In 2007, Katie Fox, a student at Concord High School, took a trip to Karatu, Tanzania, with her family. Her grandfather, a retired pilot, had spent some time in Karatu years before, and the village had a special place in his heart: he wanted to share with his family. After meeting villagers and seeing local schools, Fox was able to see firsthand the hardships facing Tanzanian children today, including the lack of desks, school supplies and technology.
Fox returned to Concord transformed; she was determined to help improve the educational system in Karatu. With the help of Concord classmates Kelsey Rainie and Kaytlynn Jacobs-Brett, Fox developed and launched the Youth Venture Team Wakati Ujao, Swahili for “future.”
Wakati Ujao will raise money for the Karatu Education Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life and learning in Karatu by strategically building and restoring education facilities. Fox has maintained many connections in Karatu and will lean on these contacts to ensure their progress.
To fundraise, Wakati Ujao has designed T-shirts to sell, will host yard sales and develop a letter writing campaign. The team also hopes to educate its community on the important issue of education in third world countries by passing out flyers and setting up a booth at Market Days.
Wakati Ujao formally presented its change making idea before a selection panel of community members and leaders who approved the team's idea after deciding it had met the criteria for becoming a Youth Venture team.
A venture team must be a new club, service or organization, provide a positive, lasting community benefit, be created, run and managed by youth ages 12-20, have clear goals, a committed team, a realistic budget and have a non-controlling adult mentor. Each team receives up to $1,000 in venture seed funding.
For more information, please visit http://www.GenV.net.
Youth Venture
