The 2025 Fellowship Applications are now open! Apply today

Announcing the 2013 Echoing Green Fellowships Finalists

Our team received nearly 3,000 applications for the 2013 Echoing Green and Black Male Achievement Fellowships. With the help of 532 evaluators asking challenging questions and analyzing applicants’ plans and capabilities, we have narrowed the pool to just thirty-nine Echoing Green Finalist organizations and fourteen Open Society Foundations Black Male Achievement Finalist organizations. The leaders of these organizations will be traveling from around the world to sit face to face with our judges and staff for another round of rigorous interviews, as well as to meet and support each other in their bold endeavors. The summaries below only begin to outline their world-changing Big Bold Ideas. Ultimately, about twenty social enterprises will be selected for the Echoing Green Fellowship, and eight for the Black Male Achievement Fellowship—a rate of less than 1 percent of the initial pool of applicants. But for this moment, we hope you will join us in celebrating the achievements and tenacity of all of our Finalists.
 

2013 Echoing Green Fellowship Finalists

CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Center for Faith and Human Rights
Ryan Dowd
Provide churches around the world with the tools, resources, and training necessary to help local church leaders defend against human rights violations.

 

Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth
Kathryn Whitehead
End youth placement in residential care in the U.S. by empowering formerly at risk youth to advocate for policy change and alternative programming.

 

The Enliven Project
Sarah Beaulieu
Activate commitments to end sexual violence and support survivor recovery in the U.S. by building a movement through action-forcing events, coalition building and continuous network integration

 

Fortify Rights International
Matthew Smith
Prevent human rights violations in Myanmar by enabling individuals to identify and document rights abuses and to advocate for change with local, national, and regional entities.

 

LaborVoices, Inc.
Kohl Gill
Transform labor conditions globally by crowd-sourcing worksite information to empower workers and allow companies to make informed sourcing decisions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDUCATION

3.2.1 Education Foundation
Gaurav Singh
Empower marginalized children in India to become global citizens by growing a network of model schools that elevate the quality of education within communities and across the country.

 

Aim For 3
Fabrice Vil
Improve high school graduation and college enrollment rates among low-income student athletes in Quebec by elevating the quality of training for sports coaches and the coaching curricula offered.

 

Amani Institute
Roshan Paul
Cultivate next generation talent by shifting higher education models to focus on experiential learning, practical skills-building, and personal leadership development, filling the gap between university and the workforce.

 

CIYOTA
Benson Wereje
Mobilize refugee youth in Uganda and the DRC to lead a nonviolent movement for peace, spearheading thoughtful dialogue around decades of tribal division and holistic community development programs. 

 

ConTextos
Debra Gittler
Foster literacy in El Salvador by developing community libraries, diversifying literacy curricula, and training teachers to guide students to holistic learning outcomes. 

 

Enstitute Inc.
Shaila Ittycheria
Kane Sarhan

Challenge the traditional debt-bearing higher education model by introducing an apprenticeship-based education program to elevate workforce potential around the globe.

 

g.Maarifa
Evanna Hu
Raise the living standards of communities across Kenya by using low-cost SMS technology to provide mass access to educational content around health, agriculture, and financial literacy.

 

Practice Makes Perfect, Inc.
Karim Abouelnaga
Narrow the achievement gap in low income U.S. neighborhoods through summer enrichment programs that pair skills development for younger students with leadership and career training for older students.

 

ZAYA
Neil D’Souza
Revolutionize delivery of high quality education to underprivileged students around the world by empowering women to own and operate world-class blended learning labs in their local communities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ENVIRONMENT

Effortless Energy
Claire Tramm
Matthew Gee

Make energy efficiency accessible and affordable to more households by harnessing energy savings benefits to pay for efficiency measures and services.

 

Greenway Grameen Infra
Ankit Mathur
Neha Juneja
Provide affordable home energy solutions to the rural poor in India by creating and distributing consumer-centric efficiency tools through existing local retail infrastructure.

