Are you worried that a global war on truth will destroy democracy? Concerned that nations are pulling apart instead of coming together? Do you want to do something about the climate crisis?
If so, consider supporting News-Decoder.
Today we are launching a campaign to raise funds to support our not-for-profit’s efforts to extend our reach around the world.
Our mission is to help young people around the globe become better global citizens. We currently have academic partners in 10 countries. We need to expand that number to realize our goals.
News-Decoder wants to grow.
In the four years since we launched News-Decoder, we’ve made admirable progress. We now have a network of 16 schools on five continents. Students work with our experienced correspondents to publish multimedia content on our website, broadcast webinars on major issues and produce a podcast with our UK partner, Podium.me.
News-Decoder proudly supports the Global Youth & News Media Prize, which honors organizations that strengthen engagement between the news media and youth. And we have sealed partnerships with the International Congress of Youth Voices and the University of Toronto.
But we want to grow, and to do so, we need your help.
Listen to Sophie Porter, director of the Institute for Global Education at Miss Porter’s School in the United States: “News-Decoder should be accessible to many different types of schools and not necessarily just the sorts of independent schools like Miss Porter’s that actually can afford to pay a certain amount of money per year.”
We want to travel to different parts of the world this year and next to meet educators and to spread our message of tolerance and understanding. Your support will allow us to join international educational associations and to present to their member schools — the best way we’ve found to forge new partnerships.
Creating agents of change
Here’s Raghda Obeidat, a student at partner school King’s Academy in Jordan who won first prize in our most recent storytelling contest:
“I gained a lot of confidence from the experience, and I just felt very empowered to be the agent of change I always wanted to be, but I never thought I could be confident enough or powerful enough to be.”
Or Souleymane Diallo, a student at partner school African Leadership Academy in South Africa: “News-Decoder has been the first type of resource where I’m able to reach not just African people but people from other regions of the world.”
Young people working with News-Decoder rub elbows with journalists who have covered virtually every major global news story of the past half century. One of them, Alan Wheatley, said there is nothing new when it comes to reporting.
“If an event happens in the world and people get terribly excited, then generally in the back of my mind a bell will ring and think: ‘Oh yeah, well there was something similar in fact that happened 10, 20 years ago here, there or somewhere else.’ And it provides that context that enables me to put things in perspective.”
Your financial support — no matter how big or small — will help more young people in the four corners of the globe sort fact from fiction.
Our funding goal is $25,000. It will be used primarily to allow us to meet educators in different parts of the world so we can explain face-to-face how our program enriches students and supports a school’s mission.
Do consider contributing today. It can be a one-time gift or a monthly donation that acts like a subscription. You can donate using a credit card, PayPal, check, bank transfer or via our U.S. fiscal partner, the King Baudouin Foundation United States.
On behalf of my colleagues at News-Decoder and the thousands of students at our partner schools, thank you very much.
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Move continents closer
Nelson Graves is the founder of News-Decoder.