600 NYC Public High School Students to Gather for Global Kids Conference to Address Global Health: Event is Culmination of Months of Leadership Training and International Education.

NEW YORK -- Announcement: 2005 Global Kids Youth Conference to Address Global Health

On March 24, 2005 - New York City educational nonprofit Global Kids, Inc.(TM) will bring together over 600 NYC public high school students for a day of youth-led workshops, distinguished speakers, and debates and discussions focused on the theme of Global Health. The conference will be held from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, at New School University's Tishman Auditorium (66 West 12th Street in Manhattan).

Speakers in two plenary sessions will include: Dima Al-Khatib, of the United Nations Development Programme, and Catherine Beauharnais, a Global Kids Leader at Canarsie High School in Brooklyn. As a participant in the Human Rights Activist Project (HRAP) at Canarsie High School, Catherine helped to create a health education campaign around HIV/AIDS and the implications for young people in the community and around the world.

Following the plenary sessions, youth in Global Kids' Power of Citizenry Leadership program will conduct interactive workshops for their peers about Obesity, Water/Access to Clean Drinking Water, Access to Health Care, HIV/AIDS, Tobacco, Technology and Health, Disease Prevention, Poverty and Health, Asthma, LGBT issues, and Natural Disasters and their Impact on Global Health.

The Global Kids Youth Leaders active in organizing the event have devoted hundreds of hours to planning their workshops, including participation in a three-day retreat and numerous weekend trainings. During the process, they have worked closely with Global Kids staff members and experts from a range of organizations, corporations, and government agencies. The young people that organize the conference choose topics of importance to them and plan workshops to educate their peers on these issues. Their dedication counters prevailing assumptions that today's young people, especially those from urban communities, are disengaging from civic life and apathetic about vital world issues.

"If the United States and the world community are going to be successful in addressing the serious health risks that the world is facing, it is going to require the leadership, proactive problem-solving, and global awareness of the next generation," said Global Kids Executive Director Carole Artigiani. "By learning about health problems around the world, considering realistic solutions to them, and raising awareness in the youth community, the young people organizing this conference are beginning this process."

Each year the Global Kids Annual Youth Conferences provides a venue in which youth are given an opportunity to learn and, more importantly, voice their opinions about the challenges and opportunities that exist in the rapidly changing world. As Global Kids Leader, Kareem Simon said, " The conference is a great experience. You're having fun and you turn around and realize you've learned something."

Adult guest speakers in conference workshops will include representatives from United Nations Development Programme, The Council on Foreign Relations, Doctors of the World, Human Rights Watch, Adopt A Mine Field, American Indian Law Alliance, Action Against Hunger, Amnesty International Women's Program, the Columbia University School of Public Health, New York University Center for Global Health, among others.

The conference program is as follows:

8:00 AM to 9:00 AM--Registration and Breakfast

9:00 AM to 10:15 AM--Plenary: Dima Al-Khatib, United Nations Development Programme

10:30 AM to 12:00 PM--Morning Youth-Led Workshops

1:00 PM to 1:45 PM--Plenary: Catherine Beauharnais, Global Kids Leader, Canarsie High School

2:00 PM to 3:15 PM--Afternoon Youth-Led Workshops

3:30 PM to 4:15 PM--Reflections and Closure: Open Microphone and Youth Entertainment

The Global Kids Annual Youth Conference is generously sponsored by the Stephen and May Cavin Leeman Foundation and the Two West Foundation and produced in collaboration with the Institute for Urban Education at New School University.

About Global Kids, Inc.

Founded in 1989, Global Kids' mission is to transform urban youth into successful students and global/community leaders by engaging them in socially dynamic, dialogue-rich learning experiences. Through its leadership development and academic enrichment programs, Global Kids educates youth about critical international and domestic issues and promotes their engagement in civic life and the democratic process. Through professional development initiatives, Global Kids provides educators with strategies for integrating experiential learning methods and international issues into urban classrooms. Over ninety percent of the high school seniors who participate in GK's leadership program graduate and attend college.

For more information on the conference or on Global Kids, call 212-226-0130 or send us an email at: [e-mail].