Social Impact Initiatives Put Students in the Driver's Seat

Social Impact Principles,Story,BYU Alumni,Students

May 29, 02:55 PM May 27, 01:54 PM

Morgan Wellman had big dreams for a future career focused on solving global problems but was unsure which path would lead her there. It wasn't until a BYU professor advised her to take the Social Impact Projects (SIP) internship class that she understood her passion for social impact initiatives.

SIP splits student learning between a three-credit classroom experience and a hands-on, team-based internship with leading global organizations. During Morgan's SIP class time, all students were asked join a project for the internship portion of the program. Morgan selected The Academy for Creating Enterprise, a local nonprofit whose mission is to train entrepreneurs in third-world countries.

The SIP program gave me real-world experience without the fear of being thrown into it too quickly, said Morgan. I received mentorship and classroom learning about social impact while applying it to actual problems.

As the classroom work and internship ended, SIP instructor Jill Piacitelli recommended Morgan try to continue her work with the same organization as an intern. Morgan agreed, and by the end of her time with The Academy for Creating Enterprise, she had delivered additional research and recommendations to the organizations board.

I started my love and passion for learning more, said Morgan. It was super fun to dip my toes in, and it is amazing for my resume that I already have an internship in social impact.

SIP not only looked good on Morgans resume, but the experience opened doors for her in other job interviews and social impact opportunities. A year later, one of these doors led Morgan to an internship with the prominent social entrepreneurship funding firm Echoing Green. According to her, the Ballard Center's unique internship program played a key role in advancing her career.

SIP is the class that facilitates the opportunity for students to achieve their goals, said Morgan.

Ballard Startup Success Story: Neonatal Rescue Works to Bring Lifesaving Care to Infants

2022 Impact Report,Social Entrepreneurship,Story,Students,Social Impact Projects

November 01, 10:30 AM May 27, 01:39 PM

What started in response to a Ballard Center challenge has now grown into an impactful organization providing lifesaving solutions for infants around the world. Neonatal Rescue creates infant ventilators and CPAP machines that can be used in developing countries at a low cost. The organization also trains medical professionals and offers engineering support to ensure the best outcomes for infants.

How it began

In 2016, the Ballard Center purchased the rights to a BYU engineering Capstone project that had worked to develop a ventilator prototype. The Ballard Center then hosted a competition for student teams to create a social enterprise proposal for how they would use the ventilator to address infant mortality. Rob Brown and Kindall and Erica Palmer, with the help of their mentor, Dr. Stephen Minton, entered the Y-Prize Newborn Challenge and proposed a way to adapt the infant ventilators so they would cost less, in order to increase accessibility for doctors and nurses in developing countries. This group of students won the Ballard Center competition and the grand prize of $100,000, allowing the team to scale the project up to become Neonatal Rescue, an organization now working to save thousands of infant lives worldwide, with an estimated potential to save 80,000+ infants per year in Cambodia and East Africa.

This cause hit extra close to home when Neonatal Rescue cofounders, Erica and Kindall Palmer, had their first baby. Their newborn son lost oxygen and started turning blue. He was life-flighted to a childrens hospital and quickly hooked up to an infant ventilator. Without the technologies of ventilation and CPAP, he wouldnt have made it far at all, says Kindall.

Overcoming obstacles in Cambodia

Neonatal Rescue works with expert respiratory therapists and local medical professionals to ensure that its products are the best they can be. The organization travels to countries such as Cambodia to learn about the specific needs of the area, evaluate the effectiveness of its products, and train medical professionals on how to use these products.

Cambodia is especially at risk for issues with infant mortality because of a genocide in the 1970s, where the Khmer Rouge targeted those with an education and killed many of the medical professionals. They killed millions and millions of Cambodians during that time and really put the country back, as far as development goes, explains Neonatal Rescue CEO Rob Brown. We saw really rural and remote areas that are impoverished, and mothers would have babies born in these remote clinics or health care centers, and they wouldn't have the equipment or the training that they need.

