Each spring Echoing Green, a global social venture fund that encourages rising social entrepreneurs to “be bold,” awards two-year fellowships to social entrepreneurs whose project innovations give rise to social change. The finalists gathered in New York at Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy for the 2009 selection weekend on May 1-2.

The Echoing Green finalists each displayed a physical object around which a 90-second pitch was delivered. Ideas included a smart-phone application that creates ‘micro-volunteering’ (“The Extraordinaries”), the dissemination of development data to inform the electorate in India (“IndiaGoverns”), video and social networking tools that give visceral voice to advancing the legal interests of the global poor (“New Media Advocacy Project”), and a St. Louis corner store model that combines fresh food, exercise programs, and art projects to promote health in underserved neighborhoods (“The J.U.I.C.E. Project”).

Fellows receive up to $90,000 in seed funding and technical support to turn their innovative ideas into sustainable social change organizations. Winners will be announced in June.

Professor Mary Watson, chair of the Milano Management programs and one of the judges, noted that Milano and Echoing Green both support those who grow and lead organizations that create sustainable change. Milano Dean Lisa Servon, in her opening comments, showcased initiatives created in Milano-Parsons social entrepreneurship courses, including CleanUp, a landmine shaped soap that supports landmine removal.

Milano alumna Maritza Martinez (MS, nonprofit management, ‘05), now a senior associate at Echoing Green, organized the coordination effort for the two-day selection event. Milano faculty Dennis Derryck and Charles Allison, Community Development Finance Lab Director Blaise Rastello, Associate Dean John Green, and a dozen student volunteers met with finalists and supported the activities.