So, you’ve decided to come to GES 2012. Great! Now, you’ve got some questions about what to expect. Here’s a quick guide to everything you need to know before the summit.

Who will be there?

We have around 70 delegates in total, from schools around the U.S. and 15 other countries, attending the summit this year. Each GES delegate comes with a project for sustainable social change. Some of them are already being implemented in places like Haiti, Guatemala, and India. Others are still just ideas for how to improve one piece of the world. Delegates come to GES to learn from professors, entrepreneurs, journalists, graphic designers, Internet gurus, changemakers, and just plain creative people about how to take their projects to the next level.

I don’t have a grand idea for social change. What is there at the summit for me?

So much! We have more than 40 facilitators this year, each with incredible knowledge and experience to share. Whether you’re interested in the ways faith communities come together to effect change or how to build community using social media, there is something at the summit for you. We have expanded our public events this year to include three short talks on harnessing group efforts for social change, the power of young people in social entrepreneurship, and how to live an engaged life. All of these sessions will be great for anyone interested in sustainable global change.

Wow, these delegates and facilitators sound so cool! How can I meet them?

The best way to meet delegates and facilitators is to come to workshops and hang out afterward. Ask a delegate about his or her project, and you’ll be fast friends before you know it. Our facilitators are all incredibly friendly (it’s a requirement!), so feel free to approach them at the end of a session with comments or questions. You’re likely to leave with an email address or business card to continue the conversation after the summit.

If I can only come to one workshop, which one should it be?

You definitely can’t miss our closing keynote with GOOD magazine senior editor Cord Jefferson. Cord writes on issues of race, politics and animal rights for GOOD, which is a publication that works to find the things that work.

If I were you, I would also check out “Power, Privilege, and Posture: Deconstructing ‘Leadership’ In Global Health,” with Jon Shaffer from Partners in Health. Jon will help us look critically at the ways that we work to “help” the poor and try to understand the implications of our individual and collective actions.

What should I wear?

We’re not picky, but I wouldn’t recommend rolling out of bed in your pajamas and hobbling over to Norris for a workshop. Formal attire is definitely not mandatory, but keep in mind that many of our facilitators are at the top of their fields (and might make good networking connections!) so you should try to look presentable. Dressy casual is probably a good place to start.

If I can’t make it to a workshop or short talk, how can I find out what happened?

Check out theges.org throughout the summit for workshops summaries, blog posts, interviews with delegates and facilitators, photos, videos, and much more! Also, you should follow us on twitter (@theges) for regular updates about everything summit-related.

-Jonah Newman

On February 25th, Northwestern students, GES staff and alumni, and community members gathered for GES Day 2012, a miniature version of the April summit. This all-day event incorporated four hands-on workshops on different aspect of social change, a lunchtime photo exhibit from Open Shutter, and a closing keynote address on “”Integrating Social Change Into Your Life” with Brooke Estin of InSTEDD and Jeff Pinzino of Fresh Moves. Conceived as a world-wide celebration of Global Engagement Summit values, the day allowed staff and students to apply tangible skills, such as working with legislators, writing techniques, and design, to real-world problems and their own careers – while giving a preview experience of the summit itself. The lunchtime Open Shutter show, “The Campaign,” responded to recent campus events with photos designed to expose and challenge Northwestern stereotypes of race, culture, religion, gender, and beyond.

Read on for short recaps of the four workshops and closing keynote. More photos of the event can be found at our flickr here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/theges/

The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword: Writing for Social Change
Facilitated by: Reginald Gibbons, Poet and Professor at Northwestern

In the workshop, Professor Gibbons explored how creative writing and social justice intersect, sharing some of his poetry and prose. A veteran writer of creative fiction, Gibbons offered aspiring writers advice on how to best approach the challenge of writing with a social goal in mind, especially since social justice writing often involves non-fiction and testimonials. He encouraged participants to move beyond that, incorporating their stories and ideas in every medium possible, emphasizing drama, poetry, and short stories. However, he conceded writing for social change has its limits, encouraging creativity with this realistic attitude: “I never expected to change anything besides people’s minds.”

