Odyssey Networks, a multifaith media coalition, which The Baha’i Faith is a member of, is partnering with the Department of State, in a special initiative working with the London [Olympic] Games. This initiative, titled 2012 Hours Against Hate, involves young people reaching out to someone of a different faith, spending an hour together and sharing what happened.

Odyssey invites you to partner with them. Here are the steps to the initiative:

1. You would reach out to all the young people (ages 15 – 24) you know and invite them to participate in this campaign.
2. They would find a person of a different faith, spend an hour in some activity with this person, learning more about that person and their faith and the culture it comes from, exploring not just their differences, but their commonalities.
3. They can sign up and tell the story on the Odyssey Networks website.
4. Odyssey will choose the two best stories and send a film crew to videotape the two people in each story about their experiences in that hour.

Odyssey has designed a web page to guide young people through the process, which also gives suggestions for making this time a valuable experience, and making their story a compelling one.

The videos will be promoted on Odyssey’s website, and through social media.  They will also make them available for your website through an embed code.  Odyssey will lift up your organization as being their partner, even more so if a winning story comes from your connections.

The deadline for submitting written stories is July 15.

Youth (ages 15 to 24) can sign up here.