Ashoka's Youth Venture, Best Buy Announce Winners of the @15 Community Impact Challenge

Ten Youth-Led Teams Receive Funding to Expand Their Social Ventures

MINNEAPOLIS, April 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ashoka's Youth Venture, a global community of young social entrepreneurs, and Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) announced the 10 winners of the second @15 Community Impact Challenge today. Five teams of young social entrepreneurs will receive $5,000 each and five teams will be selected to receive $1,500 each from the Best Buy Children's Foundation to expand their local "ventures" – clubs, organizations or businesses created and launched by young people to make a difference in their communities.  

Youth Venture and Best Buy selected 15 finalists from plans submitted by active youth-led teams from across the country.  More than 40,000 votes were cast on at15.com through an online campaign to select the winning teams.  

"The winning teams will expand their Ventures to have greater impact and potential for sustainability, reflecting issues that range from community needs to global concerns," said Gretchen Zucker, executive director of Youth Venture. "These young changemakers, recognized by Best Buy, are demonstrating that young people have the power to transform their communities."

"We congratulate the winners of this year's @15 Community Impact Challenge," said Paula Prahl, Senior Vice President, Communications, Public Affairs and Corporate Responsibility for Best Buy Co., Inc. "At Best Buy, we're proud to support teens who are making their great ideas a reality and improving their communities through organizations like Youth Venture."

The teams were provided an Insignia 5 Megapixel HD digital camcorder and asked to create a 60 second video illustrating how their social venture impacts the community.  The videos served as the finalists' profiles during the voting period and were viewed over 8,000 times.  Teams conducted grassroots and online marketing campaigns in their schools and local communities, building a lasting network of support.

The @15 Community Impact Challenge Grand Prize winners are:

Woofin & Hoofin / Adin, 18 – Wheaton, IL.  Venture objective: Further develop 5K fundraiser which raised over $5000 for a local animal shelter last year and educate future leaders through seminars and guides.

Eye for the Future / Malvi, 16 – Watchung, NJ.  Venture objective: Impact at least 20,000 underprivileged children throughout the world by funding education and building schools, libraries, and computer labs.

Lincoln Climate Action Club / Alexander, 17 – Woolwich, ME.  Venture objective: Monitor power consumption and install solar panels throughout the Newcastle community as part of global warming awareness program which has already sold town-wide reusable bags, obtained a no-idling vehicle policy in the high school parking lot, and collected batteries and ink cartridges for recycling.

121Reach / Fan, 17 - Johns Creek, GA. Venture objective: Expand the successful after school tutoring program at Chattahoochee High School and Taylor Road Middle School that has served over 200 youth to other local schools through starter kits and training.

T.G.I.F. – Turn Grease Into Fuel / Alexander, 17 – Westerly, RI.  Venture objective: Expand system of collecting and refining used cooking oil into biodiesel, a program which currently generates 30,000 gallons of biodiesel per year, to more locations and set up a seminar to help youth establish their own community service teams.

The @15 Community Impact Challenge Second Prize winners are:

Listen Up! – A New Initiative of Lil's MDGs / Tiffany, 14 – Hooksett, NH.  Educate youth age 5 -10 to understand the Millennium Development Goals through movies, animations, songs, and games made available online and as CDs/DVDs.

Everybody Dance Now! / Jacqueline, 18 – Santa Barbara, CA.  Venture objective: Expand the number of students in hip-hop dance program which has already impacted 800 youth by providing creative outlets and encouraging positive alternatives to violence and substance abuse.

Hives for Lives / Carly, 15 – Devon, PA.  Venture objective: Foster business relationships with distributors and invest in new bee hives in order to increase build on the over $160,000 the team has donated to basic cancer research.

Don's Net Cafe ("Doin' Some Good in the World!") / Ana, 16 – Santa Barbara, CA.  Venture objective: Expand outreach and hold events to educate community about team's environment-focused community service events and tax assistance program, which completes over 600 tax returns each year.

Drinking Water for India / Rujul, 15 – Plainsboro, NJ. Venture objective: Build additional tube-wells and begin implementing rainwater harvesting projects in remote Indian villages as part of expansion of program which has already erected 17 wells and provided clean drinking water for 30,000 people.

Youth interested in launching their own venture team in the United States may qualify for up to $1,000 in seed funding. More information, as well as full profiles of the @15 Community Impact Challenge winners, can be found at https://www.at15.com/contests_scholarships/community_impact.

About Youth Venture

Youth Venture is a global movement of young changemakers. Youth Venture inspires and invests in teams of young people as they start their own sustainable social ventures, connecting them into a powerful global network. Collectively, these young changemakers are redefining the youth years as a time of initiative and positive change. For more information, please visit www.youthventure.org.

About Ashoka

Ashoka is the world's largest network of social entrepreneurs -- individuals with innovative and practical ideas for addressing social needs. Working with these social entrepreneurs, Ashoka builds communities of innovators who work collectively to transform society and design new ways for the social sector to become more productive, entrepreneurial and globally integrated.  For more information, please visit www.ashoka.org.

About @15

Best Buy believes in the power of teens, and @15 is a platform to connect with them, give voice to their perspectives, and invest our resources -- including the energy and talents of our employees -- to turn their ideas into action and support their efforts to lead social change. Teens bring passion and enthusiasm to tackling tough issues. They are also important to our business -- they shop in our stores, and they're our future employees. There's a real opportunity to listen to and learn from what teens have to say. And through the @15 Fund, we'll put the philanthropic power of @15 directly into their hands. To learn more, visit www.at15.com.

About Best Buy Co., Inc.

With operations in the United States, Canada, China, Europe and Mexico, Best Buy is a multinational retailer of technology and entertainment products and services with a commitment to growth and innovation. The Best Buy family of brands and partnerships collectively generates more than $45 billion annual revenue and includes brands such as Best Buy, Audiovisions, The Carphone Warehouse, Future Shop, Geek Squad, Jiangsu Five Star, Magnolia Audio Video, Napster, Pacific Sales Kitchen, Bath and Electronic Centers, The Phone House and Speakeasy. Approximately 155,000 employees apply their talents to help bring the benefits of these brands to life for customers through retail locations, multiple call centers and Web sites, in-home solutions, product delivery and activities in our communities. Community partnership is central to the way we do business at Best Buy. In fiscal 2009, we donated a combined $33.4 million to improve the vitality of the communities where our employees and customers live and work. For more information about Best Buy, visit www.bestbuy.com.

SOURCE Ashoka's Youth Venture