Using the Media For Good

http://www.bbc.com/news/education-42429527
A major humanitarian crisis facing the world is the traumatization of young Syrian refugees as well as their lack of education. Children that have been displaced as a result of the Syrian Civil War are left without homes and resources, forcing them to prioritize their survival over their education, mental health, ad ability to form lasting relationships with others. In an attempt to tackle this problem, Jeffrey Dunn, the head of Sesame Workshop, has set up a program to educate these children as well as deal with the incredible amount of stress placed upon them, which is extremely hard for them to deal with at such young ages. The program has received $100,000,000 in funding and will help refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria. The program received its funding by winning a grant provided by the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in order to create a lasting change in the world. It is the biggest philanthropic donation to such a project and will help to provide education and ways with which to deal with major stress that has been placed upon the children. The link above summarizes the project's background as well as its goal, which is to provide a personalized version of the popular Sesame Street that is to be available on mobile phones and will teach literacy, numeracy, relationships, and respect for others. Child development centers will also be constructed, leading to a much more stable, educated generation.
This project is ground-breaking because it is the first of its kind; never before has an education project received such immense funding, nor has the specific humanitarian crisis of the traumatization of Syrian refugees been tackled so completely. This project will hopefully teach the children not only how to read and write, but how to communicate with one another and form relationships in a time of such loss and stress. While all children need to be taught how to deal with stress, the amount of stress placed upon each Syrian refugee child is more than more privileged people will deal with in a lifetime. Sesame Street has always been known for its openness; it has had genderless, Muslim, and mentally ill characters while many TV programs feature only white, able-bodied, cisgender people. This project only proves their kindness and open-mindedness further, thus making them even better candidates for taking on such an important cause with which to deal.
Often in the media, profit is prioritized over philanthropy, as it provides much more immediate gratification, while helping others for no financial gain in return causes stress and no obvious satisfaction. This has led to, as seen in the Frontliners film "Merchants of Cool," media catering to specific crowds not to please them, but only to attract potential customers by making such people think they want what the company is already selling. People who already have everything they already need are convinced that they need more, when in reality it is just another phone or pair of shoes. However, Sesame Street has proved themselves to be one of the few companies in the media that prioritizes the actual needs of people over profit rather than creating needs for them. The company utilizes the technology with which they have been provided as a result of their location in a first-world country and are thus able to take advantage of their resources to create a better life for others and fix problems that have previously seemed hopeless. This has happened as a result of the grand sum provided by the grant as well; with it, Sesame Street has broadened the ability of the media, which once only existed to give consumers yet another thing to purchase without need, to help people without privilege to get an education and to improve their mental health. Jeffrey Dunn has brought the media's ability to be a useful tool for learning and healing to new heights, and as a result, young generations will experience a much brighter future, filled with opportunities brought about due to their education.