Last October, we received 290 project submissions for the ninth annual optiMize Social Innovation Challenge. Over the course of the next five months, we hosted our first virtual SIC with workshops, mentorship sessions, and community building events to support students working on social impact projects. In late February, these teams presented their work and requested up to $10,000 per project. That funding allows students to work full-time on their projects all summer as optiMize Summer Fellows. This year, we are able to fund 36 projects and 46 fellowships with $250,000– selected by a consensus decision that involves student leaders, alumni Fellows, mentors, and optiMize staff. Even amidst a pandemic, these student projects continue to illuminate possibilities for a more just and sustainable world. We hope they inspire you as much as they inspire us.
VolumeUp!
VolumeUp! is an organization that hosts various action-based initiatives raising awareness for the Deaf community. The organization was founded in 2017 when Jerick and Bianca developed an Indonesian Sign Language application called JakSL, hosted an International Sign Language Day, and created a 20-person English class for Deaf Indonesians. This summer, they hope to update JakSL through a partnership with SignLab, launch a donation drive, and open up more English classes. Jerick and Bianca plan on registering VolumeUp! as a nonprofit in Indonesia in order to become a bridge between the Deaf and Hearing communities.
Participants: Jerick Hartono & Bianca Gunawan
Brassi
Brassi puts a spin on traditional oatmeal by creating a nutrient-rich, cauliflower-based meal to aid consumers on their journey to a healthier life. With sustainability at the forefront and an emphasis on convenience, accessibility, affordability, and flavor, Brassi’s plan for the future is expansion of all forms. They hope to pursue consumer-centric development of more flavors and veggie-enhanced products, build their team, and explore more retail mediums so that Brassi is available to all who are looking to live their healthiest life.
Comme Homme is a grooming and lifestyle brand serving over 50 million American men that are bald or dealing with hair loss. Founders Mejoy and Kene have experienced the emotional trauma associated with balding; their mission is to create a brand that helps men embrace this evolution and celebrate maturation. One component of Comme Homme is the utilization of augmented reality technology that allows men to envision their shaved heads without any real commitment. This summer, they are launching a Kickstarter campaign for their Scalp Wash, Scalp Exfoliator, and Scalp Moisturizer, working to begin distribution, and creating a digital community to help other men come to embrace their baldness.
build-a-fair is a new career fair platform that provides an alternative to the competitive process of meeting with employers during virtual career fairs. Rather than a first-come, first-serve basis, build-a-fair uses an innovative auction-based system, giving all students an equal opportunity to make connections. Believing that the job search process should be accessible to all, they are working to test their site and host their first fair in Fall 2021. build-a-fair is enthusiastic about the system’s long-term potential for nation-wide use, allowing students to connect with companies year-round.
Participants: Ben Finkelstein, Benjamin Sheppard, Yunsoo Kim, & Arshon Saadati
Make Fashion Clean
Make Fashion Clean (MFC) is a nonprofit organization aimed at rerouting denim disposal through upcycling and education on the jean supply chain. After researching fashion pollution, Sarah and Mary-Ann wanted to find a way to reduce this industry’s harmful effects on the environment. Investing in a future free of textile waste, Mary-Ann and Sarah collaborate with artisans with disabilities at Matilda Flow Inclusion, an innovative upcycling studio in Ghana, to create new products out of rescued denim. Through this collaboration, Mary-Ann and Sarah strive to provide artisans working throughout the Global South the autonomy to run sustainable businesses. The growing team will focus on fundraising and developing new products this summer.
Jobs 4 Freedom supports formerly incarcerated individuals as they rejoin the workforce. The program helps with the process of record expungement, access to transportation, assistance with academic-related processes, and matching with employers. Lyllian started this project after personally seeing how difficult it is for formerly incarcerated people to find stable employment. This summer she will continue cultivating a community of support in the Flint area and work with her partner organizations to match clients with job opportunities. In the long term, J4F aims to be widely accessible in Michigan—with goals of reducing recidivism rates, dismantling the negative stigmas many employers hold, and building a strong community of support.
