Stern's Student Social Venture Fund Announces 2008 Grantees

NYU Stern's Student Social Venture Fund announced today $28,000 in grants which will be awarded to New York City organizations that provide leadership opportunities to young people that enable them to give back to their communities and provide them with the skills to become productive members of society.

The first recipient, United Community Centers, will receive a grant to support the East New York Farms! Youth Internship Program. The project engages youth in a nine month intensive internship program where they learn to address food justice issues through hands-on training, leadership development, and social justice education, leading to empowerment not only for the youth concerned but also for the East New York as a whole.

The second recipient, the Center for Court Innovation, will receive funding for the Youth ECHO (Youth Expanding Community Horizons by Organizing) program. Participants in the program work with advertisers and street and guerilla marketing specialists to develop a community education campaign designed to change their peers' attitudes toward youth crime. According to Janisha Sabnani, a joint degree student in both the business and law school, "the amazing turn around that the Community Justice Center has actuated in Red Hook is a reflection of the time, hard work and passion put into their projects. The commitment on the part of the youth participants to making their neighborhood a better place was particularly compelling in the decision to fund this program. "

The class, which is comprised of graduate students from the business, law, and public policy schools, received 24 applications which were narrowed down to four finalists through a series of evaluation rounds. For Stern business student Mathew Farkash, "the grant review process allowed me to apply many of the financial and management frameworks that I am learning in class to a real world scenario. We also looked at potential ways that next year's class could partner with these organizations, and the learning opportunities for both the organizations and the students.

The final four applicants all received site visits and were also invited to the class for an interview. Stern student Priya Pandya participated in the United Community Centers site visit. "A quick 45 minute subway ride out of Manhattan, East New York embodies hopeful development in its earliest stages. Stores and small businesses have emerged in the New Lots Avenue area. However the sub-prime mortgage crisis and current economic problems, have added another layer of challenge to this sometimes forgotten area. We felt that youth leadership could play a crucial role in this community and the UCC youth that we met shared this sentiment. They told us how much they enjoyed learning and having a job with UCC and that this motivated them to work in their community and help each other."

Along with the funds, the grantees will also receive hands on consulting next spring from the students who enroll in the 2009 class. The current cohort of students is also providing consulting services to the 2007 grant recipients. NYU Wagner Student Elizabeth Alter is working with Stickball Printmedia Arts. "Working with stickball was a great experience. Our team was really able to build on our skills to help the young organization build its capacity to serve students. While leveraging skills learned throughout my graduate experience, I also had the opportunity to learn from the other students on the team who all had such different backgrounds."

In addition to managing the grant-making process and providing consulting services for the class, the class is also actively engaged in raising funds for the 2009 class, which will matched by an alumni donor. If you are interested in more information on how to support the Student Social Venture Fund in the future, please send an email to ssvfnyu@gmail.com.

Launched in 2004, the SSVF is a grant-making entity managed by NYU graduate students from the business, law and public policy schools, and is the first student-managed fund of its kind at a U.S. business school. The Fund serves as a catalyst for social change by supporting organizations that are committed to improving the social and economic position of underserved communities in New York City. In addition to providing financial support, the Fund is highly engaged with its grantees through strategic, technical and managerial assistance to help maximize its social return.

For detailed information about the Student Social Venture Fund at NYU Stern School of Business, please visit our website at: www.stern.nyu.edu/ssvf.