FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
14 January  2009

Factsheet

2009 SPECIAL OLYMPICS GLOBAL YOUTH ACTIVATION SUMMIT

7-13 February 2009

Overview

The 2009 Special Olympics Global Youth Activation Summit is a gathering for more than 130 young people, with and without intellectual disabilities, from around the world who are committed to making a difference in their schools and communities through Special Olympics. 

The youth participants, aged 12-20, represent 22 countries from the Special Olympics movement’s seven regions and come from various educational levels including: middle/intermediate school, high/secondary school and college/university.  The students are paired – one Special Olympics athlete and a peer partner without an intellectual disability from the same community, state or country.

During the summit, participants will attend youth-led leadership training programs and interactive sports experiences.  They will also act as journalists reporting on the World Games, publishing their stories and photos daily on the Special Olympics and 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games Web sites and social network sites.

The summit will also include a Global Youth Rally gathering thousands of young people from the Boise , Idaho , area and around the world for an exciting, motivational, multi-media event to address key issues young people face regarding intellectual disabilities and society.

Fast Facts

o        The 2009 Global Youth Activation Summit represents the fifth such event. The inaugural summit took place in 2001 at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Alaska .

o        Since 2001, there have been 37 youth summits at the national, regional and global levels, involving representatives from 150 Special Olympics Programs and 1,500 young leaders.   

o        Special Olympics sent “A More Inclusive World Starts with Education” kits to more than 650 schools and libraries throughout Idaho as part of the School Enrichment Program. Each kit contains lesson plans, videos, fundraising ideas and books on diversity and acceptance.

o        Special Olympics believes that through sports young people can make a difference in friendships, schools and communities.  The Global Youth Activation Summit is one of several Special Olympics programs reaching more than 3 million young people with and without intellectual disability in 130 programs in 75 countries.  Other programs and initiatives include:

§         SO Get Into It®

§         Project UNIFY

§         Unified Sports®

§         Youth Summits

§         “R” word campaign

o        To learn more about the Global Youth Summit, Special Olympics and other ways young leaders can get involved, please visit… www.specialolympics.org/getintoit

Summit Goals:

The summit will provide a forum where youth participants will acquire and enhance their knowledge and the skills needed to lead themselves, their peers, their schools and their communities forward in promoting effective and safe environments for creating and sustaining positive changes through volunteering and contributing to the improvement of their communities. 

Through this experience they will be activated as agents of change – fostering acceptance, respect, dignity and advocacy for all people throughout the world.

The four goals of the summit in Idaho are:

1. EDUCATE: Provide young people with peer-led opportunities and strategies to help them understand the potential and ways to serve as active agents for change in their local, national and global communities

2. MOTIVATE: Energize young people to unleash their creative leadership potential to accept, respect and advocate with and for persons with intellectual disabilities.

3. ACTIVATE:  Stimulate new approaches for sharing experiences by engaging in community action and policy change:

o        Join: Help stop the use and abuse of the word retard in common language by

joining the global “R” word campaign

o        Volunteer: Sign up to support Special Olympics events and play Unified Sports

o        Share: Tell your story about being a fan for Special Olympics.

o        Give:  Donate to or raise funds for local Special Olympics Programs or developing Special Olympics Programs.

Summit Highlights:

• Global Webinars: Utilizing the latest technology, Special Olympics Youth Leaders will reach out to thousands of schools and students through live, real-time Internet broadcasts. For information on how to join in on a Webinar, e-mail Special Olympics at http://www.active.com/framed/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1651828.

• Sessions: The participants will take part of several youth-led sessions to learn about the Special Olympics global movement and other youth movements.  In addition, learn the latest tools and techniques to improve their outreach. 

Global Youth Activation Summit Sessions include:

• Reporting, Journalism & Photo-Journalism
• R-Word Campaign
• United Nations / UNICEF youth programs
• Fundraising & Donating
• Future Action Plans