Global Kids Launches Comprehensive Digital Media Initiative and Announces Release of New Online Game Produced with Gamelab.

Initiative funded by MacArthur Foundation trains youth to be critical media consumers; New Microsoft-supported online game will educate thousands about global poverty

NEW YORK -- Global Kids, Inc., the foremost nonprofit in New York City specifically dedicated to educating students in underserved communities about international affairs, civic engagement and global literacy through school-based programs and the use of the Internet, today announced the roll out of its Digital Media Initiative (DMI), a program that trains youth to be both critical media consumers and producers through a series of development programs.

The program components, which take place both in classrooms in New York City and online, will each focus on a specific digital medium: dialogue, games, and video. The program will provide opportunities for Global Kids to use its unique youth development approach to help teenagers around the world engage in dialogues and create sophisticated digital media projects. The DMI is funded by a $900,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which today announced plans to build the emerging field of digital media and learning and committed a total of $50 million over five years to the effort.

"This is the first generation to grow up digital - coming of age in a world where computers, the internet, videogames, and cell phones are common, and where expressing themselves through these tools is the norm," said MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton, who announced the new initiative today. "Given how present these technologies are in their lives, do young people act, think and learn differently today? And what are the implications for education and for society?"

Specifically, the core components of Global Kids' Digital Media Initiative will include:

* Facilitating, as well as producing a report on, a series of online dialogues that encourage youth to discuss the role of digital media in their lives.

* Utilizing Global Kids' unique presence in the virtual world of Teen Second Life to engage youth in interactive workshops related to digital media.

* Facilitating youth discussion through GK's Newz Crew site, a collaboration with NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, about articles, current events, and policy debates related to the relationship between young people and digital media.

* Engaging youthCoin New York City and in Teen Second LifeCoin the creation of machinima (animated films made with video games) about digital media themes through a collaboration with the Museum of the Moving Image.

The evolution and activities of the Digital Media Initiative can be followed at the DMI Blog (dmi.globalkids.org).

Ayiti: The Cost of Life - New Online Game Teaches Global Issues

In addition, Global Kids and Gamelab, New York City's largest game development company, today announced the release of the online game, Ayiti: The Cost of Life (CostofLife.org), which uses the location of Haiti to educate players about the obstacles to education faced by children in developing countries. When distributed and used within either a classroom or after school setting, the game will be a strong tool for building students' global awareness and civic literacy.

The concept of the game was developed by youth in Global Kids' Playing 4 Keeps (P4K) program and professionals from the award-winning game design studio Gamelab. Supported by Microsoft's U.S. Partners in Learning Mid-Tier Grants Initiative, which seeks to find and support "pockets of innovation" for increasing digital literacy and career readiness, the game will be free and published with lesson plans for educators through a UNICEF website Child Alert: Haiti (unicef.org/childalert/haiti/) and the educational network TakingITGlobal (takingitglobal.org).

"It can be difficult to teach critical global issues to youth who can sometimes feel that their everyday lives are far removed from things going on in remote places around the world," said Mary Cullinane, Director of Microsoft U.S. Partners in Learning. "Global Kids' Playing 4 Keeps has found a way to use technology to bring these global issues to life in a truly engaging way. We are proud to support this innovative use of technology to make these issues more real for these young citizens."

Playing 4 Keeps engages a cohort of twenty-four students from South Shore High School, a largely minority school of approximately 2,300 students located in Canarsie, Brooklyn, in working with professional game developers in the design, development and dissemination of professionally-produced online games about important social issues. During the school year, program participants conducted research about global issues and gained digital literacy, leadership, and career skills. Students participated in workshops on such global issues as Defining Human Rights, Racism, Health, Education, and Children's Rights, and then selected an issue on which to focus the game.

With professionals from Gamelab, they learned about a range of issues related to game design as a form of critical media literacy as well as the game industry and the game development process. The students also took numerous field trips and spoke about their work at prestigious conferences, including the Game Design Conference in San Jose, the Games 4 Change Conference in New York City, and the Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington.

This year, participants chose to focus their game on the general topic of poverty as an obstacle to education, based on their learning about the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and about obstacles to receiving an adequate education that youth face around the world. They then decided to use Haiti as a case study and setting for the game. The youth have documented the process of creating the game in a blog at (www.holymeatballs.org/playing_4_keeps) and are publicizing it through (www.myspace.com/thecostoflife).

In Ayiti: The Cost of Life, each player assumes the roles of family members living in rural Haiti. Over the course of the game, the player must choose among and balance various goals, such as achieving education, making money, staying healthy, and maintaining happiness while encountering unexpected events like disease and hurricanes. The player must make many decisions that contribute to or detract from achieving his or her chosen goals.

The game is designed as a serious learning tool that educators and youth workers can use in their classrooms. With its lesson plans, Ayiti: The Cost of Life, can educate players about poverty and its effects on education in general around the world, as well as about the effects of poverty on education in Haiti.

"Ayiti: The Cost of Life is a great way to teach American youth about global issues such as poverty, access to education and human rights," said Chinwe Okorie, United Nations Representative for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. "Players' efforts to keep the family healthy, happy and both parents alive make you engulfed."

The educational effectiveness of the game is being evaluated by the Educational Development Corporation's Center for Children and Technology.

About Global Kids, Inc. (www.globalkids.org)

Founded in 1989, Global Kids' mission is to transform urban youth into successful students and global and community leaders by engaging them in socially dynamic, content-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 85% of the high school seniors who participate in GK's leadership program graduate and attend college.

About the Global Kids Online Leadership Program (OLP)

Global Kids, Inc. is a nationally recognized leader in using digital media to promote global awareness and youth civic engagement. Global Kids' Online Leadership Program (OLP) integrates a youth development approach and international and public policy issues into youth media programs that build digital literacy, foster substantive online dialogues, develop resources for educators, and promote civic participation. Currently, the OLP is accomplishing its goals through initiatives within three broader areas: the development of socially -conscious online games; youth-led online dialogues; and the Digital Media Initiative.

About Gamelab

Gamelab invents new ways for people to play. Founded in 2000 by Peter Lee and Eric Zimmerman, Gamelab is New York City's largest and longest-running game development company. Gamelab creates innovative games for broad audiences on and off the computer, from multiplayer online games to card and board games to museum installations and social games played by thousands in the real world. Our work has won many awards and has been exhibited internationally. Recently, Gamelab received a first-of-its-kind MacArthur grant with the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a 3-year research project on game design and media literacy.

About The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grantmaking institution dedicated to helping groups and individuals foster lasting improvement in the human condition. With assets of $5.5 billion, the Foundation makes grants totaling approximately $200 million annually. For more information or to sign-up for MacArthur's electronic newsletter, visit www.macfound.org/digital.