Future Scouts Summer Session 2016!!

My name is Ishan - I'm a storyteller, technologist and creative entrepreneur. I'm the co-founder of Notthisbody and Metamaps.cc, and now Future Scouts.

Over the last few months our team has been working on launching Future Scouts - a 2 week summer program for 12 teens (http://futurescouts.co).  We combine technology, futures thinking, storytelling and experiential learning to help youth navigate their increasingly complex futures.

Our first cohort takes place from July 11th-22nd in Los Angeles (in Culver City at the Cliffs of Id, our basecamp - an incredible climbing gym).

FutureScouts introduces middle and high school aged youth to the practice of imagining and prototyping possible futures, while using the city as our laboratory. They are introduced to key technological developments that will emerge over the next 5-15 years and their potential impact on the future of work, play, money, food, health and culture.

Our 'Future Scouts' receive training in essential 21st century survival skills such as self-directed learning, collaborative problem-solving, futures + systems thinking, and critical making.

We have 5 core scoutmasters, over 15 collaborators, and more partners coming on every week. We're 2 weeks out from the start of the camp, and almost the entire program is in place! We are fully insured, BG checks, etc.

Because this is our pilot and first cohort, we've decided to do something radical - we're making the camp completely free and by-donation-only!

This enables us to take on youth who may not be able to attend otherwise. Our plan is to make this a creative commons package so that others can start a chapter of Future Scouts in their own cities! 

We're running this GoFundMe to cover the costs of the program and sponsor scout tuition. We've gotten so many donations in kind, such as different beta technologies, our basecamp at the Cliffs of Id, tours and visits, and it has reduced the cost of the camp greatly, but we still need to cover some core operational costs.

We've broken down the reward levels to accurately account for our costs, and we'll use the money that you give us to go towards each of those items! 

We need these funds before we launch the camp on the 11th of July.

Already we have plans for a fall event, launching more curriculum in spring and expanding the program next summer. Completing this pilot program will provide us with video + audio + documentation that we can use to scale the program over the next year.

Our entire team will be so grateful for any support that you can give.  Help us bring out the imagination, creativity and curiousity of our youth!

Thanks,
Ishan, Watson, Megan, Matthew, Katie, Sky & Haz