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Vote for Your Favorite Young Social Entrepreneurs

Ashoka’s Youth Venture and Best Buy Invite Teens Nationwide to Select Winners of the @15 Challenge

Ashoka’s Youth Venture, a global network of over 2,000 youth-led Venture Teams, and Best Buy Co., Inc. today announced 30 finalists, ages 13 to 18, in the Best Buy @15 Challenge with Youth Venture. Online voting for the winners starts today, December 1, and continues through January 9, 2009. Fifteen winning teams of youth social entrepreneurs will each receive $10,000 from the @15 Fund to support their ventures. Voters can register to win a free iPod shuffle and $500 to donate to their school or favorite nonprofit. In addition, funding is available through this partnership for 300 new youth-led Venture Teams in the United States.

Voters should judge the finalists on their project’s creativity, community impact, and sustainability. The Venture Teams address a wide variety of issues ranging from poverty to the environment, arts, children, and disaster relief. A complete list of Venture Teams can be found at Best Buy @15 Challenge | Youth Venture.

“Having an idea, launching a Venture, and leading a team that has community or global impact teaches young people that they are capable of creating sustainable change,” said Gretchen Zucker, Executive Director of Youth Venture. “After this successful experience, it is likely that they will take initiative again and again in their life.”

@15 is Best Buy’s new platform to connect with young teens, give voice to their perspectives, and invest the company’s resources to turn their ideas into action and support their efforts to lead social change. Through the @15 Fund, Best Buy places the philanthropic power of @15 directly into the hands of teens. Part of the @15 Fund is implemented through a partnership with Youth Venture and the @15 Challenge.

“Through @15, Best Buy is giving teens an opportunity to help direct our philanthropy,” said Paula Prahl, senior vice president, communications, public affairs, and corporate responsibility, Best Buy. “By voting online for the @15 Challenge, young teens can be inspired by the good works of their peers, and learn how they can contribute to their communities by launching their own Ventures. It’s our hope the Youth Venture partnership serves as a catalyst for other youth to become change makers in their own communities.”

Visit Best Buy @15 Challenge | Youth Venture to learn more and to cast your ballot for the top youth social entrepreneurs in the Best Buy @15 Challenge. Voters can also use their cell phones to cast votes by visiting the WAP portal Pick a tool < Youth Ventures - Tools. After they vote, they can also check the total number of votes per team and use the send-to-friend pass-a-long feature.

About Youth Venture
Youth Venture is a global movement of young changemakers. Youth Venture inspires and invests in teams of young people as they start their own sustainable social ventures, connecting them into a powerful global network. Collectively, these young changemakers are redefining the youth years as a time of initiative and positive change. For more information, please visit Youth Venture | Building a global movement of young changemakers.

About Ashoka
Ashoka is the world's largest network of social entrepreneurs—individuals with innovative and practical ideas for addressing social needs. Working with these social entrepreneurs, Ashoka builds communities of innovators who work collectively to transform society and design new ways for the social sector to become more productive, entrepreneurial and globally integrated.