MIT Priscilla King Gray Public Service Center (PKG Center)

We are so excited that Beatrice Casartelli has been selected as this year's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Jane Matlaw Environmental Champion college student recipient! ???? Over IAP 2024, Bea worked in BIDMC's Sustainability Department with our community partner Avery Palardy through the PKG Center's Social Impact Internship program. During her internship, she created marketing materials and user-friendly waste audit tools that enable employees to implement sustainable practices in their everyday work life. The Jane Matlaw Environmental Champion Awards honor leaders and innovators who have catalyzed changes that align with BIDMC’s sustainability goals and foster a healthier future for staff and patients. ?? BIDMC's Environmental Sustainability Selection Committee said that they were impressed with Bea's commitment to environmental sustainability and support in designing engaging resources to support their volunteer network across the organization. Bea was recognized at the BIDMC Sustainability Summit on Thursday, October 24th. Check out some photos from the event below:

Ever wondered what it’s really like to found a social impact venture as a student? ?? MIT’s PKG Center has you covered! We’re excited to share Q&As with student innovators to help inspire your own entrepreneurial thinking ahead of the IDEAS Social Innovation Challenge application deadline. Don’t forget to apply by November 25: https://lnkd.in/eJEek5iH! Meet LymeAlert (IDEAS '23) and co-founders Erin Dawicki, Lewis Shotton, Brenda Ong and Michelle Ewy. Read on to learn about their path to running a successful healthcare startup focused on improving access to testing for Lyme Disease! ?? ?? How did you meet? Erin says: LymeAlert was conceptualized in summer 2023 during the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund Program DHIVE program. We were placed in the Lyme disease track and challenged to come up with solutions. As a healthcare provider, this is a condition I see with my patients: many of them report finding engorged ticks and ask for treatment. My teammates had real world experience and innovative ideas for how to bring this idea to fruition. We have been a team ever since! ?? What other entrepreneurship programs have you participated in? MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund Program, MIT Office of Innovation, MIT Venture Mentoring Service, Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship-StartMIT ?? What was the most valuable perspective on social innovation that your team gained from IDEAS? Theories of Change and Stakeholder Mapping were insightful ways of thinking about our future strategic needs and partners. As social innovators, we need to understand the communities we are trying to impact as well as their barriers and motivators. IDEAS helped us work on engaging with potential stakeholders in a thoughtful way. ?? What is a takeaway from IDEAS as you reflect back on the program? Being in a cohort with fellow social innovators is such a lifeline! The teams helped motivate each other and keep spirits up, even when the challenges were hard. We also helped each other problem-solve and brought innovative ideas from our unique world experiences. We loved our cohort! ?? What’s next for LymeAlert? We started field trials with a horse farm and we will validate our technology against lab standards in detecting Lyme disease. We have also started to fundraise for expedited product development to meet the strong demand for our kits. We are so grateful for PKG’s support throughout our journey to solve this healthcare problem. ?? Any final thoughts you’d like to share with future founders? It's possible to build a profitable business that serves asocial aim if you can tap on the right incentives and groups of stakeholders to help serve your cause. Stay the course, and don’t give up on your social enterprise dream even when the going gets tough! Many thanks to Lyme Alert for sharing their insights and for showing how—through teamwork, community-focus, and a well-defined theory of change—social impact ventures can flourish!

??TWO WEEK COUNTDOWN ?? The deadline to apply for next year's IDEAS Social Innovation Challenge is November 25, 2024! Over the next two weeks, we’ll be sharing Q&As with three amazing IDEAS teams. Follow along to hear directly from MIT student innovators who are working to solve some of the world’s most pressing issues—and learn about how IDEAS has played a role. ?? As MIT’s premier social impact incubator housed within the PKG Center, IDEAS prepares students to take their entrepreneurial ideas to the next level. Student-led teams of social innovators learn how to develop relationships with constituents affected by social issues, propose interventions that yield measurable impact, and create effective social enterprise models. IDEAS teams receive seed funding, participate in iterative workshops, refine their ideas with mentors, and pitch their solutions to peers and judges. The process helps students transform their concepts into social innovations in health care, finance, climate, education, and many more fields around the world. ?? To learn more about IDEAS, please visit https://lnkd.in/dsTDrwm To apply, please visit https://lnkd.in/e_6U4tZc

