On May 8, 2008, four student teams each received a $625 award from the Office of the Chancellor at the University of Kansas for their solutions to social challenges facing three Lawrence agencies. Please click here for a link to the press release.
The Venture Challenge is a semester-long competition in which KU student teams and community partners collaborate to address a social challenge. Thousands of dollars will be awarded in total to the winning teams.
Community partner organizations in three sectors - the Arts, Poverty Reduction and Environmental Sustainability - have defined a challenge(s) facing their sector. Challenges range from developing a marketing campaign to forging a partnership with the City of Lawrence to re-assessing the atmosphere of a lobby space. Student teams, either as part of a class or independently, compete as social entrepreneurs to propose a solution to their community partner’s challenge. Proposals will be evaluated for innovation, feasibility, and sustainability at the end of the semester by a committee made up of Venture Ambassadors and faculty. Winning teams for each challenge will receive $625 and recognition; additionally, all Venture Ambassadors will receive action plans addressing their challenge(s).
On February 12, the community partners came and spoke about their respective challenges. You can view their ~10 minute presentations below. (Note: If you do not have Windows Media Player, you can download it here for Windows or Mac).
| Sector | Organization | Video Description of Challenge |
| Arts | Lawrence Arts Center | To frame the LAC’s identity in a compelling manner, student teams are challenged to identify and document the impact and importance of the LAC’s activities in the community. |
| Arts | Lawrence Arts Center | The LAC challenges student teams to determine the feasibility and requirements of establishing a refreshment kiosk and eating area in the LAC lobby. |
| Poverty | Tenants to Homeowners, Inc. | To increase awareness of affordable housing opportunities, Tenants to Homeowners challenges student teams to develop a low-cost community/workplace marketing campaign. |
| Sustainability | The Kaw Valley Heritage Alliance | The KVHA challenges student teams to expand upon an existing volunteer storm water monitoring initiative to identify and address recruitment, training and implementation issues. |
- For more information about how the Venture Challenge works, please review our Venture Challenge Explanation pdf.
- For more information about the four challenges, please review the Challenge Description pdf.
- Interested students should also download the Student Form pdf.
Please email the Center for Service Learning at (csl@ku.edu) with your name and challenge.
As your team researches and drafts its proposed solution to your community partner's challenge, feel free to contact the Center for Service Learning for proposal review and feedback. Proposals are due no later than Thursday, May 1st 2008 at 5:00pm. A proposal review committee will select a winning proposal for each of the four challenges. $625 will be awarded to the student each winning team in the form a KU student account credit.
Please contact the Center for Service Learning at 785-864-0960 or csl@ku.edu with any questions.