One Small Voice, One Big Impact: Lobbying for Your Cause
Facilitated by: Jennifer Walling, Executive Director of the Illinois Environmental Council

As an experienced player and lobbyist in the world of state and local government, Jennifer Walling offered insights and techniques in how to advance social justice causes through the Illinois state legislature. The workshop covered the organization and timelines of the Illinois legislature, how best to contact legislators, and how to increase your impact as a student and advocate of a social justice cause. She emphasized that “real power comes through people,” stressing the importance of people power and direct contact from constituents to senators and representatives.

Innovative Answers to Complex Problems: Design for Social Change
Facilitated by: Sarah Malin, Designer at Cannon Design & Design For America Directors

The workshop began with pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, and a challenge from Design for America (DFA), an NU-based student group, to solve a social change problem. With this hands-on challenge, small groups of participants used the physical materials to brainstorm tangible solutions to help the homeless stay dry in the rain, allow elderly people to reach fallen objects, or encourage people to more regularly tell their loved ones that they care. This alternate approach to dealing with the world’s problems underlies DFA’s mission of local and social impact through design. Sarah Malin, a DFA alumna, then spoke about her work with Cannon Design, focusing on a project intended to improve private and public education through architectural design. The session emphasized the importance of open-mindedness and diversity of thought, encouraging people of all disciplines to consider these approaches and careers in their social change futures.

Dropping Beats, Making Change: How Hip Hop and Social Justice Combine
Facilitated by: Amina Norman-Hawkins, Executive Director of the Chicago Hip-Hop Initiative

Local Chicagoan Amina Norman-Hawkins lives and breathes hip hop – not for the fame and fortune, but as a way to communicate with the masses and facilitate social change. During the workshop, she spoke about her desire from childhood to help less-fortunate people, her discovery of hip hop as a means to do so, and recent work both as a Chicago activist and in the Ivory Coast with youth to combat the impact of war in the studio, not streets. She encouraged each participant to find their own method of communication and means to make a difference, whether it be hip hop or another discipline. Hip hop, she said, is not just one thing, but a combination of multiple elements, from emceeing to dancing to graffiti, where a group of multi-talented people come together to jive and enter a dialogue about the things they appreciate.

Closing Keynote: Integrating Social Innovation Into Your Life
Brooke Estin, Director of Communications at InSTEDD
Jeff Pinzino of Fresh Moves

Synthesizing a day of tangible skill-building and exploration of new approaches to social change, Brooke Estin and Jeff Pinzino spoke about their individual career trajectories in the world of social justice and engaged the audience in conversation about ways for students to move forward. Brooke, Skyping in from San Francisco, emphasized finding a balance between a career that agreed with her values and maintaining her own health and lifestyle, and spoke of her beginnings growing up in Bangkok to her work with Kiva Microfunds and InSTEDD. Jeff Pinzino, a community organizer, fundraiser, and food lover, shared his experiences with Fresh Moves, a mobile produce market in Chicago, and work as Development Director for National People’s Action, a national community organizing network. He promised his audience that “Yes, you can make a living with social change,” but – like Brooke – emphasized that the causes you may be most passionate about may not be the ones that give you a paycheck. However, he said, do not be afraid to make those smart sacrifices and trust your ideas and others; believe in “pro-noia,” which he defined as the belief that the world is conspiring towards your success.

-Alli Finn

-Yasha Saxena

As a member of GES, I think that the workshops during the week-long summit should do no more than acknowledge the fact that politics play a role in the way that projects are incorporated into communities. I think that it is enough for delegates to keep politics in their minds as they learn to improve their projects, and the focus of the summit should be placed on project development.

