What is the name of your organization?
Boys & Girls Clubs of America
What is the name of your solution?
Literacy and Critical Thinking
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
BGCA improves Native youth learning outcomes by increasing AI and media literacy skills and critical thinking through active learning experiences.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Atlanta, GA, USA
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
United States
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
Improve Native youth AI, media literacy and critical thinking skills. Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) understands that Native youth in America are living in a chaotic digital world and have more access to information than ever before, and institutions often fail to help them understand and interpret this torrent of knowledge through a cultural lens. BGCA serves 120,000 Native youth annually. In such a rapidly changing informational landscape, Native learners and thinkers need media to be produced and created that is culturally relevant. Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of forms, analyzing messages deeply to build a bigger picture of understanding. Today, we stand at an important moment to counteract a preponderance of news, misleading narratives, polarized agendas and chaotic sea of information. According to Reboot The State of Critical Thinking 2020, sixty percent of all Americans report that they have never having studied critical thinking in school.
What is your solution?
MyFuture Digital Essentials is an online curriculum created by BGCA to give youth the technology skills they need to thrive in today’s digital world. Through personalized and engaging hands-on experiences, MyFuture teaches youth valuable digital skills. MyFuture Digital Essentials helps youth understand their media world, identify and develop digital interests and earn certifications as they make progress. BGCA’s MyFuture, is a digital learning, skill-building platform encourages youth to learn new skills, earn career certifications and track learning towards mastering new skills in media literacy and critical thinking. Through partnerships BGCA Native Services was able to provide Native Clubs with an adaptation curriculum that is more reflective of Native cultures. The adaptation was designed to give Clubs the ability to create their own activities and to encourage students to explore their cultural heritage and traditions while increasing their digital literacy.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
BGCA Native Services serve 120,000 Native youth in 259 Native Clubs on Native lands. Our Native Clubs offer safe, nurturing and life enhancing programs, character development experiences and, most of all, hope and opportunities for our Native youth. As Indigenous people and stewards of the next generation of Native youth, Native Services knows the depth of their own resiliency as well as their interconnectedness during trying times. MyFuture adapts traditional technology that is Native reflective, students will explore their culture, increase digital literacy and critical thinking. MyFuture is designed to be used by kids and teens at home, as well as in-person as part of Boys & Girls Club programming and is accessible on laptops, tablets and cell phones. The adaptation was designed to give Clubs the ability to create their own activities and to encourage students to explore their cultural heritage while increasing their digital literacy.
● Develop tools to promote Indigenous sovereignty, including the ethical use of AI and data technologies, culturally aligned digital infrastructure, or access to economic opportunity.
● Drive positive outcomes for Indigenous learners of any age
• Deliver context through culturally grounded educational opportunities
