idealist.org

Reach the World is an organization using technology and travel to bring the world into under-funded, public school classrooms. Our mission is to link low-income students and their teachers with real-world, real-time journeys, via our interactive web site. Our long-term goal is to revolutionize the delivery of the curriculum, enabling all classrooms, in all communities, to use interactive resources that bring the world’s environments and cultures vividly to life within the curriculum.

In 2004, the National Geographic Society Education Foundation awarded Reach the World a special grant to study the impact of its programs on geography education for children. RTW was also awarded the 2004 GENIP Award for Excellence in Geography Education, a national honor in geography education. RTW is a nonprofit organization founded in New York City in 1998.

Reach the World currently operates the Voyage of Makulu, a three-year, around-the-world voyage aboard a 43-foot sailboat. This journey, which launched in 2004, is now bringing the environments and cultures of 30 countries and 30,000 ocean miles to life on the Internet. As they circle the globe, the crewmembers describe their encounters with faraway people, countries, winds, and waters. Our web site, www.reachtheworld.org, is a growing library of primary-source resources on topics suggested by teachers and used by students.

In New York City, Reach the World supports a network of under-funded elementary and middle schools. We provide each of our partner schools with teacher training, staff support, and technology consulting. These services enable teachers to use technology tools and the Voyage of Makulu to provide their students with rich opportunities to communicate, develop new skills, and learn about the world from crewmembers serving as their ‘eyes and ears in foreign ports’.

Reach the World’s long-term goal is to become a national organization that links travelers and their journeys with students in underprivileged classrooms.