Funding opportunity: Map Your World giving away free Nexus 7 tablets!

Map it. Track it. Change it. Share it.

Developed by the BAVC Producer’s Institute for New Technologies, Map Your World is an incredible new project inspired by the PBS Independent Lens documentary The Revolutionary Optimists.

Map Your World’s new participatory mapping platform puts the power of new technologies into the hands of youth. The platform enables youth to map, track and improve their communities while sharing stories with each other and the rest of the world. It provides youth with the freedom to pursue issues that they’re passionate about while giving them the ability to visualize and share data and compelling stories.

It’s inspiring!: In Kolkata, India, youth tracked water points in their slum, ultimately convincing the local government to build the first clean drinking water line in more than 30 years. In Oakland, California, middle school students are tracking cigarette litter, cleaning up their neighborhoods and lobbying the city to protect their urban wildlife refuge’s ecosystem. In Seattle, youth are mapping incidents of youth violence to raise awareness around and campaign against bullying.

To help support young change agents and their projects, Map Your World is offering grants for free Nexus 7 tablets, provided by Google, for educators and facilitators. 

Applications for tablet grants must be submitted by Dec.1, 2014. See application and information here.

Youth can use their maps and data to campaign for change and share their stories through Map Your World’s robust storytelling hub. Educators can use the PBS Learning Media curriculum in programs, share their findings, and collaborate with other educators and students from around the world.