YOUTHINK Touted as International Model
YOUTHINK, a youth-driven philanthropy project sponsored in part by the Portland Public Schools, is being touted as a model for similar initiatives in Tunisia and other countries.
A Tunisian educator participating in a U.S. State Department fellowship program has visited Portland to learn about YOUTHINK. Slim Gomri, a Leader for Democracy Fellow at the Academy for Educational Development, is exploring the possibility of starting a youth engagement project in Tunisia modelled partly after the Portland initiative.
YOUTHINK is one of eight projects throughout the country started since 2003 through the Academy’s Youth Innovation Fund. Jessica Bynoe, the fund’s director, said the Portland project has been particularly successful. That’s why it was chosen as a model for Tunisia, an Arabic country in northern Africa with 10 million people, Bynoe said.
Gomri, a Tunisian teacher, met with the YOUTHINK board during his visit. He learned about two recent YOUTHINK grants to middle school students working to combat racism and childhood obesity.
“I was amazed at how youth can have this responsibility,” Gomri said.
The Academy for Educational Development is seeking seed money from the State Department for a two-year project in Tunisia that would involve U.S. young people as trainers of their Tunisian peers. Bynoe expressed the hope that one trainer would come from Portland.
