CEDI Society Donates $5K to Winners of NYC "Battle of Boros" for Social Impact

NEW YORK, January 13, 2013 /3BL Media/ - MakeImpactNYC, a unique social good conference bringing together the NYC social impact economy, is pleased to announce that the CEDI Society, a civic engagement organization launching in early 2014, has offered a cash prize of $5,000 to the winners of the first-ever ‘Battle of the Boros’ social impact pitch competition.

The live event will take place on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014 at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus starting at 5 pm. The competition plays on the good-natured sibling rivalry between NYC’s five boroughs while celebrating the entrepreneurs making a difference in their neighborhoods and beyond. This high-energy event will also feature live performances from local NYC actor Charlie Balducci, Rapper Krempo & Sinistarz, and Hip-Hop DanceTroupe Cyndikit from NYC Arts Cypher, an arts & cultural hub in Staten Island.   

On January 13, five finalists—one from each borough—will be announced. These five social entrepreneurs will face off at the live event and vie for the ‘Best of the Boros’ Social Good crown. Contestants will be judged upon social innovation, sustainability, business model, potential for social impact in NYC, and quality of presentation. Two lucky winners—the ‘Best of the Boros’ winner chosen by a panel of expert judges, and a People’s Choice winner chosen by the audience—will split the CEDI cash prize ($4,000 to the Best of the Boros winner, $1000 to People’s Choice). Matthew Henninger, the founder & CEO of CEDI, will award the prize.

The “Battle of the Boros” judging panel is comprised of veteran social entrepreneurs, journalists, educators, and business leaders including: Kim Wales of Wales Capital; Matthew Henninger of CEDI Society; David Thigpen, founder of Corners2Cornerstones; Anne Field, Forbes;  Mitchell Fillet, cofounder of Fordham Foundry; Shereen Shermek of Launch Angels; David Postolski of Day Pitney, and Derek Denckla of Slow MoneyNYC.

In addition, both winners will receive valuable marketing, business, and consulting services valued at $20,000 from sponsors including The Moderns, a solutions based creative studio; Day Pitney LLC, a leading full-service law firm; CSRwire, a digital media platform for distributing sustainability news; The Centre for Social Innovation, a coworking space in the Starrett-Lehigh building for NYC’s social impact community; ThatMatters Live, a weekly social enterprise web show; the Fordham Foundry, a startup incubator in the Bronx; and Return on Change, a crowdinvesting platform connecting startups and investors.

The MakeImpactNYC team would like to thank all of our sponsors for their generous support and the work they do to make NYC a better place for all!

CEDI, which stands for “Citizens Economic Development Initiative,” is a new membership-based civic engagement organization launching its operations in early 2014. The goal of The CEDI Society is to expand and enhance economic growth & opportunity through, strategic development initiatives, education programs, creative investment platforms and the united participation of citizens across all socioeconomic levels. To that end, Members are provided with a sophisticated communications and project development platform, educational tools, financing alternatives and a network of engaged citizens that are eager to make a difference in the economy. To learn more, please visit www.cedi.com.

The ‘Battle of the Boros’ is part of the MakeImpactNYC conference on January 16 that brings together NYC’s social impact ecosystem and spotlights the innovative entrepreneurs who are “doing good in their ‘hoods.” The event is hosted by Fordham University’s Center for Humanistic Management and Good-B.com, an online news and new media platform supporting entrepreneurs for social good and Locavesting, Return on Change, and ThatMattersLive. The conference brings together NYC’s social impact ecosystem and spotlights the innovative entrepreneurs who are “doing good in their ‘hoods.” The event will feature a mix of panel discussions on themes exploring how food, design, funding and other elements of the social impact ecosystem are helping to make NYC a better place for all. Participants include leaders from EcoMedia/CBS, Etsy, Fundrise, Girls Who Code, Centre for Social Innovation, Pratt Center for Sustainable Design, BlocPower, Silicon Harlem, Staten Island Makers Space, The Kitchen, Bronx Foundry, SlowMoneyNYC, Wales Capital and more. For more information, go to: http://www.MakeImpactNYC.org

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