Echoing Green today announced it is joining forces with the Fund II Foundation to expand its efforts aimed at building an inclusive entrepreneurship movement focused on unleashing a more diverse set of innovators and founders.

As part of the 1-year partnership, Fund II Foundation will bring Echoing Green’s leadership development and social impact curriculum to 1,000 students at HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and community colleges in Baltimore and Atlanta, and provide funding for three select Echoing Green Fellows.

Dedicated to accelerating the growth of high-potential leaders whose organizations are tackling pressing issues like systemic racism and improving the life outcomes of black boys and men, the Echoing Green Fellowship provides unrestricted seed funding of up to $90,000 and training and programmatic support for two years, as well as lifelong access to a global network of leading philanthropists, investors, and entrepreneurs. Echoing Green’s community of nearly 1,000 social innovators includes past Fellows like First Lady Michelle Obama, Teach For America founder Wendy Kopp, and Ella Baker Center for Human Rights founder Van Jones.

The Fellows that Fund II Foundation will support for 2019 are:

• Raymond Winans and Tolulope Sonuyi, co-founders of Detroit Life Is Valuable Every Day (DLIVE): Winans, a community leader, and Sonuyi, a physician, are leading the charge in creating pathways to health for youth who have been acutely injured through community violence by introducing innovative health-centered strategies for violence intervention and prevention.
• Ateira Griffin, founder of BOND, Inc. – Building Our Nation’s Daughters: Griffin, the daughter of a single mother, is working to increase upward mobility and healthy relationships in single-mother households in Baltimore by creating a community hub offering mentoring, resources, and free family programming.
• Antoine Patton, founder of Photo Patch Foundation: Fort Myers, Florida’s Antoine Patton is a father who taught himself to code while in prison and created a mobile app that enables children to ship letters and pictures to parents in prison free of charge.

“Echoing Green is the perfect partner to help us build a world where diversity of people means a diversity of opinions, points of view, and perspectives, the very things that spark innovation,” said Linda Wilson, Executive Director of Fund II Foundation.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Fund II Foundation as it shares our commitment to developing innovators who are left out by traditional approaches — women, people of color, indigenous leaders, and others,” said Echoing Green President Cheryl L. Dorsey, who is herself a former Echoing Green Fellow (1992). “By joining together to create an environment where leaders of diverse backgrounds can challenge and inspire each other, we can raise up a new generation of leaders with the courage to speak truth to power, and the talent, vision, and purpose to bring real social change.”

About Echoing Green: For more than 30 years, Echoing Green has been on the front lines of solving the world’s biggest problems, raising up the transformational leaders willing to speak truth to power and challenge the status quo. The organization finds emerging leaders with the best ideas for social innovation as early as possible, and sets them on a path to lifelong impact. Echoing Green’s community of nearly 1,000 social innovators includes past Fellows like First Lady Michelle Obama, the founders of organizations like Teach For America and One Acre Fund, and public figures like Van Jones. Built and refined over three decades, Echoing Green discovers tomorrow’s leaders, today, and then funds, connects, and supports a new generation of social impact leaders. More information: www.echoinggreen.org

About Fund II Foundation: Our mission is to preserve the African-American experience; safeguard human rights; provide music education; preserve the environment while promoting the benefits of the outdoors; and sustain critical American values such as entrepreneurialism. For more information on Fund II Foundation, visit www.fund2foundation.org.

###

For information contact:
Patrick Kowalczyk, patrick@pkpr.com
Jenny Chang, jenny@pkpr.com
PKPR, 212.627.8098