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Mission
& Vision
“If we can personalize the world for young people, they will
become more aware and informed about current events and other
cultures, increasing their ability to participate successfully in
our multicultural world.”
-Minnesota International
Center
Children’s Culture Connection is a 501c3 nonprofit
organization dedicated to fostering world peace by creating young
leaders in the U.S. and abroad who can embrace their roles as
teachers, students and global citizens
together.
Believing that children are the future problem solvers in
every community, Children’s Culture Connection creates unique
educational programs that help kids learn from, celebrate and
connect with one another. We also provide opportunities
for children participating in our programs to
become leaders, and to make a positive difference in the
world...wherever their world may be.
The
Need in the U.S.
“I believe we should all
know each other, we human carriers of so many pleasurable
differences. To not know is to doubt, to shrink, to sidestep or
destroy." -Gwendolyn
Brooks
Because of our physical isolation in the United States, as
well as our busy lives, the opportunity to learn firsthand about
world cultures can be a costly enterprise, in terms of both time and
money. Exploring faraway lands may be the best way to learn about
people whose lives differ from our own, but it’s not always easy.
Unfortunately, our ignorance of and lack of communication with
people of other cultures too often leads to stereotyping, fear, and
distrust. Yet as our world becomes smaller, the problems affecting
one country soon affect others.
In other words, the price of ignorance and isolation can cost
us even more.
CCC
believes that by educating American children about, and exposing
them to, other cultures they will develop an appreciation for
people’s difference. By forming peer relationships within these
cultures, they are able to embrace this knowledge in a more personal
way.
Cross-cultural education leads to greater compassion and
understanding, and such understanding could transform our
planet.
The
Need Abroad
“The promotion of a culture of dialogue and nonviolence for
the future of mankind is a compelling task of the international
community." -Dalai
Lama
In much of the Third World, poverty is a never-ending cycle
leading to crime, violence, domestic abuse, drug trafficking,
extremism, overpopulation, illiteracy and dependence on aid from the
First World. Disengaged youth in these areas are more vulnerable to
depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, and radicalization due, in part, to a lack of support for their
education.
Children’s Culture Connection works with 12 NGOs that provide
for the health and education of the children in their programs to
help them imagine new possibilities for their futures.
International children participating in CCC’s cultural
exchange programs are empowered by becoming teachers of their
culture, representing their nation as leaders and communicating with
Americans on a peer level. Programs like these are critical in
breaking the cycle of poverty by helping these young people see
themselves as leaders and global citizens, rather than victims
always on the receiving end of American aid. Imagining new possibilities
for their lives will help them become the future problems solvers
within their own communities.
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