Press Releases

For Immediate Release

Hispanic College Fund and Ashoka's Youth Venture Launch Social Entrepreneurship Competition

For immediate release
February 23, 2010

Contact:
Anne Guarnera
(202) 503-1397
aguarnera@hispanicfund.org

HISPANIC COLLEGE FUND AND ASHOKA'S YOUTH VENTURE LAUNCH SOCIAL ENTREPRENUERSHIP COMPETITION
Up to 20 Awards of $500 Available to Student Teams for Community Improvement Projects

Washington, DC (February 23, 2010) - The Hispanic College Fund and Ashoka's Youth Venture have partnered to award a total of $10,000 to student groups with winning proposals for community improvement projects. The competition opens today and will close on March 26, 2010. Applications can be accessed at www.hispanicyouth.org/institute. A total of up to 20 seed grants, each valued at $500, will be awarded to the teams with the best proposals.

"Every day, we hear about students in our Hispanic Youth Institute who are reaching out to their communities and working with their peers to serve others," said Stina Augustsson, national director of pre-college programs for the Hispanic College Fund. "These students were our inspiration for this competition - and with this competition, we want to help a new generation of students make a difference." 

The competition is designed to encourage students under the age of 21 to be leaders in their communities. Student teams should be comprised of 6-8 members and must meet the following criteria to qualify:

  • The proposed project must be youth-created and youth-led.
  • The proposed project must benefit the community.
  • The proposed project is ongoing and sustainable.
  • The proposed project must have at least two team leaders (one under the age of 21); in addition, at least one team member must have participated in a Hispanic Youth Symposium in the past five years.
  • The proposed project must have the support of an adult ally.
  • The proposed project must involve the creation of a new organization or be a new project of an existing organization.

"So many young people want to make a difference in the communities where they live - and at Youth Venture, we want to provide them with the emotional and financial support that they need to bring their projects to life," said Marco Davis, director of fellowship and mid-Atlantic region of Youth Venture.  "This competition will help us continue to encourage students to be the change that they wish to see in the world."

The application for entry into the competition is comprised of four parts. Staff members at Youth Venture are available to help student teams complete the application successfully. To contact Youth Venture, call Joseph Lucco at 703-527-4126 or e-mail him at yvdc@youthventure.org.

This competition is made possible by a grant from the AT&T Foundation.

To learn more about the regulations of the contest and to apply, visit: www.hispanicyouth.org/institute.

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About the Hispanic College Fund

Founded in 1993, the Hispanic College Fund is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., with a mission to develop the next generation of Hispanic professionals. For 15 years, the Hispanic College Fund has provided educational, scholarship, and mentoring programs to students throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, establishing a career pipeline of talented and career-driven Hispanics who are trained in the fields of business, science, technology, engineering, and math.

The Hispanic College Fund has an annual budget of $5.5 million with 20 full-time employees. In 2006, the Hispanic College Fund received the Brillante award for "Nonprofit of the Year" from the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, and in 2007 was recognized by USA Today as one of the nation's top 25 charities. The organization has twice received Charity Navigator's top four-star rating for fiscal responsibility in non-profit management.

About Youth Venture

Ashoka's Youth Venture® was founded by well known social entrepreneur and Ashoka founder Bill Drayton and leads an international community of young people who are powerful now, changemakers now. Youth Venture inspires and invests in teams of young people to create and launch their own sustainable, community-benefiting ventures. Youth Venture then connects them into a global movement of young changemakers who are together redefining the youth years as a time of leadership and positive social change. This is the foundation of an Everyone a Changemaker world - the key factor for success in every part of society. Youth Venture currently operates in 17 countries and online at www.GenV.net.