Digital Learning Playlists Unlock Opportunities for Chicago Youth

The Hive Chicago Fund for Connected Learning at The Chicago Community Trust is thrilled to announce six winners of the LRNG: CHI Playlist Design Challenge.

The Fund is excited to support these organizations as they create dynamic new learning opportunities, called LRNG Playlists, for young adults in Chicago (16-24 years old) using LRNG: CHI, a digital learning and badging platform.

These Playlists are innovative and engaging learning experiences, which connect young people to real-life pathways and opportunities while supporting the development of 21st century skills for success in work and in life.

The Challenge supports the Fund’s efforts to promote the growth and adoption of connected learning in Chicago—ensuring youth from all backgrounds have access to rich learning opportunities.

Winning organizations will receive mini grants of $5,000 along with robust technical assistance provided by the Fund’s learning design partners, Convergence Design Lab.

The Playlist Design Challenge supports the Fund’s efforts to promote the growth and adoption of connected learning in Chicago, ensuring youth from all backgrounds have access to rich learning opportunities.

The 2017 LRNG: CHI Playlist Design Challenge Winners:

• The CHAMPIONS NETWork-UIC Emergency Medicine Playlist is part of a public health initiative to empower young people in Chicago communities that are particularly at-risk for cardiovascular disease and cancer to become health advocates for family and community members.
• The Free Spirit Media Playlist focuses on goal-setting and planning for youth enrolled in FSM’s Industry Pathway internships and fellowships, in order to connect participants to college and career pathways.
• The Chasing23 Playlist supports the development of digital skills in 21st century marketing while encouraging learners to use their own social media to build a professional and authentic voice to address issues of importance in their communities.
• The Economic Awareness Council Playlist supports the development of entrepreneurship skills, including the creation of a business plan for a need learners have identified. When learners earn the Playlist Badge, they will be invited to enter a business plan competition.
• The Youth Guidance Playlist supports career exploration and planning while scaffolding the Playlist activities with ongoing support from career coaches. Learners that earn the Playlist badge unlock a special career exploration day.
• The Nerdy Media Playlist engages Opportunity Youth—young people between the ages of 16 to 24 who are neither enrolled in school nor participating in the labor market—in the world of podcasting, producing, marketing, and distributing a real-world media project.

Through the LRNG: CHI Playlist Design Challenge, the Fund hopes to learn how LRNG Playlists can help augment and support programming aimed at fostering 21st century skills among young people in Chicago, and how digital badges—awarded upon completion of a Playlist—can unlock real-world opportunities for Chicago’s young people.