New York, NY (October 17, 2016): The Resolution Project held its first Social Venture Challenge in partnership with The City University of New York’s Black Male Initiative Annual Conference at Bronx Community College (BCC) on October 6th and 7th. Resolution was thrilled to welcome undergraduate students from underrepresented and historically marginalized populations as participants in the Social Venture Challenge. Students presented social ventures ranging from urban clean water initiatives to after-school STEM programs.
“We were excited to see the creativity that these students exhibited around the challenging issues they see every day in their communities,” said Tracey Allard, Executive Director of the Resolution Project. “We wanted these students to know that we share their desire to see change, and that we will gladly stand by them and support them in this project, the next one, and throughout their careers to help them transform their communities!”
Resolution was joined in this effort by BNY Mellon, whose financial support made possible:
- A new cohort of students involved in Resolution’s multi-stage Social Venture Challenge process—helping them to craft their venture proposals, identify partners and allies, conduct appropriate background/field research, develop a budget, and other important business management skills;
- Lifetime Resolution Fellowships to those Social Venture Challenge participants with the strongest leadership characteristics and most compelling social venture proposals; and
- Unprecedented access to hands-on, dedicated mentoring; technical guidance and expertise; and a global community of like-minded young change-makers.
“BNY Mellon was pleased to support The Resolution Project in its inaugural Social Venture Challenge at CUNY BMI. The challenge offered students a terrific opportunity to design ventures that specifically target needs they identified within the local community. Their solutions showed promise, leadership and a true passion for making a difference,” said Daisey Holmes, head of Philanthropy and Employee Programs in the New York metro region. “We applaud The Resolution Project for applying its global model for the benefit of the underserved in the New York area.”
The winners of the Social Venture Challenge will be awarded Resolution Fellowships, through which they will launch impactful social ventures to create jobs for themselves and others. They will also develop the strong management, communication, leadership, and other crucial, real-world skills they need to succeed. Through their social ventures, Fellows will have a direct impact on their schools and communities, creating positive impact through scalable models, and deriving education and leadership development benefits that will last a lifetime.
Together, Resolution, BNY Mellon, and the CUNY Black Male Initiative are providing a pathway to action for underserved young leaders to create impactful social ventures.
About The Resolution Project:
The Resolution Project is a unique pathway to action for aspiring young leaders committed to changing the world. Resolution identifies and empowers undergraduate students across the globe who wish to launch new social ventures supported by Resolution’s international network of resources. Resolution discovers young social entrepreneurs through Social Venture Challenges held at existing youth conferences, such as the Clinton Global Initiative University, the Youth Assembly at the United Nations, and others. Resolution enables the winners of its competitions to make a positive impact today through Resolution Fellowships. These Fellowships include dynamic, hands-on support, mentorship, and grants to implement their social ventures, which empower the recipients to develop as socially-responsible leaders. Nearly 300 Resolution Fellows, in 60 countries on all six inhabited continents (including all across the United States), are working on close to 200 diverse ventures in high-impact fields such as water, food, sustainable development, education, energy and the environment, equality and empowerment, health and wellness, and humanitarian relief. Their efforts have benefitted nearly 800,000 people thus far, making each Resolution Fellow a change agent and a force for good. Supporting our Fellows are over 500 volunteers, a dedicated staff, and dozens of partners from both the public and private sectors. Resolution is building a generation of leaders with a lifelong commitment to social responsibility.
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About BNY Mellon
BNY Mellon is a global investments company dedicated to helping its clients manage and service their financial assets throughout the investment lifecycle. Whether providing financial services for institutions, corporations or individual investors, BNY Mellon delivers informed investment management and investment services in 35 countries and more than 100 markets. As of September 30, 2016, BNY Mellon had $30.5 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $1.72 trillion in assets under management. BNY Mellon can act as a single point of contact for clients looking to create, trade, hold, manage, service, distribute or restructure investments. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Additional information is available on www.bnymellon.com. Follow us on Twitter @BNYMellon or visit our newsroom at www.bnymellon.com/newsroom for the latest company news.
About CUNY BMI
The City University of New York Black Male Initiative (CUNY BMI), through its focus on one of the most severely underrepresented populations in higher education, represents one expression of CUNY’s most significant commitments to access and diversity. CUNY BMI is a University-wide program that was established in 2005 and is based on a promising model first started at Medgar Evers College. With the generous support of eleven consecutive grants from the New York City Council, CUNY BMI funds projects throughout the university. These projects are designed to strengthen the education pipeline for severely underrepresented populations in higher education, particularly African, African American, Black, Caribbean and Latino/Hispanic males by increasing the enrollment, retention and graduation rates of these students. Since its beginning in 2005, CUNY BMI has grown from 15 projects to over 30 projects in 2016.
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