User:Norinha21/Alliance of Youth Movements

Alliance of Youth Movements (or AYM) is a non-profit organization that positively empowers leaders to use the tools of new media and technology to advance freedom, human rights, democracy, and development around the world. Its members consist primarily of tech-savvy youth-led organizations, including Save Darfur, Invisible Children, STAND, the Quilliam Foundation, Viva Rio, Sri Lanka Unites, One Million Voices Against FARC, Iluminemos Mexico, and the Genocide Intervention Network.

Organization & History
The Alliance of Youth Movements began with a December 2008 summit in New York City to identify, convene, and engage 21st century movements online for the first time in history. The United States Department of State partnered with Howcast, MTV, Google, YouTube, Facebook, AT&T, Jet Blue, Gen-Next, Access360Media, and Columbia Law School to launch a global network and empower young people mobilizing against violence and oppression.

Speakers at the Summit included actress Whoopi Goldberg, Facebook Co-Founder Dustin Moskovitz, The Obama Campaign’s New Media Team, and Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs of the United States, James K. Glassman.

In March 2009, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced and endorsed the Second Alliance of Youth Movements Summit, which was held October 14-16, 2009, in Mexico City. The Summit explored the role of technology in mobilizing young people working to end violence throughout Latin America and around the world. Young delegates—described by Secretary Clinton as “the vanguard of a rising generation of citizen activists who are using the latest technological tools to catalyze change, build movements, and transform lives”—were joined by more than 15 private and public partners, including the world’s leading technology companies. Together they launched discussions on politics and technology, sustainability and long-term planning, and ways to advance positive social change through online tools like social networking and viral online videos.

Recent activities
AYM currently consists of hundreds of members representing popular indigenous movements, leading private technology firms, the NGO community, foundations, both U.S and foreign governments, and some of the most successful digital movements around the world. It aims to develop into the ultimate mechanism for convening and connecting 21st century movements, synthesizing their best practices, supporting their efforts to affect real world change, and bringing their expertise to support more traditional movements and organizations.

AYM’s Third Summit will take place March 10-12, 2010, in London.

Their headquarters are located in New York and San Francisco, and its members’ operations extend throughout five continents, in more than twenty countries around the world