-Nishant

Through the summit and yearlong curriculum, we strive to give our delegates and staff two things, to quote Co-Director Sarah Freeman:

1. The skill sets necessary to implement their projects
2. The mindset to do it responsibly.

It may be technically feasible to design a new well for a rural village, for example, but may not be what the community needs. Imagine that several villages in the area currently share a well in the middle of their land. Creating a new water source closer to one village could unfairly shift the resource balance, causing conflict between the villages or tribes. While we may view this as making water more accessible, it could ultimately cause more harm than good. I dealt with this example during an internship the summer after my freshman year with MADRE, an international human rights non-profit. Because of the negative consequences of building a well, our partner in Kenya instead decided to provide load-carrying bicycles to female villagers, to minimize the time spent fetching water and avoid upsetting the balance between villages. GES, like Urban Prep, strives to build the character in our staff and delegates to ask similar tough questions – the ones that, perhaps, will destroy the very projects they’ve worked so hard to create.

I’ve had these conversation about “how to do good well” countless times during the months since I joined GES. I’ve worked on human rights projects both from the non-profit and government levels, and have yet to find a model without significant flaws. As we plan to move forward in this field, that reality can be quite daunting.

Tim King spoke to this struggle in his speech, once more channeling Dr. King’s words: We may not make the big changes, the ones that redefine our world, but we can implement the small changes that build up over time. Just as Dr. King passed on the benefits of his work to many he would never meet, we can pave the way for change-makers to come. We can, as Tim King said, change the minds that change the minds.

To me, the implications of this are terrifying. This means that social change is not a club you sign up for, or a cause you donate to, but a way of living each day. It is inherent in how you treat and give to every person you meet – and many you will never know. It is a lifestyle, a mantra, an impossible task.

What GES has taught me is that we try anyway. We embrace failure, and move forward. Right now, for example, I am working with a GES staffer Naomi Rosen and a team of GESers and non-staff students to create a short theatre piece for the summit. We’re basing our work on interviews with staff members, delegates, alumni, and Northwestern students who don’t know our GES acronym even exists. We’ve never attempted anything like this project and have yet to write/create a word, but it’s going to be performed in less than three months. I couldn’t be more excited to give the delegates another way to think about their work – and can’t wait to jump off this cliff, with the full knowledge that we may not reach the other side.

MLK day, as Professor Betsy Quinn told me last year, is a day on, not a day off. My goal for this quarter is to carry that mantra through every day, and make social change a livable, challenging lifestyle. I’d love for you to join me – or at least the conversation – in this effort.

-Alli Finn

After spending time studying abroad in Bolivia and making a documentary film, I decided at the end of last year that I would like to get more involved with a group on campus that could help me utilize what I learned during the most educational and best time of my college experience. I spent 15 weeks in an incredible foreign country, learning about a different culture, a new way of life. I was forced to push myself to my limits, to begin to see the world in a new way. You can’t come back from an experience like that, forget all about it, and go on with your life as it was before. You become more aware of the world, of the different cultures, and of the problems that plague humanity. Wow. As you can imagine, I was searching for a new outlet. GES seemed like the answer. So when I was approached over the summer about interviewing to be a part of GES, it was really a no-brainer.

That’s how I got here. A film major in her final year at Northwestern getting involved in something completely different and yet feeling that she has finally found a student group to be passionate about.

At this point you are probably wondering, “What exactly is GES?” Well. On the GES website (www.theges.org) it says:

The Global Engagement Summit (GES) is an empowerment platform for students to make the change they wish to see in the world. The mission of GES is to build the capacity of the next generation of global change leaders. By providing tangible skills training and connecting driven students with innovative thought leaders, GES strives to empower students to make the change they wish to see in the world, and produce responsible solutions to shared global problems.

Alright. That’s a description. But I have found it to be so much more than that. GES is a place where students who care come together to help other students who care do something about the problems they see in the world. It is not a bunch of people who sit back and watch the world go by; it is a group of students who want to make change and go out and do it. It is a network that spans the globe. The accomplishment of some of the GES alumni are incredible and the success that some of their projects have garnered is unparalleled. See? Pretty amazing.

I would like to welcome everyone to the new year of GES. It’s new for me as well. I’m still learning but so far the experience has been incredible. My co-chairs, Alli, Rose, and I, are striving to make this year as great as possible. We are all so excited to be a part of GES and look forward to the coming year.