Participant: Lyllian Simerly
PPD Project
The PPD (Pipeline for Professionals with Disabilities) Project works to address the pipeline that fails to teach adults with disabilities workforce development training by connecting professionals with disabilities to U-M students. Kayla aims to help young professionals foster their creativity and build workforce skills by starting a small business where they will develop, market, and sell bookmarks. To build the PPD community, Kayla and her team will be onboarding project facilitators and professionals as well as hosting bonding events for incoming members of the company. Kayla hopes the PPD Project provides participants with the best experience possible and equips them with the necessary skills to join the Ann Arbor workforce.
Participant: Kayla Rothstein
Center for Connecting Leaders
The Center for Connecting Leaders aims to empower survivors of sexual assault with community building and peer support. Morgan and Sierra are working to provide a physical environment that provides healing and support for survivors, facilitating a smoother recovery process. This summer, they are hosting roundtable discussions with community members and stakeholders to compile helpful resources, creating a streamlined mentorship program, and working with developers to build a mobile application for survivor resources. The Center for Connecting Leaders hopes to be a source of light for survivors of trauma and a system of support now and in the future.
Participants: Morgan McCaul & Sierra Élise Hansen
Take on College
Take on College is a nonprofit organization that helps primarily first-generation and low-income high school students receive the necessary resources to continue their education into college. Reflecting on their own struggles when applying to college, Hong, Nick, and Selina felt compelled to provide students with the resources they did not have to make higher education as accessible as possible. The team does so by hosting workshops and offering one-on-one mentorship that guides students through the college application process. This summer, they plan to finalize their curriculum and launch their pilot summer fellowship program for their first cohort of 20 students. In the future, Take on College wants to open new offices in Seattle and Detroit and partner with local nonprofits, universities, and school districts to help students get into the colleges of their dreams.
Participants: Hong Ta, Nick Tran, & Selina Franovic
Latinidad Magazine is addressing the lack of creative platforms that celebrate Latinx creativity in the Midwest. Latinidad Magazine provides an outlet for Latinx artists and writers to reclaim their voice and foster representation in the Latinx community. Maria and Rebecca have been able to cultivate a community of individuals around the many intersections of the Latinx identity. Students and rising professionals come together to celebrate Latin American aesthetic history and the narratives of the present diaspora. During the fellowship, the pair will work to expand and develop their audience while piloting new forms of content.
Raising Good People is a website that seeks to help underrepresented authors share children’s books and provide resources for parents looking for diverse literature that teaches important lessons. Authors will have the opportunity to engage in virtual readings and be on a podcast where they can expand on the importance of their stories. Emily hopes to create a more inclusive society by exposing children to underrepresented and diverse characters. This summer, Emily plans on publishing her first children’s book and showcasing the work of underrepresented authors on her website. In the long term, Emily wishes to build a mentorship program to help aspiring authors gain more traction in the publishing industry and include a wider variety of characters for children to better connect with each other and the world around them.
Participant: Emily Eitzman
Students for Educating and Academic Success (SEAS)
Students for Educating and Academic Success (SEAS) is a mentorship program for high school students with low socioeconomic status at Pontiac High School, providing support for those interested in pursuing higher education. Founders Aisha and Tigran created SEAS in response to the notable difference that one’s socioeconomic status has on the outcome of their education. This summer, they are working to grow their existing mentorship program at Pontiac High School to other high schools and create a community where current mentees come back and contribute to the program as mentors after graduating high school.
Participants: Tigran Terterian & Aisha Zanib
Emerging Artists Corps.
Emerging Artists Corps. mentors and encourages artists across Metro Detroit, helping them develop their brand, sell their work, and network with professionals. Founders Janaé and Trinity hope to show young artists that art is a feasible career path by building an encouraging environment for the next generation while simultaneously improving the media’s image of the city of Detroit. This summer, they hope to host a COVID-safe art show with 50 different young artists. Emerging Artists Corps. also plans to incorporate workshops to engage with more artists, expand into performance art, and build out marketing support for their artists.
Hornet is building an easy-to-use stock investing platform aimed at educating beginner investors in Malaysia. The founders created the application to promote financial stability through financial literacy and sound investing. They are passionate about changing the negative perception of the stock market by providing Malaysian youth with the tools they need to fully participate in the market. This summer, they will continue developing their minimum viable product and work to establish a strong professional advising network. Through Hornet, the team envisions the mobile app being Southeast Asia’s go-to stock investing platform for post-high school and university students.
