Ashoka Announces 2016 Class of Fellows Who Are Making a Difference

WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Ashoka celebrates the 14 new social entrepreneurs elected into the prestigious Ashoka Fellowship in the United States. These social innovators, who hail from all over the US, are boldly tackling some of the country's biggest problems – from immigration detention reform and environmental justice to labor rights and the empowerment of rural youth.

"We believe it is time to help craft a new national story for the US," says Konstanze Frischen, VP and Director of North America Programs. "One that views the country through a lens of solutions rather than one of fear and anger, and one that acknowledges the breadth and diversity of changemakers across the nation."

Ashoka is the oldest and largest network of social entrepreneurs in the world with a history dating back more than 35 years. It supports over 3,200 Fellows, systems-changing visionaries, in 90 countries, connecting them to the people, ideas and resources needed to grow and deepen their impact. 

This year's class of US Fellows is redrawing the map of social entrepreneurship in the US and proving that impactful ideas often come from underrepresented voices and places.

Meet the Ashoka US class of 2016!

• Jennifer Bailey, Nashville, TN
  Faith Matters Network
  Equipping a new generation of faith leaders as changemakers.
  
  
• Tiffiniy Cheng, Worcester, MA
  Fight for the Future
  Building a new political process centered around online action and voice.
  
  
• Jeff Dykstra, Minneapolis, MN
  Partners in Food Solution
  Advancing food security by reimagining the relationships between small and large food companies.
  
  
• Mark Edwards, Boston, MA
  Upstream USA
  Ensuring all women receive same-day access to all modern contraceptive methods.
  
  
• Angelou Ezeilo, Atlanta, GA
  Greening Youth Foundation
  Cultivating youth of color to be stewards of the environmental conservation movement. 
  
  
• Christina Fialho, Los Angeles, CA
  CIVIC
  Building community-based alternatives to immigrant detention centers.  
  
  
• Lennon Flowers, Los Angeles, CA
  The Dinner Party
  Transforming the experience of life after the loss of a loved one from an isolating experience into a tool for connection.
  
  
• Kohl Gill, Sunnyvale, CA
  LaborVoices
  Facilitating transparency in labor markets by crowdsourcing intelligence from mobile phone surveys. 
  
  
• Imran Khan, Chicago, IL 
  Embarc
  Providing experiential learning for urban youth outside school walls.
  
  
• Megan Marcus, Houston, TX
  FuelEd
  Integrating emotional wellbeing and intelligence into teachers' recruitment and training.
  
  
• Katie Orenstein, New York, NY
  OpEd Project
  Expanding the representation of marginalized voices in the media
  
  
• Noran Sanford, Laurinburg, NC
  Growing Change
  Empowering rural youth to turn decommissioned prisons into community hubs.
  
  
• Paula Segal, New York, NY
  596 Acres
  Transforming vacant public land into an opportunity for community organizing.
  
  
• Casey Woods, Miami, FL
  Ethics with Arms
  Leveraging law enforcement's ability to stop the illegal flow of guns.

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Read more about the ideas of our 2016 Ashoka Fellows here.

For Inquires, contact: Tara Roberts, US Director of Communications, [email protected].

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161010/427103

SOURCE Ashoka

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