I was invited to be a mentor as part of an organization dedicated towards transforming the refugee youth experience. How could I say no?
With 11 teams of 58 youth, the hackathon brought together Syrian Refugee Youth from the Arbat Refugee Camp with US teens based in New York State, as part of a challenge to design the most innovative solution to help teens cope during COVID.
Here’s a video with some highlights!
Hello Future is a non-profit set up by Charlie Grosso, that has designed an educational program starting with basic digital skills and digital literacy to refugee youth with the goal of giving them the skills needed to improve their educational and employment opportunities.
In addition to essential digital literacy, they help our students channel their energy and emotion into creative outlets, teaching them how to start their own business, how to learn and how to think and problem solve.
Spending time with these bright and curious minds was an absolute joy.
What’s more, I had the opportunity to weave stronger ties with fellow community members from DSIL and the Edmund Hillary Fellowship. My DSIL colleague and mentor partner, Frieda Hoffman, was resonating and rhyming with all the ideas and energy we were sharing together with our team of youth. Looking forwards to many more collaborations together!
Please do get in touch if you’re interested in participating in a future project like this!