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John Hecklinger: Empowering Organizations to Help Young People Realize Their Potential around the World

John Hecklinger: Empowering Organizations to Help Young People Realize Their Potential around the World
John: Thanks for having me, Spiffy! Global Fund for Children (GFC) exists to support organizations working to help young people around the world. We raise funds, find amazing organizations, give them funding to use how they see fit, and help connect them with peers and experts to help them become more effective. These organizations are in many cases led by young people, and all of them are deeply rooted in the communities they serve. They help young people directly, and they also work to change the systems that prevent young people from realizing their potential.

Tony Francavilla: Building a Generation of Poet-Athletes

Tony Francavilla: Building a Generation of Poet-Athletes

Tony: Happy to be with you, Spiffy! We run free after school programs in DC that combine soccer, poetry, and service learning. Our poet-athletes play soccer year round as part of a school team, and in the fall they write and perform original poetry that answers introspective questions such as, “What do we like?” “What don't we like?” “What scares us?” “What inspires us?” Then in the spring on non-soccer days, they design and execute service projects based on that poetry, answering the question “What are we going to do about it?” It's a whole-child approach to development that improves participants' physical health, mental health, and even academic performance. We offer the program at Title 1 elementary and middle schools, where students often lack access to high-quality organized sports and arts education opportunities.