Thursday, August 14, 2008

Project L.E.O.



Hey everyone,

Like I said previously, I've been doing some big things lately. A few weeks ago I traveled to Syracuse NY (Home of Carmelo Anthony) to work with a group of inner-city youth. The project titled the L.E.O. – Leadership Education (On and Offline) prepared middle school and high school students to be ambassadors of internet safety. In a world where Myspace.com and Facebook.com are powered by youth sharing their personal life, it seems only relevant that youth step in to educate their peers on online etiquette.


Youth are now faced with cyber bullying, online predators, online stalkers, and more. I remember back in elementary school I was told not to chat with strangers. Now you can hold months and months of conversations and share pictures with a person that you never met. Times have change as they always will.

I felt privileged to work with the youth and to show them that it does not take that much to stalk someone online. They were able to find my old project building and my grandmother's name in less the 2 minutes online.

This was also a great opportunity for me to introduce the 98% female / African and Latin class on career opportunities in the interactive, mobile, and gaming space. It is very important to diversify this space by encouraging both youth and interactive companies to open their minds and explore opportunities.


I know that some of you are thinking "aww, he is helping out the minorities to broaden their scope in life." Here are some facts for you if you had that thought –

FACT: Facebook has a 55% female user base with an average age range of 12 – 17 (TEENS). There are more African Americans on Facebook than average. Myspace has a 58% female user base of female with more Hispanics than average. (Stats provided by Quantacast.com)

So interactive, mobile, and gaming companies please open your minds and doors to the thought of ethnically diversifying your company. It will only benefit you in the long run.

Thank you Mr. Joseph Saulter - CEO of Entertainment Arts Reserach, and Ms. Jasmine Crowe - Owner of Mystjazz PR for being guest speakers for the class via Skype video confrencing.

For more information please visit the following link to read the Post Standard article - http://www.syracuse.com/city/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1217667596268160.xml&coll=1

Help support youth by volunteering for your local city schools to promote higher education.


Here are some other internet safety sites that you should visit:

3 comments:

Unknown said...

hey this is a great site..... it is well organized...!

Miss Hershey McJones said...

I hope the kids appreciated the knowledge you imparted. They were learning from the best for sure!

Anonymous said...

Will there be some sort of follow up with the kids? I've found that they will be more willing to continue what they've learned if someone was to re-visit or send them a quick note. Great stats.