STORIES OF YOUNG CHANGEMAKERS

Ashoka's storytelling initiative aims to demonstrate the power of a young person who has identified a problem, formed and led a team, and created a solution. These stories help everyone see the new reality — that everything is changing, and this requires redefining what "growing up" means.

youth Voices

We believe that youth voice is critical for our society, and that each of us should take steps to make sure that youth voices are heard in workplaces, on social media, and throughout our society. Check out the videos below to hear from young people throughout the world who are stepping up to create change in their communities, and share your favorites with your family, friends, and coworkers. 

Young Changemaker Videos

UNITED STATES

BRAZIL

INDIA

Changemaker Identity

Based on our research, we have found that young people begin to see changemaking as a key part of their identity at this part of the journey.

Iteration

Young people tend to repeat this step multiple times before moving on to the next stage of the journey.

Organizations

Youth serving organizations in our network value changemaking culture for their employees as well as the young people they work with.  They help grow changemaker mindsets in their employees and provide opportunities for youth to practice empathy and changemaking at various points in their day.

Companies

Ashoka partners with the most innovative corporations ready to co-create a multi-faceted partnership that engages various parts of their business. Ashoka looks for corporations that embrace changemaking culture internally with their employees as well as within their broader business.

Over the years Ashoka Youth Years US has partnered with over 50 corporations to encourage tens of thousands of young people to become changemakers and grow changemaking culture within their businesses.

Media

Ashoka has many media partners that are dedicated to spreading the everyone a changemaker message. Some of our partners are below.

mtv logo
Forbes logo
The Christian Science Monitor Logo
Huffington Post logo
Bloomberg News logo

School districts

We live in a world of unprecedented change. How are we preparing students to navigate and contribute to this world? We need to re-imagine education to support teachers, parents, and administrators to prepare students to thrive in their rapidly changing world. Our partner School Districts commit to shifting their culture towards one that embraces changemaking by spending a school year integrating changemaking into the mindsets of their teachers, school curriculum, larger systems, and district culture.

A changemaker identity for educators and superintendents is one that will ensure resilience and creativity to overcome the classroom’s and district’s many obstacles. 

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government

Ashoka has defined the field of social entrepreneurship around the idea of systems change. Our work as the Youth Years team continues this work by engaging with visionary policy makers at all levels to ensure that the outcomes which lead to an everyone a changemaker world are solidly embedded in the structure and systems of education in ways that support the next generations of changemakers.

UNIONS

The Unions with whom Ashoka works represent hundreds of thousands of nurses, teachers, paraprofessionals, higher education faculty and public employees who work day in and day out to teach our kids, keep our families healthy and improve our communities. Ashoka works closely with our unions partners and the communities they serve to create a future where everyone can discover their power to be a changemaker and where young people learn to thrive in this volatile and rapidly changing world.