CIW Announces Its 2013 Bluhm/Helfand Social Innovation Fellows
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| The 2013 BHSI Fellows will take the CIW stage this October. |
After evaluating 225 applications and conducting several interviews, Chicago Ideas Week (CIW) is thrilled to announce the 2013 Bluhm/Helfand Social Innovation (BHSI) Fellows who are already changing the world.
These five incredible social entrepreneurs include: Sasha Fisher, 25, of Mbale, Uganda, founder of Spark MicroGrants; Sarah Elizabeth Ippel, 32, of Chicago, founder of The Academy for Global Citizenship; Andrew Mangino, 26, of New York City, founder of The Future Project; Caitria O’Neill, 24, of Pacifica, Calif., founder of Recovers and Vineet Singal, 23, of San Francisco, CEO of Anjna Patient Education.
The BHSI Fellowship launched in 2011 when philanthropists and entrepreneurs Leslie Bluhm and David Helfand, along with Chicago Ideas Week, decided to honor and mentor the most innovative young people building businesses to solve social problems.
“We just wanted to give young social entrepreneurs a platform to tell their story,” Bluhm said. “It’s just really a brain trust of information and enthusiasm, and just an amazing group of people who are really going to change the world.”
Each Fellow will take the CIW stage in October to deliver powerful Talks about their projects. They’ll also take home $10,000 in financial support and have VIP access to all CIW events. But that’s not all – they’ll also dine with prominent business and political leaders and roll up their sleeves for some hands-on experience with the heads of top nonprofit organizations at exclusive workshops.
The group also scores some one-on-one mentoring with potential funders and partners –past mentors have included Matthew Maloney, co-founder of GrubHub, J.B. Pritzker, a legendary entrepreneur and philanthropist and Melody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments.
Stretching from our backyard in Chicago to overseas in Uganda, the Fellows come from a variety of backgrounds and are addressing everything from education to health to poverty to disaster relief.
And their impact is just as far-reaching: They’ve already touched the lives of nearly 500,000 people. Here’s a glimpse at the 2013 Fellows – and for a full introduction, be sure to check back for some colorful Q&A’s.
Sasha Fisher
Sasha Fisher
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| Sasha Fisher, 25, of Uganda. |
Sasha Fisher launched Spark Microgrants two years after a 2008 visit to South Sudan, where she toured empty school buildings and saw broken water wells, despite those projects being funded by international aid. As soon as she graduated, Fisher moved to Rwanda and took a different approach to helping communities: developing from the bottom up instead of just offering top-down financial aid.
Spark works by empowering communities to design solutions to their specific problems. Since its 2010 launch, it has partnered with 53 communities across two countries – and improved the lives of at least 20,000 people.
“Spark’s bottom line is human security,” said Fisher in her BHSI application. “We believe that every person should have their basic needs met, including access to food, health care, education and a life with dignity.”
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| Sarah Elizabeth Ippel, 32, of Chicago. |
Sarah Elizabeth Ippel
Sarah Elizabeth Ippel set her sights on re-imagining public education after witnessing a lack of education across the world – not just in school systems, but also in regards to health and environment. She founded the Academy for Global Citizenship, a Chicago public charter school, in the city’s underserved southwest community to help students become environmentally-mindful, civically-engaged leaders.
She’s in the process of constructing the first net-positive energy campus in Illinois that will produce more energy than it consumes.
“I chose to establish the Academy for Global Citizenship in Chicago as opposed to one of the coasts because of the tremendous needs that exist in our public education system,” Ippel said in her BHSI application. “In order for Chicago to become a true global city, we need to provide public education that prepares students for a global economy.”
Andrew Mangino
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| Andrew Mangino, 26, NYC |
Andrew Mangino launched The Future Project in 2011 to make high schools “the most inspired places on earth.” While mentoring at schoola in Washington, D.C., Mangino became obsessed with changing education.
“I was floored by the apathy and despair I saw and began imagining a movement to make schools inspired places of passion and daring,” said Mangino, a former speechwriter for Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder, in his BHSI application.
So how’s it done?
Mangino embeds a “Dream Director,” a highly-trained, world-class leader and entrepreneur, in high schools to develop a school-wide campaign that channels the energy of passion-based projects —think campaigns, organizations and products—that transform the school. Mangino’s goal is to spread this system into every high-poverty school in all 50 states.
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| Caitria O’Neill, 24, of Pacifica, Calif. |
Caitria O’Neill
Caitria O’Neill started Recoversin 2011 after a freak tornado tore apart her Massachusetts hometown. She realized the people who live in a disaster-stricken area are the true relief experts, so she developed a software platform to enable community-powered disaster preparation and recovery by managing the skills, resources and donation items needed in the area. In just two years, Recovers has deployed its software in 16 communities across the U.S. and Canada, and O’Neill said she hopes to grow that number to 400 through a pilot program with the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Agency.
With the help of BHSI, she said she plans to perfect Recovers’ messaging and outreach strategies.
“We will put the funds directly toward travel to disaster-stricken areas,” O’Neill said. “We launch our software for free following disasters in order to help survivors and organizers, test our product, make improvements and create more awareness of community recovery efforts in the U.S. and abroad.”
Vineet Singal
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| Vineet Cingal, 23, San Francisco |
After struggling with his weight and overcoming Type 2 diabetes, Vineet Singal started Anjna Patient Education in 2011. It’s mission? Improve healthcare for low-income, uninsured Americans because they are at a greater risk for being diagnosed with chronic – but preventable – diseases.
Singal developed a confirmation and reminder system using interactive and personalized text and voice messages that focuses on building the relationship between patients and clinic staff. Anjna is anticipated to reach 25,000 patients this year. He said Anja’s progress is ultimately measured by the fewer lives lost as a result of largely preventable chronic conditions.
“What makes Anjna innovative is our hyper-exclusive focus on the underserved population combined with a hybrid business model that bridges our revenue generating arm and our charitable goals,” Singal said in his BHSI application.
Even after improving the lives of at least a half million people, it’s just the beginning of the traction Fellows will get.
“We hope that we can help them further their wonderful ideals and ideas, and also just let the world know all about what they’re doing,” said fellowship co-founder Leslie Bluhm.
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| Hebru Brantley, of Chicago. Photo source: Onasis for The Huffington Post |
Artist in Residence Hebru Brantley
CIW is also ecstatic to announce its 2013 Artist in Residence: Chicagoan Hebru Brantley. He’s slated to create an extraordinary outdoor exhibition titled The Watch. The piece, which will be revealed in October, will create dialogue about community revitalization at both a local and national level. Brantley, who identifies as an Afro-Futurist artist, has been commissioned by big names like Tyra Banks and has done work for Nike and Lollapalooza. Eager to know more? Stay tuned to the Ideasphere.
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Written by: Sophia Coleman
