tigblogs

Jen's Journal

photography!

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

i took this picture a few days ago.

it is of amal's best friend maria (you probably don't know who either of them are...but they are very cool people

i brightened it a bit in photoshop...and incresed the contrast...but otherwise, it's just a quick picture that i took with the digital camera..

wow.

i miss photography! i totally need to start taking more pictures because i think this one is very cool...

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last week.

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

MONDAY - feb.11
******
- Y House meeting with Amanda and Maria - I was 45 minutes LATE for the meeting. ugh. i was coming from another meeting with a company called nine dots. someone from nine dots heard our panel session at the AIMS conference and was interested in our 'consulting' services. Mandy gave an update on how the Y House is interested in having us conduct a workshop for street youth who live at the Y house - so that they have an opportunity to share their story (especially in an artistic sense)

- mike and i met with charlie coffey (royal bank) - we brought him muffins and chocolate milk :) we had a chat about our progress, showed him the new brochure (*gasp* we don't have a quote from our only REAL SPONSOR!!) we have been invited to an upcoming event on march 7 (Celebration of the Toronto Aboriginal Community)...we asked about how we might be able to be involved with the Ontario Youth Promise...he gave us a contact...

- I met with Amelia (who is from Melbourne and is visiting TOronto) Mike and I met with her when we were in AU as her mom runs a computer centre for disadvantaged youth...she has a lot of experience with marketing and pr. she wants to get involved with TIG. we shared our DRAFT organizational manual with her. i also shared contacts with her from toronto as she is thinking of moving here.

- i met with amal who is coordinating our upcoming workshop called 'pushing your comfort zone and loving it' - mandy printed about 100 flyers for her to promote the event - we talked about logistics etc.

- mike and i were invited to a get together with someone from Canada25 - it was a dinner/drinks kinda setting. we connected with people from meal exchange and a few other orgs. they are facing similar challenges as we are..it was good to connect

TUESDAY - feb.12
*******
- met with the coordinators for York Universitie's International Exchange program to talk about how TIG's community can help students who are on exchange, as well as how their experience can 'live on' when they return home. we talked about having them sign up as TIG members and helping them create their own updates pages to share their experiences, using our events calendar to get involved in local activities, and possibly connecting with local TIG members..

- Vittoria and I met with Michael Jones (who is a pianist and does organizational development)...we had an incredible discussion!! he may help facilitate a retreat for TIG members in Ontario. notes from discussion typed up by Vee - posted below:

Michael Jones Meeting
Tuesday February 12, 2002.

Interesting Councils/Websites etc..
• Academy of Leaders
• International Leadership Association

Arts (Cultural, Leadership)/Youth/Leadership

• WorldCafé.com/.org
Future, Challenges, Seminars
Conversational Café’s – tables for conversations
Environment
Culture
Community of Practice
Bring more of yourself to work
Where is my music of the past?
• For General Inspiration…
Help people be more collaborative
Imaginative intelligence
Help ppl be confident
Able to line from their gifts and talents
Become Improvizational

Creating a TIG Title…
Ideas for our Retreat Day…
Profiles of attendees
Individuals bring a symbol of some form
Invite mentors + sponsors (cross generalization learning)
Title should reflect a goal they want to achieve
Insight/leadership/innovation/creativity
Bring in art
Steers Committee; possible futures? What resources do we need?

Overview: 40-50 People, breakfast/lunch, piano, speakers, interactive games





OUTLINE
9AM Welcome
Music Continental Breakfast
**Handouts
Icebreaker
------Side Note---------
Inspire Inform Involve
Let the word line through the process?
Major Interactions, Status of?
Educational Focus OR Tig member?
Include Booklet with Profiles of Attendees/Mentors/Speakers
Name // email
Experiences
Skills
Interests
*Meaningful TIG Experience
anything inspiring/interesting as key as a TIG member?

*what makes a good leader?

Include TIGVision, Mission, values, principles, profile, mentors + presenters, printed form to sign up
9:30 What are their goals?
What connects them?

