Youth Social Entrepreneurship

Opportunities for Youth

Unreasonable Institute Marketplace Opens "Vote with your dollars" for Unreasonable Institute Finalists: January 22, 2010. First 25 to raise $6,500 will earn the opportunity to attend the Unreasonable Institute.

The Utah Entrepreneur Challenge:  Registration Deadline: January 29, 2009. Open to Utah University Students.
 
Harvard Pitch for Change 2010: Application deadline: January 30, 2010.  At least one member from each team must be a current graduate student.   
 
StartUp Scramble DC University Challenge: January 29th-31st, 2010.  Winning teams will receive mentorship, up to $1,000 in seed funding   
 
NYU Reynolds Graduate Fellowship in Social Entrepreneurship:  Application deadlines vary by school and run January through February. 
 
Global Zero Summit: January 30 to February 4, 2010, Paris France. Deadline to Apply 30 November 2009   
 
Grassroutes Fellowships 2010: Open to Indian nationals below the age of 25 as of February 2010. Applications due February 1, 2010   
 
Structure Lab: February 5, 2010, Los Angeles, CA as well as events at a number of cities across the United States.   
 
Sparkseed Innovator: Deadline February 7, 2010. Open to U.S. undergraduate students.
 
MIT Legatum Center Fellowships: Deadline of February 10, 2010 for 2010-2011 Fellowship Applications.   
 
Doing Good and Doing Well Conference:  26-27 February 2010, Barcelona, Spain.
 
Dell Social Innovation Competition: Deadline March 1, 2010. Open to undergraduate and graduate level students from any university or college in the world. Prize US$50K to launch your social venture.
 
Changing Our World Social Enterprise Fellowship: Application Deadline:  March 1, 2010. 3 month fellowship, NY, NY.   
 
Young Champions of Maternal Health Program: Deadline to enter Mar 03, 2010.
 
Global Social Venture Competition: April 21-23, 2010 Global Finals Symposium.
 
Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes:  Nomination deadline April 30, 2010.  Open to youth ages 8-18 years.   
 
Starbucks Shared Planet Youth Action Grants:  Quarterly submission review of ventures that provide training to young people to incubate ideas; Build ongoing leadership capacity in young people; Communicate young peoples' success stories through various media

Do Something Grants:  Weekly prizes of $500 for young U.S. & Canadian social entrepreneurs.  These grants are given to people under 25 who have recently created a sustainable community action project, program or organization and need $500 to further the growth and success of their program.

[more youth opportunities]

Global X Video Interviews

About youth social entrepreneurship:

Bill Drayton - Bill Drayton tells Global X why the largest group of social entrepreneurs who have been selected to become Ashoka Fellows (450 out of 2,400) concentrate on children and young people: "What really matters is whether children master applied empathy, and whether young people (12 to 20) master empathy teamwork leadership and become change makers" through extra-curriculum activities such as tutoring services, help hotlines or community radio stations.  "Those who don't master applied empathy will be marginalized, and if there are children who didn't have a chance to develop these skills, it's our fault, not theirs!" adds Bill Drayton. 2008-12-2

Serving youth:

Sebastien Marot - founder of Friends-International is a social enterprise that works with marginalized urban children and youth, their families, their communities and societies to build better futures for them, 2007-08-22

Ann Cotton - founder of CAMFED, an international organization dedicated to eradicating poverty in Africa through the education of girls and the empowerment of young women,  2007-10-22

Young social entrepreneurs:

Matt & Jessica Flannery - the young couple that launched Kiva, the online micro-lending venture, 2007-09-04

Kjerstin Erickson - founder of FORGE, she is 24 years old. She is a student at Stanford. And in her spare time, she works in three refugee camps in Zambia, helping 60,000 refugees build better lives.

[more youth interviews with Acumen Fund Fellows such as Keely Stevenson and Jocelyn Wyatt]

New Entrepreneurs Podcast Series

Lucas Welch – Lucas Welch received an Echoing Green Fellowship in 2004 to launch Soliya, a global network of young adults and empowering them to bridge the divide between the "West" and the "Arab & Muslim World."

