World Youth Peace Summit (WYPS)
The WYPS-2011, through intensive, practical study, will furnish 12,000+ participants (160+ nations/ages from 15-70+), with practical knowledge on how to develop and successfully implement Pathways to Peace initiatives in their home communities in the US and around the globe. An Office of Social Entrepreneurship will provide support following the Summit, that will be held at the Univ of CT.
About You
Section 1: You
First Name
James
Last Name
Skiff
Website URL
Organization
Institute for International Sport
Country
United States, RI
Section 2: Your Organization
Organization Name
World Youth Peace Summit (Institute for Int'l Sport)
Organization Website
Organization Phone
(401) 874-2375
Organization Address
Institute for International Sport, The Feinstein Bldg., The University of Rhode Island, Box 1710, Kingston, RI 02881-1710
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
Organization Country
United States, RI
Your idea
Name Your Project
World Youth Peace Summit (WYPS)
Country and state your work focuses on
Describe Your Idea
The WYPS-2011, through intensive, practical study, will furnish 12,000+ participants (160+ nations/ages from 15-70+), with practical knowledge on how to develop and successfully implement Pathways to Peace initiatives in their home communities in the US and around the globe. An Office of Social Entrepreneurship will provide support following the Summit, that will be held at the Univ of CT.
Website URL
Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
There are 3 elements of the 5-day WYPS that mark it as being unique: 1) We believe that well-intentioned, motivated people, irrespective of age and who are committed to the concepts of peace and social entrepreneurism/justice, can be taught how to develop and implement projects that realize their aforementioned commitments. Working closely with distinguished members of the UConn faculty, the WYPS will provide participants with a practical, 2-course curriculum, that will enable each of them to make a positive difference in their home communities through the development of their personal Pathways to Peace initiatives. The curriculum will be supplemented by information provided through lectures by some of the best thinkers and leaders in the field of peace studies and social entrepreneurism; 2) A permanent Office of Social Entrepreneurism (OSE) will result from the WYPS. The OSE will exist to provide support to WYPS participants, to develop new resources to enhance current and future peace projects, to sponsor programs and speakers on site and via the Internet related to peace and social entreprneurism, and to serve as the site for ongoing research that will be conducted; and 3) A commitment to empirical, longitudinal research which focuses first on assessing the quality of the WYPS experience and then begins to assess the efficacy of the curriculum with regard to the successful implementation of the Pathways to Peace initiatives. Having this information will be invaluable in instituting improvements of future WYPS, scheduled to occur every 5 years.
Do you have a patent for this idea?
No
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What impact have you had?
Over the course of 23 years, the Institute for International Sport (IIS) has sponsored 4 World Scholar Athlete/Artist Games (WSAG) in the United States as well as similarly themed games in Ireland/Northern Ireland (2), the Middle East, and Australia. The theme of these Games has been to promote international/cultural understanding through athletic competition and involvement in the fine and performing arts. Approximately 15,000 young people (ages 15-19) representing more than 160 nations, have participated in these Games. At each Games, participants were urged by Founder and Executive Director Dan Doyle to return to their communities/countries and be active advocates for peace and social justice and were told that they would be invited back to attend a world peace summit coinciding with the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the IIS. The World Youth Peace Summit in 2011 represents the fulfillment of Mr. Doyle's promise. Three examples of how Mr. Doyle's programs have impacted participants' lives reinforce the potential for the much greater impact the WYPS will exert: 1) a story of a female Mexican WSAG participant who returned to her home town to raise money to create a fund that defrayed medical expenses associated with doing cochlear implants; 2) the tale of local fundraising done in Northern Ireland, inspired by the Northern Ireland (Belfast) Scholar-Athlete/Artist Games, to construct an athletic facility that allowed Catholic and Protestant youths to peacefully compete in basketball and other court-based sports; and 3) the story of a young Sierra Leonian man who raised funds to purchase soccer balls for the local youth soccer league in his home town.
Problem
Never before has there been a greater need for understanding and united action to reduce conflicts that abound between people from different nations and different cultures. The list of causes for conflict are many: growing economic disparity between nations, widespread international poverty, centuries-long hatreds that exist between people of different religions, the scarcity of natural resources due to the challenges of global warming, the spread of deadly diseases due to poor health conditions, and the lack of access to modern medicine to identify only a few. Even with the intervention of GOs and NGOs, the problems persist. We believe that insufficient attention and resources have been devoted to empowering the millions of young people around the globe. By nurturing their passion and by harnessing their intelligence, their ideas, and their commitment to setting and achieving lofty goals that will improve the condition of the world they have inherited/will inherit, we believe that bona fide progress can be made in these and other important areas.
