City University of New York’s Black Male Initiative Annual Conference SVC Winner Announcement

We are excited to announce the winners of our eleventh Social Venture Challenge in partnership with The City University of New York’s Black Male Initiative Annual Conference at Bronx Community College (BCC), which was held on October 6th and 7th in New York City. This Challenge was made possible by BNY Mellon. Please see below for details about our new winners and their social venture ideas!

We saw a group of five teams in the semi-finals, moved four teams on to the finals, and selected two SVC winners:

Alex Luma, founder of Luma Innovations, will provide STEM-focused, hands-on, interactive programming to the K-12 population in the Bronx. Alex aims to drive awareness and excitement about STEM-based learning and career paths, and encourage young people to pursue their full academic, professional, and human potential.

Azekiwe Providence, founder of Community College Conversations Series, will create a year-long series of monthly talks for young people in Manhattan, to stimulate their thinking about college, and to create a mindset that they too can pursue options in higher education. Through the series, Azekiwe will empower young people to undergo a process of self-discovery to catalyze their understanding of, and readiness for, the college journey.