The Problem Statement:
Students are more capable of creating gig economy opportunities than their institutions can facilitate. Starting with k-5, institutions administrators, instructors and parents are struggling to keep pace with their children’s ability to interpret, create and deploy uses of technology for life, work and play.
The time it would take to train the trainers while keeping pace with the adoption of ever changing 4th revolution deployment would be akin to a circular firing squad.
Solutions?
The time has come to accelerate Generation Z’s capabilities with a new media pedagogy replete with tech-entertainment professionals being integrated into the classroom instruction for forward-thinking administrators. The time now is for Hart Beat University
Next Steps
Dakar Foundation goal is to establish a short-to-long term strategy to activate Hart Beat Studios as a fulcrum to create a pre-apprenticeship factory entitled “Hart Beat University”. The mission is to provide opportunities (services) to k-12 students, instructors, and parents in under-served communities (school districts).
First Step-Digital Media Career Pathway Endowment Fund?
Some of the key initiatives are the formation of a capital campaign, endowment strategy and a partnership program with key technology-entertainment corporations. Within this strategy, Dakar is seeking partnerships to catalyze a charter member media academy for spring semester 2017, which will keep students interested and engaged in school while providing to them valuable jobs skills in the entertainment and media industries. The 2017 Hart Beat Media Academy is the first phase of the strategy, but will also have significant secondary and long-term benefits:
- To the students in the Hart Beat Academy, their completed projects will effectively create a portfolio of their work, which will be useful when applying for paid summer internships or to colleges.
- To the students in other programs of study (biology, engineering, etc), the media created by students in the academy will give them the ability to show to others the nature of their project and how it was completed.
- To other students in the school, the media will show their schools in a new and better light. Right now, the negative stories get so much attention in the news. So we’ll create a series of television programs, planned and co-produced by students to showcase their capabilities to control and change the narrative. The programs will also provide a demonstration of the Hart Beat media academy students capabilities to apply their learning to an online media program (live), such as the concept Master Class-Private Sessions.
- To the community, the media will demonstrate the good in the community and the potential that lies so close to the surface and is now being more fully realized. This is particularly true for underserved schools because the need to access digital outreach to those communities who have little or no access to cable and traditional engagement can lead to recruitment and retention of mentors and digital head-hunters for student placement in pre-apprenticeship.
- Not to be overlooked is the sense of empowerment that the long range goal of students helping to build a Hart Beat University can provide to the students. While many of the stories will profile the work of other students, some projects will take on issues important to the school, the community, state or nation. By helping students understand how to tell their stories and by giving them the means to do it, students (and possibly by extension the community) can realize the power of their voice. Students can then become active change agents in the community and hold those in power at all levels accountable to engage entities such as the USC ICT.
While we understand that this is well and good, these students often face additional hurdles. We, therefore, have qualified for support from mentoring.org and have contracts with the California Career Pathway Trust and other good workforce development frameworks that can help us bring the right strategies to the instructors, parents, and students to provide to them with the career and life skills they will need.
While Hart Beat Media Academy and the eventual Hart Beat University is a performing arts concern, the line between the arts and science has blurred. We, therefore, are assisting others in areas of science and technology – again with the mindset of providing opportunities to those in under-served communities.
While we understand that strategy alone can’t deliver the results, much of our work and many of our goals align remarkably well with CTE, Magnet, Linked-Learning, and Charter pedagogy: People Power; Youth Leadership, Development, and Organizing; Enhanced Collaboration and Policy Innovation; Leveraging Partnerships and Resources and Changing the Narrative.
We would sincerely appreciate any support you could provide to help us achieve these goals and to help us build healthy and employed communities in every way.
Benefits Of The Endowment Now Strategy
- What is it?Hart Beat Legacy Partnership (HBLP). It’s a program is designed to cultivate an onramp for the first five years of Hart Beat University. HBLP will be funded through a partnership of funding by private foundations, local businesses, local organizations and key local community foundations. Local funders are able to help many organizations conduct development programs through one gift to HBLP.
The Goal is to active HBLP with affiliation with well-established entities such as the Community Endowment Fund .
- Advantages for HBLP: Ultimately, this entity makes it possible for many organizations to build sub-endowment strategies to be managed and invested through HBLP. Depending on the magnitude of HBLP, many millions of new dollars will be identified to ultimately come into HBLP partnerships with media, health, and fitness focused non-profit foundations.
- Advantages for the donors: Friends of local organizations will have the satisfaction of knowing that their favorite charities are conducting a professionally run planned giving-program. This will help donors have more confidence in the organization.
- Advantages for the community: As a result of HBLP, the long-term future for many valuable nonprofit organization services in the community will be guaranteed.