For Immediate Release

THE YSA YOUTH VENTURE PROGRAM IS OFFERING MICRO-GRANTS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE NATIONWIDE TO START SUSTAINABLE SOCIAL VENTURES  

WASHINGTON – (June 7, 2007) – Socially conscious people between the ages of 12 and 20-years-old are encouraged to apply for micro-grants of up to $1,000 from the YSA Youth Venture Program to create sustainable social ventures. Led by an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, the YSA Youth Venture Program’s mission is to provide funding and resources to young people to lead socially conscious campaigns that are a lasting asset to their communities. YSA Youth Venture teams are required to plan a Global Youth Service Day project on April 25-27, 2008, and will receive resources from Youth Service America and Youth Venture, the leading organizations in the youth service movement. The application deadline is August 13, 2007.

For more information about the YSA Youth Venture Program micro-grants, please go to: http://www.genv.net/en-us/region/ysa. 

Youth Service America is national resource center that partners with thousands of organizations committed to increasing the quality and quantity of volunteer opportunities for young people, ages 5-25, to serve locally, nationally, and globally.  Founded in 1986, YSA’s mission is to expand the impact of the youth service movement with communities, schools, corporations, and governments.  In addition to Global Youth Service Day, which takes place every April in more than 115 countries, YSA also hosts servenet (www.servenet.org), providing the largest database of volunteer opportunities in America. For more information, visit: www.YSA.org.

About Youth Venture: By inspiring and investing in teams of young people to start their own social ventures, Youth Venture is working to build a powerful network of young changemakers around the world. Youth Venture provides coaching, resources, and seed funding for young people ages 12-20 to create, launch, and lead sustainable community-benefiting ventures. We believe this will catalyze a cultural sea change, transforming a generation of young people into capable leaders of social change - leading to a world of Everyone a Changemaker. Youth Venture was founded in 1996 by Ashoka. For more information: www.genv.net. 

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