Inspire…What does TIG represent? ‘Lay the path that you walk’
Possible futures and share the dream
People want to belong to a story

Check In
Bring themselves into the room
Hopes/aspirations
What makes a good leader?

Inform ppl of the gifts they bring – Groups of 4

Art Icebreaker – Mural – ‘Possible futures of TIG’ Quote in the middle

Date -mural
-Mirella can help us enter the creation process

Other Notes –

Others reflect back the gifts…
Group of 4
A.Inform gifts
Qualities they have that are unique
B.’What you care about’
Others name something unique about their partner

LUNCH

--Side Notes Continued--

‘Who is going to play your music if you don’t’

Involve Start Business cards – help network
Explain positions

Dynamic/based on initiative – its what you put in it
While playing; ‘reflection and writing time’
helps slow our turkey down??!
Share Reflections
What was meaningful for you?
Reflection time between any activity

Packages
*Note: Include Sign Up Sheets for attendees
For Coordinators – perhaps alternate package or one pager including TIG information and goal of retreat

Vision/Goals of Afternoon
How do you see yourself contributing to this initiative?

*Coordinators take note of when ppl
are speaking during their
reflections/expressing their
thoughts throughout the day

Next Steps for individuals…
Ideas for how this initiative can have a greater impact
What’s coming up?
What should our upcoming projects be?

Conclusion
Top 10 Things Tiggers can do to follow up from this retreat day
(i.e Update page, Search for members online, through email/profiles provided, conduct the next workshop/gathering, create a piece of art/expression on your inspiration of the day retreat, write an article etc etc)

------------------------
feb.12 contd.

- met with theresa from 3com! she wants me to set up a meeting with the president of 3com canda to try and get laptops, digicams and video conferencing stuff as they have let go many employees...she also wants to help us develop our sponsorship packages

- on tuesday night, Vittoria stayed over at my place and we did Chackra Yoga, sipped tea and chilled. it was great to share ideas and catch up on things :)

Wednesday - feb.13
*********
We had a staff meeting in the morning - amanda sent out the notes! basically, everyone gave a mega update on what they've been working on, challenges/highlights, upcoming goals etc. Michelle and Vittoria joined us, which was great!

- john abrams, my contact at McD called a day earlY (we were scheduled to chat on thursday) i haven't talked to him in 6 months!! (since he left mcd) we got caught up and i shared progress that TIG has been making. he seemed really jazzed. when i described TIG (being a network, community, resource, platform etc. etc.) and asked if it sounded like to much...he said "Jennifer, you are telling me that TIG is a pine tree, an oak tree, a maple tree etc. - of course it makes sense! you just can't see that TIG is a forest, because of the trees"....

WOW!!! i finally get that saying!!!

- seeing as Vanessa's fundraising workshop was taking place at 5:30, many volunteers and new TIG members came into the office early to chill out, meet up etc. it was crazy and fun having more people around!!

- there was a crazy homeless man that came in our office. at first he was just wierd...he was asking a lot of questions...he walked in and said 'hey guys, i'm here to crash the party' - right in on our meeting!! he decided that he wanted to attend vanessa's workshop and was really killing the 'safe environment' feeling. sush came up to me and said that she thought she overheard someone talking about a homeless man wandering the building. we went down to security and apparently, they were looking for him all day. Meanwhile, back in the workshop, grant (one of our newer members) told the homeless man that if he interrupted the group one more time (after several warnings) that he would have to ask him to leave. Security showed up just on time and escorted him out of the building. crazy experience.

- mike, martin and i dropped vittoria off at home that evening so that mike and martin could fix her computer and get it back on the internet :) after that, we enjoyed some great italian food!!

Thursday - feb.14
********
- our day at the TIG office started off with vanessa giving each of us a cute little present and mandy sending us a TIG virtual greeting card that she created for our members to use on valentines day!!