 

Wecyclers
Bilikiss Adebiyi
Reduce the impact of poor waste management and local environmental degradation on low-income households in Nigeria by establishing accessible, incentive-based recycling systems.

 

 

 

FOOD & AGRICULTURE

Blacktop Bloom
Ray Xiong
Promote healthy living and economic development in urban food deserts by setting up networks of micro-greenhouses to grow and distribute fresh produce year-round to local restaurants, residents and retailers.

 

Fenugreen
Kavita Shukla
Swaroop Samant

Improve farm yields, food access, and food security for millions of global families by implementing simple, low-cost innovations to prevent food spoilage and food waste.

 

 

 

 

 

HEALTH & HEALTHCARE

Anjna Patient Education
Vineet Singal
Develop the capacity of health organizations to serve poor communities across the U.S. by engaging mobile technologies to support health literacy and patient accountability and thus to reduce overall costs of care.

 

CA Bikes
Christopher Ategeka
Connect individuals and communities in rural Uganda to critical health and education services by building and coordinating the distribution of locally made transport vehicles, such as wheelchairs, bicycles and bicycle ambulances.

 

City Health Works
Manmeet Kaur
Transform healthcare outcomes in the U.S. by training networks of peer coaches to facilitate patient disease management, health maintenance, and long-term care coordination.

 

GirlTrek
T. Morgan Dixon
Vanessa Garrison
Counter the health crisis facing African American women by building a movement of women and girls who perceive health as a civil rights issue and are dedicated to walking to improve their quality of life.

 

Humanure Power (HP)
Anoop Jain
Eliminate outdoor defecation in rural Bihar, India by building toilet blocks, training local sanitation workers, and leveraging methane waste as affordable household electricity through rechargeable battery rental.

 

MyZooPets
Alexander Ryu
Annie Ryu

Advance health outcomes for children managing chronic diseases by designing multi-platform virtual pet games that encourage responsible behaviors and self management skills among patients.

 

Vaxess Technologies
Livio Valenti
Michael Schrader

Lower the number of people in developing countries who die of vaccine-preventable diseases using low-cost technologies to stabilize vaccines and diversify storage and shipping options.

 

 

 

POVERTY ALLEVIATION & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Angaza Design, Inc.
Lesley Silverthorn Marincola
Combat poverty in emerging market countries by enabling low-income, off-grid families and small businesses to purchase solar home systems through a cellular-based pay-as-you-go platform.

 

Essmart Global, Inc.
Diana Jue
Jackie Stenson

Deliver life-improving technologies to the people in India who need them most by developing innovative distribution channels embedded within existing local retail networks.

 

Found in Translation
Maria Vertkin
Raise poor multilingual women in the U.S. out of poverty by providing job training programs feeding directly into careers in medical interpreting, as well as coordinating services to support job readiness, career advancement, and family care.

 

Instiglio
Michael Belinsky
Avnish Gungadurdoss

Radically improve life opportunities in developing countries by developing innovative contracting and financing structures that tie public funding awards to real world performance outcomes.

 

Keep Software
Roma Jhaveri
Michael Benedict

Enable organizations in East Africa to reach more consumers with life-changing services by constructing robust distribution chains using web and mobile software tools.

 

m.Paani
Akanksha Hazari
Empower BOP communities to achieve the life they aspire to by implementing mobile-based loyalty programs that connect spending to life-changing education, health, mobility and financial services rewards.

 

MobiTrader
Joseph Ajao
Eric James

Bridge the gap between informal jobseekers in Africa and better livelihoods by using mobile-based technologies to access employment information and to expedite employers’ selection processes.

 

moWoza
Expand rural enterprise and employment in Sub-Saharan Africa by creating mobile shopping services that facilitate remote access to goods and consolidate micro-distribution difficulties associated with informal supply chains.

 

OpportunitySpace
Cristina Garmendia
Alexander Kapur

Drive economic development across the U.S. by using open-source technology to identify underused government property and to facilitate multi-sector collaboration around space use and public benefit.

