LIVE UNITED Y’All!

By Howard Mason

The LIVE UNITED Social Innovation prize, presented by Ernst & Young, was designed for change makers in Kentuckiana who are prepared to put their ideas into action. The winners were picked by the public making credit card contributions to the eight finalists. Contributions were accepted through November 10, 2009.

Here are the finalists and their totals:

The competition closed at 9:00 a.m., November 10, 15 hours earlier than expected, due to an issue with the web donation technology.  Because the totals of the innovators in fourth and fifth place were virtually the same and it is not known what amounts would have been donated in the last 15 hours, fourth place was determined to be a tie and the award split among the two.

And the winners are…

The prize recipients and the amounts awarded will be:

1^st Place         $10,000 Grand Prize — Breaking New Grounds

2^nd Place        $5,000 Prize — Weber Gallery

3^rd Place         $5,000 Prize — Steward’s Staff

4^th Place         $5,000 Prize — Tie

• $2,500 Prize — Americana Family Literacy for Immigrants
• $2,500 Prize — Muscle Mover Clinic

Next steps:

December - Convene winners and finalists to launch learning community. Assess needs for support, learning, incubation.

January through June - Conduct monthly meetings of learning community with mentoring/education activities selected by participants.

Read about the finalists and their innovations at liveunitedyall.org/innovation

Education, General, Giving, Income Social Entrepreneur, Social Innovation, Social Innovation Prize