ABOUT: Youth Empowerment Through Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Raj Chetty, a Stanford Professor who leads the Equality of Opportunity Project, keyed the phrase “lost Einsteins” to reference the innovations we are missing due to extreme inequity. At Innovation Central High School, youth entrepreneurship programs like DECA create opportunities for students and contribute to the development of key entrepreneurial skills. However, due to lack of resources, the students are not able to fully take advantage of the DECA opportunity. One of the requirements for competing in the competitions is that all participants must wear an official DECA blazer. The blazers are too expensive for individual households to purchase for their children, and the school lacks funding to invest in buying enough blazers. Currently, the school has a handful of old blazers that have to be shared between the 30-40 students who participate in DECA. This means students are backstage swapping ill-fitted blazers during the competition. This is problematic because it makes these students standout in a negative way, perpetuating stereotypes. New blazers for the students to participate in DECA with no barriers will help Innovation Central’s “Einsteins” shine and standout for who they really are.

ABOUT: This partnership seeks to make college an attainable goal for everyone of Grand Rapids' Harrison Park students. It partners GV Leadership students with Harrison Park in order to support the goals of the GR's Challenge Scholars Program. The partnership harnesses the power of design thinking in order to uncover and address critical barriers to college access at Harrison Park. This three year partnership has led to a walking school bus, housing resource kits, and teacher support seminars. This fall we uncovered that chronic absenteeism at Harrison Park was being sparked by the financial burdens attached to school uniforms (no uniform, no school, no scholarship, no college). Thus, this year's innovation project will generate a uniform swap program designed to go live this summer orientation and conferences. The plan is laid, but funding is now essential for success: ensuring we can conduct successful outreach and create an inventory designed to address this need.

ABOUT: Over 77% of Kent County residents consume inadequate servings of fresh produce due to poor access to affordable, quality food resulting in 66% of individuals being overweight/obese. Residents of the Southwest Area Neighborhood (SWAN) in Kent County have limited access to fresh produce. The purpose of this project is to provide healthy food choices in partnership with the SWAN neighbors by expanding the current community garden initiative at The Other Way Ministries (TOW). KCON will collaborate with TOW to build a neighbor-requested hoop-style greenhouse and ongoing healthy choices cooking classes using produce from the greenhouse and food from the existing food pantry at TOW. The greenhouse will prolong the growing season. This produce will be offered for those working in the garden allowing low income families in the community access to healthy food. KCON will partner with the community to build a sustainable greenhouse that will be maintained by SWAN neighbors in a similar fashion as the current garden and establish ongoing cooking classes that provide healthy food education as part of the KCON clinical rotations that exist year-round at TOW. 

ABOUT: Two brothers, native to the Greater Grand Rapids area founded this non-emergent medical transportation service after combining their medical and business backgrounds. Our mission at Ride YourWay is to ensure that every person has a means of transportation to and from their medical appointments. Healthcarefinance.com estimates the United States healthcare system loses upwards of 150 billion dollars in missed appointments every year, with one of the reasons being a lack of transportation. We can ensure that people are receiving the treatment that they need by providing transportation to their doctor’s office. This can drastically reduce the rates of chronic disease and complications. We are also using a more personable approach to transportation, including front passenger wheelchair accessibility and on-board music amenities that are controlled by the client. Music has been proven to boost brain activity and improve mood – two components that have a significant impact on healthcare recipients. Another aspect of our mission is decreased waiting times and a user-friendly way to schedule rides. Everyone should have a way to get to their medical appointments.