What we do

Together with young people, Ashoka Youth Years builds diverse communities of change leaders – educators, parents, and leaders from school districts, unions, schools of education, governments, and youth-serving organizations. We facilitate collaboration and innovation within these communities to create an Everyone a Changemakers World.

Selecting, supporting, and spotlighting young changemakers.

Together with young people, building and activating diverse communities of change leaders.

Activating ecosystems which support the next generation of changemakers in local communities.

For the past 40 years, Ashoka has built the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs – individuals who change the systems and patterns of societies around the world to make them more equitable and just. But it doesn’t take a social entrepreneur to know that we’re living in an unprecedented moment in human history, with change happening all around us and  at an accelerating rate. This rate of change contributes to unforeseen social problems almost daily but it also opens new opportunities to make our societies better for everyone. 

 

At Ashoka, we believe that in order to thrive in this changing world, every person must recognize his or her power as a changemaker. This means mastering empathy, leading through collaboration, and taking action to solve problems or create opportunities for the good of all. 

The time is now for a fundamental shift in how people see the world and the role of young people within it. That’s where we come in. Ashoka Youth Years and our partners are working to reshape how young people grow up and redefine success, both inside and outside formal education.

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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.

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Forbes logo
The Christian Science Monitor Logo
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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.