 sharing knowledge one push at a time sharing knowledge one push at a time goodpushadmin mon 6252018 827 mon 6252018 1200 posted by the goodpush team in the last 10 years skateistan s learned many lessons about using skateboarding programs to empower young people and bring communities together at the recent pushing boarders event in london we announced the launch of the goodpush alliance social skate pushing boarders goodpush partners survey at skateistan we believe that skateboarding can be a force for good all over the world in the last 10 years we ve learned many lessons about how to use skateboarding programs effectively to empower young people and to bring communities together at the recent pushing boarders event in london we announced the launch of the goodpush alliance a pilot project to share what we ve learned with other skateboardingforgood organizations around the world words by rhianon it s been 10 years since skateistan started our first programs for kids in the streets of afghanistan and in that time the number of projects using skateboarding for social change around the world has grown massively while our core work is focused on the 2000 young people we work with each week we believe it s the perfect time to reach out and share our knowledge both our successes and challenges with others who seek to use skateboarding as a tool for good together we can have a much bigger impact and change more kids lives through our shared love of skateboarding so it was perfect timing to be invited to the pushing boarders event held earlier this month in london uk which brought together skateboarders community leaders and renowned scholars to explore the social impact of skateboarding worldwide this was the first international event with a focus on skateboarding for good and we at skateistan were honored to have our founder and executive director oliver percovich speak on the globally stoked panel together with speakers from skatepal make life skate life skateaid and free movement skateboarding oliver percovich second from right with the globally stoked panel at pushing boarders photo emil agerskov we were also excited to announce during the event that this year we ve launched the goodpush alliance our first step in supporting and sharing knowledge among social skate projects worldwide currently in a research and development stage goodpush has selected three organizations as pilot partners to take part in six months of tailored consulting and receive a 5000 award skateqilya palestine 7hills jordan and make life skate life global in late 2018 we ll release a package of online resources for running programs community engagement and behind the scenes management this will be free of charge for any organisation which is trying to make a positive difference through skateboarding we ve also collaborated with pushing boarders to launch the first   survey of social skateboarding projects worldwide  so that we can gather a comprehensive overview on the impact aims and activities of this growing global movement pushing boarders   took place over the course of three days   and had over 1300 people sign up for panels and q as on topics ranging from urban planning race and genderidentity to the skate charity movement with 200300 people packed into each session and many more unable to get a seat unlike most global skate events the focus of pushing boarders wasn t on the industry or brand posturing but instead on the essence of skateboarding itself and its ability to bring likeminded people together to celebrate positive disruption speakers included legendary pros and pioneers elissa steamer jaime reyes lucy adams and karl watson as well as leading skatefocused academics iain borden and ocean howell for skateistan it was an unmissable opportunity to meet so many of the founders and volunteers of community skateboarding projects facetoface a rare chance to share knowledge and learn from others culminating in an epic skate session at southbank the pushing boarders event made it clear that the power of skateboarding to create social change is exceptional but there s still a lot of untapped potential the accessibility of skating and the pure fun of it can be used as a tool to help address issues like gender inequality refugee integration access to education and more the reality however is that most skatebased social projects do a lot with limited resources and we feel we have the potential to help make those journeys easier by sharing the knowledge and experience of our team if you are part of a social skateboarding project do the survey now and share it with others   wwwskateistanorg survey  the survey deadline is june 30 2018 the survey is open to anyone involved at any level in a skateboardingforgood initiative and the combined results will be shared publicly providing insightful data to demonstrate the reach and influence of our projects around the world the goodpush alliance is supported by a wework creator award that skateistan won in 2017 so that we can scale up our impact and collaborate with social skateboarding projects around the world  