About World Leadership Foundation:
World Leadership Foundation (WLF) was created in July 2009 with the purpose of supporting educational and community development projects, promoting global exchange between local participants and U.S. students, and empowering participating youth to create a positive change in their community. WLF initially worked to support overseas rural schools with donations raised by students traveling with World Leadership School. Their mission has now evolved to partner with K-12 schools around the world to bring greater purpose to learning.
What They Do:
WLF believes that K-12 education can, and should be, the ultimate platform for launching children into lives of purpose. WLF accomplishes its mission by partnering on school transformation efforts with schools across the Americas and also supporting their long-standing global school partners in 10 countries around the world.
Partnership with EMA Foundation:
EMA Foundation has provided a $50K grant to support the development of the K-12 Change Lab, which will bring diverse schools together in a yearlong, close-knit learning community organized around a focused area of school change, with the goal to develop a globally recognized platform and process for achieving sustainable school change scalable to schools across the planet.
Their Impact:
In its beginning stages, WLF worked to support overseas rural schools with donations raised by students traveling with World Leadership School. Since 2009 these donations have exceeded $1 million in a variety of projects for rural schools ranging from clean water systems to dining halls.
Two of World Leadership School's key initiatives include the Youth Purpose Summit and the K-12 Purpose Summit:
Youth Purpose Summit: Navigating life with purpose is a critical skill for today’s world that schools are not yet teaching students. The Youth Purpose Summit creates a space for students to embark on what Sir Ken Robinson called the two “great human journeys”: the inner journey to connect with one’s deepest gifts, and the outer journey to use these gifts to contribute to something bigger. This daylong workshop is a powerful intervention for students and a platform that helps teachers understand and coach each student.
- 3,692 students from 66 schools have participated in the Youth Purpose Summit.
- 81% of participants said, “This experience helped me see myself and others in new ways.” (the Inner Journey to Self-Discovery)
- 74% of participants said, “I feel inspired to act upon what I learned about myself.” (the Outer Journey to Impact)
"I learned that I have always been a very organized person, not only in the way I behave but also in the way my brain is structured. I learned how much this benefited me in ways I didn't even know, and how this affected my personality. I have always been very focused and have very specific ways of doing things and learning how my brain works explained a lot about myself." - Middle School SPARK Participant, Calvert School, Baltimore, MD
K-12 Purpose Summit: Every year, educators have life- and career-changing experiences at the K-12 Purpose Summit. Held in Boulder, CO, this 3.5-day event brings together teams from schools worldwide for two related experiences. In the Individual Journey, they create a deep community space so participants can reconnect with their “why,” explore possibilities, and gather new energy. In the School Expedition, educators work with their school team to design and implement a big new idea or program at their school.
- 145 schools have participated in the K-12 Purpose Summit since 2018.
- 85% of the teams at the 2023 K-12 Purpose Summit designed and implemented a big new idea or program at their schools.
“This summit has strengthened my commitment to myself and to education. It has brought me back to my why. I believe every educator should have a journey similar to the one I experienced here.” - Carolín Escobar, The AWTY International School, Houston, TX
Join the Movement:
Join World Leadership Foundation and EMA Foundation in our mission to bring greater purpose to learning. Together, we can transform education by inspiring educators to reimagine learning and empower students to become next-generation leaders.
