Earlier today Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper announced the launch of a partnership between the City of Denver and Ashoka’s Change Your City (CYC) program. The initiative will focus on the goal of increasing the percentage of citizens engaged in entrepreneurial solutions and establish the city as a hub for social innovation in the United States.
“The goal of Change Your City is to encourage our citizens to become changemakers,” stated Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. “By connecting business principles and entrepreneurial approaches, innovative Coloradans can build new solutions to our region’s most pressing challenges.”
Denver is the first U.S. city to launch a CYC initiative and will be held up as a model for future cities. This is a multi-year initiative to raise awareness of social entrepreneurship and to create a place for innovative thinkers to meet and collaborate. Through the involvement of university and college campuses, entrepreneurs, business leaders and local media, Change Your City hopes to drive social change through an awareness campaign. Billboards used during the initiative will feature real stories of local innovators, such as Ashoka Fellow Lynn Price, seen in the billboard above.
Lynn founded Camp to Belong, which is dedicated to re-uniting siblings seperated by the foster care system. Approximately 7,500 children live in foster care in Colorado. Many are separated from at least one sibling. Camp To Belong reunites siblings in summer camps across the U.S. for emotional empowerment and connection.
“We are excited to encourage entrepreneurial spirit in this initiative,” said Mayor Hickenlooper. “By empowering individuals to better understand and address the challenges they face in all elements of their lives we promote both an up-and-coming workforce that is prepared to be solution-oriented and engaged and a future of healthy local economies and communities.”
Learn more about Ashoka’s Change Your City Initiative here.
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