Michele Kotler – Michele Kotler received an Echoing Green Fellowship in 1998 to launch the Community Word Project and send artists into classrooms and train teachers to help students get their voices heard through art.

Kyra Bobinet – Kyra Bobinet received an Echoing Green Fellowship in 1998 to launch Vision Youthz, an organization that seeks to transform the lives of incarcerated children.

Kara Bobroff - Kara Bobroff received an Echoing Green Fellowship in 2005 to establish the Native American Community Academy, an urban academy helping Native American youth.

Farajii R. Muhammad: Farajii R. Muhammad received an Echoing Green Fellowship in 2006. He co-founded the New Light Leadership Coalition at age 19.

Sissy Trinh:  Sissy Trinh received an Echoing Green Fellowship in 2002 to launch the Southeast Asian Community Alliance (SECA) in Los Angeles, where she helps the younger generation deal with poverty, gangs, and a mediocre school system.

Coming soon - New Entrepreneurs with MBAs without Borders.

[more youth podcasts with Returned Peace Corps Volunteers]

Discussions

Gen-Y: The Social Innovation Generation
"We want to create sustainable projects that will continue to affect lives for years to come," says ThinkImpact’s Saul Garlick. Can you help Gen-Y become the social innovation generation?

Universities as Agents of Change, 2009-04-07,Hosted by Marina Kim, Erin Krampetz and Lennon Flowers

The Gap Year: Passion for Social Change, 2008-04-09 Hosted by Seth Green

Bringing The World Home: From Study Abroad to Social Action, 2007-07-24 Hosted by Seth Green

Global Youth Volunteerism: Pitfalls and Potentials, 2007-06-12 Hosted by Jonathan Marino and Nathaniel Whittemore

How do I make a difference?, 2007-04-17 Hosted by Seth Green

Young Social Entrepreneurs and Global Change, 2007-02-27 Hosted by Seth Green

Engaging Youth to Be Social Entrepreneurs, 2006-05-24 Hosted by Paul Lamb

Fundraising for K-12 social entrepreneurs [80%] by RandomMom, 2008-02-13 11:46"RandomKid believes in the "Power of ANYone."  Any RandomKid CAN change the world.  Through RandomKid, children have joined together to fight pediatric cancer, AIDS, and help individuals in their own communities.  They're building a school in Cambodia!  And so much more (see www.randomkid.org/impact.asp).
...Regarding the RandomKid water project:  "(Kids) are the ones who can change the world because they have not learned that they can't."    You may read more of what he had to write here:  http://edbrenegar.typepad.com/leading_questions/2008/02/water-for-life.html 
RandomVideo of teachers and 4th graders who funded a South African water pump:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1vg_hSVx1c

Blogs  

Forging Ahead:  Kjerstin Erickson was 20 when she launched FORGE. She didn't have a business plan. She didn't have a revenue model. She didn't have connections. And she didn't have a penny. But she now works in three refugee camps in Zambia, helping 60,000 refugees build better lives. This is her story.

The Learning Curve:  Social entrepreneur Dhaval Chadha is based in Rio, where he works on strategy and innovation in new models and new markets for CDI, the social enterprise that transforms lives and communities using technology. While at Harvard College, he catalyzed large-scale reform of career services. The Learning Curve provides an insider's look on being young in the social entrepreneurship sector. It is also a space to investigate where and how other aspiring social entrepreneurs can have the maximum impact.

Samasourcing: Leila Chirayath Janah is a former management consultant who decided, after stints at the World Bank and various NGOs, to start a social business to harness untapped talent in poor regions. She launched Samasource in 2008 to help marginalized people sell their services to a global client base.

Interesting Blog Mentions:

Jobs

More youth related jobs.

Wiki Resources & Information

Training Young Social Entrepreneurs

Youth Issues

Education

Young Women Social Entrepreneurs

Other Youth Search Results on Social Edge for:

at risk youth, child education, child health, child labor, child rights, children,  teens, youth, young people, young social entrepreneurs