Our Vision
Increasingly our local hometown DC is embracing its identity as a global city. We love that energy, but we also are mindful of the many ways that our city’s young people continue to be excluded from this new vision of the city. We believe that DC, taking full advantage of the city’s unique global resources, can and should become a national model for equipping its young people with the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and experiences that will help prepare them to compete and participate fully in this globalized and interconnected world.
Our Mission and Strategies
Globalize DC is dedicated to providing the impetus, thought leadership, determined focus, expertise, and institutional capacity to move DC’s K-12 global education efforts to the next level. Our mission is to mobilize the city’s wealth of global resources to increase access for DC public school students to high quality global education and world language learning opportunities. At all times we promote a strategic, systemic, and equitable approach, working collaboratively with partners and the public education system. We are particularly concerned with creating solutions that will reduce barriers to access for underserved students and schools, and that will support sustainable pathways to college and careers in global fields.
We work in two ways to advance this mission:
Our Work With and Through Others
We encourage and support others to advance K-12 global education for DC’s young people, using advocacy and partnerships to push for expanded opportunities and systemic and strategic change, including:
- Making the case for DC K-12 global education and language learning to decisionmakers at all levels (educators, students, parents, policymakers, partners, and community members)
- Serving as an information clearinghouse for free and almost free global education and language opportunities, resources, and best practices for DC’s K-12 students, educators, and schools.
- Working with globally focused partners (international organizations, government agencies, embassies, universities, businesses, cultural institutions, and NGOs) to expand opportunities, help develop strategic approaches, and to provide a platform for communication, collaboration, and advocacy.
- Promoting and supporting systemic reforms that advance quality, equity, and sustainability of global education and language learning within DC schools and other youth-serving agencies and organizations.
Our Own Programs
We develop our own innovative programs for DC students, always in collaboration with partner organizations, when an unmet need exists. For example, our Japan-related programs began as a way to address the absence of school-based Japanese language programs in spite of a high level of student interest.