Combing grass roots for ideas
Horizon Foundation, United Way challenge ‘changemakers’ to a contest to develop plans for tackling social issues in county
What if innovative thinkers could win $10,000 grants to help them implement original ideas with the power to bring about real social change in Howard County? That’s the concept behind the Changemaker Challenge, a county-focused competition by the Columbia-based Horizon Foundation and the United Way of Central Maryland to spur out-of-the-box solutions to an array of pressing social issues in the county.
Maryland residents 18 and older and statewide nonprofits can submit ideas online by Sept. 8 as individuals or in teams, culminating Oct. 30 with finalists pitching their ideas before an audience.
Three winners, who will also receive up to $25,000 worth of project consultation services, will be selected by a panel of judges.
Submissions must contain written and video components. Some have already been received at changemakerchallengehc.org since the contest was announced June 28.
The idea to stage a competition grew from a seed planted by the new president of the Howard County Branch NAACP, said Nikki Highsmith Vernick, president and CEO of the Horizon Foundation, a health and wellness philanthropy based in Columbia.
“I give the credit to Willie Flowers from the NAACP,” Highsmith Vernick said.
“Willie came in to talk to me a couple of months ago and he mentioned the Warnock Foundation in Baltimore, which has a similar focus on innovation.
“He asked, ‘Why not in Howard County?’ ” she said of Flowers, an Ellicott City resident and the executive director of the Park Heights Community Health Alliance.
“That was the kernel of an idea” that led to the contest, she said. “We want to showcase ideas that take risks and elevate people.”
Flowers, who was elected in November to head the 700-member NAACP chapter and took office in January, said he was humbled to learn that Highsmith Vernick attributes the contest’s genesis to him.
“In an affluent area like Howard County, to see people still using a grassroots
Maryland residents 18 and older and statewide nonprofits can submit ideas online by Sept. 8 as individuals or in teams, culminating Oct. 30 with finalists pitching their ideas before an audience.
Three winners, who will also receive up to $25,000 worth of project consultation services, will be selected by a panel of judges.
Submissions must contain written and video components. Some have already been received at changemakerchallengehc.org since the contest was announced June 28.
The idea to stage a competition grew from a seed planted by the new president of the Howard County Branch NAACP, said Nikki Highsmith Vernick, president and CEO of the Horizon Foundation, a health and wellness philanthropy based in Columbia.
“I give the credit to Willie Flowers from the NAACP,” Highsmith Vernick said.
“Willie came in to talk to me a couple of months ago and he mentioned the Warnock Foundation in Baltimore, which has a similar focus on innovation.
“He asked, ‘Why not in Howard County?’ ” she said of Flowers, an Ellicott City resident and the executive director of the Park Heights Community Health Alliance.
“That was the kernel of an idea” that led to the contest, she said. “We want to showcase ideas that take risks and elevate people.”
Flowers, who was elected in November to head the 700-member NAACP chapter and took office in January, said he was humbled to learn that Highsmith Vernick attributes the contest’s genesis to him.
“In an affluent area like Howard County, to see people still using a grassroots
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