SPARKSHARE INC
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Mission Statement
Our mission is to equip young people with the skills, tools, mindset and connections they need to drive meaningful change in their communities
About This Cause
Through an innovative program model that incorporates Design Thinking and a focus on empathy, SparkShare creates opportunities for teams of high-school age youth across diverse background to connect with each other and cultivate the problem-solving skills, confidence, and civic agency necessary to become effective change makers. Our youth teams gain the experience of driving change in their communities through understanding their communities – on the issues that they choose to solve. Our Network is now 33 teams and growing. Our teams come from communities as diverse as Dorchester, East Boston, Needham, Lexington, and as far away as Pakistan, working on a range of initiatives including increasing access to mental health resources, expanding menstrual education, reducing substance misuse, and increasing diversity in honors level classes in high schools. Our Model: The Solutions we bring to young people In-Person Summits (2 X per program year) where our entire Network comes together for an entire day to learn and practice skills (e.g. storytelling), connect and share ideas across communities, ideate, and inspire. Virtual Workshops either theme-based (e.g. mental health) or skill-based (e.g. developing empathy and stakeholder maps) designed to share perspectives and insights, while putting critical problem-solving frameworks into practice. Learning curriculum toolkit on Design Thinking crafted to be accessible regardless of the stage a team’s project is at. These tools are designed to introduce key concepts in the design thinking methodology and guide the process of translating ideas into action. Coaching – each team has access to direct and targeted support to help them move through obstacles and propel ideas forward. In our upcoming program year we are working with Babson College to pilot a Design Thinking Coaching Model that deploys colleges students to work directly with the teams. SparkShare Learning Outcomes: Young people build their skills and confidence in problem-solving, including skills such as: listening, empathy, communication, collaboration, creativity Young people increase their ability to collaborate through experience and practice, developing an expanded and more diverse network of individuals/organizations that can support them in achieving their goals Young people increase their civic agency as problem-solvers, building confidence, leadership, and the experience of being able to take steps and identify partners to address a community challenge.