Participants: Edrea Lee Yian Huay, Kim Siang Yew, & Fahim Hadi Ahmad Razi
Zupernatural
Zupernatural is a comic book business featuring people with disabilities as the main characters. The founder of Zupernatural, Zion, started this project to reduce the stigma surrounding disability by increasing representation in media, allowing people with disabilities to see themselves as the heroes of stories. Zion hopes to establish Zupernatural as an LLC and publish several comic books by the end of the summer. With the goal of creating a comic universe similar to DC or Marvel, Zion wants her characters to live in the same world, weaving together individual stories of heroes with different capabilities and powers to celebrate the individuality of every person with disabilities.
Participant: Zion Helms
Enjoy the Journey
Enjoy the Journey is an initiative that aims to build community by providing educational outreach and empowerment in the Greater Detroit area. As native Detroiters, Alyssa and KyJuanna want to make a positive impact on their community and tackle the key problems their families and neighbors face. This summer, they plan to host an event for each of their service areas: community, education, and empowerment. The guiding goal for Enjoy the Journey is to create a fun and comfortable space for families and individuals with hopes to build an “Enjoy the Journey” across all communities.
Participants: Alyssa Hall & KyJuanna Taylor
Project RISHI
Project RISHI works in partnership with the Seither community to provide sanitation facilities for low-income and lower-caste communities, protecting vulnerable women from disease, sexual violence, and indignity. The RISHI team was inspired to tackle these pressing issues because of their personal experiences with resource inequity in similar communities. This summer, their goal is to conduct field research and connect with village members to ensure their solution is beneficial and viable for the people of Seithur. The team hopes to build a long-term partnership with the community and work alongside its leaders to better the health and safety outcomes of women and children.
Juicy Lips by Kay is a lip-gloss company aimed at empowering and educating girls on the importance of self-love. As a young woman herself, KyJuanna hopes to derail beauty standards and the insecurities they perpetuate. Juicy Lips hosts seminars featuring mental health professionals. Additionally, each tube of lip-gloss is accompanied by empowering messages. This summer, KyJuanna hopes to grow the Juicy Lips team with those looking to spread awareness in order to impact as many young girls and women as possible.
Participant: KyJuanna Taylor
u.Balance
u.Balance is a care package subscription service centered around five aspects of wellness: social, mental, financial, physical, and environmental health. Acknowledging how difficult self-care may be at times, founders Daniel, Stephany, and Kennia created u.Balance to provide awareness and support for college students in their pursuit of wellness. They plan on partnering with local businesses to assemble the contents of their care packages and prepare a website for orders this summer, with the goal of launching their product in the fall. In the long term, u.Balance hopes to spread across the country, establish new partnerships, and support all young adults and college students.
Participants: Daniel Izquierdo, Stephany Mendez Ortega, & Kennia Cifuentes
Everyday English for Everywhere
Everyday English for Everywhere is a free English learning program that aims to serve older Bangladeshi women living in Detroit and Hamtramck. Having seen the adversity faced by women in their community due to a lack of English skills, Zarin and Nusrat realized the need for a comfortable and safe English as a Second Language course. They want to equip women with the English language proficiency they need to navigate different situations, whether it be making a doctor's appointment, writing a resume, or advocating for themselves in the workplace. This summer, they plan to expand their program and release an accompanying booklet, which will include other well-being topics such as mental health. The founders want to bridge the generational gap within their community by incorporating the youth volunteers and incorporating training programs for future sustainability.
Participants: Zarin Tashnim Khan & Nusrat Atika
Intros AI
Intros AI connects individuals within online communities through virtual introductions to alleviate social frustrations and generate a sense of belonging for all users. Robert and David developed Intros AI in response to an increasing lack of community connectedness and its link to mental illness, understanding the importance of broadening networks and building rapport. Over the summer, they aim to fully scale their program and publically launch their software. One day, the duo hopes Intros AI becomes the “chief introduction officer” for every large online community.