Brown explains that Neonatal Rescue is also working to break the referral problem in Cambodia, where mothers are referred from hospital to hospital only to keep finding them filled to capacity with patients and without adequate resources. Brown explains, By providing a low-cost, easy-to-use piece of equipment, we can place it at those frontline clinics and try to meet the needs and to address the patient issues there.

Neonatal Rescue has worked in Cambodia for several years but had not been able to visit the country since 2019 due to COVID-19. In October 2022, the Ballard Center helped plan and sponsor a trip for Brooke Stacey and Brent Kamba, two BYU graduate nursing students, to accompany Neonatal on its latest trip to Cambodia. These nursing students and Neonatal Rescue were able to instruct Cambodian doctors and nurses on how to use the ventilator and how to evaluate its effectiveness.

Brooke Stacey is in the family nurse practitioner program at BYU and has worked as a registered nurse in pediatric and cardiac ICUs for six years. She shared, Working with Neonatal Rescue in Cambodia was a transformative experience. The relationships I developed with the Cambodian healthcare workers gave me new perspectives on healthcare and helped me grow as a practitioner. It was remarkable to witness how additional education, medical supplies, friendships, and the Neonatal ventilators have made a considerable difference to infant mortality rates.

1st Place: Art Changes Hearts

By Monica Bertha

After losing my optimism, nearly 12 years of memory, and my hope all over again, I sat on my apartment floor and painted what I then entitled #6. After my sixth concussion from yet another freak accident, my brain could not produce the words to express my hopelessness. With a reality almost as painful as the chaos in my head, I used abstract art to express the emotions I couldn't articulate.

This cathartic experience prompted me to look into art therapy, a growing practice in the United States. Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that encourages people to freely express themselves through painting. The practice is helpful with psychotherapy because it provides an outlet for patients to work through trauma and recognize their feelings through their own art expression.

I love art because wherever you go in the world there are different styles, tools, and ways cultures express themselves. I wondered, what if the principles of art therapy could help with mental or emotional health worldwide? How surprised I was to find almost no international mention of art therapy in my research. Patients in every country could benefit from using an art medium that is familiar to them and consistent with their culture in order to heal trauma.

My dream has always been to travel internationally to help people like a doctor can, but internationally-versatile occupations such as those in the medical field have never appealed to me. Still, I sought the ability to serve people worldwide, and I found it with art therapy. Art therapy, rather than pushing a foreign practice on another culture, uses familiar and accessible psychotherapy tools to help people work through trauma and express their feelings through their own art expression.

This past summer I volunteered in a refugee camp in Malawi Africa and witnessed the dire need for psychological help due to their unfathomable trauma. I want to help that trauma and heartache that fills refugee camps, sex trafficking rehabilitation centers, and villages weighed down by poverty all over the world. I know that seems like an overly-ambitious goal, but I also know that one person at a time, and one painting at a time, art therapy has the potential to improve someone's mental circumstance.

My goal is to create a team of art therapists that could be paired with international organizations who are assisting people with emotional or mental trauma. The art therapists would train local people so that in time they could help their community and train others around them to be local art therapists. Passing on knowledge in this way allows this intervention to not be reliant on continuous donations because once therapists are trained, they can use their local assets to assist those in need.

A possible means to financially sustain an art therapy organization internationally would be the sale of some of the patient art pieces. With minimal international interference once the program is established, this intervention could promote long-term self-reliance and resilience.

2nd Place: Writing Myself into the Narrative

By Elisha Freitas

Mami, in all the books I read, why doesnt anyone look or act like us?

Im told I started reading before I was three years old. I quickly advanced from picture books with one word a page to early reader chapter books to volumes of fantasy, self-help and scripture. I devoured words, sentences, and paragraphs; inserted myself into fictional worlds so much that I lost track of reality; and checked out dozens upon dozens of books at the library, quickly realizing that I did not feel represented by my favorite childhood characters. My mom was always open with me about our familys Dominican heritage and therefore my otherness in the White communities I grew up in, but that didnt take away how much it hurt to notice that almost none of the people around me, and none of the characters I related and looked up to, were like me.

