Dream Blog
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Dream Tank Youth Launch Global Hackathon: Reverse Pandemic Challenge
Last week the Dream Tank Team came together and decided to host a global hackathon to address and solve the many problems COVID -19 has created with unique youth ideas. Youth from all over the world will be able to build their “Dream” into “Reality” by meeting new people with different skills, and our excellent Dream Tank mentorship. The Hackathon consists of 5 main themes: Healthcare Aid/Assistance, Economic Restructuring, Education, and Open Innovation. The DreamTeam is excited to see the outcomes of this wonderful initiative!
Coronavirus Next Generation Rapid Response Team Meeting 3/19
Dream Tank is hosting a Global Virtual Meeting to recruit the young leaders who want to take action from home to address the pandemic. Through global solidarity and uniting our voices together, we can be catalysts of change for our communities.
We invite your teen to join the conversation about:
HOW THE NEXT GENERATION WILL RESPOND to our global crisis?
This will be an action planning meeting for young people ages 12-25.
REGISTER HERE:
WEST: 11AM MST / 1PM EST / 6PM CET
ABOUT:
We are forming a Coronavirus Next Generation Rapid Response Team (12 Youth Leaders) who wish to be a change agent during this critical time. The team will co-design a Global Hackathon and be invited to represent the youth voice at Boma’s Covid19 Summit and ExoWorld. These are online digital summits where pioneers such as Singularity University, Jason Silva, Peter Diamondis, and more – are collaborating to find tangible outcomes to our biggest global challenges. If you are interested in participating, we invite you to be on the call for more information. Tell your friends!
FACILITATED BY:
We work with Generation Z to design solutions to the Global Goals. Dream Tank is a 501c3, on a mission to inspire and empower kids and teens around the world to put their passion, creativity, and energy to work in making their communities better. With various programming and curricula, each focused on meaningful, social entrepreneurial innovations, we encourage kids to launch their dreams and impact their communities. Using the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (Global Goals or SDGs) as a framework, we foster their entrepreneurial spirit through Dream Tank accelerators, hackathons and workshops, using a combination of digital technology and tools, collaboration, mentoring, inspiration and confidence-building.
Dream Tank NextGEN Innovation Fellowship 2020
Dream Tank is a non-profit organization that empowers young people to solve global challenges through entrepreneurship. We work with a global network of partners who are all finding solutions to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. We encourage discovery learning and self-motivated individuals who are seeking to experience an entrepreneurial environment that will allow you creatively problem solve while working as a team with other fellows and managers. We provide goals and milestones on a project basis that work towards our many different youth programs and current mission to scale our model worldwide. We invite you to join us in this hands-on experience that will give you tangible skills for your desired field.
Young Leaders Heading to State Capitol for Youth Lobby Day: Plastic Pollution
Youth Lobby Day at the Capitol: Plastic Pollution
Thursday, March 5th, 2020
Environment Colorado, CoPIRG, and Eco-Cycle are hosting a Youth Lobby Day: Plastic Pollution event at the Capitol on Thursday, March 5th, 2020! Dozens of kids in elementary school to college are engaging with their state lawmakers on reducing plastic pollution.
A youth-driven campaign to ban single use plastics came as a result of last year’s Dream Tank: Future Cities Accelerator.
During our accelerator at the incredible maker space and learning environment of The Museum of Boulder, each kid was on a team mission for the course of the week that was focused around solving different SDG’s (Sustainable Development Goals) for example, Gender Equality, Poverty, and Climate Change. The teams decided to take action locally, after learning from local organizations Boulder Community Foundation , EcoCycle and even a visit from the Mayor of Boulder, Suzanne Jones.
2 out of 4 of the groups felt that plastic is a major contributor in many of the local and global challenges we face today. Young entrepreneurs created a campaign to ban single use plastics.
Read the history and CBS news story here.
Now this bill has a very real chance of being passed here in Colorado. Our Dream Tank leaders and other young people will be there to share their stance on the issue.
What bills the kids will be talking about:
HB20-1162: Restrict Food and Retail Establishments’ Use Of Polystyrene
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Sponsors: Representative Cutter, Representative Singer, Senator Foote, and Senator Story
HB20-1163: Management of Single-Use Products
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We do not have a fact sheet yet, but it is coming soon!!
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Sponsors: Representative Sirota, Representative A. Valdez, and Senator Gonzales
What is lobbying?
Lobbying is simply influencing your lawmaker on an issue. In this case, the issue is plastic pollution and we are having conversations with them about why we think it is important to pass legislation that would reduce how much plastic Coloradans use! The meetings can be anywhere from 30 seconds in the hallway of the Capitol to 15 minutes in their office. The kids can ask questions, tell stories, and simply engage in a conversation with them!
What bills will the students be talking to lawmakers about?
Right now there are two bills in the state legislature that would reduce single-use plastic use in Colorado. One would restrict food establishments from using polystyrene (commonly known as foam) (HB20-1162) and one would restrict establishments from using plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, etc (HB20-1163). We want the lawmakers to vote yes on these bills!
We will be having Youth Correspondents at Youth Lobby Day, documenting their experience! Follow us on instagram @DreamTankSquad to see our live stories!