Students Partner with Global Clients
Grade 11 students in Global Leadership by Design are partnering with local, global organizations Building New Hope, The Global Switchboard, Never Fear Being Different, Prototype PGH, and Ujamaa Collective for a social-action project. To enhance their global knowledge and cultural awareness, students will work in teams to create proposals, prototypes, and presentations for each client in order solve a contemporary challenge each organization is currently facing.
Dr. Susan Corbesero, Global Initiatives Coordinator and History Department Chair, who teaches the Integrated Studies course shared, “one of the main components of leadership today is social entrepreneurialism. This project gives students the capacity and tools they need to see themselves as principled, ethical leaders who can engage the community and influence change.”
By exposing students to an interdisciplinary project of this scale, students learn how to communicate effectively with clients and flex their creative reasoning and problem-solving muscles. An opportunity for students to see themselves as changemakers on a global scale, the social-action project ties together project management, design thinking, and innovation so students can see and experience entrepreneurship firsthand.
2018 Global Leadership by Design Clients:
Building New Hope is a volunteer-driven nonprofit organization that collaborated with Central Americans to build sustainable livelihoods in Nicaragua. By linking people and communities with education and economic opportunities, Building New Hope partners with local school and organizations to spread awareness about fair trade relationships and help those in need. Building New Hope is challenging Ellis students to re-envision their table design and programming for events to better engage and interact with the community.
The Global Switchboard
The Global Switchboard promotes global engagement, cooperation, and inclusivity by educating and advocating for human rights with fellow nonprofits from their co-working space, the Digital Hub in Lawrenceville. With a goal of better connecting Pittsburgh to the world, The Global Switchboard has challenged Ellis students to find new ways to reach a younger demographic and figure out how to engage them more locally and globally.
The Global Switchboard promotes global engagement, cooperation, and inclusivity by educating and advocating for human rights with fellow nonprofits from their co-working space, the Digital Hub in Lawrenceville. With a goal of better connecting Pittsburgh to the world, The Global Switchboard has challenged Ellis students to find new ways to reach a younger demographic and figure out how to engage them more locally and globally.
Never Fear Being Different (NFDB) is a media company and nonprofit organization focused on building emotional intelligence and promoting positive dialogue online to create solutions around real world issues. They are asking Ellis students to complete a market research project on social media use in Malaysia, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan to better under the growing demographic there and how best to engage them.
A feminist and gender non-conforming maker space in North Oakland, Prototype PGH provides high tech tools, equipment, and workshops to women looking to switch to tech careers, find higher paying jobs, and start their own businesses. Prototype’s challenge to Ellis juniors is to help them redesign their space to accommodate their growing, diverse population of makers, teachers, and designers.
Ujamaa Collective is a nonprofit organization in the Hill District that aims to create spaces, opportunities, and networks for women of African descent. Through their artisan boutique in the Hill District, marketplace events, and wellness initiative, Ujamaa Collective builds and sustains business and communities that benefit women of African Descent. Ellis students are charged with designing a proposal for Ujamaa that will help them reach a younger demographic within their community.
Envision Her at Ellis
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