- mike and i meet with people from sunnybrook hospital about Phase2 of the partyprogram.com website

- amanda, vanessa and i spent several hours re-arranging the office to prepare for karis and susheela joining us as co-op students!!! it took a while.

- i stayed at the office until 9:30 getting my desk organized. i had files, papers, brochures, documents etc. all over the place!! i ended up creating a few binders with tabs to help sort through my collection of ideas / meeting notes / research and printed e-mials.

Friday - feb.15
******
- derek came in early for our meeting with amelia (who didn't end up showing up)...derek was kinda sad because he had a late night..

- i had a conference call with Ashfaq from the international child art foundation - there are several ways that we might be able to be involved in their upcoming 'creativity olympics' collecting artwork from around the world. i was thinking that we could help those submissions that do not make it to the final round get featured on the net through our global gallery!!

- jessee (19 year old tig member) came in to meet mike, derek, mandy and i about getting involved as a volunteer. he has a lot of business experience and a bit of a technology background. he left with a binder filled with responses from our recent TIG survey. he may start by helping us with market research / marketing stuff!!!

- i had a conference call with dumi (YES) to discuss progress. several changes needed to be made on the site and TIG is going to build their online registration application.

- vanessa and i met with jacqueline from the YMCA to talk about how we can collaborate on youth employment initiatives. mandy and sush need to create a poster that can be printed and posted in youth employment centres across the GTA

- i met with Susan Bazilli who was recognized as a 'social entrepreneur' at the world economic forum. she contacted me because she is interested in TIG - i talked to her about our programs and initiatives. she is a lawyer and does a lot of work helping women around the world. she may use TIG in trainings that she does in other countries. she is well connected.

- i had a conference call with Tad form Youth for environmental sanity about their alumni network...there may be opportunity for collaboration...

- karis came into the office at about 6:30 - so we chatted - and then after getting feedback on the space (not so positive), karis, mike and martin re-arranged things further. i worked on e-mails - ugh - a ton of those! by 9:30 we left the building, went out for japanese food and watched a movie!!

------------------------------------

i need some days with NO meetings!!! i totally need to follow-up with some of the people that i've been meeting and hope to develop some meaningful partnerships out of these connections.

that's all for now :)
~ jen

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tummy ache.

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

my stomach has been hurting all day. maybe it's because i've been working hardcore on my school work all weekend. yesterday (saturday), i found out that i had an assignment due on friday!!! i also found out that i lose 5 marks each day that it's late!! so i busted my butt to get it done...and involved people in 'online interviews' seeing as it was on 'online communities'....

i had a long chat (over the phone) with Alex from Cameroon last night. He asked me to call him because he said that he had a lot of questions and concerns. Since it was quiet around my house, I gave him a call!! Here is the follow-up e-mail from our discussion:

Hey Alex!

It was great chatting with you over the phone :)
Mike - can you please check to see if Alex is on the youth rep list. If he's not, Vanessa, can you please send Alex all the e-mails that have gone to the youthrep alias?

Alex, I am just going to summarize our discussion to help with the follow-up.

1 - You are working on a partnership with the cyber-café. I know that you would like to have a contract / document / agreement. I have attached our partnership document that was developed for the YMCA. I would like you to write a draft document that is based on the partnership you envision with the cyber-café.

2 - you talked about how there are many NGO's in Cameroon, and how most have a bad reputation. I agree that it is important for the TIG team in Cameroon to follow-through on the project ideas that it has so that it does not get a bad reputation. I also think that it is a good idea to try and help the different organizations work together. Have they all been added to the TIG organization database? http://www.takingitglobal.org/opps/orgdir.html?tag=hd.dd

3 - You talked about how young people don't have an opportunity to express themselves. I think that the idea of holding a contest where young people create artwork around the theme of 'Life in Cameroon' or 'the future of Cameroon'...many youth will have the opportunity to express their views on the hope that they have for their country, along with some of the issues and challenges that people face. If you encourage people to submit art, you can try to raise funds to have prints made and sold as a fundraiser. Perhaps the printing company will print for free to have their logo on the prints??

