On Leap Day in 2024, a long-awaited event was set to happen: the Impact Competition team (composed of Lance in Chicago, Taylor in Vermont, and George in Denver) were set to meet in-person for the very first time in Indiana, to attend the 6th annual Impact Competition at Lance's alma mater, Indiana University.
Unfortunately, George had to cancel at the very last minute due to getting sick, so Lance & Taylor forged ahead into a whirlwind Bloomington weekend, complete with an amazing competition, delicious meals, and work with our film crew to capture footage of the competition.
This year's Impact Competition at the Kelley School at Indiana University partnered with a Bloomington non-profit called The Mill. Specifically, the challenge was focused on The Mill's ReBoot program, which aims to provide economic empowerment through low-barrier entrepreneurial training for underrepresented minorities in Monroe County. They were seeking innovative ideas to reach more clients and expand their ReBoot program, and tasked IU students with coming up with ways to invigorate this sector of their programming.
The winning team, Elevate Consulting, presented a revitalized two-week curriculum with a course packet, an innovative marketing plan to better reach the target markets, and an incentive-based “check-in” program for ReBoot graduates as well as additional sustainable funding sources.
Andy Lehman, Head of Accelerator Programming at The Mill, attended the event and was thrilled with the results. " It's a great experience & forces you to really dig deep and think about what you're trying to achieve, and you get the opportunity to work with truly excellent students."
