|
Corporate Social Responsibility
News
2.19.2008 - 03:33pm ET
|
CSR News from:
|
|
|
News Category:
|
|
Ashoka Honors North America's Top Social Entrepreneurs with Lifetime Election to Global Fellowship
(CSRwire) ARLINGTON, VA - February 19, 2008 - Twenty-one leading social entrepreneurs
from the United States, Canada, Mexico and Central America have been
elected Ashoka Fellows, and will be inducted on February 25 in a ceremony
at the new Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade
County. Ashoka: Innovators for the Public recognizes these
Fellows for their system-changing solutions for the world's most urgent
social problems. They join the ranks of some 2,000 Fellows in over 60
countries around the world who are working for social change to improve
society. More than 250 Fellows are from North America.
The Seventh Annual North American Fellowship Induction ceremony will be
hosted by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in the Knight Concert
Hall. The keynote speaker will be Michael Barone, senior writer for U.S.
News and World Report and principal coauthor of The Almanac of
American Politics. Featured speakers will include: Alberto Ibargüen,
President and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Bill
Drayton, Founder and CEO of Ashoka; James J. Jensen, Executive Director of
The Jenesis Group; and Diana Wells, President of Ashoka.
"These new Fellows join with Ashoka and their peers to elevate and
strengthen the 'citizen sector' here and around the world," said Ashoka
founder Bill Drayton in announcing this year's Fellows. "Ashoka Fellows
are innovators, creating pattern-changing solutions for the most pressing
social problems of our day. We like to say that our Fellows don't teach a
man to fish, they reinvent the fishing industry. They bring to light the
very best new ideas, then multiply their successes by replicating their
ideas across their country and the world. As important, to succeed they
encourage local people everywhere to stand up and become changemakers -
introducing the Fellows' ideas and their own."
Ashoka Senior Fellow and award-winning educator Don Shalvey, founder of
the Aspire Public School network in California, will present the 21
Fellows who are being inducted from Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua,
and the United States:
Amy Bank Puntos de Encuentro - Using mass media to
help women and youth discuss and defend human rights (Managua, Nicaragua
and San Francisco, California)
Bruce Cahan Urban Logic, Inc. - Adding social values
to lending and spending (Palo Alto, California)
Oona Chatterjee Make the Road New York - Uniting poor
communities to create the change they seek (Brooklyn, New York)
Gerald Chertavian Year Up - Placing young urban adults
and corporate America on a shared path to success (Boston,
Massachusetts)
Eric Dawson Peace Games - Bringing children and their
schools a shared purpose: leading the way to peace (Boston,
Massachusetts)
Alisa del Tufo Threshold Collaborative - Enabling
communities to help troubled families heal (North Bennington,
Vermont)
Jonah Edelman Stand for Children – Raising voices
and casting ballots for those too young to vote (Portland, Oregon)
William F. Foote (Global Fellow) Root Capital -
Opening global markets to small producers by redefining their investment
value (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
Rosanne Haggerty (Senior Fellow) Common Ground -
Restoring buildings and rebuilding lives to end homelessness (New York,
New York)
Kathryn Hall-Trujillo Birthing Project USA - Bringing
women of color together to nurture young moms and their babies (Taos, New
Mexico, and Sacramento, California)
Farhana Huq C.E.O. Women (Creating Economic Opportunities
for Women) - Propelling immigrant women into leading roles in business
and life (Oakland, California)
Esther Lardent (Senior Fellow) The Pro Bono Institute
- Integrating civic engagement into the practice of law (Washington,
DC)
Peter Nares (Senior Fellow) Social and Enterprise
Development Innovations - Opening the way to replace poverty with
economic independence worldwide (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Abelardo Palma Formación y Capacitación, A.C.
- Preserving the culture and identity of indigenous children through
bilingual education (San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas,
México)
Billy Parish Energy Action Coalition/The Dream Reborn
- Employing youth and the underserved in greening our planet (Flagstaff,
Arizona)
Sidney Ribaux Équiterre - Creating environmentally
and socially sustainable communities (Montréal, Quebéc,
Canada)
Daniel Ross Nuestras Raíces – Transplanting
knowledge and culture to create jobs, guide youth, and renew urban America
(Holyoke, Massachusetts)
Omar Rodríguez Solano Edumar - Protecting Costa
Rica's ocean environment through education and community involvement
(Puntarenas, Costa Rica)
Jayne Stoyles Canadian Centre for International
Justice - Guaranteeing that human rights abusers are brought to
justice anywhere in the world (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
Atsumasa Tochisako (Global Fellow) Microfinance
International Corporation - Putting global banking to work for
immigrants and their homelands (Washington, DC)
Michel Venne Institut du Nouveau Monde - Reinventing
the public forum as a platform for citizen action (Montréal,
Quebéc, Canada)
These leading social entrepreneurs will become lifetime members of
Ashoka's global fellowship, an international association of their peers.
Fellows receive initial support that enables them to focus full-time on
their work and access to professional and strategic services to help them
achieve pattern-changing impact in their fields. Each Fellow is also
eligible to apply for supplemental funding for collaborative projects, and
to receive training and technical assistance through Ashoka and its
partners.
In addition to these 21, Ashoka is naming Kwame Scruggs of Alchemy,
Inc. (Detroit, Michigan) and Lucy Chagon of Commodus (Quebec,
Canada) as Affiliates. Alchemy gives purpose to inner city children
through mythological stories, drumming and other arts. Commodus is an
online open market for services provided by citizen sector organizations
focused on life-work balance.
Ashoka Fellows work in six broad fields: learning/youth development, the
environment, health, human rights, economic development and civic
engagement. Selection criteria include the newness and potential social
impact of the idea, as well as the candidate’s entrepreneurial
qualities.
About Ashoka: Innovators for the Public
Ashoka: Innovators for the Public is a global community of social
entrepreneurs who deliver innovative solutions to social problems. To
build this citizen sector community, Ashoka identifies and supports
leading social entrepreneurs, creates opportunities for collaboration, and
builds systems and institutions that facilitate high impact social
solutions. Over the past 26 years since Bill Drayton founded Ashoka, the
organization has invested in over 2,000 Ashoka Fellows in more than 60
countries. In 2008 Ashoka will launch programs in Israel and Russia.
Ashoka’s global fellowship is privately financed by individuals, venture
networks, foundations, and leading business entrepreneurs.
www.ashoka.org
www.changemakers.net
|
|