4 - you mentioned that there are several major companies in cameroon:
Guinnes Beer
Car Company
Cement Company
Chocolate (Nestle)
Sugar
Phone companies

** you need to research each of these companies to find out if they sponsor youth initiatives. Find out if their foundations give out grants to youth projects that relate to 'technology' / 'education' / social justice / health etc.

5 - I know that you said that your government is quite corrupt. I am not sure if they support youth initiatives but you should look into whether or not there are grants related to education / youth development / technology training etc. that you can apply for

6 - You asked me to contact the World Computer Exchange. I will do so once you send me a one-pager that explains how your team will use the computers. Also, you should talk to the people at the internet café about whether or not they would provide free internet access to the TIG team if you had the computers in their space. Once I have this, I will also see if there is anyone who can help me at IBM.

Let's stay in touch. I will try to give you a call next weekend so that we can chat again! I will see you online.

Your friend,

Jennifer

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jenergy's work on sunday

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

...had a full day of work today -- need to get sleep so i can prepare for all my meetings tomorrow...(meeting with a company called Nine Dots at 10:30am, then the Y house, then Charlie Coffey, then Amelia from Melbourne is coming into the office for a chat - after that, mike and i are going to a dinner with people from the canada25 group...on tuesday, i meet with someone at York INternational in the morning - to discuss promoting TIG to international students, then Vittoria and I meet with a potential mentor for the GG at YorkU, then Mike and I meet the VP at Compaq Canada - then i'm in the office for the afternoon - Lo Specchio interviews Vittoria at 4:30 - i have to go back to York U for evening classes...(not sure if i should bother coming into the office for those few hours on tuesday)...

--------an update on work done today: sunday

Conference call with vittoria - she is in the Vaughan Citizen and will be interviewed in a few other media this week! we talked about things that need to be done before she goes away to vancouver to get the wired woman award!! (ie: GG winners need to be announced)

Wrote the Community involvement article for the Ministry of Education newsletter!! (will send)

Chat with poonam - TIG may develop the registration system for YES summit participants (i need to develop a proposal)

TEN - i printed out and went through the updated list of Technology Empowerment Network members to find the top 10 people that we want to connect with...need to go through in greater detail tomorrow.

Faxed in form to present at the Science Teachers Association of Ontario event in Nov.2002

E-mails -- in-box is down to 6 e-mails!!

-----------------------------------------------

work done yesterday: saturday

* met with one of the VP's of Jr. Chamber International for 3 hours to talk about Org. structure and the possibility of TIG developing the online community for JC

* i learned a TON about how the JC structure works and Matt might send me JC's by-laws...it would be soo amazing if he gave us the kit that they give to JC chapter leads

* i sent a follow-up e-mail asking for their by-laws...hope they will pass it along...

--------------------------------------------------

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NEW YORK PROGRESS REPORT

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Progress Report for Wednesday January 30 - Wednesday February 6

NEW YORK.

I have just returned from an intense week in New York City. Overall, my trip was incredibly packed with the Youth Employment Summit Youth Forum, the World Economic Forum, and many meetings with mentors and advisors. There is a lot to follow-up on, absorb and pursue. I look forward to creating new opportunities that allow TIG to have an even greater impact!

--------------------------
Wednesday January 30, 2002
--------------------------

**UN Ambassadors’ Briefing and Consultation held at the ECOSOC Chambers on the first floor of the United Nations
Opening by the Chair: Mr. Nitin Desai, UN Under-Secretary General
Keynote Address: Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director General of the Library of Alexandria and YES Organizing Committee Chairman

The Objective of this Briefing: In September 2002, the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt will host the global Youth Employment Summit (YES), in Alexandria. Parallel to the Summit will be a meeting of the relevant ministers. In preparation for this Global Summit the UN Ambassadors of Egypt and India are co-hosting a Briefing for UN Ambassadors.

