Sports
A young person might help with a team, event, coaching activity, media project, health project, or work behind the scenes.
New World Kids · Seattle
We help young people take the next step with something they already care about.
A lot of young people know what interests them. What they may not have is a chance to use that interest outside of school or turn it into experience. New World Kids creates projects where young people can take on responsibility, work alongside adults who know the field, build skills, and figure out where they want to go next.
We're starting in Seattle with the First 12: 12 young people over our first year.
The problem
Knowing what you're interested in doesn't always tell you what to do with it.
A young person may love basketball, drawing, growing food, or something completely different and still have no idea how that interest connects to work, education, or a future opportunity.
Sometimes the missing piece is simple: someone gives them a chance to participate, expects something from them, and helps them figure out what comes next.
How it works
Start with the young person, then put that interest to work.
1
Start with what they care about
What are they interested in? What would they actually like to try? What is getting in the way?
2
Give them something useful to do
That might mean helping build a garden, documenting a community event, working on a mural, helping with a sports project, or taking on another useful role.
3
Work alongside someone who knows the field
A coach, artist, grower, organizer, or other experienced adult helps them learn through the work.
4
Stay involved when barriers show up
New World Kids stays involved with transportation, applications, school, scheduling, communication, and other things that can keep a young person from moving forward.
5
Leave with something to point to
By the end, the young person should be able to say, ‘I worked on that,’ and have a clearer idea of what they want to do next.
The First 12
We're starting with 12 young people in Seattle over the first year.
They will come in through interests like sports, art, and urban gardening and take part in projects where their work matters. Each young person will have an adult working alongside them, a role they are responsible for, and a next step we can follow up on.
Starting with 12 gives us room to pay attention. We want to learn what actually helps a young person keep moving and where they tend to get stuck.
Where they can start
Start with what they already care about.
We're beginning with sports, art, and urban gardening because they give young people different ways to participate. The activity isn't the point by itself. What matters is giving the young person responsibility, helping them learn through the work, and making sure the experience leads somewhere.
Art
A young person might work on a mural, design project, photography, storytelling, public art, event, or portfolio piece.
Urban Gardening
A young person might help build or maintain a garden, grow food, work on landscaping, improve a community space, or learn stewardship skills.
The project is only part of the work
We work on the project and the next step at the same time.
A young person might be helping build a garden, create a mural, organize an event, or work on a community project. At the same time, they may need help getting there, showing up consistently, applying for a job, finishing school, putting together a portfolio, or deciding what they want to try next. New World Kids works on both.
The project gives the young person experience. Our job is to help make sure that experience leads somewhere.
What we measure
Did the young person actually move forward?
We want to know whether the young person showed up, contributed to something, learned something useful, and had a next step afterward. If they didn't move forward, we want to understand why.
For partners
Work with the First 12.
We're looking for Seattle organizations, businesses, artists, coaches, growers, and community groups with useful work young people can take part in. That might mean a project site, someone willing to teach a skill, equipment, an internship, a job lead, or simply a problem a young person can help solve. New World Kids stays involved with the young person instead of making an introduction and disappearing.
Bring us a project →What we learned in Puerto Vallarta
Proyecto Indigo Azul gave us an early look at learning through work that matters.
In Puerto Vallarta, the work has centered on food, land, and community. Seattle will look different. The First 12 starts with sports, art, and urban gardening. The common idea is simple: young people learn differently when they are trusted with responsibility and can see the result of what they did.
See Proyecto Indigo Azul →The first-year goal
Help us start with 12 young people.
The first year is intentionally small. Support will help cover the practical things that make participation possible: project materials, transportation, mentors, equipment, youth compensation when funding and the project allow for it, and follow-up after the project ends. The goal is not to run as many activities as possible. It is to learn what it takes to help 12 young people make meaningful progress.
“If you ever think you're too small to make a difference, try going to sleep with a mosquito in the room.”
Proverb