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The Aspen Challenge2024-03-20T10:53:39-06:00

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The Aspen Challenge provides inspiration, tools, and a platform for young people to design solutions to some of the most critical problems humanity faces.

Young people are moments away from being tomorrow’s decision-makers and this program offers them a chance to practice their critical thinking, tap into their creativity, and offer their fresh perspective on issues within our society.

How It Works

Each year, we partner with an urban school district to bring the Aspen Challenge to a new city. Twenty schools are invited to participate, and each high school forms a team of 8 students and 2 educators who serve as coaches. Our participants take the following steps to complete the Aspen Challenge:

Build Empathy

Prepare for positive teamwork and for the design experience. Learn about your community.

Get Inspired

Teams gather at the Challenge Forum to hear from leading thinkers who tackle some of our world’s toughest problems. These leaders pose challenges to the teams, asking them to create innovative solutions for their communities.

Design a Solution

Teams have one week to select the challenge of their choice, draft their vision, and set goals. Teams are guided to pick challenges based on passion, relevance, feasibility, and sustainability.

Give the Solution a Voice

Teams are coached to develop a brand identity and messaging to pitch their solution to community stakeholders.

Outreach and Community Engagement

Teams put their work into action by engaging their communities through events, surveys, and media outreach.

Present and Compete

Teams present their solutions to a panel of distinguished judges who select top teams based on creativity, feasibility, sustainability, and teamwork.

Reflect and Grow

Post Solution Showcase, teams participate in a reflection meeting with Aspen Institute staff that serves as an inflection point on individual and collective leadership development.

2024 Partner Cities

SAN DIEGO

BROOKLYN

“The most under utilized resource in our community are the brains of our young people.”

Nat Irvin, University of Louisville

Featured Challenges

I challenge you to organize young people in your community to practice civic power and cultivate civic character.

I challenge you to design a program that fosters empathy and creates support for all immigrants, regardless of their documentation status.

I challenge you to work with Louisville's immigrant communities and other partners who care about immigrants' rights to create and promote a program that both integrates immigrants and celebrates this city's diverse cultures.

I challenge you to raise awareness around air pollution levels and improve your city's emissions to create clean air for generations to come.

Featured Speakers

Alfre Woodard

José Andrés

Charles “Lil Buck” Riley

Ann Kim

What’s New

Alumni Spotlight: How Aspen Challenge Helped Student Annyah Cush Find Her Purpose

“I told them to use their hearts and minds instead of going into the challenge trying to win. Once it’s something that you are actually interested in, and you’re willing to make a change in the world whether you receive something or not, without a doubt you’ll have no problem with the solution.” -Annyah Cush, Aspen Challenge participant and mentor’s advice to Aspen Challenge participants. For Annyah Cush, the Aspen Challenge was more than just a competition. It was [...]

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