We are pleased to announce the following
semi-finalists in the 2012 YouthBridge Social Enterprise and Innovation
Competition! For more information about the teams, you may view their ideas at
www.ideabounce.com/yseic12.
· Beverly Farm
Foundation,
bringing herbs grown at Beverly Farms, a residential community for adults with
developmental disabilities in Godfrey, IL, to your local market, restaurant and
dinner plate
· Broader Vision
Schools,
seeking to move students from streets and alleys of Uganda to the middle class
through rigorous academic training with an emphasis on environmental
sustainability
· Casino Patron
Charities,
allowing Casino Patrons the option to cash out a portion of their slot ticket to
be donated to charity
· Center for Head
Injury,
providing training and employment opportunities for individuals with brain
injuries and other impairments
· Cherokee Street International
Farmers Market, providing low-income
residents with nutritious produce and encouraging at-risk youth and immigrant
refugees to grow and sell food at the Farmers Market
· Club KidFit, providing child-directed
wellness curriculum through fun fitness programs
· Confluence Land
Trust,
seeking to rejuvenate neighborhoods by rehabilitating tax-delinquent, abandoned,
or donated properties for private, commercial, or collective use
· Dahlia, providing education to
school healthcare professionals, coaches, and counselors about eating disorders
to increase early intervention, family support, and positive dialogue about
healthy body image
· Explore
Transplant,
providing an educational program for dialysis providers on how to educate kidney
transplant patients
· Fostering
Life,
providing resources for teenage girls in foster care who are pregnant
· Metamo4ic Math
Center,
motivating and educating St. Louis children to learn and enjoy mathematics
through a children’s museum
· Migrant and Immigrant
Community Action (MICA) Project*, combining legal
representation, social services, and community development to promote the voice
and human dignity of immigrant communities
· Old North Culinary
Incubator,
providing a shared-use commercial kitchen for small businesses to produce food
in compliance with FDA safety regulation to encourage entrepreneurship and
community-building
· One Bright Day Vending Coffee
Service,
servicing soda and snack machines to provide healthy options along with
traditional inventory
· Success
Accelerator,
helping companies to increase profits and assist employees with improving skills
and career management through a model developed through Connections to
Success
· Sweet
Sensation,
teaching north-side St. Louis teens about entrepreneurship and sustainable
living through apiculture, or beekeeping
* student team
Next up for the
semi-finalists: The YouthBridge SEIC Elevator Pitch Competition on January 26.
Plan to
attend to hear pitches from all the semi-finalists, and you will have a chance
to rank the teams according to our competition criteria. The judges will have
heard the pitches earlier that day and selected their own winners. After the
pitches, we will announce the winners of the Elevator Pitch Competition as
selected by the judges. If you come closest to the judges’ selections, you win
$250! Stay for the reception following the pitches to cheer on the winners and
help all the teams advance their ideas. Winners of the Elevator Pitch
Competition are this year’s finalists, and will complete a full business plan
and make oral presentations to judges in April 2012, when winners will be
announced.
Skandalaris Center
programming resumes next week with the return of our
students for the spring semester. First up in the Skandalaris Seminar Series is
“Idea Generation and Testing” on Friday, January 20. At 1:00 we will have a
skills portion, followed by a panel discussion at 2:30 from experienced and
start-up entrepreneurs. The afternoon concludes with a reception for all to
connect and help each other. All are welcome to attend any or all parts of the
afternoon.
Register for all events at
http://www.ideabounce.com/skandalaris/events to receive reminders,
directions, and parking information.