"All our societies need more social capital...and in my view the single most promising area of initiative is youth service." Robert Putnam, 2000 Ford Foundation Worldwide Workshop on Youth Involvement

IMPACT, creatively combines fun, learning, and service to continuously improve both self and society. IMPACT combines two proven and powerful experiential education methodologies—the excitement of adventure education with the “learn by doing” effectiveness of service learning. Together these create a synergy and constitute a strategy able to overcome post-communist civic apathy and impart Romanian youth with the values and skills necessary for healthy development in today’s complex world.

When all too often cooperation for the common good is “counter-cultural” and even mocked, when predatory/Machiavellian values are taken for granted as the only way to get by, IMPACT is a micro-culture, an incubator for the skills, attitudes, and (inter)personal values necessary for living cooperatively and productively in a modern democratic society. IMPACT provides youth with structured experiences that enhance both individual capabilities as well as internalizing pro-social norms, and thereby creating effective agents for positive social change.

IMPACT is the keystone in our strategy to launch a national service learning movement in Romania. It is an elegant model that is easily replicable to any situation. IMPACT is simply a vehicle for healthy development, and is run in partnership with the Romanian educational system and other institutions such as NGO’s and Churches. Margaret Mead wrote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.“ Now imagine 50, or 100 or 500 of these groups all over Romania—one in every school, impacting and educating their communities! Such is the vision of IMPACT….youth empowerment for social change.