Grinnell’s social justice emphasis has grown stronger in recent months. The college awarded its first three awards last fall to young people working for social change, with $50,000 going to each winner and another $50,000 to a charity of their choice. Grinnell received 1,200 applications.
The winners –a rabbi connecting Palestinians with American Jews, an activist in Ghana and a pair of young men who helped install a social justice...
As I celebrate this coveted prize, I am deeply humbled by the road thus far. Seven years of forced labor, and 15 years of raw hunger and deprivation did not stop me from becoming a university graduate, nor did it stop me from becoming a banker. In fact, it still has not stopped me from continuing to aspire. It has only succeeded in bringing me to a point of thinking, day-by-day, of the essence of life – the lives of others.
So this...
Grinnell College will host its first symposium dedicated to the Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize on October 25-27. The Symposium – co-sponsored by the college’s Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations and Human Rights – includes an awards ceremony and presentations by the 2011 prize winners:...
Grinnell College today announced the call for nominations for the 2012 Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize. This prize program, now in its second year, honors individuals under the age of 40 who have demonstrated leadership in their fields and who show creativity, commitment and extraordinary accomplishment in effecting positive social change. Up...
Melissa was invited to the White House for this year’s Jewish American Heritage Month reception. She was also awarded the first ever Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize, which came with a $100,000 award (split between the innovator and her organization). A few weeks ago, Encounter honored her for six...
These projects take courage and creativity. You have to work with, or around, institutions that may not be keen on change. You have to find new ways to raise money, as the Amherst pair did, by, among other things, holding date auctions on campus. You have to get communities you are working with to buy in. And you cannot expect much compensation or recognition because social change work is often neither lucrative nor popular.
That's why...
Grinnell College today named the winners of the first Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize: Boris Bulayev, president, and Eric Glustrom, executive director, Educate! (shared award); James Kofi Annan, executive director, Challenging Heights; and Rabbi Melissa Weintraub, co-founder and co-executive director, Encounter.
The...
Grinnell College today announced the 10-member selection committee that will determine winners of the 2011 Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize. The award program, which received more than 1,000 nominations from 66 countries, honors individuals under the age of 40 who have demonstrated leadership in their...
Grinnell College today announced the creation of a $300,000 annual prize program to honor individuals under the age of 40 who have demonstrated leadership in their fields and who show creativity, commitment and extraordinary accomplishment in effecting positive social change. The Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize will carry...