This briefing was an opportunity for dialogue with the UN Ambassadors about the best way to move forward the issue of youth unemployment in their countries and to identify the most effective way for governments to participate in YES2002.

HIGHLIGHTS: I got a chance to comment on how TakingITGlobal has re-designed the website for the Youth Employment Summit and that we are providing 'online community' functionality for members of the YES Global Alliance and YES Country Networks to collaborate more effectively. Shalala (our youth rep from Zambia) was also present for this event, and shared his perspectives on the role of young people in his country.

**Lunch with Organizing Committee of Youth Employment Summit at the Ambassador's Grill

**Evening Reception at The Synergos Institute “Global Poverty and Youth Employment: Opportunities for Action”
6:30 PM: Reception - Cocktails and Hors d’ oeuvre’s

7:00 PM: Welcome Address: Peggy Dulany, Chair, The Synergos Institute:

7:15 PM: Our Commitment to Youth: Jose Maria-Figueres, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum (WEF)

7:30 PM: Our Opportunity - the Youth Employment Summit: Ismail Serageldin, Director-General Library of Alexandria, and, Chairman of the YES Organizing Committee

7:45 PM: Moderated dialogue Ismail Serageldin on “Global Poverty and Youth Employment: Opportunities for Action”

HIGHLIGHTS: When someone asked about how the Youth Employment Summit would share best practices, Ismail (Director General of the Library of Alexandria) called upon me to explain the technology strategy for the Youth Employment Summit! For those still unclear about how TIG is working with YES - basically, there are 3/4 key areas:
1 - TIG has redesigned the website (lead by Amanda) www.youthemploymentsummit.org
2 - TIG is powering their Global Alliance network (composed of individuals and organizations) Maria has been importing org's and individuals - this will launch in a few weeks.
3 - TIG is providing the technology for the Youth Employment Summit Country networks (using the technology that supports TIG country teams). They will appear to be partnership pages - with a YES banner at the TOP and a Youth Employment module within the framework
4 - TIG 'may' develop an online tool for the YES Personal Action Plan (this is phase 2)

** After the day's activities, I stayed up until 2:30am working on e-mails - trying to catch up on things

--------------------------
Thursday January 31, 2002
--------------------------
**Organizing Committee Meeting (for those who don't know, I have been invited to participate as an Organizing Committee member for the Youth Employment Summit). The other OC members in attendance are the following:

Ismail Serageldin
Chairman, YES
Director-General,
Library of Alexandria, Egypt

Hafsat Abiola
Director, Kudirat Initiative
for Democracy (KIND)

Esteban Gonzalez
President, Nexus Executive Group

Huguette Labelle
President, CIDA 1993-99

Rick Little
President, Int. Youth Foundation

Summit Director
Poonam Ahluwalia
Education Dev. Center, Inc

**

9:30 Breakfast and mingling with the YES Youth Forum participants

10:00 Introductions to the YES Youth Forum participants

10:30 Move to another room to start the OC meeting

Welcome and thanks by Ismail – Vision for the Alexandria Summit, agenda for the day – progress so far, agenda for the Summit, building delegate participation, the ministerial delegations, funding needs and keynote speakers. What needs to be accomplished, and the role of OC members and transition to the Executive Campaign Committee.

11:00 Progress report and thanks by Poonam: what has been accomplished so far, the road to the Alexandria Summit – Our Agenda

11:30 Discussion on the Summit Agenda – understanding the purpose and offering suggestions, identifying institutions and individuals to collaborate with, speakers, OC member support and offers to secure commitments of their institutions

13:00 Working Lunch – Youth OC members Hafsat, Esteban and Jennifer lead the conversation on building delegate participation and raising funds needed

14:30 Mrs. Nyoni leads the conversation regarding the Ministerial meeting and what we can hope to accomplish and ensuring the presence of at least 80 countries

15:30 Coffee Break

16:00 Commitment from individual OC members from now till the Summit – Hafsat and Ismail

17:00 Review and summation up to now - Ismail

17:30 Next steps and closure - Ismail

18:00 Dinner

** After dinner, Hafsat, Mrs. Nyoni, Poonam, Denis and I had a chat about next steps. Then Hafsat and I went to a club and met up with YES Youth Forum delegates!!! We had a great time dancing, laughing and chatting with good friends :)

------------------------
Friday February 1, 2002
------------------------
- Early set up at YES Youth Forum / discussions with Dumi about how to explain Technology Support offered by TIG.

