April 14, 2011 update: The winners in the 2011 YouthBridge Social Enterprise and Innovation Competition include the following social ventures:
2011
- Angel Baked Cookies was awarded a total of $42,500, including awards from YouthBridge Community Foundation and the Lutheran Foundation of St. Louis. Angel Baked empowers youth in North St. Louis by providing employment, training and character development through production of all-natural cookies;
- Consolare was awarded a total of $25,000, including awards from Lutheran Foundation and the Daughters of Charity Foundation of St. Louis. Consolare makes healing, comforting home goods by community volunteers, including ex-offenders, to provide free services to victims of crime and violence;
- DeCycleIt! was awarded $10,000 from the Skandalaris Center. DeCycleIt! provides ultra-secure disposal and recycling of highly sensitive paper and electronic media to reduce identity or corporate theft, as well as reduce the amount of poisonous metals entering landfills from fluorescent lamps and related products;
- Edele was also awarded $10,000 from the Skandalaris Center, and the team received the $5,000 student award. Edele means “opportunity” in Amharic and is a social enterprise selling running apparel, with the proceeds funding organizations addressing malnutrition in developing nations;
- Perennial was also awarded $10,000 from the Skandalaris Center. Perennial is a community workshop and store offering educational programming in creative reuse, and sales of repurposed furnishings and supplies for reuse projects.
A total of $102,500 in cash grants was awarded, and winners are also eligible for in-kind support from Skandalaris sponsors RubinBrown and Polsinelli Shughart.
Learn more about the finalists and winners on the Skandalaris Center Facebook page album of the poster board session following the Awards Ceremony. Continue reading to learn more about the history of the competition and past winners.
In June, 2005, YouthBridge Community Foundation pledged $500,000 in funding over five years to help Washington University create the YouthBridge Award and the Social Enterprise and Innovation Competition (SEIC). The purpose of the competition is to stimulate activity that leads to innovative approaches to social problems.
In September 2009, as the 2010 competition kicked off, YouthBridge renewed its support with an additional three-year commitment of funding and training for non-profit, community-based ventures. The newly named "YouthBridge SEIC" is unique in St. Louis and, in terms of monetary awards, is the largest competition of its kind in the U.S.
The Skandalaris Center definition of social entrepreneurship is "using entrepreneurial skills to craft innovative processes, approaches, and solutions to help resolve social issues." The YouthBridge SEIC concentrates on its more focused application of social enterprise, and the development of innovative approaches to enhance sustainability and increase capacity of mission-based social organizations. This moves the participants in the competition beyond their traditional dependence on philanthropy and government subsidy.
Several other local foundations have also supported the YouthBridge SEIC through awards made to competition winners supporting their particular mission:
Through the generosity of our partners, the YouthBridge SEIC has awarded more than $600,000 in cash and in-kind support to more than twenty social ventures.
Past winners include:
2006
- $35,000 YouthBridge Award to St. Louis ArtWorks
- $30,000 Incarnate Word Award to Redevelopment Opportunities for Women
- $25,000 Skandalaris Award to Meds & Food for Kids
- $5,000 student award to Panda Athletic Gym
- $5,000 student award to Tom Stehl, Scott Elsworth, and Cynthia Wachtel (Meds & Food for Kids)
- $5,000 student award to M. Cristina Warren, Sheralda Mendoza, Lia Roth, and Alex Noel (ROW)
2007
- $30.000 YouthBridge Award to The Bridge St. Louis
- $30,000 Incarnate Word Award to One World Neighborhood Café
- $30,000 Deaconess Award to the Miriam School
- $25,000 Skandalaris Award to Nest
- $5,000 student award to Felix Brandon Lloyd, Cents City, now Skill-Life
- $5,000 student award to Joy Clarke, MSW (MOAR for Life, South Grand Senior Ministry)
2008
2009
2010