The Center for Civic Innovation is proud to announce the 2018 class of Civic Innovation Fellows. The Civic Innovation Fellowship is a leadership and business development program for social entrepreneurs in Atlanta. This fellowship brings together a cohort of individuals with innovative, outcome-driven ideas to tackle social challenges in Atlanta and provides them with business development workshops, free workspace, mentorship, advising, and leadership development training.
Read MoreThis past weekend at the A3C Festival & Conference, five civic ventures from around the US took the stage for A3C Action, a pitch competition searching for the best ideas that use hip-hop culture and art to address social justice challenges. The five competing ventures were selected from more than 140 applicants from across the country.
Read MorePlease welcome Jeffrey Martín to the stage under the #CCIspotlight. Jeffrey is the founder, President & CEO of honorCode. He was a 2016 Civic Innovation Fellow and, most recently, was named as one of the first-ever recipients of Civic Impact Loans! Check out Jeffrey's story.
Read MorePlease welcome Malika Whitley to the stage under the #CCIspotlight. Malika is the founder and executive director of ChopArt. She's a 2017 Civic Women's Fellow and the 2015 (inaugural!) A3C Action winner. Malika's work stretches beyond Atlanta to, well.... we'll let you read about it yourself. Check out Malika's story!
Read MoreThis week's #CCIsuperstar is Yasmeen Salaam, founder of Carver's Produce. Carver’s Produce expands the tradition of Dr. George W. Carver by connecting small farmers to new distribution channels within food desert communities. This food hub gives small producers the space to expand production and increase Atlanta's food economy. This mission of Carver's Produce is to become a thriving food hub that provides local growers and food enterprises a space to store, preserve, and develop products for last-mile distribution in low access areas.
Read MoreThis week on #CCIspotlight, we meet La’Teef Pyles, co-manager and unofficial community liaison of University Barbershop. La’Teef is a 2016 Westside Innovation Fellow and a current #VoteLocal ambassador with the Center for Civic Innovation.
Read MoreMeet this week’s #CCIsuperstar, Kristen Daniel, founder and CEO of Pentorship. Pentorship designs customized products and services to facilitate quality learning experiences for returning citizens to compete in current labor markets. Pentorship helps agencies and organizations successfully implement 21st-century skills training programs in challenging settings where learners may vary in academic & career experience. Kristen is a current Fellow in the 2017 Civic Women's Fellowship.
Read MoreI am a native Atlantan. I know I am a rare breed—one of the few actual ATLiens. I recently read an article about how black millennials are really interested in moving back to the South, and my roots are primarily in the South. Both of my parents are from Florida, and they were interested in moving to Atlanta because Atlanta represented a place of progress, a place with traditional black mayors. This is where they wanted to start and raise a family.
Read MoreI was born in India and moved to Scranton, PA when I was five years old. The only reason that people know about Scranton is because The Office takes place there. From there we moved to Jersey City and then finally to Snellville, Georgia. Snellville was the more difficult transition, even more so than moving from another country.
Read MoreI am from a military family, as my dad was enlisted in the Air Force. We moved around a lot, and I definitely did not live in many places for longer than four years until my dad retired! The last base we landed at before his retirement was in rural South Georgia, in Valdosta. I went to high school there with a lot of kids that grew up on farm, in the presence of a strong Future Farmers of America program – but I knew nothing about farming.
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