The Changemakers Academy is delivered in partnership between Center for Social Impact Strategy at the University of Pennsylvania and AFS Intercultural Programs.
Now more than ever, the world needs vibrant, passionate leaders committed to positive social and environmental change. At the Center for Social Impact Strategy at the University of Pennsylvania, we believe that anyone, anywhere can create positive social impact – and we have the tools, training, and connections to help you make this possible.
The Changemakers Academy will introduce participants to some of the fundamental methods for creating and testing new ideas for social innovation, in the style of a team-based hackathon. Participants will collaborate in a small group and develop a plan for a prototype to key challenges, and present their projects at the culminating event.
In the Changemakers Academy, participants will engage in the following:
- Hands-on learning at the University of Pennsylvania campus – a world-class, Ivy League university – with sessions led by Penn faculty and instructors.
- Interactive, application-focused sessions on interviewing, empathy, and community research; strengthening creative tools and methods for design thinking; prototyping, and increased creative confidence and personal visioning.
- A tour of the cultural and historic highlights of Philadelphia, a UNESCO World Heritage City.
- AFS Global Competence Certificate Program (virtual): Develop essential and lifelong global “power skills”: collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, cross-cultural communication, open-mindedness and flexibility with this award-winning certificate program.
- Celebrate new friendships on a Manhattan Boat Cruise while taking in the NYC skyline—a truly memorable experience for participants.
All participants who complete this program will receive a certificate from the Center for Social Impact Strategy at the University of Pennsylvania.
