This year, we received 250 applications from around the world for our Bluhm/Helfand Social Innovation Fellowship which recognizes exceptional entrepreneurs under the age of 35 who are working to solve pressing social challenges. We’ve narrowed it down to eleven Semi-Finalists who will be flown to Chicago to meet with our judging panel, in hopes of earning one of five coveted Fellowship spots.

Explore the work of these world-changing individuals below. Congratulations to all our Semi-Finalists!

Tanyella Evans, 29, NYC: Library For All 

Baillie Aaron, 30, UK: Spark Inside

Greg Segal, 32, NYC: ORGANIZE 

Alex Epstein, 25, Philadelphia: Urban Creators

Brett Hagler, 26, San Francisco: New Story 

Fagan Harris, 29, Baltimore: Baltimore Corps 

Eric Liu, 25, San Francisco: Bayes Impact 

Becca Heller, 34, NYC: International Refugee Assistance Project

Brian Hill, 31, Chicago: Edovo 

Alex Niemczewski, 28, Chicago: BallotReady

Minhaj Chowdhury, 27, Bangladesh: Drinkwell 

Stay tuned for the announcement of our 2016 BHSI Fellows on Thursday, August 18, 2016. And save the date to see them on the Chicago Ideas Week stage, October 17-23, 2016.