Project Traverse is an initiative aimed at facilitating the growth of parkour, making it more accessible in Michigan through park construction and community education. As members of the parkour community at Michigan, Dan and Dalton see this project paving a way for others to experience parkour in a brand new way. This summer, they will provide workshops and offer lessons on parkour for individuals in Ann Arbor, continue working to build a community parkour park in Ann Arbor, and engage with other communities. Project Traverse hopes to cultivate the parkour community into a space where people of all backgrounds can feel supported.
Participants: Dalton Brown & Dan Dye
Funding for Foster Youth
Funding for Foster Youth organizes financial and living arrangement resources, making them easily accessible to youth who have aged out of the foster care system. After a personal experience hosting a youth in foster care, Dallas learned about the immense challenges they experience after turning 18. He hopes that by compiling resources, Funding for Foster Youth can make the stressful experience of finding a place to live or securing existing funds easier. This summer, Funding for Foster Youth plans to begin filming a documentary featuring former foster youth and highlighting the challenges of aging out. Founder Dallas also hopes to establish the foundations of an app, which will help these foster youth apply for welfare and provide a sense of security throughout their life.
Participant: Dallas McGhee-Henry
Racial Awareness and Equity Task Force (RAE)
Racial Awareness and Equity Task Force (RAE) focuses on creating tangible equity in the Allen Park public school district, with a focus on curriculum, staff education, disciplinary protocols, and student programming. Sarah decided to act after observing the added challenges her siblings face on the basis of race and recognizing the prevalence of similar experiences in families throughout her district. Founded as a task force of 95 community members—including students, alumni, parents, and staff—RAE focuses on engaging the community around collective progress. In the future, RAE hopes to bring their vision and model to other districts so they can better service their BIPOC communities.
Participants: Sarah Szalai, Michael Harris, Lizmary Fernandez, & Sam Cedo
Girls Teaching Girls to Code
Girls Teaching Girls to Code (GTC) is a service organization tackling the gender gap in computer science by encouraging high school girls to try coding. Having personally experienced the gap as women in STEM, both Mina and Catherine want to cultivate an inclusive environment where girls feel supported and confident in pursuing coding as a career path. This summer the pair will develop a new curriculum, reach out to schools across Michigan, and investigate potential venues for future events. With branches at the University of Michigan, Stanford, and Berkeley, they hope to expand the organization to other campuses across the United States and see more college students involved in supporting the next generation of girls who code.
Innovending works to increase access to beauty and self-care products for minority students in Ann Arbor. Having personally experienced the limited selection of products available within walking distance of campus, founders Mia and Rico want students to be able to express themselves to their fullest potential and feel like valued and included members of the Michigan community. The pair plan to use this summer to install their first vending machines with student and black-owned beauty products. Rico and Mia intend for Innovending to expand across campus and the nation, advocating and instilling confidence for all future students.
Participants: Rico Ozuna-Harrison & Mia Wilson
Spill the Honey Foundation
Spill the Honey is an organization that creates an interactive program for university students to learn more about the alliance between the Black and Jewish communities. By engaging with students about the relationship, Blake and Samuel hope to expose people to a new world of allyship that can make long-lasting change. This summer, they hope to conduct pilot webinars at universities across the country to educate students on the existing relationship between the Black and Jewish communities. They aim to expand to other universities in the future and give more students the space to have courageous conversations to learn and grow from each other.
Sunny Summer Camp is working with the Christ Child Society to provide a fun summer camp for foster children in Detroit. Foster children have been affected deeply by the pandemic, and Sunny hopes to instill a sense of normalcy. This summer, Reem and Megan will be creating DIY science and art kits that the children can enjoy remotely in light of COVID-19, later transitioning to an in-person camp in the summer of 2022. Additionally, they will host fundraisers and train volunteers in preparation for next year’s camp. In the long term, Reem and Megan aim to run the summer camp annually and help it grow to bring a unique experience to foster children across the country.
Participants: Reem Aburukba & Megan Wang
Mifullness Poetry
Mifullness uses the literary expression of emotional wellness concepts through poetry to cultivate a mindful community for high school students. Through this project, Frankie wants to provide a space where students can articulate their experiences and emotions, embracing their full potential. Frankie plans to launch a six-week online program exposing participants to various forms of literature while building partnerships with local organizations to promote youth mentorship in Flint, Michigan. In the future, Frankie hopes Mifullness will inspire students to become change agents and use self-expression to drive positive impact in their communities.
