Nicole le Roux, Co-Founder of I Am Somebody!, Honored as 2012 Laureate Global Fellow

Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA – Nicole le Roux, the co-founder and acting Director of I Am Somebody!, which uses storytelling and youth development to build integrated, reconciled and resilient communities, was among 20 outstanding young leaders from 16 countries honored as 2012 Laureate Global Fellows. The Fellowship is made possible through a partnership between the Sylvan/Laureate Foundation and the International Youth Foundation through its YouthActionNet® program.

Nicole le Roux was recognized on October 10 at a special ceremony held on the campus of Istanbul Bilgi University, a member of the Laureate International Universities network.

“We are delighted to welcome the 2012 Laureate Global Fellows into the YouthActionNet® community,” said IYF President and CEO William S. Reese. “We recognize that together these young social entrepreneurs can achieve far more than they ever could alone. The Sylvan/Laureate Foundation is playing an invaluable role in equipping young leaders—at the global and national level—with the knowledge, skills, and connections to each other that are so vital to achieve lasting change in their communities.

“The fellowship has better equipped me to work for our communities. I learned so much about myself, my style of leading, but also how to deepen my strengths in order to give even more to the work I feel so passionately about. It was incredible to spend time with young leaders who have followed their dreams and come up with inspiring solutions in different contexts, to share ideas, to develop collaborations and to make inspiring friends. The fellowship has already been an incredible opportunity for me to share some of the story of South Africa with people from around the world, the story of our challenges but also of our solutions.”

Founded in 2010 by Nicole le Roux and Toni Stuart, I Am Somebody! has started a network of 15 organizations that exchange resources, is running an 18-month Rites of Passage programme with 10 young adults from diverse communities, and has begun to build a network of support for these 10 young adults through storytelling events and workshops with over 400 individuals a year. Our work, while reaching many people, is not about the numbers but about the depth. We believe that listening can change the world. If people are witnessed for who they are, and supported to grow with people from diverse backgrounds, we can create the reconciled communities we dream of.

The Laureate Fellowship is open to young leaders, ages 18 to 29, who have founded or co-founded a social enterprise that has been in operation for a year or more. Fellows are selected by a panel of experts representing the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, along with the previous year’s winners. They benefit from leadership training, networking, advocacy, and funding opportunities and join a thriving global network of more than 650 young social entrepreneurs in 70+ countries.

To learn more about the 2012 Laureate Global Fellows, please visit: www.youthactionnet.org.

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About I Am Somebody!
“I Am Somebody!,” uses the art of storytelling to build diverse communities committed to supporting the development of youth leaders. Its goal: to build a network of strong relationships among individuals and organizations that results in integrated solutions to young people’s needs. Through its Partner Exchange Program, I Am Somebody! facilitates the exchange of valuable resources and expertise among youth-serving nonprofit organizations. Its Community Building program consists of storytelling events and individual relationship building, while its Mentorship program provides critical training. These programs offer a network of support for young adults, ages 18-25, participating in its 18-month Rites of Passage program, a personal development initiative that encourages youth to address issues related to integration that affect their ability to achieve their goals.

To learn more, visit: www.iamsomebody.co.za
 

About YouthActionNet®

A program of the International Youth Foundation, YouthActionNet pursues a bold mission: to strengthen and scale up the impact of youth-led social ventures around the world. Through its local and global fellowship initiatives, YouthActionNet provides training, funding, advocacy, and networking opportunities to social entrepreneurs, ages 18 to 29, who have pioneered solutions to urgent global challenges. Joining us are universities, foundations, corporations, government agencies, and individuals – all united in their support young leaders whose innovations are changing the world – one community at a time. 

To learn more, visit: www.youthactionnet.org.

About the International Youth Foundation (IYF)

The International Youth Foundation (IYF) invests in the extraordinary potential of young people. Founded in 1990, IYF builds and maintains a worldwide community of businesses, governments, and civil-society organizations committed to empowering youth to be healthy, productive, and engaged citizens. IYF programs are catalysts of change that help young people obtain a quality education, gain employability skills, make healthy choices, and improve their communities.

To learn more, visit: www.iyfnet.org. 

About the Sylvan/Laureate Foundation
The Sylvan/Laureate Foundation is the company foundation of Laureate Education, Inc. Since 1997, the Sylvan/Laureate Foundation has provided more than $13 million in grants to 100 non-profit organizations. Its mission is to support best practices in training and education worldwide.

A member of the YouthActionNet® community, the Sylvan/Laureate Foundation sponsors the Laureate Global Fellows and is co-sponsor of YouthActionNet® programs at Laureate International Universities – the world’s largest network of private universities, comprised of more than 60 institutions of higher education in 29 countries and 740,000 students. YouthActionNet® programs are currently operating at Universidade Anhembi Morumbi (Brazil), Universidade Potiguar (Brazil), Universidad Andrés Bello (Chile), Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (Peru), Universidad Latina (Costa Rica), Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana (Honduras), Universidad del Valle de México (Mexico), Universidad Europea de Madrid (Spain), and Istanbul Bilgi University (Turkey).

To learn more, visit: http://laureate.net.