Are you familiar with "
What's Your Issue?" -- "It's a global initiative and competition for the next generation of leaders and social entrepreneurs. The mission of What’s Your Issue Foundation is to provide a unique national platform for young adults to propose creative solutions to some of our nation’s most important challenges and for that voice to be heard, honored, and acted upon by leaders in government, the media, the private sector, and the nonprofit world.
The broader year-round mission of this dynamic and multi-faceted initiative is to encourage and support civic engagement by young adults – supported by an educational platform offering leadership and social entrepreneurial skills, as well as video-making skills."
Perhaps your curriculum includes units covering one of the eight issues listed below. Maybe you sponsor a club or activity that is committed to solving some of the problems in the world. In my years at Stevenson I have witnessed so many teachers, staff and students giving generously of their time and talents in support of a variety of local, national and global issues, whether it be working with the local senior citizens, honoring our veterans, or raising funds for victims of catastrophes, such as the recent earthquake in Haiti.
Today's technology allows our young people to have a global voice!! This is an amazing effort to better our world through the creative thinking of those who, one day, will be our caretakers. I urge you to share this with your students.
We are seeking your innovative solutions to issues. We think that 14 to 24 year olds can offer a fresh, innovative approach to problem-solving. Specifically, we are looking for workable project ideas that can be locally launched that would tangibly tackle a problem. An example might be program or project in a city or town to deal with surplus cellphones, or with under-employed youth, or that would deal with national security or human rights.
Check out the eight front-burner issues we’ve listed on our Issues page. We’ve listed some considerations for each issue there that may get you started in thinking about your solution-project.
Then submit your three-minute video to the Film Your Issue competition that both articulates the problem and proposes a specific project to deal with the problem. Submission is open January 18 through April 12. When you submit your video, we will ask for a one-sheet outlining your project in more detail.
The more dynamic the presentation of the issue and your proposed project, the more you will capture our enthusiasm. While cinematic quality always helps, a great project idea will sway our hearts. Innovative thinking is as important as slickness.
Just remember that American and global leaders will be selecting the winning solutions that will be presented to senior officials in the Obama administration, broadcast on screens in Best Buy stores across the planet, posted on our iTunes tile and YouTube playlist. We will also fly U.S.-based Jury winners to Los Angeles for our Awards ceremony co-hosted by Sony Pictures.
The Film Your Issue competition is open to all global young adults 14 to 24.
Global submissions are eligible for all our Jury Awards, and all presentation platforms. Due to the labyrinth of global legalities of any competition, the Audience Favorite winner, as selected by the public on YouTube, is only eligible to U.S. residents.
The eight issues are:
Education
Environment
Economic Recession
Health and Healthcare
Pathway from Poverty
National Security and Defense
Public Service
Human and Equal Rights
Technology
