Arlington, VA., May 19, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ashoka, the world’s pioneering and largest network of social entrepreneurs, announced its newest Ashoka Fellows in the United States this morning – eight extraordinary innovators who bring actionable, breakthrough ideas for the common good. They deeply understand the problems they are tackling and create ways for everyone to contribute to the solution as changemakers. At a time of great uncertainty globally and in the United States, these social entrepreneurs help us all imagine a new way forward, a powerful gift. The new Ashoka Fellows are:
Priti Krishtel, founder of I-MAK, is democratizing the patent granting and oversight process in order to make life-saving medicines more affordable - timely as we search for a vaccine in the current moment.
Eric Liu, founder of Citizen University, is championing the revival of civic values, a rekindling of faith in democracy, and a revaluing of our fellow citizens.
Stephen Manning, founder of Innovation Law Lab, is opening space within immigration law for more humanity and accountability and creating new ways for lawyers to support asylum seekers and those in detention.
Daquan Oliver, founder of WeThrive, is bringing engaged learning and a culture of empowerment into schools by promoting entrepreneurial skills and spirit in classrooms across the nation.
Katie Plohocky, founder of Healthy Community Store Initiative, has launched a food hub and a fleet of mobile and micro stores to combat food insecurity and prove that every community can bring back fresh and healthy food.
Danielle Sered, founder of Common Justice, is creating alternatives to incarceration that transform the lives of all involved in violent crimes, including those who have been harmed.
Purvi Shah, founder of Movement Law Lab, is organizing lawyers to address diverse and interconnected social issues, from racism and the marginalization of communities of color, to the #MeToo movement and climate change.
Ronnie Washington, founder of Onward, has designed an employer-sponsored emergency savings plan that is helping low- and middle-income American workers build a financial cushion.
“The pandemic is exposing how broken many of our systems and democratic institutions are,” said Simon Stumpf, Director of Venture and Fellowship at Ashoka U.S. “More than ever, we are thankful for social entrepreneurs who know the problems inside and out, and calmly and creatively step forward with solutions for the common good.”
Ashoka Fellows receive a financial stipend to help them continue their work, and plan for growth. In addition, Fellows join a lifetime peer network of over 3,800 social entrepreneurs at all impact stages – women and men who are developing systems-changing innovations in many issue areas. Meet the newest Ashoka Fellows at our June ‘Inside Ashoka’ series: register here: https://ashoka-usa.org/virtual/
About Ashoka
Ashoka identifies and supports the world’s leading social entrepreneurs, learns from patterns in their innovations, and mobilizes a global community to build an “everyone a changemaker” world. Since 1980, Ashoka has launched over 3,800 social entrepreneurs in 90 countries, including 270 Ashoka Fellows in the United States.