New wave of social entrepreneurs

A national search last week identified six of America's most promising social entrepreneurs.

Youth Service America (YSA), a Washington-based organization that creates volunteer opportunities for young people, selected six winners from an initial pool of 1,000 prospective applicants. YSA aims to promote nonprofit organizations to tackle major youth issues.

Six of the 18 previous winners (from the past four years) have begun to expand regionally or nationally. Eight have received national awards or recognition.

The new winners are:

*Dean Chronopoulos, Children to Children Foundation, Atlanta.

*Robert Donahue, Civic Education Project, Evanston, Ill.

*Melissa Helmbrecht, Youth Investment Project, Denver, and Camden, N.J.

*William Morgan, The Civic Literacy Project, Bloomington, Ind.

*Vincent Pan, Heads-Up: A University Neighborhood Initiative, Washington, D.C.

*Amy Sananman, Community Groundswell Mural Project, Brooklyn, N.Y.

The YSA's Fund for Social Entrepreneurs offers winners three years of fund-raising support, training, technical and professional assistance, public exposure, and membership within a peer group of social entrepreneurs in the Fund's learning community.

(c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society