Young social entrepreneurs honored through IYF’s YouthActionNet® Global Fellowship program will soon be eligible to apply for grants through the Starbucks Innovation Fund. In 2008, the Fund, established through a collaboration between the International Youth Foundation (IYF) and the Starbucks Foundation, will provide grants of up to $15,000 to 20-25 projects led by YouthActionNet® Fellows.

“The Starbucks Innovation Fund provides the perfect complement to the robust activities already offered through the YouthActionNet® Global Fellowship program,” said IYF President & CEO William S. Reese. “Now, in addition to the skill-building, networking, and recognition opportunities available through YouthActionNet®, Fellows will have the chance to scale up the impact of their important work.”

The grant awards, to be formally launched in May, will be open to young leaders who have completed the YouthActionNet® Global Fellowship Program. A committee comprised of IYF staff, Starbucks employees, and external stakeholders will select the final grant recipients, who will be announced in September 2008.

YouthActionNet® Global Fellows address a range of critical social and environmental challenges through their work. Examples include:

• Abhishek Bharadwaj, 28, India: Bharadwaj spent weeks talking to homeless people on the streets of Mumbai before creating Alternative Realities, an organization that conducts advocacy, mobilizes volunteers, and provides the homeless with improved access to essential services.

• Selene Biffi, 24, Italy: Biffi established Youth Action for Change, a web-based initiative that has trained thousands of young people in over 80 countries to be change-makers in their communities.

• Zablon Wagalla, 27, Kenya: Wagalla founded Trees for Clean Energy to increase the incomes of small farmers while reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the cultivation of Jatropha curcas, a clean energy, bio-fuel.

Launched in 2001 by IYF and founding sponsor Nokia, YouthActionNet® strengthens, supports, and celebrates the role of young people in leading positive change. Through its Fellowship Programs, customized trainings, dynamic website, and peer-to-peer learning opportunities, YouthActionNet® offers young change makers ideas, resources, and connections to like minds around the world. With support from the Sylvan Laureate Foundation, YouthActionNet® has launched institutes in Brazil and Mexico, with additional institutes planned for Australia, Chile, Egypt, Haiti, Israel, and Spain in 2008-2009.

To learn more about YouthActionNet®, please visit: www.youthactionnet.org.

For further information on the Starbuck Foundation’s support of young social entrepreneurs globally, click here.