Later on, I would realize that this lack of ethnic representation (and even misrepresentation) in literature is not only common but the reality for many other kids and young adults of color. According to Lee & Low Books Diversity Baseline Study in 2019, 76% of the publishing industry are White/Caucasian, which translates to less diverse characters in books.

Little Elisha was frustrated and sad that no one looked or acted like us in the books she was reading. So how did her mom answer? She encouraged her to be the solution. And Elisha decided to do something about it herself.

Books were where I went to escape, explore, and imagine realities beyond on my own, but time and time again I felt unseen and unheard on the page. I started studying Editing and Publishing here at BYU with my own goal to one day run my own publishing company featuring the voices of marginalized communities. Well into my senior year, Ive realized that not only is there a lack of representation, but there is also a lack of research on just how underrepresented people of color are in publishing, or the harmful literary tropes and stereotypes that actively tear us down, or even why representation is so important in the first place.

Im currently working on my Honors thesis project, where I plan to explore this untouched area of research and survey young adults of color on representation in publishing in order to give them a voice. As Ive learned through working on a Social Impact Project with the Ballard Center, in order to solve the problem, we need to understand the problem and the people it affects first. I plan to pursue a Masters in Book Publishing once I graduate to do just that, continuing to push for more ethnic and racial diversity in publishing, hiring more BIPOC behind desks as editors or literary agents or authors, and telling authentic and unique stories, so that one day everyones narrative can be heard.

3rd Place: A Voice for Refugees

By Kate Lindsay

I sat with my back against the Mount Kailash School in Nepal, facing the Himalayas. My volunteer group was fixing up a schoolhouse for over 200 Tibetan refugee students.

During a break, we asked the children, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

The children immediately responded: "I'm learning English so I can be a teacher."

"I want to be a dancer and a mom."

"I want to be a cook."

"I want to be a doctor!"

I was happily stunned. We were in Tashi Palkhiel, the oldest Tibetan refugee camp in Pokhara, where over 800 refugees had fled from China only to be discriminated against in Nepal. The Nepalese government denied them the right to vote, hold jobs, go to school, or hold documentation. The political situation was bleak, yet these children's hope was bright.

After saying goodbye, one of my AFS-USA program leaders said, "You know, I thought you were super shy and quiet at first. But when you talk with the kids or things you're passionate about, you get louder. You seem so confident and happy." I looked over at her, surprised. My program leader had no idea that I had grown up painfully shy because of a rare genetic nasal problem called choanal atresia.

I lived the first twelve years of my life with a pretty nasal-sounding voice. Kids teased me at school. My parents thought I had constant allergies. Finally, just two months prior to Nepal, doctors corrected it through surgery. I finally liked my voice. Then it hit me. I refused to be quiet anymore, especially about things that mattered.

Here in Nepal, these refugees used their voices despite obstacles. Even under the watchful eye of soldiers, little education, and extreme poverty, these heroes were bravely painting the world they envisioned. If they were brave enough to speak out, then I would too. Over the next few years, I increasingly advocated for refugees. I applied with a friend to be a Program Director for Y-Serve Refugee. Our group mobilized hundreds of college students to ship thousands of quilts, mattresses, and bags for refugees worldwide. After my mission, the Ballard Center for Social Impact heightened my determination.

Through an on-campus internship with BanQu, we partnered with Utah Valley Refugees to improve case management. I learned more about what refugees truly needed. Right now, over 26 million refugees are fighting for a voice. They flee from violence in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, Myanmar, Venezuela, and South Sudan. There are refugee camps filled with hundreds of thousands, but also refugee families next door in Utah Valley.

Despite their suffering, they are strong survivors. Unfortunately, in countries refusing citizenship, they lack opportunities to speak out about the public health, trafficking, educational, economic, and employment challenges they face. Refugees deserve to chart their futures. Refugees deserve to have a voice. Towards that goal, I plan to pursue graduate degrees and opportunities in humanitarian and social impact, and give my voice for them.

