GreenHouse

Three St. Paul’s GreenHouse innovators received Social Impact Fund grants totaling $5,000 at the most recent GreenHouse Social Impact Showcase event, which highlights the progress of various social innovators every term.

Alumna Rachel Thompson, founder of Marlena Books, also spoke about making an impact through social entrepreneurship. Her social venture, which is producing specialized reading material for older adults with dementia, has been successful in winning support from long-term care homes and funding from several organizations.

Two St. Paul’s GreenHouse social ventures, Curiato and Eggplantr, won funding at the most recent Velocity Fund finals. The Velocity Fund awards $375,000 annually to local startups.

St. Paul’s GreenHouse alumna Rachel Thompson has 30 long-term care homes interested in a product she’s been developing for about a year: A series of books aimed at providing meaningful leisure and cognitive stimulation to individuals with dementia through reading.

Several St. Paul’s GreenHouse students received Social Impact Fund grants at the most recent Social Impact Showcase, held in Alumni Hall. All of the recipients were GreenHouse Fellows, winners of Big Ideas Challenge for Social Good whose GreenHouse accommodations were funded by the Libro Prosperity Fund.

St. Paul’s GreenHouse Fellow Richard Yim and his social-purpose startup, The Landmine Boys, have received $5,000 in funding from the Canadian Landmine Foundation (CLMF), a national organization based in Waterloo with a mission to raise awareness and funds to end the human and economic suffering caused by landmines.

Bedsores are the number one hospital-induced illness, affect more than three million people, and cost an average annual cost of approximately $40,000 per patient to treat. More than 90 percent of patients over the age of 65 with Alzheimer’s or dementia have bedsores.

St. Paul’s University College is pleased to announce that political scientist Richard Myers has been appointed Principal for a five-year term as of July 2016.

Five St. Paul’s GreenHouse ventures received grants to develop their socially minded products and services at the most recent GreenHouse Social Impact Showcase.

Mechanical Engineering student Richard Yim, who started in the St. Paul’s GreenHouse program last fall and will be a GreenHouse Fellow in the spring term, won a total of $35,000 for his landmine defusing venture this week.

The Big Ideas Challenge for Social Good went big this year and awarded 10 fellowships to aspiring social entrepreneurs: Five in a ‘People and Wellbeing’ category, and five in a ‘People and Planet’ category.

The competition, which was organized by St. Paul’s GreenHouse, had a circus tent theme. Director Tania Del Matto said that’s because GreenHouse seeks to “expand the tent of youth-led social innovation and entrepreneurship as a pathway for young people to build the business and career skills they need to be problem solvers and leaders.”