Social Entrepreneurship Penetrates Education




Social entrepreneurship is finding its way into many different corners of education. InspirEngage began its competition, "Create Your Career", encouraging "young people ages 11 to 16, to think about starting a social venture and how it could lead to a career," reported the Ecopreneurist. Its a pretty sweet set-up that will allow kids to create great social ventures, and more so, it will ingrain in their minds the benefits of a new future, a future of social enterprise and social change. 
To help young people get started with their social entrepreneurship, they have access to an ideas notebook, support from a Live UnLtd development manager in their area and £500 of funding, as well as access to a Skills BootCamp delivered by InspirEngage.  Social ventures can range from sporting activities, intergenerational themes or groups hosting recreational events.  Clothes recycling and re-design workshops, anti-gun crime merchandise, street dance classes and a tap water bottle refill network are just some of the ideas that young people in the UK are turning into successful, financially viable, social ventures.
For the older audience, Ashoka and UF combined forces to create a new course of awesomeness focusing on immersing students in the social venture development program. Build a launchpad for your own social venture with help from UF and Ashoka? for only $550? Who's in? I'm in.


University of Florida Innovative Sustainability & Social Impact Initiative is launching a distance learning course on social entrepreneurship, ENT4934 "Venture Planning for Social Entrepreneurs," endorsed by and created in partnership with Ashoka's Youth Venture.
This course is an experiential process for guiding students towards launching a Venture that addresses an social, environmental, or economic problem you want to solve. This course is constructed to facilitate a process of inquisitive dialogue - one that is driven and shaped by the opinions, ideas, passions, and contributions of its participants. It is through dialogue, creativity, and engagement - as individuals, in small groups, and a class altogether- that we encourage students to learn, explore, develop and prepare to launch your own ventures.



On a what's news note, the Social Entrepreneurship World Forum,  announced its conference for 2013. Looks like it'll be a pretty solid gathering.

The TRICO Charitable Foundation, in partnership with the Social Enterprise Council of Canada and the Social Finance Forum, has been selected to host the 6th Annual Social Enterprise World Forum. SEWF 2013 will take place October 2-4, 2013 in Calgary, Alberta. 



Check it out at #sewf2013

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