Hussein Farah, Founder and Executive Director of New Vision Foundation, was named a 2017 fellow of the New Leaders Council. The national organization works to recruit, train and promote the progressive political entrepreneurs of tomorrow — trendsetters, elected officials and civically-engaged leaders in business and industry who will shape the future landscape of the progressive movement. Farah was among 19 NLC fellows from the Twin Cities who have begun training and networking in advocacy, community engagement and policy development. 

The US rollout of New Vision Foundation's digital literacy classes began today at Southwest High School, a public school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A group of freshman and sophomore students heard about the importance of Information Technology (I.T) in making the world work, the academic preparation necessary to join the I.T professions, and the skill base they can build now that sets up future success.

​The students begin coding next week! 

On Wednesday, you have the opportunity to help marginalized youth with even a small donation during Give to the Max Day! Every $300 donated enables one year of digital literacy classes for a student from a challenged background. That's $6,000 per class of 20. 

MINNEAPOLIS–New Vision Foundation proudly announces its first Director of Training, Eric Kibisu.

"I'll be putting together the coursework for New Vision Foundation globally," said Kibisu.

"I anticipate working with instruction teams in the US and the developing countries where the foundation sets up programs."

Kibisu will also specify the software builds for business-class laptops and other IT equipment that New Vision Foundation provides to support its classes. Students earn ownership of these laptops through completion of the coursework over a year's instruction period. 

A native Kenyan, Kibisu holds an MS degree in Software Engineering from the University of St. Thomas and twin BS degrees in Computer Information Science and Computer Engineering Technology from Minnesota State University, Mankato. His professional experience includes nearly 20 years of application development, network engineering, and college-level teaching. He is an avid club soccer player and a youth coach for the Coon Rapids Soccer Association.

Kibisu has the ideal background for the job, said New Vision Foundation Executive Director, Hussein Farah. 

​"He has succeeded on the journey we hope our students will take – from dislocation to a pillar of the community. He's a wonderfully skilled IT professional and a real competitor with a great heart for serving young people."

New Vision Foundation is thrilled to have begun a partnership with Fundación Ciencias de la Documentación (Documentation Sciences Foundation), a Spanish organization dedicated to driving social change through information access, integrity and transparency. The partnership was announced September 4 by José Raúl Vaquero, president of Fundación CD. Professional networks brought the two foundations together. Details on the partnership will follow. Stay tuned!

MINNEAPOLIS – New Vision Foundation today hosted the 2016 Fellows of the World Press Institute, a group of 10 foreign journalists on a multi-city tour of the United States. The issue of youth radicalization drove the conversation – fitting context to discuss New Vision Foundation's vision of social and economic integration through digital literacy. Thanks to the fellows for your engaging questions, Doug Stone of WPI for setting up the opportunity, and the downtown Coco for accommodating the meeting. 

New Vision Foundation is also channeling corporate investment in the proposition that coding and other IT-based training opportunities can keep disadvantaged youth engaged, motivated and inspired to achieve their maximum potential. We are coming for you, Zuckerberg!

Great meeting with CEO Amanda LaGrange and General Manager Brian Bernhardt of Tech Dump as we outline a partnership between our companies, both Twin Cities-based social ventures with business solutions in the IT field. Laptops donated by companies to New Vision Foundation will be recycled by Tech Dump, ensuring data security to the R2 standard. Tech Dump will also provision these laptops with educational, business and design software before they are shipped to waiting students in the developing world who have enrolled in New Vision's digital literacy programs.  

Big steps today in securing support for New Vision Foundation's pilot initiative in Kenya: our Hussein Farah was included in a forum held today by the Minnesota Trade Office, featuring Kenya's ambassador to the US, Robinson Njeru Githae, at the new offices of Books for Africa on Exchange Street in St. Paul. 

Takeaway: total confirmation of the intense commercial, nonprofit and government interest in more IT education in emerging global markets like East Africa, where digital access and skllls can mean the difference between engagement/opportunity and isolation/radicalization in the life paths of millions of young people.