The Ballard Center for Social Impact connects students with social problem-solving organizations across the world. Throughout the years, these partnerships have benefited both students and organizations, providing meaningful opportunities for gaining experience and insight,building a valuable network, and delivering value.

Organizations collaborate with the Ballard Center in myriad ways, and one of the most substantial is through the Ballard Centers Social Impact Projects (SIP). SIP is an on-campus internship program that pairs teams of four to five students with organizations. Each student combines classroom learning about social impact skills with 10 hours a week on a specific project. Teams work for an entire semester, creating impactful and concrete deliverables that address the needs and objectives of the organization.

Many SIP deliverables are still used by collaborator organizations today. When one SIP team partnered with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, students were tasked with helping the Church understand how to better provide resources for addiction prevention. The team ultimately did extensive research and presented a comprehensive report to key stakeholders within the Church.

To this day, we still go back to that white paper and the key principles we learned of prevention efforts, says Ben Erwin, program manager for Family Services, a department within the church. Its been several years, and it still impacts our direction and efforts.

For Finlit founder and CEO Adam Turville, co-creation with the Ballard Center has been a gift that keeps on giving. Turville attended BYU and participated in programs at the center, and years later, began an organization that offers financial literacy resources to underserved communities. Now, current Ballard Center students help the early-stage startup create value while staying resource-conscious.

Weve had talented, driven, passionate students produce excellent work and help us move the ball forward, Turville says. Partnering with the Ballard Center and SIP has enabled us to create an outsized impact with relatively lean input. That's been hugely beneficial.

By collaborating with these top-notch organizations, students make meaningful connections, develop vital skills, and learn how to co-create products and outcomes that match the organizations needs. Since 2015, SIP has worked with more than a thousand students from 168 majors and pre-majors.

BYU student Jayden Davis says he has gained invaluable experiences and lessons by co-creating through SIP and now works as a SIP student program director. "I learned that BYU and my college experiences aren't just about getting grades. It's not just about getting a 4.0. It's actually opening up resources where I can actually solve social issues and make a difference. I'm willing to muddle through the ambiguity, be creative, and work together with other people."

These are to be future business leaders, so we want to expose them to our work, says Quan Huynh, Defy Ventures executive director for Southern California.Defy Ventures is a long-time SIP partner that tackles the issue of mass incarceration in America and helps those released from prison to find second chances and opportunities through entrepreneurship.

Through SIP, students have the opportunity to actively apply social impact principles to real-life situations.In offering hundreds of hours to an organization,the student teams infuse their work with youthful energy and idealism and create thoughtful, lasting deliverables.

Justin King's Journey From Fish Farm Incubator To Agricultural Investor

Social Entrepreneurship,Social Impact Principles,Story,Students

September 22, 11:31 AM May 27, 01:50 PM

The Deseret News highlighted the social impact entrepreneur programs at the Ballard Center at Brigham Young University. Read the article here.

Justin King is the founder of Tilapiana and a former corporate-finance-professional-turned-social-entrepreneur. Dissatisfied with corporate life despite its perks, King found purpose in social entrepreneurship after returning to BYU for an MBA. Inspired by the Ballard Center for Social Impact, he embraced the center's ethos of using business models to tackle social issues globally. King deepened his learning through the Peery Social Entrepreneurship Program, where he developed Tilapiana, a venture aimed at alleviating poverty in Ghana through sustainable fish farming. The program supports BYU students in similar pursuits, emphasizing innovation and social impact across disciplines.

BYU Students Join Initiative Helping Other Students Pay For School Worldwide

In the News,Social Entrepreneurship,Social Impact Principles,Story,Students

January 12, 11:42 AM May 27, 01:41 PM

The Deseret News covered BYU students helping an innovative micro-loan company make college affordable for impoverished students around the world.

The article discusses the challenges of accessing higher education in developing countries due to financial constraints. BYU students connected with the Ballard Center for Social Impact are actively involved through internships and fellowships, gaining hands-on experience in social entrepreneurship and witnessing the transformative impact of education on individuals and communities. The partnership aims to empower students and tackle global poverty through education.