- Meeting with Pip Coburn (who is in charge of the Global Strategy team at UBS Warburg). I had a chat with Pip about TIG's latest progress. I talked about some of the challenges we are facing and asked for his advice on creating a global structure that enables people, yet provides a clear framework. I also talked about 'management' challenges. He invited Mike and I to his team meeting (with his Global Strategy team). Each week they have something called "Change Meetings" - where employees discuss something that they want to change. One of the things that they discussed was the low level of energy in the team. It was interesting for me to see that we face similar challenges as other organizations do - even though they do not lack many of the resources that we lack.

- YES Youth Forum - participation in workshop training. We received many materials and had a chance to interact with amazing delegates from around the world!! Vanessa was one of the participants and had an opportunity to truly delve into the materials. I look forward to learning from her insights!

- Presentation of YES Country Network technology (powered by TIG). I gave a mini-tutorial explaining how TIG technology is relevant to their work. I need to follow-up with a step-by-step explanation for country network reps - once the rest of the functionality is developed.

- World Bank connection! I met the Program Manager for the World Bank's Development Education Program (Knowledge Networks and Distance Learning).

- Global Leaders of Tomorrow (GLT) Party!! World Economic Forum festivities begin for me with NY Latin jazz band and NY desserts! I met with a few people including the co-founder and president of Google.com!! I asked about their philanthropy initiatives and will follow-up to see if they might be interested in supporting TIG.

--------------------------
Saturday February 2, 2002
--------------------------
- Defining success - The program for World Economic Forum GLT's begun with providing each 2002 Global Leader of Tomorrow with 30 seconds to state their 'secret to success'. My statement went something like this: "I am still defining success for myself, so I don't have any secrets. What I do have is a strong belief in the value of the work that I am doing. I am very committed to the vision of our organization and am inspired by those who get involved and make something meaningful out of what we have created"

- Leadership in fragile times - A panel discussion about this topic was a great kick-off for our events!

President of the Philippines (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo) talked about how building pyramids are a mistake. She said that 'if you try to be great - you will be distracted in building monuments for yourself.'

CEO of Royal Dutch / Shell Group of Companies (Linda Cook) shared some of the challenges of being a business leader and talked about the importance of having good business principles. She emphasised that 'you cannot ignore the human condition' in business.

The theme of this panel emphasized the importance of being visible, being committed, being a good listener, having a sense of purpose, the importance of simplicity, communication and having a soul. One of the businessmen in the audience spoke up and said that there are so many people protesting, talking about how we need to address 'social concerns' - his question was "How much should we care?". The response discussed how 'investing in people will have positive returns'. Our ecosystem is so interconnected - what we do HAS to be sustainable from an economic, social and environmental perspective!

- Interviewed by activist and protestor Janice (who currently attends the University of Waterloo) During my interview with Janice, I expressed my impressions about the World Economic Forum were very different based on my initial experiences, and based on the agenda of the program. People think that WEF is focused on how corporations can make more money - and that the people involved have no spirit or vision for a sustainable future. Contrary to popular belief, members of the World Economic Forum are very concerned about social issues, global poverty and how to make best use of scarce resources.

- Chat with President of the International Youth Foundation (Rick Little)..what an incredibly inspirational individual! Rick shared his story about how he wrote a book with Bill

- New York Stock Exchange party! The security at this event was absolutely insane. There were Secret Service agents, FBI and of course thousands of police on patrol! Several blocks of Wall Street were completely shut down. About 10-15 people checked my id as I walked towards the entrance of the Gala-Soiree. Inside, there were different stations: A Celebration of the Americas, A taste of Asia, An Evening in Casablanca, The Rhythms of Africa, A Classical Experience and Rock'n'Roll Café! Each station had food, music and a different atmosphere.

