The The Our Time Is Now Summer Institute is a weeklong collaborative effort pairing social entrepreneurs, media producers, public relations professionals and young change-makers from around the world with high school-age community leaders in three US cities. Their goal is to take action on local challenges by developing and implementing a comprehensive communications plan, including the production of video and print media, that raises public awareness of these pressing issues.

The institute is inspired by the book, Our Time Is Now by Sheila Kinkade and Christina Macy and published by the Pearson Foundation. Along with leaders from the public relations and media communities, 20 young change-makers from 5 continents featured in the book will attend the Institutes as mentors. This unique collaboration is supported by a partnership between three organizations: Porter-Novelli, GlobalTribe, and the Pearson Foundation.

Porter-Novelli is a global public relations company founded on the revolutionary idea that the creative, strategic marketing approaches used in the commercial sector could and should be applied to help nonprofit organizations address social issues. With employees working in nearly 100 cities, Porter-Novelli helps clients in 60 countries achieve their business goals in the commercial, government and not-for-profit sectors. Local staff will work closely with institute students to develop and implement their communications plans.

One Global Tribe is a non-profit media and education organization whose mission is to nurture informed and active global citizens by building a community of young people united in efforts to increase their voice in world affairs and use the power of media to effect positive social change. Based in Los Angeles, GlobalTribe collaborates with schools and community-based organizations around the world to provide them with tools and services that facilitate the integration of global service-learning, social entrepreneurship, and media production into their programming.

Together with the Pearson Foundation, these organizations bring a wealth of expertise and resources that will create an unparalleled and vital experience for young community leaders. The Pearson Foundation will oversee the planning and facilitation of the Institutes, facilitate the production of media during the Institutes, and make available all the artifacts from the three sites to educators and students worldwide. These artifacts will serve as exemplars of how service-learning, digital storytelling, and social entrepreneurship can be integrated across a school curriculum and play a positive role in community improvement.

Beginning with institutes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City, the week-long Our Time Is Now Summer Institute will support a collaborative effort between entrepreneurs, media producers, change-makers from around the world, and local high school-age leaders to meet two goals:

1. To develop a comprehensive communications plan, including the production of video and print media, that raises public awareness of pressing local and global issues.
2. To implement this communications plan by publishing the resulting media in local and national media outlets.

Local high school-age leaders will arrive at the Institutes having identified a pressing local challenge. Each group will have at its disposal an advisory board comprised of professionals from the public relations and media communities as well as mentors profiled in Our Time Is Now.

Through a structured process, together they will set about achieving the two goals. By participating in the Our Time Is Now Summer Institutes, young people will gain a host of important skills:

Media Production & Literacy: By planning and producing short awareness raising print and video narratives, students will gain knowledge of the basic tools and skills required for digital media production and understand the influence of media on popular culture.

Collaboration & Team Work: By working in small teams to produce communications plans, students will engage in the problem solving, negotiating, multi-cultural understanding, organizing, and consensus building associated with the challenges of working in close collaboration with others.

Public Relations: By endeavoring to raise public awareness of pressing local challenges and their proposed solutions, students will gain an understanding of the complexities, outlets, and tools of public relations in the public and non-profit sectors.

Global Perspective: By partnering with young entrepreneurial change-makers from around the world, students will gain a deep knowledge and appreciation of different cultures and value the opportunities afforded by our global interconnectedness.