Welcome; This website is still being built
The picture at left is from the R-GDI club's site at University of Lynchburg in Turner Gym. There will soon be two additional ergs; one in Wake Fieldhouse and one in the Drysdale Community Center.
Also, R-GDI was formed as a result of inspiration from Row4Life. See the link below to visit the Row4life website.
General Information
General Information
The Row4Life Global Diversity Initiative (R-GDI) is a program that once in full effect will be a worldwide movement that will harness the potential of young students to be global leaders and drivers of global change as a result of recognizing the power of global diversity.
This will be accomplished through the establishment of R-GDI clubs in university campuses across the US. These clubs will use Concept 2 rowing machines and the images of Row4Life (leadership program in South Sudan) to promote global diversity as a means of spreading awareness and advocacy for various diversity based causes throughout the world thereby enacting global impact and change.
Each college or university needs just one Erg Concept 2 rowing machine to establish itself as an R-GDI club. Rowing machines do not require water for usage and very accessible and easy to utilize. The R-GDI club is a platform for discourse, advocacy, and interaction; It is not intended to be an athletic club, but of course competitions and events can be held, too. The key objective is for each R-GDI club to promote global diversity and provide discourse on global diversity.
R-GDI will donate one erg per universities rowing club which makes it relatively cheap and efficient for R-GDI to spread and become a nationwide movement amongst university student leaders who are destined to become national and global leaders. These students will be recruited from the Bonner Leader Program, Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U), Model UN and EU, SGA, and University political/advocacy groups.
The University of Lynchburg has established the first R-GDI Club and students from a variety of universities have already expressed interest in starting their own clubs. Once a university has a club, then that university can expand R-GDI to other universities by donating rowing machines to them using a "pay it forward" model to spread R-GDI nationwide that much more quickly.
R-GDI is going to be a global movement that has the potential to make a global impact through the use of global leaders that will change the world. Please spread the word of R-GDI to help make this vision a reality!
R-GDI uses images from Row4Life, a leadership program in South Sudan focused upon finding and grooming future leaders in an efforrt to mitigate ongoing civil war. At the same time, Row4Life is hoping and planning to create the country's first Olympic rowing team, thereby promoting unity, nationalism, and showing the power of diversity within a country currently at war because of internal ethnic issues.
CLICK on the image to the right to visit Row4Life.org.
Row4Life.org in Juba, South Sudan. Click here to visit Row4Life.org
MISSION OF R-GDI
Our mission
The Row4Life Global Diversity Initiative (R-GDI) is a movement that is committed to three values
1. Global Diversity: In an increasingly globalized world where it seems more differences are found than commonalities, it is important to understand that diversity is a strength that can be utilized when done in the proper way. R-GDI seeks to use the sport of rowing promote intellectual discourse on issues concerning diversity and thereby promote global diversity in a way that unites people over their differences rather than divide them.
2. Global Leadership: Leadership is crucial in a world where many more are needed to address new challenging problems that are rising in politics, the environment and developing countries. However, many of these leaders are extreme and polarized in their views. R-GDI will identify student leaders of university campuses across America to lead and maintain the R-GDI clubs to stand for global diversity and hold events that promote global diversity. These student leaders will do that while at the same time learning of value of global diversity in terms of race, culture, and political ideals that they will carry with them for the rest of their life so when they are senior leaders in business, philanthropy, and politics they will try to be bridge builders for a new and challenging world.
3. Global Citizenship: In an increasingly globalized world where the line between people and nations are becoming increasingly blurred due to migration patterns and international trade it is important to promote a philosophy of global citizenship that embraces the commonality that we are all human regardless of nationality, race, ethnicity, or political alignment. R-GDI will impart these values at university campuses across America and thereby educate the next generation on the importance of understanding the viewpoints of other peoples and groups and thereby become global citizens through this new understanding.on of your organization.
Some additional information
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This poster and other imagery from Row4Life is adjacent to all ergs at each college campus
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