Check out this exciting panel on funding climate, energy & sustainability ventures hosted by our friends at MIT Venture Mentoring Service next week! ??Learn more and register at: https://lnkd.in/ezWnfJpU

Happy Election Day! ??? Today is a crucial opportunity to make your voice heard. Whether you're a seasoned voter or heading to the polls for the first time, every vote counts. Take a moment to check your polling place, review your ballot, and encourage your friends and family to participate. ?? MITvote can help you navigate the voting process: https://lnkd.in/eJi6NUs5 Remember, your voice matters. Cast your ballot to make an impact today! ???? #ElectionDay #Vote

Only one week left until Election Day! ?? Have you made a plan to vote this year? The PKG Center is proud to work with MITvote, a nonpartisan group of graduates and undergraduates whose mission is to encourage civic participation on MIT’s campus and make voting as accessible as possible. With the official election date just a one week away, make sure your voice is heard! If you need help along the way, Vote-a-saurus is just a click away... ??? ?? Learn how to cast your ballot: https://mitvote.mit.edu/ ?? Register to vote: https://mit.turbovote.org/

Exciting updates from Susy Jones from MIT Office of Sustainability on the sustainable food economies they're building across campus with local community partners! ?? We are proud to partner with MITOS on experiential learning opportunities for students to grapple with real-world challenges around food insecurity and access.

?? Exciting highlights from this fall's Friends of the PKG Center meeting at MIT! ?? It was truly inspiring to welcome alumni back to campus for our meeting on Saturday, October 5. We had an action-packed agenda, featuring a student panel, strategic planning sessions, and a fascinating tour of the MIT Latte Lab (thanks to @Terry Kim!). ? The Friends of the PKG Center play a crucial role in our mission, serving as ambassadors and providing invaluable feedback and support on special projects. Their dedication helps us leverage the unique skills and passions of our students to tackle complex social and environmental challenges. A big thank you to everyone who attended and contributed: Alison Badgett, Ed.D., Bonny Kellermann, Elena McFann, Hyun-A Park, Joseph Levitch, Paul Kominers Priscilla Elliott, York Lo, CAIA, CIMA, Caroline Wang, James Taylor, Linda Sharpe, Victor Tom and Sze-Wen Kuo. Your commitment to making a difference in our communities is what drives us forward. Together, we’re shaping the next generation of leaders in public service. ?? Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/eZqyw3V7

Our inaugural Social Impact Pitch2Match event this fall was a huge success! ?? This event helps student entrepreneurs connect with potential co-founders, collaborators, and supporters from the MIT community by sharing quick 6-second pitches, and creates a dynamic platform that drives student innovation. ?? Participants had the opportunity to pitch, find talent, and network around shared entrepreneurial interests. Many thanks to our wonderful co-hosts, the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship and our other MIT partners for a wonderful night of MIT collaboration!

Now standing at a whopping 13 feet tall, Vote-a-saurus is back on campus for the 6th year in a row! ?? MITvote's inflatable dinosaur mascot has been present at nearly every campus voting event since 2018. MITvote is a nonpartisan group of graduates and undergraduates whose mission is to encourage civic participation on MIT’s campus and make voting as accessible as possible. ??? The PKG Center works with MITvote to provide support, consultative services, a partnership with TurboVote, and institutional connections. With the official election date just a few weeks away, make sure your voice is heard! If you need help along the way, Vote-a-saurus is just a click away... ??? ?? Learn how to cast your ballot: https://mitvote.mit.edu/ ?? Register to vote: https://mit.turbovote.org/