iMapAmerica has developed a suite of tools that equip young people to effectively map services for youth and families in their communities.
1) Mapping America - A process in which youth and adults from across America identify opportunities and services in their neighborhood for young people, children and families. This process provides both information about needs and resources and increases public awareness of the effort to create a national web-based youth information and referral service.
2) Mapping Curriculum – iMapAmerica has also developed a standards-based curriculum currently being utilized in school and after-school settings. The curriculum ultimately leads to local mapping efforts and data for the ilivehere.info site. (Operational)
3) ilivehere.info The collected data from Mapping America is the basis for this website, providing youth and adults easy access to information specific to their address and zip code.
4) freshstat software guarantees that youth have access to the most accurate and freshest data through a real-time updating process with the resources themselves able to update and augment their own information directly on the site. The ilivehere.info website also allows young people and adults to generate, analyze and utilize this information for themselves and their communities. (Currently in Beta)
The leaders of iMapAmerica have identified “mapping” as a tool that speaks powerfully to both trends. By teaching young people to map the services in their communities, iMapAmerica flips the conventional model of “we’re doing this for youth” to “youth are doing this for themselves.” Mapping is Primal civic engagement resulting in young adults impacting their own future, the future of their communities, and the world beyond.
