Students in a YouthBuild program got some high level attention yesterday, with a visit from President Obama. YouthBuild USA was created by Dorothy Stoneman, a 2007 Skoll social entrepreneur. The President visited a YouthBuild program in Savanna, Georgia, where the students were taking vocational training on air conditioning. “They’re learning about solar cells; they’re [...]

YouthBuild, founded by 2007 Skoll social entrepreneur Dorothy Stoneman, landed a great profile this week on the Huffington Post.  Julia Moulden, who writes frequently on social entrepreneurs, provides a compelling overview of Dorothy’s work, with some good anecdotes on the program’s impact.  She also highlights how the U.S. and state governments have stepped up to [...]

YouthBuild, founded by 2007 Skoll social entrepreneur Dorothy Stoneman, saw important budget progress this week, with a key Senate appropriations subcommittee allocating $105 million for YouthBuild programs in FY2010.  This would represent a 50 percent increase over last year’s funding.  This level is slightly higher than the $100 million reported out by the relevant House [...]

Earlier this week, First Lady Michelle Obama made a visit to YouthBuild’s 30th Anniversary event on the National Mall in Washington.  YouthBuild was founded by 2007 Skoll social entrepreneur Dorothy Stoneman.  As part of the event, 100 disadvantaged youths in the YouthBuild program came to the National Mall to begin building a “green” house for [...]

The Sundance Institute announced at the Sundance Film Festival this week the initial five grants under its “Stories of Change: Social Entrepreneurship in Focus throught Documentary” initiative.  This is part of the $3 million, three-year partnership between the Skoll Foundation and the Sundance Institute launched in 2007. Per the announcement, “The development and production grant [...]

Two Skoll social entrepreneurs turn 30 this year…or, to be more accurate, the organizations they founded turn 30.  Gram Vikas, launched by Joe Madiath in 1979, will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this week in a ceremony in its main office in Mohuda, India.  Gram Vikas currently serves more than 250,000 people in 701 villages [...]

Skoll social entrepreneur Youthbuild features in President-elect Obama’s plans to promote national service in his administration.  On the new Change.gov site, there’s a page about service that outlines plans to expand Americorps and the Peace Corps, as well as create additional service groups for education, health, clean energy and veterans.  Per the site, “Obama will [...]

The ServiceNation Summit kicked off last night in New York with appearances by Barack Obama and John McCain to talk about their ideas for national service.  It continues today with a variety of sessions around aspects of service.  Skoll social entrepreneurs are well represented in the ServiceNation coalition.  Citizen Schools, College Summit, Teach for America, [...]

Two Skoll Social Entreprenuers, 2007 recipient Dorothy Stoneman of Youthbuild and the recently honored Wendy Kopp of Teach for America, have been named to the NonProfit Times Power and Influencer Top 50 List for 2008 (PDF).  In this, their 11th annual list, NonProfit times has tapped executives “for the impact they have now and for [...]

YouthBuild, a 2007 Skoll social entrepreneur, has just published results of a study with some pretty impressive data regarding the impact of their programs.  According to the study, which focused on ex-offenders who had gone through the YouthBuild program, a dollar spent on a YouthBuild ex-offender yields a minimum of $10.80 in benefit to taxpayers [...]