Tag Archives: Youth empowerment

Your role in changing our world

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Rich Stearns in Advocacy

Imagine for a moment that you woke up tomorrow and discovered you were on a different planet in a different part of the universe without any idea of how you got there. Imagine what you would feel and the questions that would rush into your mind. Well, I have news for you – that exact thing has happened to every one of us. Sometime in the past 100 years, we were all born on the third planet from the sun in a solar system within the Milky Way galaxy, in a universe that is incomprehensibly vast. We had no idea how we got here, all we know is that we were born into the middle of a story that started...

Celebrating 20 years with 30 Hour Famine

Posted on February 25, 2011 by Michele Tvedt in Christian Witness, Stories

30 Hour Famine chapel at World Vision U.S. headquarters on February 23, 2011.

The 30 Hour Famine began in the 1970s when World Vision New Zealand and World Vision Australia sought ways to engage youth on global issues. World Vision U.S. adopted the Famine in 1992 through partnerships with churches, youth groups, and students who desired to fight global hunger. Some 20 years later.......

Are you an ‘ageist’?

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Rich Stearns in Stories

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, five children play together n front of their home. (Alain Mwaku/WV/2010)

Any of us would be horrified to be accused of being a racist — someone who has a hatred or intolerance of another race. But I actually think that many of us are ‘closet ageists’ — people who discriminate against persons of a certain age group — especially when it comes to children and youth. Most often, the term ‘ageist’.......

Equal opportunity = a brighter future for us all

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Laura Reinhardt in Causes, Partnerships

Two-year-old Quincy with his mother Shemika at St. Anne's Place shelter. (Laura Reinhardt/WV/2010)

In January, I celebrated my grandson’s first birthday, a momentous event joined by grandparents, parents, sisters, and friends. An abundant variety of food and a stack of brightly-colored presents waited in the living room for my grandson, whose lack of understanding of opening gifts gave his older sisters a chance to show him how it’s done. Needless to say, my grandkids don’t lack creature comforts or love, and the opportunities available to them are endless. But I know that’s not the case for many children growing up in impoverished communities, even in the United States. More than 8 million families in the United States live in poverty, defined as a family of four living on less than $22,050 annually. Parents...

A better tomorrow for today’s children

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Romanita Hairston in Causes, Stories

World Vision's Youth Empowerment Project empowers youth in the U.S.

This time of year always prompts me to reflect on our work with youth and community development. I'm reminded of two lines from the famous "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., back in 1963. Every year, I read or listen to that speech; and each time, those words come alive in my heart. At some point in my life, they became my......