 

TOHL
Benjamin Cohen
Provide access to clean water for remote communities across the globe using low-maintenance, solar-powered pipeline systems and rapid installation techniques.

 

 

 

 

 

PUBLIC SERVICE & CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

mWater
John Feighery
Annie Feighery

Equip communities to manage local water issues independently by supplying low-cost monitoring kits with mobile applications that facilitate the collection of open-source water data.

 

Transparency Toolkit
M. C. McGrath
Facilitate the disclosure of information to the public using open-source transparency toolkits that enable journalists and organizations to rapidly consolidate, evaluate, and release critical data.

 

Wikipolicy
Peter Gehred
Mobilize networks of policy entrepreneurs to improve public sector productivity by creating open-source incubators for policy innovation online and by hosting an annual competition to vet these ideas offline.

 

 

 

2013 Open Society Foundations Black Male Achievement Fellowship Finalists

The Anew School
Alexandria Lee
Transform at-risk African American boys into college graduates and community leaders by enrolling them in a boarding school program in Ghana, West Africa, that develops academic skills and social/emotional competencies.

 

B Holding Group, LLC / b condoms
Jason Panda
Reduce the rate of HIV/AIDS and encourage responsible health practices among people of color in the U.S. by marketing premium, chic and socially-responsible condoms directly to at-risk, ethnic communities.

 

CODE2040
Laura Weidman Powers
Close the achievement gap for African-American men by creating pathways to educational, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology fields through programs that provide industry experience, job training, and networking.

 

corners2cornerstones, inc.
Leslie Alfin
David Thigpen

Reduce recidivism among African American men by creating a network of entrepreneurship training programs that provide participants with technology enabled tools and training critical to financial independence post incarceration.

 

Emerging Leaders in Technology and Engineering, Inc. (ELiTE)
Chelsey Roebuck
Expand career opportunities for black men and boys in the U.S. by providing hands-on training in STEM fields and fostering networks of professionals capable of succeeding in STEM careers.

 

IMB Foundation
Tarrus Richardson
Promote economic development in underserved U.S. communities by creating a private-equity style community development corporation that builds institutional capacity and generates employment opportunities in minority-owned business entities.

 

Institute for Sustainable Economic, Educational and Environmental Design (I-SEEED)
Antwi Akom
Eliminate the STEM achievement gap for black youth by building a national network that provides culturally responsive STEM skills training and mentorship and accelerates pathways to STEM careers.

 

Learningateway
Candis Best
Dramatically improve college degree attainment rates for African American men by leveraging web-based strategies and supportive coaching models to support personal growth as well as academic achievement.

 

Pallus
Kaili Baucum
Increase the number of black male students attending top U.S. universities by providing customized education planning and college choice mentorship throughout their high school careers.

 

Qeyno Labs
Kalimah Priforce
Harness web- and mobile-based technology to transform the career pathways of black males in underserved U.S. communities by providing attractive, incentive-based, career discovery and professional networking applications.

 

Qlovi
Harlyn Pacheco
Ricardo Rodriguez

Foster improved literacy rates, high school graduation, and college enrollment for African American males by using an interactive software platform to provide differentiated student instruction and empowerment.

 

The Reset Foundation
Jane Wilson
Jen Porter

Empower incarcerated young adult black men to succeed professionally and personally by creating a prison model entirely focused on education and reentry into the community.

 

The School Justice Project, Inc.
Sarah Comeau
Claire Blumenson

Protect and enforce the special education rights of older black male youth involved in the D.C. juvenile justice state by providing free special education representation, legal advocacy, and rights-based trainings.

 

GigaBryte (formerly TinkerTags)
Momo Akade
Create new pathways into STEM fields for black male youth in the U.S. by using a wearable computing learning platform to teach foundational technology skills at an early age.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leave a reply

Your comment has been submitted and is awaiting approval.

GET OUR BIG BOLD IDEAS IN YOUR INBOX