Seven nonprofits will benefit from a team of young professionals in the 2013 Yum! IGNITES Louisville Challenge, the service learning component of the Leadership Louisville Center’s Ignite Louisville program. The challenge pairs Ignite Louisville teams with Louisville area nonprofits to plan, execute and sustain new strategies for success. In return, Ignite Louisville participants gain experience in community leadership, board involvement and teamwork. Ignite Louisville is presented by Norton Healthcare.
This the ninth year for the challenge, sponsored by Yum! Brands, Inc. and over 50 nonprofit agencies submitted proposals hoping to work with an Ignite Louisville team. At the end of the program, a winning team is selected to receive funds for their partner organization. Last year, the team working with YouthBuild was selected as winner and YUM! Brands Foundation surprised the agency by matching the $1,500 contribution and awarding a second nonprofit, WaterStep (formerly called EDGE OUTREACH), with a $1,500 contribution.
Since 2004, 56 nonprofits have benefited from the challenge. Based on a recent survey, nonprofits partnered with an Ignite Louisville team reported remarkable improvement in operations productivity, increased community outreach and improved strategic focus. The 2012 class directly invested 2370 hours in their partner organizations, averaging 395 hours per team. The estimated value of their work was over $30,000. Team involvement continued past the program for 83% of partner organizations and 97% of Ignite Louisville graduates report increased civic engagement following the Yum! IGNITES Louisville Challenge.
The nonprofits selected for the Yum! IGNITES Louisville Challenge and their Ignite Louisville teams include:
Brooklawn Child & Family Services
Kim Clark, VIA Studio; Darren Keith, The Dow Chemical Company; Donnie Ogletree, Norton Healthcare; Lou Rohlfing, Brown-Forman Corporation; Richard Rowland, Jr., Louisville Urban League Young Professionals/UPS; Laura Schiller, Dare to Care Food Bank; and Heather Singleton, Norton Healthcare.
The Patty Smith and Mildred Jane Hill Happy Birthday Park, Inc.
SteVon Edwards, Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness; Nikki Francis, Yum! Brands, Inc.; Michael Iacovazzi-Pau, Greater Louisville Inc.; Justin Keeton, Messer Construction Company; Josef Krebs, Actors Theatre of Louisville; Amanda Price, Citi Cards; Dan Rodriguez, United States Army; and Rebecca Weis, Young Professionals Association of Louisville (YPAL)/Stites & Harbison, PLLC.
Hope Scarves
Tamara Lewis, Jefferson County Public Schools; Mick Miller, InnoVise Technologies; Aaron Montgomery, Seven Counties Services; Kacy Noltemeyer, Cedar Lake Foundation; Patrick Oster, Yum! Brands, Inc.; Kevin Richie, KentuckyOne Health; and Abby Shue, The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts.
Kids Center for Pediatric Therapies
Kurt Barrett, Harshaw Trane; Jonathan Hall, Horseshoe Southern Indiana; Sarah Johnson, M.D., University of Louisville; Tzivia Levin Kalmes, Jewish Community of Louisville; Rob King, Northwestern Mutual; Becky Mayton, Frost Brown Todd LLC; Priscilla McIntosh, The Morton Center; and Chris Torres, UPS Airlines.
Louisville Youth Philanthropy Council
Dennis Hillen, Humana Inc.; Jenny Hurst, Big Spring Country Club; Megan Kishman, Dean Dorton Allen Ford; Lisa McGriff, RecoverCare; Aaron Rosenberg, The Courier-Journal; Jeanne Ward, The Oliver Group; and Kelvin Young, Insight/Time Warner Cable, The Show TV.
Restorative Justice Louisville
Amanda Bledsoe, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce; Alecia Dimar, Yum! Brands, Inc.; Peter Nesmith, Fifth Third Bank; Sue Perram, Brown-Forman Corporation; Darrell Thornton, UPS Airlines; Sara Veeneman, Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP; and Paul Weis, LG&E and KU Energy.
St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Charities
Heather Benson, Visually Impaired Preschool Services; Matt Brotzge, United States Senate, Senator Mitch McConnell; Ankur Gopal, Interapt; Kevin Guthrie, Frazier History Museum; Tracy Markert, Hosparus, Inc.; Talley Russell, Norton Healthcare; Kortney Ryan, Deming, Malone, Livesay & Ostroff; and Rich Vollmer, Humana Inc.
About Ignite Louisville:
Presented by Norton Healthcare, Ignite Louisville is a seven-month program that grows young professionals by developing the key components of leadership. In addition to the core curriculum, the class participates in the Yum! IGNITES Louisville Challenge and takes on a project proposed by a local nonprofit to gain hands-on experience performing on a team and serving the community. The 2012 class will learn cutting edge leadership concepts from program partners including Norton Healthcare, Yum! Brands, Inc., Brown-Forman Corporation, UPS and Northwestern Mutual. They will participate in an exclusive Networking Series, an Etiquette Dinner and a program day with the Special Forces from Fort Knox. Ignite Louisville is also supported by the Young Professionals Association of Louisville (YPAL) and the Louisville Urban League Young Professionals (LULYP).
About the Leadership Louisville Center:
Created in 1979, the Leadership Louisville Center is the region’s most valuable resource for leadership development and civic engagement. Its mission is to grow and connect a diverse network of leaders who serve as catalysts for a world-class community through dynamic programming and strong community connections. Over 6,000 community leaders have graduated from the Center’s programs that include Leadership Louisville, Focus Louisville, Ignite Louisville and Bingham Fellows. In 2011, the Leadership Louisville Center was recognized as one of the top seven community leadership programs in the U.S. in a benchmark study by the Center for Creative Leadership, the “gold standard” global provider of executive leadership education and research.
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