Undergraduate students competing at Clinton Global Initiative University summit to receive seed funding and mentorship to lead impactful projects in their communities.
Chicago, Illinois, October 20, 2018 – 12 teams founded by a total of 20 undergraduate social entrepreneurs have been selected as winners of the 2018 Resolution Social Venture Challenge at CGI U. Over 140 teams competed in the Resolution Social Venture Challenge for a fellowship that includes seed funding, mentorship, and access to a global network of resources to pursue impactful projects in their communities. A collaboration between Clinton Global Initiative University and The Resolution Project, the Resolution Social Venture Challenge provides a pathway to action for socially responsible young leaders who want to create change that matters.
A total of $50,000 was awarded to winning projects, which address a wide range of challenges participants have observed first-hand in their communities, including special education in Chicago Public Schools, menstrual hygiene in Ghana, food waste in India, and much more.
“The Resolution Project was founded out of the belief that young leaders should be able to create impact not only tomorrow, but today,” says Chair and Co-Founder Oliver Libby. “Seeing the innovative ideas being pitched at Social Venture Challenges always reinforces my belief in the power and passion young people have to make a difference with just a modest amount of support and encouragement.”
Winners of the 2018 Social Venture Challenge say that:
“We are incredibly honored and galvanized to fight for students with disabilities in Chicago,” says Kristen Busch, on behalf of her team, including Heather Weller and Brittney Dorton of 4B: Breaking Barriers and Building Bridges. “Each of their voices deserves to be heard, and this opportunity with The Resolution Project gives us faith that no student with a disability will be forgotten or overlooked, but rather, empowered.”
“We envision a world where rural farmers receive fair market prices for their produce and food no longer gets wasted along the supply chain,” says Saheel Chodavadia, on behalf of his team, including Sherry Feng and Harshvardhan Sanghi, founding members of mPower. “Winning the Social Venture Challenge is an incredible first-step to achieve this vision in collaboration with like-minded and passionate influencers. Together, we can revolutionize supply chain infrastructure and maximize quality and impact.”
”Before now, the Clean City Initiative has been run by the sacrifices of our volunteers and resources of our team,” says Oluwafolajimi Adesanya, of Clean City Initiative. “Winning the Social Venture Challenge will provide us with all we need to take the venture to the next level, to scale and make Ibadan the most sustainable city in Nigeria. Thank you Resolution”
The 2018 cohort of Social Venture Challenge winners include projects based in the United States, Nigeria, United Arab Emirates, Canada, United Kingdom, Ghana, India, and Brazil.
Winning Teams:
4B: BREAKING BARRIERS AND BUILDING BRIDGES
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Heather Weller, Kristen Busch, Brittney Dorton
4B is an accessible online platform of resources for parents and educators of students with disabilities in Chicago Public Schools. The team strives to address the lack of funding and support for special education and disabled students by connecting users to school services and sparking conversations about advocacy.
ALI LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE
Jersey City, New Jersey, United States
Mussab Ali
The venture aims to create a local urban-based leadership institute to provide young low-income students the ability to develop leadership skills over the course of 10 weeks. This institute will work to both address a lack of leadership opportunities for urban youth but also get them involved in the civic engagement process.
Clean City Initiative
Ibadan, Nigeria
Oluwafolajimi Adesanya
The Clean City Initiative is an innovative intervention that aims to redefine the plastic waste disposal system in the Ibadan metropolis by creating value and wealth from plastic waste and in so doing, empowering the people of Ibadan to create a better future for themselves and for the environment.
College Admissions CAMA
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Vongai Mlambo
CAMA is an online mentorship program that provides advice, curricular support, and encouragement to young Africans seeking admission into tertiary institutions. Using a detailed 15-session curriculum and holistic 5-month training program, CAMA prepares university volunteer mentors from diverse backgrounds to support African high school students applying to US colleges.
FIRE
Los Angeles, California, United States
Ki Wan Sim
FIRE addresses the information gap in non-English speaking immigrant communities through a multilingual mobile application. The platform will be a centralized, accessible resource available to immigrants in the United States, consolidating know-your-rights information, opportunities to connect with local organizations, and the function of a “rapid response network” for ICE activity.
H.O.P.E. for Success
Vancouver, Canada
Vivian Tsang, Katie Baillie
There is great need for university students to be supported in their transition from high school. Often, students are ill-equipped to navigate not only the academia of such large institutions alongside new social environments and peer pressure. To this end, the venture will offer an innovative mentorship program and workshop series.
Lilypads
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Mhairi Cochrane
To the Lilypads team, innovation is a 14-year-old girl with access to a sanitary pad. Currently based in Kenya, Lilypads strives to end period poverty and exploitation. The team aims to empower local women with training and employment who in return sell reusable sanitary products and provide menstrual health education within their communities.
Menarche Initiative
Accra, Ghana
Felicity Dokyi
The team is committed to establishing MENARCHE-I to educate teenagers on the need for good menstrual hygiene. The venture will create a platform for adolescent girls to have access to adequate information, preparation, and support with which to manage menstruation in a healthy, safe, and dignified manner.
mPower
Bangalore, India
Saheel Chodavadia, Sherry Feng, Harshvardhan Sanghi
mPower is an agricultural technology and supply chain company that harnesses the power of energy by combining a novel modular cold-storage refrigerator with an inter-state transportation logistics model to drive produce directly from farm to market. The venture addresses the disparate prices rural farmers receive and the 25%+ food waste.
Roxbury Robotics
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Zamir Johl, Natalie Luongo, Christopher Scianna
The team believes it has found an opportunity to provide inner city youth with meaningful and competent STEM education while at the same time providing engineering students a connection to their local neighborhoods, which is often unattainable in a classroom setting.
Science on the South Side
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Logan Leak
The team will work closely with 4 elementary schools throughout the first year of the initiative to develop Science Olympiad programs via curriculum development, teacher and student workshops, and competitions. The venture will be expanded to additional schools in subsequent years to ultimately establish a robust self-sustaining program in Chicago.
World Through the Eyes
Fortaleza, Brazil
Bianca Dantas, David Facó
A group of cinema undergraduates from Fortaleza is committing to teaching 16 free filmmaking workshops to deaf high school students and producing a short film with the participants from the previous classes in the same team. All workshops will be taught in Brazilian Sign Language with the help of interpreters.