What exactly is this Starbucks-Youth Venture Opportunity, and why is this happening?
The Opportunity is a unique opportunity to engage and support youth as changemakers. Starbucks Foundation has a strong focus and commitment to support youth as leaders, and Youth Venture is a leading national organization that is spurring a movement of youth leading real and positive social change.
What are the criteria for youth to be selected and to receive the start-up funding?
The specific criteria are as follows:
- the venture must be youth-created, -led, and -managed
- ventures must be community-benefiting (youth get to define and justify how their idea meets this criterion)
- the ventures must be structured as a lasting organizations (meaning not just a one-time event, for example, but rather, an ongoing entity—like a new school club, a business, or a new community organization)
- the ventures must involve a strong team (meaning at least two people), with clear, attainable goals and budget (each team will receive up to $1,000 based on their demonstrated need—actual costs to start-up their venture), and the commitment to lead their venture
- each venture must have at least one Ally—a supportive adult who guides and encourages the team without taking control (Youth Venture can help suggest and connect youth to Allies if they need one)
How are youth going to be supported in developing their ventures?
Youth interested in starting their own ventures will be guided to use Youth Venture’s action plan, and they’ll also have the support of designated Youth Venture staff and volunteers. The Action Plan guides youth to consider all the core aspects of a successful venture—developing clear goals, action steps, developing a team and delegating responsibility, knowing how to evaluate success and impact, etc. Plus, Youth Venture offers more than 100 on-line resources to help youth succeed as changemakers.
What are some examples of successful Ventures?
Youth Venture has so far supported more than 1,200 teams of young people as Venturers, many of which are profiled on the Youth Venture website (click here to check out some of the teams). Ventures include everything from art programs to advocacy groups; pie-baking businesses to computer consulting operations; snowboarding clubs to efforts to build community skate parks. Almost anything goes! As the Challenge name suggests, we aim to inspire youth to "Dream it. Do it."
This isn’t a competition—really?
Each team that meets the criteria through the Youth Venture selection process, will be welcomed to become an official Youth Venture team and will receive up to $1,000 each to support the start-up costs of their venture. Teams will not compete with each other for that.
Fine-print: any?
Venture teams are prohibited from any activities relating to political campaigning, religious proselytizing, or any illegal activity.
Want more of a sense of Youth Venture?
Check out the rest of GenV.net by clicking the "Dream it" | "Do it" | "Grow it" links at the top of the page.
Or want to talk with someone—a real person—with questions or for more information?
Click the "Contact" button below to get our information.
