A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute Special Initiatives

To advance its mission further, A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute provides educators and with the opportunity to participate in the following proactive educational programs:

• Todd G. Patkin Urban Education Outreach Initiative empowers middle school students in urban communities to increase their understanding of the causes of prejudice; gain a fuller appreciation of racial, ethnic, cultural, religious and other individual differences; and develop their leadership potential to serve as positive role models in their communities.
  
• Youth Congress is a day-long event that brings together middle and high school students and faculty to attend workshops and other activities to explore issues of prejudice; gain the knowledge and skills to address these issues; and identify action steps to promote prejudice-free, inclusive schools and communities.
  
• Summer Institute is designed to provide middle and high school educators with the skills and strategies to coordinate A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute’s Peer Training Program in their schools.
  
• CALENDAR ART CONTEST invites K-12 students to help challenge prejudice and promote respect for diversity by creating artwork that illustrates the value of diversity and cultural pride.
  
• Teacher Recognition Awards honor educators for implementing a curriculum or program that fosters inter-group understanding and an appreciation for peoples’ differences.
  
• The Golden-Sugihara “Do the Right Thing” Awards encourage young people in grades 9-12 to consider the implications and complications of making difficult moral choices in life. The awards are held in tribute to Irene and Jackson Golden, whose vision of social justice and activism led to the awards’ creation, and to Mr. Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese Consul to Lithuania in 1940 who followed his conscience and, without permission from his government, saved the lives of 6,000 Jews during the Holocaust.