New textbooks!! Thanks to our partnership with Lincoln Park Preschool & Kindergarten, Hope School has brand new textbooks and teaching resources. The books arrived in April and were immediately put to use - this was a huge need and the teachers and students are thrilled. ...
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We sat down with one of our most recent Impact Travel alumni, Lesley Brindle, to capture some of her immediate reflections on our recent March trip to Nicaragua. Check out our interview with her here, and consider joining us on one of our upcoming Impact...
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We've collaborated before with the intrepid ladies over at Wanderful where their goal is to empower women travelers to explore the world and to connect with each other. We're all about experiential travel and making powerful, personal connections. So, we were thrilled when they reached...
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In 2010, Shankar Iyer and his family donated the funds to name the newly built classroom building in Zambia in memory of their niece, Shelby Goldstein, who passed away at the age of four. Recently, Shankar and his family were able to visit the Shelby Goldstein...
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Sharon Kozek, Owner and Founder of Lincoln Park Preschool and Kindergarten, along with members of her team have enthusiastically joined with Spark Ventures to help launch a new preschool in Zambia. Early childhood education is critical to any students' future success in the world, but...
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A bi-annual clinic is an incredibly critical piece of the work we support through our local partner in Zambia. Providing basic healthcare services to the students and staff at Hope Community School is part of our work to empower them with the resources and opportunity...
Read MoreAaron and Roxanna Anderson traveled to Zambia with Spark Ventures on our very first trip in collaboration with North Park University and later returned for longer portions of time to work directly with our local Zambian social impact partner. They returned from Zambia engaged and...
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Mr. Thompson Silungwe has always taken great pride in his work. But now, thanks to a generous grant from the Dewan Foundation, he can do what he loves with greater efficiency and care than ever before. “You ask, ‘what is my favorite part of the job?’”...
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Matt Freund is a founding member of the Associate Board and will attend The University of Chicago's Booth School of Business in the fall. His involvement in Spark Ventures has helped shape the direction he hopes to take his professional career, so we asked Matt...
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At the end of this month the Spark Ventures team will bid farewell to Lucy Jodlowska, our Director of Social Impact Investments. After more than four years of significant contributions to the Spark Ventures mission, Lucy is moving on to explore new opportunities. Lucy has...
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On our Impact Trips to Zambia, the days are packed. But without fail, during each day we spend with our partners at Hope Community School, there is one hour of time where everything gets quite still. If you were to join us for just that...
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For those who have traveled with us to Zambia, the one-on-one reading time spent with students at Hope Community School is always a highlight - an experience we again featured after our most recent trip in July. We’ve seen how successful and how fun reading...
Read MoreWe are thrilled to announce that on the upcoming Nicaragua Women's Leadership Trip our travelers will be joined for a day by Gloria Callejas, Country Director for United Airlines in Nicaragua. Gloria will provide her personal perspective on corporate life in Nicaragua, women and girls...
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On our summer trip to Zambia, a good chunk of time was dedicated to taking a photograph of each and every student at Hope Community School. We told you about this project while we were traveling (excerpt the from this original blog post below) -...
Read MoreSpark Ventures wrapped up its first ever Young Professionals trip to Nicaragua last week and we wanted to chat one last time with our trip participant, Young Professionals of Spark member and blogger, Jessica Dangles. What were some highlights of the trip? I have to say one...
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With Spark Ventures’ first Young Professionals trip to Nicaragua taking place now, we are getting a first-hand look at the experience, through the eyes of Jessica Dangles, who also serves as a member of the Young Professionals of Spark (YPS). Read her first blog post...
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With Spark Ventures’ first Young Professionals trip to Nicaragua taking place in a few short weeks, we sat down with one of our trip participants, Jessica Dangles, who also serves as a member of the Young Professionals of Spark (YPS). What are you looking forward to...
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Joining us at our annual event, Ignite 2015, was a guest of honor - Gricelda Pantoja representing our social impact partner, Las Tías in León, Nicaragua. Gricelda shared her personal perspective on the powerful work she and her dedicated team take on as they serve...
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We are consistently astounded by the incredible community of supporters we have at Spark Ventures. With nearly 200 members of our network gathered together for Ignite 2015 on Friday, October 23rd at The Murphy, we were thrilled to celebrate Spark Ventures' work empowering women and...
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