Participating School and Youth Organizations from Colombia, India, South Africa, Poland, and the USA.

'Fundamadeus' - Medellin, Colombia
'Fundamadeus' is a series of music schools, symphony orchestras, bands, and choirs in which children from the poorest neighborhoods of Medellín, acquire discipline and new aspirations and role models. Without intervention, many of them would follow a path, well-worn in their communities, into violence and drug trafficking. Their musical experience challenges them, offers them another source of status and exhilaration and a new perspective on the violence they have known. Character education is at the heart of every activity of Fundamadeus. As their founder, Juan Guillermo, puts it, "Once you put a violin in the hands of a child and teach him to play he will never pick up a gun."

Magic Bus India - Mumbai, India
Magic Bus was founded in 1999 to meet the needs of slum children (and young adults), street children, children on construction sites, runaways, and orphans by involving them in sport and other challenging outdoor pursuits. It was hoped that for many children burdened by the demands of poverty, sport sessions would provide an outlet to express themselves and release pent-up energy. Today, through regular practices, more than 3,500 children are taught discipline, self-esteem, hygiene, and the importance of respecting team members, in a healthy competitive environment. Through its mentorship programs, Magic Bus also teaches a variety of life skills through outdoor learning, creative expression, and work-based experience. The organization is recognized as playing an important role in developmental work in children's lives in India.

Agape Copeland Train (ACT) - Upingham, Northern Cape, South Africa
ACT is an innovative program for matriculating students, attending primarily rural secondary schools that teach them about their individual and collective responsibility to the community, offering them practical insights into work habits, career prospects and other life skills. Most students from South Africa's rural areas believe the future lies in the big cities. It is estimated that about 70% of young people leave the rural areas to seek work or to study. They arrive with little or no sense of the opportunities and dangers they face. Unprepared to take part in higher education and civil society, and unable to compete for jobs with their urban contemporaries, they become marginalized. Many become trapped and particularly susceptible to a whole host of familiar social problems, from addiction to crime and violence. In attempting to counter the lure of urban life, ACT engages students in community activities, linking student groups from various rural schools who take part in the year-long program. It is hoped that an increasing proportion of these young people will remain in rural areas, forming the nucleus of a new generation of civic leadership.

SPLOT - (The Independent School of Nowy Sacz) - Nowy Sacz, Poland
SPLOT- was founded to create a hands-on, civic educational model to teach Polish children about participatory Democracy. The school, as well as those founded on the same model, encourage student involvement at all levels, from curricular design to student discipline, and lay a strong foundation for responsible citizenship. SPLOT's vision is to build an international network of these "civic" schools - in East Central Europe, the Baltics, the former Soviet Union, and the Balkans - through extensive teacher training and multi-national exchange programs. Such a network, SPLOT feels, is the best means of encouraging inclusive, democratic sensibilities throughout the region

The SEED School - Washington, DC, USA
The SEED School is the first of its kind in the nation -- an urban public boarding school where children from difficult circumstances engage in powerful education and cultural enrichment program while they maintain healthy contact with their families and communities. The school applies the benefits of a private college preparatory education - close attention from dedicated teachers, round-the-clock supervision, - to inner city children whose futures are at risk. At the end of a six-year program SEED children will not only be qualified for admission to the most competitive colleges in the country, but they also will possess a deep understanding of their community and the skills needed to succeed in the world at-large.