Some of the most creative, passionate, world-changing people I know happen to be teens and younger adults. Apparently Changemakers (a project of Ashoka), Youth Venture, and Staples agree with me!
Photo from the competition's website
Are you between the ages of 12 and 24, and cooking up a project that will make your community better? These three groups have teamed up to identify and support innovative ways young people are making positive change in their communities. You can enter the
Staples Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition to receive feedback, find supporters, win prizes, and even secure up to US$1,000 in funding to advance your project.
I just perused the entries that have already been submitted, and competition looks fierce, from
The SOLD Project, which is "using film to stop child prostitution before it begins; to
Baby's First Home, a residential program for homeless teen mothers and their children; to
SeniorLink, a project out of Bucks County, PA that installs computer stations in nursing homes. Why not join their ranks and enter today?
Oh, and you don't have to be within the 12-24 age bracket to get involved. If you register on Changemakers.net—which bills itself as "the world's first global online 'open source' community that competes to surface the best social solutions, and then collaborates to refine, enrich, and implement those solutions"—you can
nominate your favorite younger changemaker to win. But hurry: the deadline for this particular competition is October 15!
This entry is by Julia, who has been working with fabulous interns to launch Generation Idealist, a resource center for people in this very age range. Email feedback to julia@idealist.org.
