Announcing our 2014-2015 Social Venture Accelerator Fellows!

These emerging industry leaders and catalysts for social change bring viable, innovative solutions to Propeller’s target sectors of healthy food access, public health, public education, and water management.

24 August 2014

We are excited to welcome 15 new ventures to participate in the 4th Social Venture Accelerator, beginning on September 3, 2014! Propeller strategically selected our new class of Fellows from Propeller’s most competitive pool of applicants to date to collaborate around NOLA's most urgent challenges.

We’re confident in the Fellows’ potential to work together to drive systemic change,” says Andrea Chen, Propeller Executive Director. “This year’s class is a dynamic blend of people, and we have an exciting vision for how they can mutually reinforce one another’s missions.”

Propeller will celebrate the launch of the 2014-2015 class with a Meet the Fellows Party at Propeller on October 17th. RSVP here and see here for more details.

And now, introducing...

The 2014-2015 Accelerator Fellows

 

Healthy Food Access:

The Cookbook Project – Adam Aronovitz and Alissa Bilfield
Empowering New Orleans youth as catalysts for healthy, sustainable communities through hands-on cooking and food literacy education

Community Plates – Kevin Mullins, Jeff Schacher, Melissa Spiesman, and Lauren Rudzis
A technology-fueled, volunteer driven solution to American food insecurity

Food and Farm Works – Ashley Mann
A licensed commercial kitchen, offering shared kitchen space, storage, refrigeration, labeling, bottling, vacuum-packing, and business development support to food entrepreneurs and farmers in the Greater New Orleans region

 

Public Health:

Clear Health Analytics – Kathryn Wollan and Jennifer Sclar
Building tools to empower consumers to make smart decisions about their health insurance and health care costs

Coordinated Care for the Whole Child – Connie Bellone
Building the systems and capacity for its partner schools to bill Medicaid for eligible health care services

RD Note – Molly Hegarty
A mobile technology company that empowers local healthcare providers and their patients to collaborate on chronic disease management and prevention

Treux North – Danielle Burrell  
A premier provider of worksite, school-based, and community wellness services with a focus on fitness

 

Water:

Greenman Dan – Dan Johnson
An underground rainwater containment system that makes it simple and easy to solve water runoff problems while reducing landscape irrigation costs

Magnolia Land Company – Mark Bernstein
Financing important wetland restoration projects in Louisiana through the sale of mitigation credit

Public Lab: the Riffle Project – Stevie Lewis
Cultivating communities invested in their local water quality through the development and sale of a low-cost, open-source monitoring device called the Riffle

 

Education:

Center for Restorative Approaches – Troi Bechet
Providing schools with the training and support they need to prevent youth violence from interfering with learning

Live Oak Wilderness Camp – Jack Carey
A summer camp and leadership development program that connects and empowers diverse cohorts of student leaders

Million Dollar Scholar – Ras Asan and Derrius Quarles
Helping parents and schools make college affordable for students through scalable financial aid education

Brothers Empowered 2 Teach – Kristyna Jones and Larry Irvin
Closing the achievement gap by inspiring and incentivizing black men to choose education as a career path

Early Education Centers in Unison – Kanitra Charles, Kristy Givens, Pearlie Harris, and Rochelle Wilcox
Cutting back-office costs and increasing pay to retain a quality teaching staff for child care centers