gain new understanding through connections with other young women in her sport. Lekha became acquainted with how to change her world through Dream a Dream programs, and that was all she needed to change THE world.
Dream a Dream has globally influenced a movement to give young people “life skills” needed to thrive in today’s world. Inside their formula is a new framework for growing up today—master empathy early, learn around a passion in the youth years, put a team around an idea in the teen years, and leave to learn often. It is one that can be easily adopted and integrated into day-to-day parenting, in teaching curriculums, through government programs, and in community activities.
Dream a Dream has shown us how to model this new imperative to reimagine the education needs for all young people.
About the Author:
Hon. Henry F. De Sio, Jr., is the author of Changemaker Playbook: The New Physics of Leadership in a World of Explosive Change. He was the 2008 Chief Operating Officer of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and he served as Deputy Assistant to the President in the Obama White House. From 2012-2018, Henry was a member of the Leadership Group at Ashoka Innovators for the Public, where he worked alongside leading social entrepreneurs.