WASHINGTON, July 30, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) Foundation, and Ashoka's Youth Venture are pleased to announce the "Banking on Youth" grand prize winner and the recipient of the Audience Choice award.
Grand Prize: $15,000 - Lauren Behgam, The Food Recovery Network, Plano, TX
The Food Recovery Network recovers surplus food that would otherwise be thrown away, from campus dining halls and sporting events, and takes the food to local homeless shelters. In its first year of operation they have launched chapters at four university campuses and recovered 50,000 meals valued at $250,000. Their goal is to expand the Food Recovery Network to as many colleges as possible and to help create a stronger food recovery culture in America.
Audience Choice Award: $5,000 - Jonny Cohen, GreenShields, Highland Park, IL
GreenShields is an aerodynamic add-on-device for school buses, designed to reduce drag and increase gas mileage. Jonny began developing the idea at age 12 and has been refining the device for the past two years with the help of Northwestern University's Engineering School. GreenShields will enable schools to save over $600 per bus per year due to improved gas mileage and will benefit the environment by lowering emissions.
These top entrants were selected at the annual Youth Venture Summit in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, July 28, 2012.
Banking on Youth invites young people between the ages of 13 and 20 to submit a creative 90-second video and brief entry form to share their idea for an entrepreneurial venture that will directly benefit society. Over 170 business plan proposals were received this year and are available at www.bankingonyouth.org. The six national finalists chosen by the CBA Foundation and Ashoka's Youth Venture were:
- Lauren Behgam, The Food Recovery Network, Plano, TX
- Jonny Cohen, GreenShields, Highland Park, IL
- Tyne Freeman, When Worlds "Kaleid", Columbia, SC
- Jamelah Issac, The Healthy Neighborhood Store Alliance, Oakland, CA
- Yoni Kalin, Color My World, Washington, DC
- Rigo Santoyo, Youth Speak Media Solutions, San Fernando, CA
"CBA is truly honored to recognize these young entrepreneurs for their outstanding innovation and dedication to helping their communities," said Richard Hunt, President and CEO of the Consumer Bankers Association. "Thank you to our member banks for their sponsorship and commitment to youth entrepreneurship. Banking on Youth's inaugural year has been a great success. We look forward to continuing this program as a means to connect tomorrow's leaders with banks that can provide the funding and guidance to bring their dreams to life."
"Not only are we thrilled with the successes of the 55 ventures we seeded through the competition and the phenomenal potential of our national winners, but we are also delighted with the overwhelming enthusiasm and support from our 13 participating banks," remarked Gretchen Zucker, Executive Director of Ashoka's Youth Venture. "We can't wait to get started with the next Banking on Youth."
In addition to the finalists, 55 regional winners were selected by the program's sponsors, CBA member banks from across the country: Union Bank (10 prizes), U.S. Bank (6 prizes), Wells Fargo (6 prizes), Bank of America (5 prizes), Citigroup, Inc. (5 prizes), IBERIABANK (4 prizes), M&T Bank (4 prizes), PNC (4 prizes), First Niagara Bank (3 prizes), BB&T (2 prizes), Citizens Financial (2 prizes), Citizens Republic (2 prizes) and SunTrust Bank (2 prizes). Each regional winner receives $1,000 of seed-money for their venture ideas that will directly benefit society. View the full listing of regional winners here.
For further information about the competition visit www.bankingonyouth.org. For information about how to become a sponsor contact Liz Terry, Vice President of the CBA Foundation at lterry@cbanet.org.
About CBA
The Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) is the trade association for today's leaders in retail banking - banking services geared toward consumers and small businesses. The nation's largest financial institutions, as well as many regional banks, are CBA corporate members, collectively holding two-thirds of the industry's total assets. CBA's mission is to preserve and promote the retail banking industry as it strives to fulfill the financial needs of the American consumer.
For more information, please contact Deirdre Leahy, 202-552-6371, dleahy@cbanet.org or visit www.cbanet.org.
About Ashoka
Ashoka is the global association of the world's leading social entrepreneurs and the pioneer of the social entrepreneurship movement. Ashoka has a 30-year history of finding and launching the top innovations that address the world's needs. We believe that the greatest contribution we can make to the world is to increase dramatically the number of changemakers today and in every future generation. This is the key factor for success in every part of society, from a school to a company to an entire country. Ashoka operates in 65 countries and online at www.ashoka.org.
About Ashoka's Youth Venture
Youth Venture is an international network of 100,000 changemakers. We inspire and support young people to be changemakers by launching and leading their own civic-minded organizations and businesses, and we help communities around the world realize their potential as communities of changemakers. YV operates in 19 countries and online at www.GenV.net.
Deirdre Leahy
dleahy@cbanet.org
202.552.6371
The Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) is the trade association for today's leaders in retail banking - banking services geared toward consumers and small businesses. The nation's largest financial institutions, as well as many regional banks, are CBA corporate members, collectively holding two-thirds of the industry's total assets. CBA's mission is to preserve and promote the retail banking industry as it strives to fulfill the financial needs of the American consumer.
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