With Friday’s application deadline fast approaching, there’s not much time left for your chance at $50,000. The fall program is filled with new experiences and opportunities including a new challenge, new cities and a new sponsor. Below are a few examples of what’s new for the fall 2014 Civic Accelerator:
New Challenge
How might we develop new pathways and increase access to economic opportunity for all?
Don’t be discouraged if you feel your civic venture doesn’t answer the challenge. Dig a little deeper and you may be surprised to realize that in fact, you are creating economic opportunity. Potential solutions include (but are certainly not limited to) innovations in:
- Job/Career readiness
- Financial Literacy
- Education Technology
- Tech for Good platforms
- 21st Century Skills Development
- Youth Development
- Inclusive Financial/Social Services
- Social-emotional learning
- Workforce Development
- STEM education
- Community Revitalization
Some great, Tech for Good examples that provide economic opportunity, specifically in the Community Revitalization space include Civic Accelerator alumni Opportunity Space, Neighbor.ly and Atlanta based Village Defense.
Education Technology is another popular Tech for Good space that generates economic opportunity. Civic Accelerator alumni CareerVillage, AltrUHelp and Atlanta based WorkReadyGrad are great examples of creating indirect pathways to answer the fall challenge.
New Cities
The 12-week startup boot camp will convene for three, in-person, week long sessions. In addition, entrepreneurs will undergoing a fairly robust virtual curriculum. Each session will focus on a specific theme in startup development and includes an opportunity to present your venture in front of a local audience concluding with Demo Night. The schedule is as follows:
Session 1 Oct. 6-9 Atlanta, GA (featuring Mentor Night and fast pitch)
Session 2 Nov. 17-21 Silicon Vally, CA (featuring the Investor Cafe, alongside Social Innovation Summit)
Session 3 Dec. 15-19 Chicago, IL (Concluding with Demo Night)
New Sponsor:
We’re excited to have the Committee for Children (CFC), the nation’s leading non-profit provider of social-emotional curricula, with us for the fall program, helping to find and support innovative ventures in social-emotional learning. CFC is partnering under the auspices of its New Mission Ventures Department, which is dedicated to expanding CFC’s mission of fostering the social and emotional development, safety and well-being of children. To learn more, check out www.cfchildren.org.
Between all the new, shiny additions to the fall 2014 Civic Accelerator, you’re probably realizing that there’s plenty of opportunity for you. After you’ve patted yourself on the back and circulated high fives with your team on a job well done, shoot me an email or apply here. I’d love to learn more about you, your venture and how the Civic Accelerator can help!