-Rebecca

The conference is themed Human Rights in Transit: Issues of Forced Migration and also includes a closing keynote speech, “Cessation: Uganda Style” by Dr. Barbara Harrell-Bond of Oxford University.

According to the Cultural Orientation Resource Center the United States had a refugee admissions ceiling of 80,000 in 2010 and as of 9/30/10 the largest refugee group (18,016) came from Iraq.  While illegal immigration issues abound in the media, the question of asylum seekers and refugees also lies under debate.

For more information on NUCHR visit http://www.nuchr.net/ – hope to see you at the conference!

GES is proud to announce a Fast Track Partnership with Echoing Green. As a Fast Track Partner, GES now has the opportunity to name 1-2 promising social entrepreneurs from the GES community to proceed directly to the second round of the Echoing Green Fellowship application.

Since 1987, Echoing Green has provided seed funding and support to nearly 500 social entrepreneurs – including the founders of Teach For America, City Year, College Summit, SKS Microfinance, and Genocide Intervention Network. In Spring 2011 Echoing Green will award between 12 and 20 fellowships to early-stage social entrepreneurs. Fellows receive up to $90,000 in seed funding over two years, operational and technical support, and access to a powerful global community of fellows and alumni. The online application is open, and all GES delegates can apply here!

Social entrepreneurs like Jason Aramburu and Josh Nesbit are powerful examples of Echoing Green Fellows that are also part of the GES community.

All past GES delegates are heavily encouraged to apply for the Echoing Green fellowship by November 12th. Please send an email to directors@theges.org if you apply or have applied. On November 15th, the GES Directors will notify the two delegates who are selected as our two official nominees for Echoing Green who will then proceed directly to the second round of interviews.

APPLY NOW!

Turn your dream for social change into a reality.

Anything is Possible from The Canary Collective on Vimeo.

There are no words to describe how thrilled we are: Brian Bordainick will be the opening keynote to GES. He will speak at the opening banquet, in front of GES staff, delegates and everyone who has collaborated with the realization of the Summit, including Northwestern’s President Morton Schapiro.

Why Brian?

The opening keynote should give delegates a taste of what GES is about, what they should expect from the Summit and above all, it should give them a clear sense of WHY they are here. They are here to form a learning community of individuals that care to see beyond the end of their nose, and dare to act upon what they see.

Brian is one of us. When he graduated, he went with Teach for America to New Orleans. He found a community devastated by hurricane Katrina. Right now, kids at George Washington Carver High School receive classes in prefabricated trailers and of course there is no proper sports infrastructure.

New Orleans’ 9^th Ward suffers from many illnesses related to lack of infrastructure and places for the community to gather and enjoy. The aspect of a place can affect a community in very bad ways.  Brian saw that obvious connection between low graduation rates, high crime and drug use with the fact that students were not motivated by their surroundings.

Due to these harsh realities and after being promoted to Athletic Director after only 3 months in Teach for America, Brian founded the 9^th Ward Field of Dreams, a non profit organization that has already raised more than a million dollars for a project that will bring a football field, track, lighting system, and stadium seating to New Orleans. This will not only benefit Carver High School, but also the rest of New Orleans.

This project builds community by creating a space for young people to practice sports and for the whole community to enjoy themselves, get to know each other and this way realize all the potential they have to further improve their surroundings. When they accomplish their goal, the 9^th Ward will be completely conscious of the inherent ability all communities have to come together and fight for the same cause.

The lesson:

After hearing Brian’s story, delegates will realize that it is never too early to take upon projects that seem “too big” for young people like us. At GES, delegates will make life long connections and learn skills that will enable them to take over projects that improve communities in the same way – and through a million different methods-that Brian is doing with New Orlean’s 9^th Ward. He inspired us, we hope he inspires you too!!

There’s still time to apply!

International Delegates Application Deadline: DECEMBER 15, 2009

American Delegates Application Deadline: DECEMBER 30, 2009