Youth Leadership for Change
JUMP! engages youth in community development projects and inspires and empowers youth as global citizens and community leaders.
About You
About You
About Your Organization
Organization Name
JUMP! Foundation
Organization Website
Organization Country
China, Beijing
Country where this project is creating social impact
China, Beijing
Is your organization a
Non‐profit / NGO / Citizen sector organization
Your role in Education
Other.
The type of school(s) your solution is affiliated with
Private (tuition-based)
How long has your organization been operating?
More than 5 years
The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..
Innovation
Select the stage that best applies to your solution
Scaling (the next step will be growing impact on a regional or even global scale)
How long has your solution been in operation?
Operating for more than 5 years
The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?
Youth frequently feel they lack the skills necessary to make change in a meaningful and sustainable way. In particular, international school students, who have personally witnessed many global issues but often remain disconnected from the local community, feel incapable of effecting change in their environment. Formal education methodologies can intensify this feeling when they reinforce an authoritarian dynamic between students and teachers. Such a dynamic weakens students feeling of responsibility for their educational experience and encourages them to rely on the teacher to solve important issues and questions. All of this amounts to the disempowerment of youth.
The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!
“Inspire. Empower. Engage.” summarizes JUMP’s solution to the disempowerment of youth. First, we do this by running youth leadership and community development programs in over 20 international schools; our strongest partnerships lying in China, Thailand, and Singapore. The program empowers students to become leaders in their communities by challenging them in areas such as personal discovery, trust building, effective communication and situational leadership. Second, through our partnerships with Global Potential (GP) and Americans Promoting Study Abroad (APSA) we provide underprivileged youth with international experience and empower them to solve real-world issues. With GP we work toward the shared goal of supporting youth to become changemakers locally and globally. With APSA, our programs enable underprivileged, inner-city American youth to volunteer at migrant schools in China, directly impacting the local community.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
Our programs consistently follow the same three steps to challenge the norm and revolutionize the traditional student-teacher dynamic to strengthen students’ connection to their communities. 1) We create opportunities for students to drive and define their personal growth. 2) We facilitate leadership through a change in perspective. In the school programs this occurs during the team-building challenges as students navigate disagreement and miscommunication. Then, when we debrief each challenge, students share their insights into community and leadership, creating an environment where their thoughts are taken seriously and they empathize and learn from their peers. In our development-focused programs, this change occurs during the service component, for example when students volunteer at a migrant school and feel they can directly impact serious issues such as education. 3) Inspired and equipped with a new mindset and skill set, these students enter their communities feeling they can become changemakers. What they exactly decide to do is their choice; they pursue the change they are passionate about achieving.
The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
Those who traditionally would be our competitors have largely become collaborators in our vision. While The Hutong and JUMP! both provide outdoor programs, JUMP! focuses on youth empowerment, which has enabled us to build a strong collaborative partnership. The Odyssey Institute and JUMP! have similar goals, methods and programs. However, JUMP! differs in its social enterprise model and hub in China. Lastly, some international schools offer leadership programs that overlap with JUMP! but lack the facilitator structure that truly empowers students and grants them authentic responsibility. Though these sources of competition may pose challenges to JUMP’s program growth, due to our desire for collaboration they also frequently contribute to empowering youth.
Now that you have thought out your entry, help us pitch it.
Define your company, program, service, or product in 1-2 short sentences [136 characters]
JUMP! engages youth in community development projects and inspires and empowers youth as global citizens and community leaders.
Identify what is innovative about your solution in 1-2 short sentences [136 characters]
JUMP! gives students the opportunity to take on authentic responsibility to gain the skills needed to become local and global leaders.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What has been the impact of your solution to date?
Quantitatively, JUMP! programs have reached over 4,000 global youth, 2,000 international educators, and 500 disadvantaged youth worldwide and included 1,000 volunteer hours in China-based service projects. The 500% growth in program participants since 2009 shows the desirability and effectiveness of our programs in empowering youth. Qualitatively, JUMP! program participants have gone on to run Global Issues Network and Round Square conferences as well as start initiatives such as The Pro-Farmer Project at the Western Academy of Beijing or Art for Leadership at the New International School Thailand. Furthermore, APSA scholars work on a China Tomorrow Project through which they share their experience to engage their local communities. These initiatives demonstrate JUMP’s impact in supporting youth in becoming changemakers.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
In addition to growing our partnership base we hope to expand our impact in three primary ways. First, we plan on creating an alumni network so past program participants can collaborate locally and internationally to create initiatives and address serious issues. Second, we plan on expanding beyond international schools to offer JUMP! programs to local public school students in China. Third, we will expand the existing JUMP!-Global Potential model for Haitian Youth Leadership Conferences to underprivileged youth in China, South Africa, Thailand and Australia.
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
JUMP! aims to increase revenue generating programs in Asia and programs for underprivileged youth both by 50%.
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone
Task 1
Diversify the programs we run with established partners
Task 2
Expand our existing school network through marketing to new students and schools
Task 3
Work internally to develop and offer new JUMP! programs
Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone
JUMP! will develop its China-based international school network and redirect funds to run programs with local Chinese youth.
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone
Task 1
Build the capacity to develop and deliver programs through a better trained and expanded team.
Task 2
Expand and diversify JUMP's partner base to include other organizations, local schools, companies and donors
Task 3
Develop a web platform to facilitate networking and collaboration of past program participants.
Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world [125 words]
In 2006, five education professionals began discussing their futures around a conference table in Capetown. They shared a passion for youth development, experiential education, and social-innovation and a desire to help youth who struggle with traditional models of schooling or extra-curricular activities. They realized that they could merge their backgrounds in leadership training, outdoor education, and adventure travel to create unique experiences for youth that would provide a space to pursue personal discovery and address real-world issues through collaborative learning. With the structure and support of this outlet, students could identify and map out steps towards achieving their goals as well as gain the tools to become changemakers in their local and global communities. Six months later the Western Academy of Beijing witnessed the first JUMP! program.
Sustainability
Tell us about your partnerships
Our partnerships fall into two types: our service-based partnerships with international schools and our partnerships with other youth-focused organizations. Our global network of international schools constitutes our main source of revenue. The organizations we partner with such as Global Potential and Americans Promoting Study Abroad share our goals of empowering youth and fostering global citizens.
What type of team (staff, volunteers, etc.) will ensure that you achieve the growth milestones identified in the Social Impact section? [75 words]
Despite being extremely committed and passionate, our current full-time staff cannot keep up with the demand for our programs. An increased staff would enable JUMP! to fill the demand for our programs. The ability to better compensate this team would ensure more sustainable growth as staff could commit long-term. Since many past program participants wish to volunteer and intern additional staff are needed to mentor them.
Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list
Needs: JUMP's greatest need is organizational support to build a team of skilled and committed people and accessing skilled labor in marketing, media, finance, and law.
Offers: JUMP! has a large network with youth development organizations and international schools around the world willing to share and collaborate.
 | 10 weeks agoNeil Dsouza said: Great job , this program seems quite established. From the challenges , it seems like you need more funds to scale , am i right ? Have ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 12 weeks agoaustin volz updated this Competition Entry. |
| 13 weeks agoaustin volz updated this Competition Entry. |
| 13 weeks agoaustin volz updated this Competition Entry. |
| 13 weeks agoaustin volz updated this Competition Entry. |
| 14 weeks agoaustin volz updated this Competition Entry. |
| 14 weeks agoaustin volz updated this Competition Entry. |
| 14 weeks agoaustin volz updated this Competition Entry. |
| 14 weeks agoaustin volz updated this Competition Entry. |
| 15 weeks agoaustin volz submitted this idea. |
