Youth Venture's National Newsletter provides monthly updates about Youth Venture Inc, funding and award opportunities and Youth Venture teams.

1. Youth Venture National Newsletter October 2008
In This Issue Dear Kristin,
Golden Opportunities Turn over a new leaf this season with Youth Venture's several
opportunities for your Venture. The Staples Youth Social Entrepreneur
YV Nation Competition and the Best Buy @15™ Challenge with Youth Venture
In Your Neck of the are both great ways to expand and strengthen your efforts to make
change in your community. US Venture teams have excellent chances
Woods
of becoming finalists in these competitions and win one of numerous
Venture Spotlight prizes. Remember, if you can Dream It, you can Do It! See the YV
Nation section for more info. Don't hesitate. Maximize your Venture's
Meet an Ashoka Fellow potential. Apply now.
Also for this month, you'll find a diverse collection of opportunities in the
Golden Opportunities section. YV is confident that most, if not all, of
Quick Links
these resources can meet your Venture's needs. Additionally, you'll find
GenV.net that five different regions in the US, instead of just one, are featured
About Youth Venture and one of them could be yours! See what exciting things are happening
YV Mid-Atlantic In Your Neck of the Woods. And don't forget to check out what other
YV Mid-West changemakers like you, Venturers and Ashoka Fellows alike, are doing
YV New England to positively affect the world around them. It may inspire you and help
YV New York and Virtual you to brainstorm new, creative ideas for your Venture.
YV National
YV Seattle Sincerely,
YV Digital
Donate Now Youth Venture
Golden Opportunities
Take advantage of these great grants, programs, and scholarships!

2. Calling All College Students! ~ YP4 Fellowship
The Young People For Fellowship is a long-term leadership development program focusing
on identifying, engaging and empowering young progressive leaders. The one-year
fellowship equips motivated, socially aware, diverse, and creative college students with
the skills and resources necessary to create lasting positive change on their campuses
and in their communities. YP4 offer resources, guidance and a wide variety of ongoing
opportunities for young leaders to connect with other progressive leaders and
organizations, plan and execute projects of their choosing, and learn valuable
leadership, communication, organizing, collaboration and advocacy skills. Apply or
nominate a young progressive leader for Young People For's fellowship program.
Deadline: October 26, 2008
Website: www.youngpeoplefor.org/programs/fellowship
Create. Innovate. Participate in the Change! ~ Putting MDGs Into Action Award
The World Summit Youth Award (WSYA) invites young designers and e-Content creators to participate in an
international competition. Sought-after are e-Contents that address the United Nations Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) in an inspiring manner, and use internet and mobile contents to raise awareness of the
MDGs to create a humane, just, and livable world. If you rely on the web for creating culture, overcoming
gender inequality, lack of education, and access to clean water, or to address hunger, poverty, disease and
environmental degradation, then you should take part! The rewards are global recognition within the United
Nations, invitations to the WSYA Winners events in Mexico, and networking contacts on a global scale. Let
WYSA spread the word to the global community about how you're helping
reach the MDGs with innovative use of the Internet! Please note that the
online platforms need not be youth-led so long as the specific project is.
Deadline: December 31, 2008
Website: www.youthaward.org/apply
Media Opportunity ~ Reader's Digest Foundation: "Make It Matter" Contest
Youth Venture knows you're making a contribution to your community with your Venture as a changemaker. Tell
the Reader's Digest Foundation how YV has inspired and supported you to give back, and your Venture's
story may be selected as one of ten stories published in Reader's Digest in the new monthly "Make it
Matter" column as well as have a contribution made to YV in your name. Your story may also appear on
todayshow.com or rd.com. So tell the Reader's Digest Foundation about the good works you've done through
Youth Venture by clicking here -- or email your story to makeitmatter@rd.com!
Deadline: Jan. 1, 2009
Grow Your Venture's Treasury Box ~ The Mix It Up Grants
Have a great idea about how to challenge social boundaries and bring down the walls that divide your school?
The Mix It Up Grants Program funds $500 grants to youth-directed programs and projects that address social
boundaries in schools or communities. Applications submitted by youth ages 13 years and older are accepted on
a rolling basis.
Deadline: None
Website: www.tolerance.org/teens/grants.jsp
Want more information about scholarships, programs, and grants? Many more are listed on GenV.net.
Check out the following links: Opportunities for Venturers and Grants and Scholarship Opportunities for
Venturers.
YV Nation
Get Pumped for Youth Venture Competitions!
The Staples Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition: Now through October 15,
2008
If you thought you missed it, there is still time to enter in the Staples Youth Social
Entrepreneur Competition. This collaborative competition will identify innovative and
creative ideas that young people are making and accelerate their development,
innovation, and potential for impact in their communities. Entries will be accepted through October 15, 2008.
Submit your community-impacting idea to have the chance to fly out to the Staples Headquarters and receive
a suite of products from Staples with a total value of $5,000.
To learn more about the competition, click here.