- Met CEO of New York Stock Exchange (Dick Grass) and President of the World Economic Forum (Klaus Schwab)

--------------------------
Sunday February 3, 2002
--------------------------
- Breakfast with the Clinton's at the Yale Club
* Hillary Clinton said something quite powerful: Leadership for What? Many people want to be a leader for the sake of being a leader. We need to be clear on what it is that we lead for. It is important to have a sense of vision and mission. Your purpose needs to be bigger than yourself.

* Bill Clinton talked about how this is a paradoxal time: With the explosiion of IT and the dispersion of Education, hundreds of millions of people never go to school. As Health care technologies advance, disease spreads. As new environmental standards are being met, global warming becomes a greater threat. It is important to have a sense of global consciousness. We have to raise a generation of young people who are proud, yet understand identities.

- Jen catches a ride with Hilary Clinton from one function to the next - in bulletproof suburban truck!!

- Women's Leadership initiative: Special brunch facilitated by Barbara Walters. Met with Kim Campbell (first female Prime Minister in Canada), Queen of Jordan, Esther Dyson, heard the Prime Minister of Latvia speak

- Brief Chat with Linda Stone (Microsoft Senior Executive) about progress TIG is making and the speech that Bill Gates was preparing for.

- Global Leaders of Tomorrow 2002 Award Ceremony

- Dinner session: "How Can Philanthropy Be More Effective Globally?" We had a great discussion about the importance of met VP of AOL Time Warner / President of AOL Time Warner Foundation

--------------------------
Monday February 4, 2002
--------------------------
- Breakfast with Polly LaBarre (Senior Editor, Fast Company) - she provided us with feedback on our recent brochure, along with connections to the founder of Fast Company of Friends

- Reconsidering the Role of Religion (loss of faith or renewed faith?) One individual said that there are a few common values all religions do (or should) share: creativity; cooperation; compassion; conservation; coexistance.

- Session - Education: Creating a Curriculum for Cultural Understanding -> current activities in cultural understanding include the arts, sports, debating teams, technology programs, media. Groups shared ideas on how we can create a curriculum for cultural understanding. The idea of multi-faith schools came up. I talked about our Global Gallery, and how we provide a platform for cross-cultural sharing and understanding through art and technology as a medium.

- Chat with Mitch (MIT Media Lab) about TIG + Nation1. We learned about the value they see in 'youth initiatives' which is basically research opportunities for MIT Media Lab students. Technology is an empowering and enabling force. Young people play a special role in shaping future technologies. Lessons from youth are applicable to innovation. He talked about the computer clubhouse network - being after-school resource centres for underpriveledged youth. He wants us to connect with a few others at MIT and possibly prsent to a team in Boston.

- Chat with UN Advisor on Aids (R. P. Eddy III) - he feels that we should include mainstream media so that we can connect with young people who are not 'inspired / informed / involved'. He thinks that what we are doing has tremendous value and that we should really think about 'how we measure success'...'how do you know that TIG is having an impact?'

- Kofi Annan closing speech - talked about how 'we are enormously priveledged. We share a small planet with those who are denied of human dignity because their choices are so narrow. If they are sick, we all risk infection. If they are hungry, we too will be hurt. The reality is that power and wealth is unequally shared. Many believe that this is the fault of globalization. You need to understand your 'rival gathering' - the World Social Forum - who are concerned about the effects of economics. Many have no hope. Many say that social issues are not business issues. They say that the bottom line, profits and shareholders interests are top priority. There is a lot you can do. Companies can make a massive difference. Busienss cannot afford to be seen as the problem - but rather - part of the solution'...

