Connecting Leaders of Tomorrow

Led by: Carlos and Maria
Special Olympics Venezuela

The following post was written by Carlos and Maria, Special Olympics Youth Leaders from Venezuela. Carlos and Maria make it their mission to strengthen inclusion within their community. Check out how they #innovateforinclusion!

We came up with our Innovation project because we wanted to improve leadership in Special Olympics Venezuela and provide athletes with the opportunity to explore leadership strategies.

During our project there were some challenges like: networking fails and a coordinator shift, but we decided that we wouldn’t give up. We were able to find a new coordinator and accomplish our goals.

The athletes learned so much more about Special Olympics and showed up to the meetings with huge smiles on their faces, excited to know what we were going to do this time. However, our proudest moment came when we were discussing their personal goals. The athletes showed that they have great ambitions and drive which will lead to a great future because of Special Olympics.

We are extremely grateful for these opportunities that Special Olympics grants to us young people to promote inclusion and leadership of people with intellectual disabilities. This experience is truly a unique and impressive experience and we thank Special Olympics for that.

The Special Olympics Youth Innovation Grant initiative is supported through partnerships with SNF, Hasbro Inc., the Office of Special Education Programs at the United States Department of Education, Samuel Family Foundation, Lions Club International Foundation, Microsoft Corporation, PMIEF, and Kantar. Learn more about these inspiring projects at SpecialOlympicsGlobalYouthProjects.org.