NEW YORK, NY. - March 5, 2009 - StartingBloc (www.startingbloc.org) a social enterprise that educates, trains and supports socially conscious young leaders, has been nominated for the Joan Bavaria Award for building sustainability into the capital markets. The Joan Bavaria Awards for Building Sustainability into the Capital Markets were created by Ceres and Trillium Asset Management Corporation to recognize investors, corporations, and NGOs that have helped move the capital markets from a system focused on short-term profits toward one that balances financial prosperity with social and environmental health. In 2008, Enhanced Analytics Initiative and Bainbridge Graduate Institute received the inaugural Joan Bavaria Awards.

"StartingBloc has been instrumental in organizing passionate innovative young leaders in capital market sustainability and we are proud to nominate them for this award," says Joe Sibilia, President of www.csrwire.com.

StartingBloc has trained over 1100 emerging leaders, aged between twenty and thirty years, in over 40 countries (including the U.S., Bangladesh, Peru and Belgium) to launch sustainable businesses, drive social innovation in existing corporations and become social entrepreneurs. Current StartingBloc Fellows include:

• 25-year-old William Guyster provides socially responsible businesses in Ghana, Rwanda and South Africa with technical support and management training for MBA/PhD level interns to scale their ventures.


• 23-year-old Claire Johnson, after learning about social responsible investing at StartingBloc's Institute for Social Innovation, joined KLD Research and Analytics.


• 26-year-old Liqian Ma leveraged his network at Goldman Sachs to lead a finance training clinic for entrepreneurs in low-income communities in New York City. Additionally, Liqian works collaboratively with his supervisor at Goldman Sachs, on the 10,000 Women Initiative which provides women business owners from less developed countries with business training and access to capital.


• 25-year-old Jeraul Mackey of New Orleans credits StartingBloc for his success as a strategic advisor to the Louisiana Recovery Authority Education Task Force, where he developed high quality educational systems for areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.

StartingBloc NFP

StartingBloc NFP

StartingBloc is a New York City based 501 (c) 3 that educates, empowers and connects emerging leaders to drive positive social change across sectors. Through its programs in New York, Boston and London, StartingBloc brings the latest innovations in corporate social responsibility and social entrepreneurship to these emerging leaders. StartingBloc's curriculum is taught by executives at socially responsible businesses and innovative non profits, as well as MBA and graduate school professors. Past speakers include Barry Nalebuff, co-founder of Honest Tea; Krista Bauer, Director of General Electric's Global Programs; Judith Wicks founder of White Dog café©; Ami Dar, founder of Idealist; Jeffrey Hollender, founder of Seventh Generation; and David Bornstein, author of How to Change the World among others. The curriculum provides a global understanding on social and environmental issues, while equipping the Fellows to innovatively effect change at the local level.

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