Communities Collaborating Blog

As the largest network of children helping children through education in the world, Free The Children believes that young people have the ability to bring about positive social change, and encourages youth to act now to improve the lives of young people everywhere.

In 2006, we spoke with Marc Kielburger of Free The Children on a free tele-learning session. From humble beginnings, Marc co-founded this youth-run organization with his young brother Craig. When we spoke with Marc, Free The Children consisted of more than 150 full-time members, with an average age of 24, who had affected more than one million youth around the world, and had build more than 450 schools that educate over 40,000 children.

Two years later, the Kielburger guys continue to trailblaze ahead.

Free the Children recently embarked on an exciting new joint project, O Ambassadors ™, with Oprah’s Angel Network to inspire young people to become active, compassionate and knowledgeable global citizens. 

This school-based program connects young people in North America with people around the world to create lasting change. Participants/educators apply online to form an O Ambassadors Club at their school, and work toward the UN Millennium Development Goals, addressing problems such as hunger, poverty and limited access to education.

In Craig’s welcome message to this new program, he says, “You are never too young to change the world.” These words are an important reminder of the value of community action. No matter how big our small, our actions make a difference. 

Over the past week, Craig and Marc have been busy promoting this joint initiative on CBC News Sunday, Canada AM, e-talk, Degrassi: The Next Generation and, of course, The Oprah Winfrey Show.