Tuesday, September 20, 2016
LITE Chosen by Youth Board To Receive $40K Grant
Memphis nonprofit Let’s Innovate through Education is one of 60 recipients chosen by a youth advisory board to receive a $40,000 grant from State Farm.
LITE was one of 750 nonprofits to apply for the grant. Youths from across the country evaluated the applications for how effective they utilized youth voice, then chose the top 60 to receive grants. Let’s Innovate through Education is the first Memphis nonprofit to be chosen since the the youth advisory board process began.
“I think this grant is a testament to the power of letting our students drive the future of this city,” LITE executive director Hardy Farrow said in a statement. “We believe firmly in the idea that solving our deepest problems as a city starts with entrepreneurship: empowering African-American and Latino entrepreneurs. Through this grant, we are going to be able to expand to 425 ideas over the next five years and help these students with pursuing their dreams.”
Let’s Innovate through Education, which began in 2012, has expanded into a six-month incubator program that helps students develop entrepreneurial ideas and learn how to market, budget, pitch and value-differentiate them. Students also receive $750 in funding for their idea.
LITE works with nonprofit partners, including Bridges, Reach Memphis and Memphis Athletic Ministries, to host workshops and select students for the incubator. Students get matched with scholarships for college and paid internships while in college. As the students become adults, LITE works with local entrepreneurial organizations to help the students scale their businesses.
