Finalist Announced for Philanthropitch Atlanta 2016

Philanthropitch is coming to Atlanta on June 9th! We are partnering with Choose ATL, the Georgia Center for Nonprofits (GCN) and the Center for Civic Innovation (CCI) to highlight and support some of the most innovative social impact organizations in Atlanta.

“We’ve been spotlighting impressive nonprofits here in Austin for the past four years. When we started our expansion plans, we knew we were looking for a city with the same type of innovative and entrepreneurial culture and a city with high civic engagement. Atlanta was exactly the right choice for the first Philanthropitch expansion city outside of Austin,” said Sara Reeves, Philanthropitch Program Director.

For our inaugural year in Atlanta, the selection committee had a difficult time narrowing down the applications to this standout group of seven finalists.

“The applications in Atlanta came from organizations addressing top local issues including transportation, education, and food security. Though all the applicants are doing important work, we’ve selected our seven finalists for their innovative visions and potential to scale. We’re looking forward to giving our finalists a platform to reach a wide audience and financial support to ramp up their efforts,” said Chelsea Manning, Philanthropitch Atlanta Program Officer.

Philanthropitch Atlanta 2016 Finalists

Community Farmers Markets envisions a future in which Atlanta will be home to a diverse, interconnected food system that promotes healthy food, sustainable ecosystems and living wage working conditions. Over the past few years, they have discovered the transit divide in the city is limiting lower-income communities’ access to fresh, local products. To help put healthy foods in the hands of all Atlanta residents, CFM is partnering with MARTA to launch the Fresh MARTA Markets in transit stations - making local farmers’ produce available to Atlantans on the go.

For Community Guilds, access to hands-on, interactive education in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math is a vital component in creating opportunities for disadvantaged and underrepresented youth. Their STE(A)M Truck targets elementary and middle school students with an on-campus, 20-day maker-space curriculum that gives the students access to a mobile workshop of equipment and the expertise of local “maker-mentors.”

Can you remember when you had “the talk” with your parents? Was it awkward? Were your questions answered? Or did you need to turn to friends or older siblings - or for kids today, the internet? Since 1995, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power & Potential has empowered young people to make healthy decisions about their bodies. In this new program, they will focus on communication between parents and teens and tweens by developing digital content that will arm parents with the information they need to have on-going communication with their children.

Moving in the Spirit uses the art of dance to positively transform the lives of children and teens in Atlanta. An important part of their effort is instilling confidence and resilience in their students while creating a nurturing environment. However, for many dancers it is difficult to feel confident and welcomed when dance wear brands ignore your body type or skin tone. Moving in the Spirit believes you deserve to feel good in what you are wearing and no matter your body shape, you are still a dancer. They are developing a dance wear line for children of all body types and skin tones that will make them feel welcome in the dance community.

Next Generation Men believes that for men to strive for success, they deserve to be shown what success is and how to reach it through real-world exposure, service projects, leadership development, and professionalism training. NGM has developed a cohort-style, year-long program for young men in Atlanta schools and are now looking to scale - including their first cohort of women next year and work on a for-credit elective course offered to 9th graders.

re:Imagine/ATL brings together diverse groups of young people from across Atlanta to share their stories through multimedia productions. However, their goals go much deeper as they seek to take these youths from apathy to empathy and on to action. For the re:Imagine/COMMUNITY program the students become problem solvers when paired with a local nonprofit to research and tackle local problems with storytelling and community outreach.

The Scholarship Academy recognizes the difficulty many students have covering the ever-rising costs of a college education. They address this issue through a comprehensive scholarship preparatory program that teaches low-income, first-generation college students to navigate the maze of financial aid in order to fund their college education. In addition to the curriculum that addresses funding in a holistic manner, they are also launching an online platform to connect all the relevant players - students, parents, school counselors and the organizations offering scholarships.

These seven organizations will spend the next few weeks developing their three-minute pitches following a Pitch Workshop with CCI, GCN and Speakeasy. Then, on June 9th, they will take the stage at the Junior Achievement Discovery Center to pitch to an audience of judges, corporate sponsors and audience members for $50,000 in funding. We’d love to see you in the audience too. You can purchase tickets here.