A. Lauren Abele

Even though I can’t skateboard, I have always been fascinated by skateboarding. Why? It’s definitely not because I fancy the idea of speeding down concrete on a slab of wood with wheels, exposed to road rash, gashes, and broken bones. It’s because skateboarding is cool. I think so and so do kids and teens.

This is the reason why I am particularly interested in organizations that have inserted “coolness” into their equation for addressing youth development. Being cool does two things: (1) It’s great marketing. Everyone wants to be a part of something that is cool. (2) It’s great program development. It shows that your organization is carefully listening to its audience. Things are considered “cool” because people are interested in them and therefore more likely to be invested in participating, resulting in service delivery and mission fulfillment.

I first read about Stoked in Time Out New York’s Cause of the Week (which, as a side note, I think is an awesome feature). Stoked is a “nonprofit action sports organization for at risk youth with the mission of developing successful teens with opportunity, knowledge, experience, and determination through the use of action sports, mentoring, and coaching.”

Stoked offers a one-year program that matches pre-screened mentors and mentees–who agree to meet a minimum of 4 hours per month and receive ongoing training and coaching by Stoked Program Managers. During the year, mentoring pairs skateboard, surf, and snowboard–what could be cooler than that? Operating out of both Los Angeles and New York City, Stoked gives urban American youth an opportunity to participate in very cool, skill-based, and age-appropriate activities that often have barriers to entry (i.e., equipment, transportation, knowledge).

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, a 34-year-old Aussie skateboarder, Oliver Percovich, unintentionally discovered, while skateboarding around Kabul, that Afghan youth think skateboarding is cool too. The New York Times article, “Skateboarding in Afghanistan Provides a Diversion from Desolation,” describes Percovich’s mentorship to Afghan youth who have shown an interest in skateboarding. After a couple years of showing up to an empty concrete fountain with half a dozen skateboards strapped to the back of his motorcycle, Percovich started Skateistan, Afghanistan’s first co-ed skateboarding school that “engages the growing numbers of urbanized youth through skateboarding and provides new opportunities in cross-cultural interaction and education.”

The construction of Skateistan’s 1,750 square meter indoor skate complex is underway and will include professionally-manufactured ramps, two classrooms, girls’ and boys’ locker rooms, an office, and a canteen. Skateistan’s “About Us” page is particularly impressive and clearly outlines the organization’s mission and philosophy as well as the need for youth development programming in Afghanistan. They also nail the question “What are the benefits of skateboarding to youth?” right on the head:

Skateboarding in a non-competitive global sport requiring minimal supervision and resources. Achievements in skateboarding are individual and depend on balance, creativity and personal expression. Skating can be practiced anywhere there is a smooth surface and gets young people active and engaging with each other.

Both Skateistan and Stoked are using skateboarding (and in Stoke’s case snowboarding and surfing) as a means to an end: the positive development of youth. And, much of the brilliance in this approach is its irony: that skateboarding for a long time was associated with a subversive, delinquent and rebellious subculture–which made it cool.