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/.