Alexandria Ware, founder and CEO of Culture Creations and Stephanie Stovall, founder of Aspire Academy Child Care Center were the top two winners in the United Way of the Plains third annual Impact on the Plains, a Shark Tank-style social innovation competition hosted by United Way of the Plains.
The program helps fund nonprofits with innovative and impactful solutions to community issues. Finalists for the funding competition were selected from applications submitted by numerous area nonprofit agencies based on their creative and innovative ideas for solving complex problems in the four focus areas of health, education, financial stability and basic needs.
Finalists made their pitch to a panel of community judges at a live presentation held at the Textron Aviation Activity Center in September.
With her first-place win, Ware won $40,000 for her nonprofit Culture Connections. In addition, she received an additional $5,000 as the winner of the People’s Choice award, voted on by the audience at the conclusion of the presentations.
Stovall won $30,000 for her Aspire Academy Childcare Center.
Culture Creations
Culture Creations and their Beyond Foster program work to help transition youth out of foster care by equipping them with the tools and resources they need to succeed and heal in the next phase of their life.
The 2018 Fostering Connections Act requires all states to make sure young people 14 and older, who are getting ready to age out of care, have a transition plan that includes educational and financial goals. A lot of times, Ware says, social workers who are responsible for assisting youth with these plans are too stretched out and the plans and planning process are falling through. That’s where Culture Creations comes in.
The organization works with youth in different phases of their transition out of foster care and help them prepare and understand they are full beings capable of conquering anything in the next phase of their life.
“It’s really like, how can we give young people hope to see themselves beyond where they currently are,” said Ware who grew up in care. “It’s, how do you allow young people to see themselves beyond their current circumstances?”
Aspire Academy
Stovall’s Aspire Academy, operates from two rooms inside Urban Preparatory Academy in northeast Wichita. The nonprofit day care is part of Aspire’s Family Education Project, designed to provide resources to parents seeking advanced employment opportunities.
Event Outcomes
A total of $105,000 was awarded during the competition.
Medic All won third place and $20,000 for their Health Bridge Initiative providing improved access to quality healthcare for low-income and uninsured individuals with a cost-free pathway that eliminates financial, geographical and linguistic barriers through telemedical consultations.
Fourth place and $10,000 went to Children First for their Journey Home, a program to help stabilize homeless families.
