Archive: Around Town

United Way of Tompkins County in partnership with Heather Lane, held its Second Annual Youth Venture Pitch Night recently at Rev Ithaca Startup Works. Youth Venture continues to inspire and invest in our local youth, empowering them to lead social change and follow their entrepreneurial spirits. The students gain skills through the Youth Venture Program that will be utilized throughout the rest of their lives.

Students worked with adult coaches to develop and refine skills needed to design and launch their Venture. Each Venture must have a community benefit, be led by a team of young people, and have a viable and sustainable business plan. This year's Youth Venture coaches are Jon C. Raimon, Lehman Alternative Community School; Linda Bruno, Dryden High School; Heather Lane, Purity Ice Cream; and Dominick Recckio, Ithaca College.

This year's event showcased six Social Ventures created by high school students at Dryden Central School and Lehman Alternative Community School. The teams presented their social venture to four community panelists, and each team received seed funding. This year's seed funding came from Ithaca College Student United Way, Cornell University Student United Way, and a generous anonymous donation. To help the students launch their ventures the panelists provided constructive feedback and insight into financial management, planning, leadership and goal-setting.


This year's panel members were Charlie Mulligan, President, GiveGab; James H. Quest, Founder & CEO, QA Bolt Beverages, LLC; Jennifer Tegan, Partner & VP Finance/Administration, Cayuga Venture Fund; and Laura Winter Falk, Owner, Experience! The Finger Lakes, LLC.

The Ventures were as follows:

• 73 Records – LACS Venture led by Etienne Grenier and Lachlan Berger. 73 Records is a collective record label dedicated to the production and distribution of youth music, art, and literature.
• Animal Care – Dryden Venture led by Marli Hammond, Medina Lojic, Makayla Hoyte, Taylor Burk, Nicole Zhe, Jamie Mullins. The Venture was created for 6th grade students at Dryden to teach them about proper animal care.
• Computer Science – Dryden Venture led by Jamie Mullins and Tor Wildenstein. The Venture is geared toward engaging and exposing students to the subject of computer science.
• GetReal! – LACS Youth Venture led by Francesca Merrick. GetReal! is a curriculum for elementary school students that teaches about gender equality, activism in the face of inequalities, and the negative effects of biases in our media.
• Scimedaca – Dryden Venture led by Marli Hammond, Medina Lojic, Makayla Hoyte, Taylor Burk, Nicole Zhe, Jamie Mullins. The Venture was created for 6th grade students to promote their academic success by engaging the students with different learning techniques and organizational skills.
• We Are Neon – LACS Venture led by Esmé Saccuccimorano and Marlena Doerr. We Are Neon is a quarterly publication directed at empowering youth through the showcasing of their art, literature, music, and various innovative endeavors.

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