Then please join us at our first local Youth Venture Community Panel at the Brower Center in Berkeley on March 6th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  it's a free event, but please do register to save yourself a seat!  

This event promises to be deeply inspiring—our Oakland-based youth teams have been working for months to prepare for this event.  They have developed projects to address a broad range of topics.  A young man, who recovered from a nearly-fatal gang-related incident, has created an anti-violence Hip Hop business; a powerful group of youth from West Oakland have developed a model to bring produce into the corner markets throughout West Oakland; a group of spoken-word artists have created their own logo and t-shirt line; a passionate young woman is leading a team called “Oakland Youth for Peace with Police”…and these are just a few of the youth projects you’ll have a chance to learn about on Saturday!

At this Community Panel, these youth teams will present the ideas for their projects to a panel of local community members who will then decide if they are to receive up to $1,000 in seed funding and become a part of the global Youth Venture Community.  Matt Flannery, the co-founder of Kiva and a local Ashoka fellow, will be the keynote speaker at this event!  And, in addition to detailing their projects, these youth teams will give spoken-word, video, and other performances!  

The Earth Island Institute's New Leaders Initiative is sponsoring this event, and at the event we will make an exciting announcement about our plans to launch a joint program in the fall of 2010.

Here's a bit more about our work:

Youth Venture plays a critical role in Ashoka's 'Everyone a Changemaker' Vision. Ashoka, the world's leading organization of Social Entrepreneurs, created Youth Venture in 1996.  Youth Venture inspires and invests in teams of young people (aged 12-20) as they start their own sustainable social ventures, connecting them into a powerful global network. Since Youth Venture's inception, we've launched more than 3,500 youth-led teams in more than 20 countries around the world. Collectively, these young changemakers are redefining the youth years as a time of initiative and positive change.