3. The Best Buy @15™ Challenge with Youth Venture: Now through October 27, 2008
Act fast! Only a few weeks left for the Best Buy @15™ Challenge with Youth
Venture. What could be better than free publicity and extra funding to expand your
Venture?! The Best Buy @15™ Challenge will select 30 finalists to feature online and
award $10,000 grants to the 15 Venture Teams that display the greatest creativity
and community impact in their Venture and the clearest vision of how to create
sustainable change.
Click here for an application and to learn more!
Youth Venture Chat Rooms
Guess what?!?!.... GenV has CHAT ROOMS! Now you can have instant communication with
your buddies on GenV! YV is super excited to introduce chat rooms to the site and hopes you
enjoy them! Take the opportunity to connect directly to share ideas, advice, and collaborate
with changemakers from around the world. You can access chats by first logging in and then
clicking on the Chat option within the Member menu on the left hand side of the screen. You
will be directly linked to English Chat page. For chats in other languages, click Chat Rooms at
the top of the page. Chat options include sending of public or private messages to other
users in the chat. To send a private message, click on the user's name that is listed in the "Who is online in
English Chat" section. Remember to be safe in chats and keep your personal info private! For questions or
help, contact YV_Katie.
Visit GenV.net to find out about other exciting programs that Youth Venture is sponsoring!
If you'll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can
accomplish in your lives. ~Vince Lombardi
If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it. ~William Arthur
Ward
Believe deep down in your heart that you're destined to do great things. ~Joe Paterno
In Your Neck of the Woods
New England
Shirley Middle School in Massachusetts held an Open House on September 18th. Eight Venture Teams were in
attendance to showcase their Ventures focusing on recycling, publishing, extra curricular activities, and
fundraising. The Teams included; Supply for Good, SMS Newspaper, Kids at Play, Food Dudes, SWEET,
Skaters of Shirley, Shirley School Store, and T.R.U.N. 2. Also in attendance were YV staff members, Robyn
McLaughlin, John Dillman, Jessica Shoemaker, Elizabeth Bandy, Kumar Raj and Rachel Andler. Stay up to date
with New England news and future opportunities or connect with a staff member on GenV.net.
Dream It. Do It. Challenge
This October, Youth Venture is launching its first ever Dream It. Do It. Challenge in four major cities across the
US! The Dream It. Do It. Challenge is a 10 session workshop series offered to high school-age youth looking to
start their own organization, business, or club to make a difference in their community. Through this program,
youth will develop their ideas into Ventures by applying their interests and skills in creative and enterprising
ways. Each of the sessions is comprised of leadership, entrepreneurship, and skills-based training, where youth
will receive mentoring from YV staff and community volunteers in a fun and interactive space. Youth will also
participate in an overnight retreat to bond with local changemakers. Youth Venture is providing meals,
accommodations, registration costs, and up to $1000 in Venture seed-funding for each participant.
Minneapolis, New York, Seattle, DC
Use listservs to share ideas, seek advice, and stay informed as to what is going on in your broader
community and how it relates to the growth and sustainability of your Venture. Contact
yvfellowship@youthventure.org to join or create a listserv to connect with other young changemakers
in your region.

