Cultivating Change with Youth - A blog by Ashley Jablow
Ashley Jablow is a 2nd year MBA student, former nonprofit Fundraiser and Corporate Philanthropy Intern, and a motivated Changemaker.
One of my goals for The Changebase is to use the blog as a platform for sharing the stories of companies, organizations and people working to create change in their communities. After all, there are lots of examples of great progress being made in CSR, social enterprise, and philanthropy and they should be celebrated!
This time around, I’m pleased to share the story of Christine Guardia and her work with KooDooZ.
I hope, after reading Christine’s post, you’ll be inspired to find your own “life balance of Heart, Mind, Body and Spirit”!
By Christine Guardia
We live in a world defined by change – change grabs the headlines and demands our attention. Our access to information has been heightened with globalization and, as a result, it has further mobilized our communities for change.
The concept of leveraging social media for social goodresonates with me, because that’s what I do for a living. I am the “cause cultivator” for KooDooZ, a “cause-based” social networking site for youth. In this role, I cultivate non-profit and for-profit partnerships for the purpose of co-creating and co-marketing real-world events and social impact campaigns.The site’s purpose is to provide KDZ (our users, typically ages 9 through 15) with a safe place online to channel their passions into actions and strategies for social change and personal growth. For the benefit of our non-profit and for-profit partners, KooDooZ provides event and social impact expertise, delivering collaborative real-world events (such as the Tour De Fitness) and online challenges (such as coat drives) to nurture new youth and family engagement.
Despite the fact this generation (Gen Z) is altruistic and cause-centric, their access to opportunities to “create change” has traditionally been limited. So far, there have been unequal opportunities for civic engagement before the age of twenty. By challenging themselves with service learning, volunteerism and personal growth opportunities, KooDooZ KDZ learn outside the boundaries of formal education. Our technology allows them to access information and craft their own identities in unprecedented ways.
