We believe the best way to build a young person's faith is to let them start living into it. If their imagination is a super power, God can use it to innovate for his Kingdom.
Through our faith-based curriculum, we challenge young people to ""get off the sidelines and into the game."" They identify ""Kingdom Challenges,"" from societal issues like homelessness to creative evangelism opportunities. Through our program, they create new and innovative initiatives to tackle these challenges and then try them in the real world. Then pitch them to decision makers who can help grow and support the initiatives. This approach not only affirms children, but empowers them to get involved with God's work in fun and creative ways, in the present moment.
Redemptive Opportunity
Studies show that children are naturally more innovative and creative thinkers than adults. You could say they were ""made"" that way. At Kidvation, we believe it's their super power. We recognize they have an important and special voice, and we're not only listening, but leveraging that voice to make a real-world impact, as has been described in question 1.
This becomes even more profound when applied to God's priorities. Young believers often fill the role of ""consumer."" They learn core information and docteren, but are rarely given a chance to live it out until they're older. Based on Christ's feelings about children (Matt 18:3), and related Biblical teachings (Tim. 4:12), we believe God never intended for them to stay on the sidelines. We believe the best way to build a young person's faith is to let them start living into it. If their imagination is a super power, God can use it to innovate for his Kingdom.
michael hirsch
Michael is a passionate, high-driven leader focused on helping Next Gen students discover their potential. He has been in non-profit leadership for over 25 years, working with organizations in California, Atlanta, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Michael speaks regularly to community groups and schools, inspiring people to realize the capacity within students to innovate and solve real world problems.
In 2010, Michael co-founded Loveworks Leadership, an afterschool program that reached over 15,000 students. Loveworks built an experiential learning model that taught character development, leadership, and provided entrepreneurship learning opportunities. During his time with Loveworks, Michael worked with student groups to launch two successful start-ups: a salsa company that scaled across the OKC Metro and an augmented reality company that sells on Amazon and Walmart to more than a dozen countries.
In 2023, Michael helped to co-found Kidvation Global, a non-profit with a mission to empower youth to unleash their imagination and take bold action. Kidvation is currently working with students across multiple states, countries, and languages. Michael and the founding team built the Marketplace of Ideas, the first e-commerce platform for kid businesses.
Michael has developed university affiliation partnerships with nonprofit educational programs to give young adults bachelors and masters level accreditation. He has served as an Ambassador for the Afterschool Alliance, worked with state officials to mobilize resources for statewide initiatives, and traveled as a trainer for Growing Leaders, a global leadership organization. With a voracious appetite for personal growth and leadership development, Michael is a lifelong learner and graduate of SALLT Leadership.
Michael is a USAT certified coach and is currently training for his 18th triathlon, the Ironman World Championship. He has been married to his wife Selah for 18 years, they have four high-energy kids and two Boston Terrier puppies.
Contact: michael@kidvationglobal.com
brent wheelbarger
Brent Wheelbarger is a Partner and Co-Founder of Kidvation Global (www.kidvationglobal.com), an education initiative designed to foster youth-led innovation through entrepreneurship, social impact, and research & development. In his role as Chief Imagination Officer at Kidvation, Brent leverages 20 years of innovation experience as the CEO of Trifecta Communications (www.trifectacomm.net). In addition to its media properties, Trifecta specializes in augmented and virtual reality solutions for applications in education, workforce development, and tourism among others. The company serves clients in Oklahoma and around the world.
Brent also founded Time Frame, Inc. (www.timeframetours.com), a non-profit focused on preserving Oklahoma history through technology. The organization creates augmented reality historical walking tours of small to medium sized communities across the state. Previously Brent co-founded Viribus VR Labs (www.viribusvr.com), a tech-startup developing virtual reality therapy tools for children with cerebral palsy.
Brent lives in Moore with his wife and two daughters. He is a graduate of Leadership Oklahoma Class 32 and the Thunder Launchpad tech accelerator. He recently served as president of the Moore Rotary Club, chairman of the Moore Chamber of Commerce, and board member for the Pioneer Library System. He is the immediate past-chair for the Possibilities organization in OKC and board member for Great Expectations Foundation. He is highly involved with the Boy Scouts of America (Eagle Scout) where he serves as Assistant Scoutmaster and chair of the District Communications Board for the Last Frontier Council of Oklahoma.
Contact: brent@kidvationglobal.com
Business Model
At the core of Kidvation’s program is a project-based learning model that walks learners through the creation of real things including: products, programs, and concepts. Learners are challenged to make a societal impact through this process. Traditional education models focus on theory, Kidvation focuses on action. Combining this “real-world curriculum” with a robust online Learning Management System and train-the-trainer model for educators, allows it to scale rapidly and it is built specifically for that purpose.
Kidvation’s program is designed to engage with learners long after the course is over. Through the organization’s Marketplace of Ideas eCommerce platform at Kidvationmarket.com, learners can sell their products, seek donations for their programs, and showcase their concepts. This allows them to build upon their ideas well into the future. Kidvation is not just teaching theory, it’s setting learners up for long-term impact, while also providing important life skills.
The core of Kidvation’s sustainability lies in its affordable curriculum offerings, scalable to different types of education settings and equally effective in both small & large numbers. Any type of school setting can purchase yearly licenses for Kidvation curriculum, specifically tailored to their learning environments. As institutions renew their licenses year over year, this revenue stream becomes residual, bolstering sustainability as Kidvation grows. Kidvation is also launching a self-paced program appropriate for home-settings, allowing individual students and families the ability to purchase our curriculum independent of their educational institution.
Kidvation supplements this revenue stream with grants, private donors, and public dollars, allowing the organization to provide curriculum in economically disadvantaged school settings. This is true of the $1.95 million ‘Childcare Desert Grant’, Kidvation was awarded in 2023 from OKDHS, allowing the organization to launch Kidvation led afterschool programs at multiple sites in Oklahoma. Another example is a $30K grant award, which allows us to offer a free entrepreneurship camp for underserved students in inner-city OKC.