Actions
Our success depends on 4 elements: 1) establishing partnerships with organizations who can nominate Summit participants. We have/will establish partnerships with groups like the UN, Peace Corps, Rotary International, Ambassadorial and Congressional delegations, the Nat'l Ass'ns of Superintendants, Independent Schools, and HS Scholars. We also have developed a full-time staff position-Director of Partnerships-and allocated another person to assist the Director in developing these relationships; 2) our ability to raise funds to underwrite WYPS costs not covered by revenues from ticket sales and sponsorships. We aggressively are seeking funding from Federal and State (CT) sources and pursuing support from private funding sources; and 3) our ability to establish relationships with local, regional and national media. We have secured the support of the local NBC TV affiliate and a local radio station with the largest statewide listening audience. In the near future, we intend to secure national media coverage; and 4) the development of a curriculum than converts theory into thousands of practical Pathways to Peace initiatives.
Results
Early expressions of interest in the WYPS suggest that we will succeed in having 12,000+ participants, 3,000 of whom will come from the 2011 WSAGs that immediately precede the Summit. Beyond ensuring optimal attendance levels, we expect: 1) thousands of participants to leave the Summit with well-designed, structured peace/social justice plans; 2) to open a permanent Office of Social Entrepreneurism guaranteeing support for the aforementioned peace advocates; 3) to have developed instruments for gathering data and measuring the success of the WYPS and the efficacy of the curriculum and its eventual success in the implementation and results achieved by the individual peace plans; and 4) to have begun the process of identifying potential sites for the 2016 WYPS.
What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Please address each year separately, if possible.
Jun 2010-Jun/Jul 2011: In the months leading up to the World Youth Peace Summit, it will be important for us to continue laying the foundation that ensures the success of the event. This means securing the level of funding required 1) to support the hiring of a first-rate leadership team; 2) to permit the ongoing development of a sophisticated office infrastructure, and 3)to underwrite the costs to market and run programs leading up to the Summit. With regard to #1, in a program whose success depends heavily on the development of relationships, identifying and hiring the very best members of the WYPS team is our highest priority. Anticipating dealing with needs of more than 12,000 participants, it is crucial that we assmble a team that is highly competent, but also committed to the mission of the Summit; with regard to #2, ensuring that a professional staff has access to the latest technology and materials to communicate with prospective attendees, donors, and each other, is able to travel to make direct contact with organizations and associations with whom we seek to partner, and has sufficient resources available to market and advertise not only the Summit but many of the planned preliminary events (i.e, peace walks throughout the US and around the world), peace lectures (by world renowned speakers like Elie Wiesel, Gen. Colin Powell, and Bill Clinton), and peace concerts.
Jul 2011-Jun 2013: In the two years following the 2011 Summit, it will be necessary to continue aggressively fundraising to ensure the financial stability and future of the Office of Social Entrepreneurism (OSE). This will involve raising funds to endow the OSE and to fund costs associated with ongoing longitudinal research and the expansion of programs.
What would prevent your project from being a success?
The major obstacle in the way of achieving the certain success of the WYPS would be lack of funding to support our efforts. While we are prepared to recalibrate our goals and objectives based on financial realities, we believe that lowering our expectations, given the needs of the world to have as many active advocates for world peace and social justice as we can, would mark our efforts as being less than successful.
How many people will your project serve annually?
More than 10,000
What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
Don't know
Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy?
Yes
Sustainability
What stage is your project in?
Operating for 1‐5 years
In what country?
United States, CT
Is your initiative connected to an established organization?
Yes
If yes, provide organization name.
Institute for International Sport
How long has this organization been operating?
More than 5 years
Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses?
Yes
Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government?
No
Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.
As stated in the Impact section of this grant proposal, our ability to establish and nurture relationships with organizations like the Peace Corps, the United Nations, Rotary International, Embassies, Congressional Offices, educational and athletic organizations and associations at the secondary and collegiate levels, and cultural (music and fine art) organizations are critical to the success of our efforts, not only in 2011, but also every five years in which World Youth Peace Summits are held. It is important to note that we already are engaged in preliminary discussions with other cities in the United States who have expressed interest in hosting the 2016 World Youth Peace Summit and the 2005 World Scholar Athlete Games. As a result, we expect to sustain the relationships that we have developed/will be developing for the 2011 Summit for future Summits. We are excited about the potential of these relationships in serving as breeding grounds for new initiatives we might develop.
What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization?
1) It is critical that we ensure continuity of leadership in key positions of the organization and that we be prepared to have a system in place that identifies, recruits, hires, and retains future generations of leaders. In addition to being committed to and passionate about our mission, these leaders must possess an innate interest in addressing the problems of a current world and be sufficiently visionary amd entrepreneurial to anticipate needs and problems still to be defined. They must be highly motivated and organized and be able to transfer their knowledge and passion to others in ways that inspire and motivate them.
