Youth Venture

July 20, 2011 - 10:45am — justrob

2011 Youth Venture Summit Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Romina Laouri
Ashoka’s Youth Venture
rlaouri@youthventure.org
202-731-0263

Tim Cigelske
Marquette University
timothy.cigelske@marquette.edu
414-288-4864

Ashoka’s Youth Venture Summit 2011 to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin July 28th to 31st

The Annual YV Summit brings together over 100 youth Venturers, for 3 exciting days of skill-building, venture-strengthening and networking.

ARLINGTON, VA —July 26, 2011— Ashoka’s Youth Venture®, a global initiative that identifies and fosters young entrepreneurs who are creating positive change, has announced the 2011 Youth Venture Summit, which will be held at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Youth Venture Summit is an annual gathering of the young changemaker community. The conference brings together over 100 young leaders interested in creating change, as well as the adult allies and professionals who support these budding changemakers.

The annual Youth Venture Summit is one of the key ways in which Ashoka’s Youth Venture builds a global community of changemakers. Launched 3 years ago, the Summit brings together youth to exchange ideas and solutions, acquire leadership and business skills to expand their Ventures, get support and encouragement from their peers, and continue to grow. Over a 3-day period, the Summit engages participants with transformative skill-building sessions and peer-led workshops centered on developing empathy, teamwork, leadership, and entrepreneurial business skills. The Youth Venture Summit is a unique offering in youth leadership conferences, heavily emphasizing peer-to-peer sharing and experiential learning. This distinguishing factor is what makes the Summit a truly worthwhile experience. Over the course of three days, the Summit will create a strong and extensive network of young visionaries who not only have big, sophisticated ideas on how to change the world, but who also possess the skills and initiative to create positive change.

Last year’s Summit, held in Miami, FL, was attended by 145 youth representing ten countries and twenty five states. Participants engaged in numerous discussions and workshops, most of which were presented by Venturers themselves. A majority of participants claimed that the most valuable part of the Summit was meeting fellow Venturers and sharing ideas. When asked to describe what made the Summit worthwhile, one Youth Venturer said, “Inspiration. The freedom of sharing ideas, ears that listen, and words with true meaning.” Another Venturer said the Summit gave her the opportunity to interact and connect with a community of “rockstar kids.”

In addition to engaging with their peers, participants had a chance to interact with numerous professionals in the field of social entrepreneurship. Last year’s Summit featured representatives from GOOD Magazine, several Ashoka Fellows and some extraordinary entrepreneurs who inspired and engaged one-on-one with young people. The 2011 Summit will continue this tradition of connecting youth with key leaders who can provide relevant support and insight for their work.

The 2011 Summit will focus on breaking beyond barriers and creatively surpassing obstacles. At Youth Venture, we see challenges as an inevitable but surmountable aspect of any Venture. This year, the Summit will emphasize equipping young people with the knowledge and confidence they need to overcome challenges. “We want to begin an open conversation about the common issues young people encounter when they initiate change in their communities. There’s so much we can learn from each other by sharing what works and what hasn’t,” said Romina Laouri, Youth Venture Summit Director.

To date, Ashoka’s Youth Venture has successfully guided and supported over 4,000 teams of young people to launch their own ventures, engaged 80,000 young people, and impacted over a million people. The Summit serves as an opportunity for this ever-growing community of young changemakers to learn from each other and use their newly-acquired skills to make an impact in their respective communities. For additional information on Ashoka’s Youth Venture Summit, please visit our website at: http://www.youthventuresummit.org/.

About Youth Venture

Ashoka’s Youth Venture is a global movement of young changemakers. Youth Venture inspires and invests in Teams of young people to start their own sustainable social Ventures and connects them into a powerful global network. Collectively, these young changemakers are redefining the youth years as a time of initiative and positive change. For more information, please visit www.genv.net.

About Ashoka

Ashoka is the world’s community of leading social entrepreneurs—individuals with innovative and practical ideas for addressing social needs. Working with these social entrepreneurs, Ashoka builds communities of innovators who work collectively to transform society and design new ways for the social sector to become more productive, entrepreneurial and globally integrated. For more information, please visit www.ashoka.org.

About Marquette

Marquette University, Wisconsin’s largest private university, offers students endless opportunities: the chance to live, study and play in the heart of a dynamic city; nationally known programs and powerhouse faculty; and an education that emphasizes ethics and lifelong values. More than 11,000 students come from all 50 states and more than 65 countries to explore options ranging from intense undergraduate studies to specialized graduate and professional programs. With a student ratio of 15:1, students get plenty of individualized attention. Marquette offers 116 undergraduate majors, more than 50 doctoral and master’s programs and more than 35 certificate programs. Marquette has Wisconsin’s only dental school as well as a nationally ranked Law School, Graduate School and Graduate School of Management. The university’s location just west of downtown Milwaukee provides easy access to internship and job opportunities with government agencies, small businesses, Fortune 500 companies and nonprofit institutions. Students can also take advantage of entertainment venues ranging from the Lake Michigan shoreline to the performing arts, ethnic and fine dining, and Big East collegiate and professional sports.