4. Venture Spotlight Starring:
LOVELY and College Bound Latinos ~ Arlington, VA
An active leader for girls and advocate in her school and community, Venturer, Emily, is speaking on a global
panel hosted by Vital Voices Global Partnership about issues facing girls in her community, the challenges
and opportunities for young women leaders here in the US, as well share her own success story in working for
change on behalf of young people with her Ventures, LOVELY and, a Tu Voz My Venture winning team,
College Bound Latinos. Vital Voices, in cooperation with the World Bank Group and the Nike Foundation, is
hosting a leadership training for 10 young women from around the world, entitled Rising Voices: Unleashing
Young Women's Economic Potential. Vital Voices' training in Washington, DC, October 4-11, 2008, is a new
campaign to convince governments to invest in girls' education as a strategy for global economic
development. During this training, participants learn about successful leadership and advocacy strategies from
prominent women leaders, share their experiences with each other, and it includes a panel discussion between
these global Rising Voices and young leaders in DC. LOVELY is a mentoring program between middle school
and high school Latinas. In addition to leadership development, LOVELY helps participants sharpen their study
and organizational skills in preparation for high school graduation and creates a community of students who
support one another. College Bound Latinos is focused on promoting higher education among Latinos.
Congrats, Emily, for having LOVELY and College Bound Latinos recognized globally!
YV Shout Out
Jessica, pictured in foreground, a young Seattle Venturer who started Richard's
Rwanda with her classmates, was selected as one of the ten nominees to join
the Barron Prize Honor Roll of Heroes! The Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes
honors outstanding young leaders who have made a significant positive difference
to people and our planet. Their leadership and courage make them true heroes and
inspirations to us all. Each year, the Barron Prize selects ten winners and ten
honor roll nominees nationwide. Richard's Rwanda is working to create bonding
between girls in America and Rwanda, build peace and empower the future
leaders of the world. Richard's Rwanda raises money to pay for tuition, books and clothes for girls in Rwanda
who suffered from the 1994 genocide. A man named Richard stayed with Jessica's family last summer while
doing fundraisers in the Seattle area and she was moved by the stories of young girls in the country who did
not have access to education. Keep up the great work! You can read more about Richards Rwanda at their
website.
Submit your Venture to yvfellowship@youthventure.org for consideration in future Newsletter issues.
Learn about changemakers and Venture Teams just like you. Compose an Action Plan to start your
own Venture. Chat with other Venturers via Forums.
Meet an Ashoka Fellow
Jim Thompson ~ Positive Coaching Alliance
San Francisco, CA
Year Elected: 2004
Jim Thompson is leading a movement to make character education the primary focus of
youth sports without sacrificing competitiveness. He recognizes in sports an
unparalleled opportunity for young people to build skills of leadership,
communication, and cooperation. Since 1998, Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA)
has been transforming youth sports so sports can transform youth. Through partnership with more than 1,100
youth sports organizations, leagues, schools and cities nationwide, PCA has conducted 6,000-plus workshops
for youth sports coaches, parents, organizational leaders and athletes to help create a positive, character-
building youth sports environment for more than 3 million youth athletes. Through his large and committed
membership base and through partnerships with major players in the sports-entertainment industry, Jim
achieves a cultural shift, encouraging children to stay involved in sports. To learn more about Jim Thompson
and other Ashoka Fellows please go to www.ashoka.org.

5. Youth Venture Contact Information
1700 North Moore Street
Suite 2000
Arlington, VA 22209
Phone: 703.527.4126
yvfellowship@youthventure.org
GenV.net-Youth Venture National Office
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