- NetAid meeting - we learned about eachother's programs, our goals, our progress, and spent a bit of time talking about how we might be able to collaborate. They are interested in Sustainable Community Development. They want to connect with 'advocates for sustainable community development'. Their goals used to be more closely aligned with TIG (in terms of the Be the Change program // like IdeaFund - that was run in partnership with Peace Child)...However, they have changed their focus and are now more concerned with helping kids go to school in developing countries. They are also not as focused on technology anymore.

--------------------------
Tuesday February 5, 2002
--------------------------
- GLT Task Force Breakfast. There are many initiatives that evolve from the Global Leaders of Tomorrow. I plan on joining the following Task Force initiatives: Digital Divide, Spirituality in the Workplace, Philanthropy...

- Stephen Yarnell (Lawyer) - I met Stephen at the conference in Silver Bay. He took a train to New York in order to meet with us and talk about our legal challenges. He will review our youth rep manual - but does plan on charging us for his time. He has a lot of experience with corporate / employment law in the US - but does not necessarily have international expertise.

- Skadden Aarps (Law Firm) - thanks to Nick, Mike and I met with one of the biggest law firms in the world (espeically in the area of corporate law / international law etc.) We talked about how our organization has grown, the exciting aspects of what we do, the impact that we are having, the challenges we are facing (especially from a legal perspecitve) and the TIG / N1 merger discussions. As part of their mandate, they do pro-bono work (50 hours / employee at Skadden) to non-profit initiatives. There are several things that we need to work on: having clear objectives / by-laws / licence model for others to use TIG materials / conditions and terms of use / enforcement strategies. We need to establish formal affiliations with youth reps / local teams. A reporting system needs to be set in place. Skadden wants us to send them all of our past agreements, disclaimers, terms of agreements etc. We will also need to be aware of things like privacy concerns, intellectual property, and issues of permission with our online community. Seeing as the content of our meeting was quite overwhelming, I am happy to say that the people are quite optimistic and refreshing!

- Meeting with LiLu (cancelled)

- Dinner with Ben (Global Youth Action Network)...we had a chance to get caught up on things. Mike has a lot of work to do in terms of finishing up the Global Youth Service Day website and online tools. We went to an Indian restaurant with amazing lights!!!

- chat with my good friend Hope - (cancelled)...i really REALLY wanted to see my friend Hope. She was sick. She told me that she feels sick because New York is sick. Her voice is gone. She has an idea called muse. She wants to create a space for people to share ideas and inspiration. How beautiful. I miss my dear friend Hope.

--------------------------
Wednesday February 6, 2002
--------------------------
- begin to e-mail people (those I met at WEF) - attempt a quick follow-up!

- Meeting with Carolyn Chin - again - this meeting was pretty much set up by nick. We spent some time giving Carolyn an overview of TIG, the progress made to date, the relationship with Nick and Nation1. She provided us with valuable insight and perspective. I think that she wants to be involved. She talked about how having a strong board can help with fundraising. She suggested people/organizations/companies to get in touch with:
* Ministry of Industry and Trade (canada), James Wolfensohn (World Bank President), Sega, Swatch, Ronx y Chan (Enron Board / involved with Davos / from Hong Kong), ANS (advanced network service), Tim Worth (manages Ted Turner fund at the UN Secretary of State dept), Lisa Caputo (press person for hillary clinton / city bank), CED.org (committee for economic development). I need to verify the spelling of the list above and follow-up with Carolyn...I also need to connect her daughter to bremley and sustainable development conferences/forums
* seeing as Carolyn has a background in research, she shared perspecitves on how we can 'measure success'. She may be able to help us with designing a questionaire to get quantitative data. She said that we can design our surveys in a way that will allow us to get the headlines we want to have.
* in terms of the value that she sees in what we are doing - basically, she feels that youth involvement on major community issues / causes is important. Youth helping youth is inspiring. The boomers dream is that youth care about similar things that they do/did...takes them back to their ideals.

- Flight back to Toronto

- more e-mails and New York Progress Report

*****************************************************

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