Participant: Frankie McIntosh
frAIM
frAIM is a multi-platform initiative to facilitate the exposure of artists and channel support into local community initiatives. Their website includes individual spotlights, a fully virtual market auctioning service, and a blog dedicated to providing resources to aid new artists in achieving success in the industry. Founders Khadeeja and Yasmeen are passionate about boosting public awareness of the talents of up-and-coming artists and shaping the possibility for a more unified and supportive community in the art industry. frAIM is optimistic about a future where their system can be self-sustaining and serve a dual purpose of connecting artists with each other while amplifying their brands and missions.
3 Degrees is an organization that works with fraternities and sororities on campus to implement personalized waste-reducing initiatives and educate members of Greek Life about the importance of eco-friendly practices. By selling affordable compostable products bought in bulk, they aim to challenge the idea that sustainable practices are expensive and inaccessible. Founded by current Greek Life members who noticed the unsustainable habits within each of their chapters, 3 Degrees hopes to set an example as leaders of U-M’s social culture. In the future, 3 Degrees hopes to reach all campus Greek Life organizations to make environmentally-minded education the standard in the community.
Find Your Landlord Ann Arbor is a web database of landlords in Ann Arbor aiming to increase transparency and autonomy in the rental process for tenants. This resource provides renters with information on the property and gives them access to a community of other tenants to learn more about landlords and their practices. This summer, Find Your Landlord Ann Arbor will fine-tune the graphic map featured on the site and develop a program to continually update the site as housing options change. In the future, Isabella foresees the potential for Find Your Landlord Ann Arbor to exist as a historical record for housing and to continuously adapt to the needs of all Ann Arbor tenants.
Participant: Isabella DiBlassio
Classbop
Classbop is a web platform designed to help teachers collect feedback from their students and analyze trends over time. The founders, Ronit and Raeed, noticed a gap in communication between teachers and students. Through their own experiences, they identified a lack of agency as students were unable to consistently share their thoughts, suggestions, and general readiness for upcoming assessments. This summer, they are planning to reach out to teachers and educators to test their platform. From these users, they can gauge interest and receive suggestions for improvements. Their long-term goal for Classbop is to improve the lives of students and teachers, simplify feedback, and bring more value to school systems.
SustaniUM is designing a system that dries wastewater sludge using heat from nuclear fuel, providing a valuable and sustainable source of biomass. Passionate about funding sustainable solutions to societal problems, SustaniUM aims to make a difference in society by isolating and recycling wastewater. This summer, they hope to file a patent for their design, work with potential partnerships in nuclear waste storage, and investigate other applications of this technology. In the future, SustaniUM wants to create a circular economy for wastewater sludge and change the way people think about nuclear waste.
To the Moon pairs teams of young women in high school and college with women-owned businesses to build their personal and professional skills by working to solve real-world problems. Witnessing the barriers to entry and lack of resources women faced in the business world, Deeksha was inspired to create To the Moon to help young women like herself grow as entrepreneurs. As part of the fellowship, Deeksha will continue to develop the program and expand her team in preparation for To the Moon’s official launch in the fall of 2021. In the future, Deeksha hopes to support women-owned businesses through consulting projects and by setting up an impact investing branch of To the Moon, building a community of empowered female entrepreneurs, leaders, and mentors.
Participant: Deeksha Gollamudi
Phonica
Phonica is an organization that develops software to help individuals track and manage their stuttering. The team was inspired by personal experiences with speech therapy and realized versatile technology was key to helping those with verbal disfluencies. During the fellowship, the team will continue building the web application and complete beta testing whilst creating a community around the software. Through Phonica, the team hopes users will be able to track their long-term progress and accomplishments, gain new connections, and be instilled with confidence.
Participants: Akhil Kondepudi, Akshay Gupta, Matt Mayfield, Michael Kaufmann, Aya Salim, Mariam Mahmoud, & Felix Hu
Out of 290 project submissions, we funded these 36 incredible teams. But still, too many deserving projects were left unfunded. Next year, our goal is to fund 50 teams. Can you help us make it happen?
