Alliance of Youth Movements to Convene Second-Annual Summit on Social Change and the Role of Technology

New York | October 1, 2009

Partners Include Facebook™, Google, Howcast Media, MTV, MySpace, PepsiCo, the U.S. Department of State, YouTube and Causecast.org

The Alliance of Youth Movements officially announced its second-annual Summit to take place on October 14-16 in Mexico City. The event will convene individuals, government officials, academics, and private and public sector leaders from around the world to explore ways to advance grassroots movements seeking positive social change through 21st century technology and tools.

Sponsored by Causecast.org, Facebook, Gen Next, Google, Hi5, Howcast Media, MTV, MySpace, PepsiCo, Univision Interactive Media, Inc., the U.S. Department of State, WordPress.com and YouTube, the Summit will explore the role of technology in connecting young people working to end violence throughout Latin America and around the world. Mexico City was selected as the location for the 2009 Summit given its ongoing challenges in addressing violence and crime.
Speaking at TecMilenio University in Mexico in March, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said of the upcoming Summit, “Young people around the world are poised to lead this kind of innovative citizen empowerment – which is why the United States is supporting a summit here in Mexico of Alliance of Youth Movements – to connect up young people working to end violence throughout Latin America – whether it’s domestic violence or dating violence or lawlessness in the streets of your community, we must all take a stand against violence. And this is a new tool that will help."

The Summit will assemble more than 15 private and public partners with individuals working to promote social change and those who have already pioneered successful grassroots movements.
“The Alliance of Youth Movements Summit is a truly important and exciting event that brings together important leaders and social activists to explore how we can better promote real social change by using simple, easy-to-access technology,” said Oscar Morales, founder of the Columbia-based group One million voices against FARC. Morales, who attended the 2008 Summit, catalyzed one of the world’s largest campaigns against a terrorist organization using the social networking Web site Facebook.

Many of today’s technology leaders are supporting the Summit and echo Morales’s enthusiasm. “Online technology has unprecedented potential to help us work together to address some of the world’s most urgent problems,” said Megan J. Smith, vice president of new business development and general manager of Google.org. “We are proud to support the Alliance of Youth Movements and share its vision to empower citizens and communities to influence positive change through the use of today’s technology.”

“This is a truly unique, exciting and inspiring event,” said Jason Liebman, CEO of Howcast Media, known for Howcast.com, a top-rated Web site that engages consumers to watch and share free how-to videos. “The Alliance of Youth Movements Summit is the ultimate ‘how-to’ guide because it shares best practices and innovative ideas for how to employ technological tools in social movements,” noted Liebman, who is also a co-founder of the Alliance of Youth Movements, the nonprofit organization behind the Summit.

“Today we have the power to communicate and connect in real-time through online tools like Twitter,” said Jack Dorsey, chairman and co-founder of Twitter. “Traditional social movements can now take advantage of these revolutionary technologies to spread their messages more rapidly and effectively,” continued Dorsey.
"We support The Alliance of Youth Movements and especially the passion, purpose and creativity that young people possess," said Richard Lee, vice president of marketing at PepsiCo International. "Today is a moment in time when one individual, with the use of technology, can create positive change in the world...and Pepsi will strive to enable this change."

The event advances the overarching goal of the Alliance of Youth Movements, a nonprofit organization that empowers the next generation of global leaders by providing training and support to those who rely on technology to advance social movements. It also provides training to those looking to integrate technology and new media tools with existing grassroots efforts.

“The impact of using online tools and social media to advance positive social change is truly remarkable and exciting. It is critical to encourage and enable today’s youth to apply these technologies as means to catalyze social movements around the world,” said Jared Cohen, who serves on the U.S. Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff. Cohen, who helped conceive the Alliance of Youth Movements in 2008, described the Summit as an “illustrative example of 21st century statecraft.”

“The growth and adoption of the social Web has given power to the once powerless around the world,” said Elliot Schrage, vice president of global communications and policy at Facebook. “An individual’s voice can now be easily amplified to influence communities and governments. This Summit is an important opportunity to share ideas and learnings on how technology can create movements for change.”
Individuals along with leading technology companies, NGOs, and government leaders will be included on the Summit agenda and will discuss a variety of practical topics, including politics and technology, sustainability and long-term planning, and the use of viral videos in social movements. The sessions will be streamed live during the conference through news sources and other Web sites.

To learn more about how to get involved in the 2009 Alliance of Youth Movements Summit in Mexico City, visit

http://youthmovements.howcast.com/

About the Alliance of Youth Movements
Alliance of Youth Movements is non-profit 501(c)(3) organization comprised of individuals from the private sector, NGO community and of some of the most successful digital movements around the world. The Alliance of Youth Movements serves as a third-party vehicle that positively empowers leaders to affect nonviolent change in the world by creating and promoting the use of 21st century tools to safeguard human rights, promote good governance and foster unprecedented civic empowerment. It brings together selected leaders of organizations with influential leaders in technology, media, private and public sectors. The organization was formed during a December 2008 summit that brought together leading experts in social media with the most pioneering grassroots movements for the first time in history. For more information, visit http://youthmovements.howcast.com/

Press Details:
PR@allianceofyouthmovements.org