2)We must continue to aggressively raise funds not only to address the more immediate operational needs, but also to ensure the long-term financial stability of the organization. The focus of this latter effort needs to address the matter of creating an endowment. As we all have learned from the most recent world recession, preparing for "lean" economic times is crucial to the survival of organizations, particularly smaller operations, and is, we believe, an overt manifestation of the quality of the organization.
3) In an environment in which the uses of increasingly sophisticated technology expand exponentially, we must be constantly vigilant to understand the significance of the point of intersection between technology and responsible communication if we are to multiply the impact and extend the influence of our work in the development of new initiatives, in maintaining relationships with past and current peace advocates, and in developing future spokespersons for peace and social justice.
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
The Institute for International Sport was founded in 1986 by Daniel E. Doyle, Jr. The basic concept of the Institute was rooted in Doyle's overseas experiences in the 60's and 70's. While traveling in Europe as a prep school basketball player in 1968, and visiting Cuba as the head men's basketball coach of Trinity College in 1979, Doyle saw the power of sport as a medium to foster friendship and goodwill.
As a student at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Doyle drafted a position paper that outlined what is now the Institute for International Sport (IIS). After sharing his idea with several universities, including the University of Rhode Island (URI), Doyle convinced then URI president Edward D. Eddy and then Rhode Island Governor Edward DiPrete that URI should be the home of the Institute. On July 1, 1986 the IIS officially opened in a one-room office and Doyle's dream became a reality.
As it approaches its 25th anniversary on July 1, 2011, the Institute for International Sport remains guided by international leaders in the academic, business, government and athletic communities. The IIS has fostered an extraordinary number of global friendships through sport, culture and education, connecting tens of thousands of people.
The actualization and fulfillment of Mr. Doyle's plan is the World Youth Peace Summit--2011.
Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.
The social innovator behind this idea is Daniel E. Doyle, Jr., the Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for International Sport and the President and Chief Executive Officer of the World Youth Peace Summit.
Mr. Doyle graduated from Bates College where he was co-captain of the men’s varsity basketball team. Mr. Doyle also served as a Trustee at Bates College. He is a graduate of the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University. Mr. Doyle holds two honorary doctorates for his work in sports education.
Mr. Doyle was a highly successful men’s basketball coach, winning more than 75%76% of the games he coached. In his final season at Trinity College, he was named New England College Coach of the Year. The Sporting News named him as one of the most influential people in American sport. Mr. Doyle has lectured at over 100 colleges and universities on behalf of the NCAA Foundation.
Mr. Doyle is the author of the acclaimed novel "Are You Watching, Adolph Rupp?" The novel was favorably reviewed in over 50 publications, including famed author James Michener. Mr. Doyle also wrote "The Encyclopedia of Sports Parenting", which was placed into nomination for a Pulitzer Prize by a distinguished group of educators, authors and physicians. The "Encyclopedia of Sports Parenting" has already won two major book awards. Mr. Doyle is a regular guest on ESPN’s Outside The Lines program, as well as other programs on CNN, Fox News, ABC and WFAN.
Mr. Doyle founded the Institute for International Sport in 1986 at the University of Rhode Island. The Institute is now considered by many to be the foremost sports education initiative in the world. Among the programs Mr. Doyle conceived at the Institute are National Sportsmanship Day, the World Scholar-Athlete Games, the US Scholar-Athlete Games, and the RI Scholar-Athlete Games.
Mr. Doyle and the Institute’s most ambitious program, the 2011 World Youth Peace Summit, will be held in Connecticut in the summer of 2011, with the University of Connecticut serving as the host institution. This Summit will bring together as many as 15,000 Scholar-Athlete Games graduates in a compelling program that will result in thousands of peace initiatives being implemented throughout the world.
Dr. Richard Lapchick, one our nation’s leading sports educators, has remarked, “Dan Doyle continues to do the most amazing work I know of in the world of sport. The sheer magnitude and depth of the programs Dan has put out and the writings he has produced have made a greater contribution to the world of sport than anybody I can think of.” General Colin Powell recently made the statement: “Dan Doyle and his team are on an historic mission toward world peace.”
Mr. Doyle has received numerous awards, including induction into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame and being awarded the prestigious Terence Cardinal Cooke Humanitarian Award in June 2009. Mr. Doyle lives in West Hartford, Connecticut, with his wife, Katherine. Mr. and Mrs. Doyle are the parents of six children, Daniel III, Matthew, Andrew, Margaret, Caroline and Julie.
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Friend or family member
If through another, please provide the name of the organization or company
Ray Handlan, Atlantic Philanthropies
