$1 Million Lift a Life Foundation Grant
(LOUISVILLE, KY) – Global Game Changers Student Empowerment Program, a Louisville-based nonprofit is pleased to announce it has received a $1 Million three-year grant from Lift a Life Foundation, founded by former Yum! Brands CEO David Novak and his wife Wendy Novak.
The grant will provide Global Game Changers (GGC) the capacity to scale its transformational Student Empowerment Program nationally. Launched in Louisville, KY in 2013, GGC’s programming drives the mission of providing enriching educational curriculum that empowers all children to discover their inner superpower to IGNITE GOOD!® and make the world a better place. Using a unique equation: MY TALENT + MY HEART = MY SUPERPOWER™ GGC teaches philanthropy as a tool to build character, leadership, and social-emotional skills in Pre-K – 5th grade students. GGC has served over 12,000 children in Louisville, KY since its founding.
GGC will expand its reach and impact across the United States through intentional:
- – Development of a robust interactive online platform that provides educators and students FREE access to GGC curriculum and program tools including a comprehensive repository of supplemental lessons, videos, and interactive games;
- – Development of an animated educational children’s TV show aligned to GGC lessons; and
- – Development of marketable branded support tools/products that can lead to economic sustainability for the organization and its mission.
GGC develops leaders and change agents. Utilizing an evidence-based free standards-compliant curriculum that focuses on building social, emotional, and leadership skills, students learn 12 different “heart badges.” Students are encouraged to cultivate their individual talents, create their superpowers, and put those superpowers into action. GGC helps educators build a positive classroom environment where students are able and prepared to learn. The Lift a Life Foundation was established in 1999 by David and Wendy Novak. The partnership with GGC extends Lift a Life Foundation’s pipeline of preparing students for leadership roles from preschool to college through its programs with Lead2Feed, and the Novak Leadership Institute at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. “We believe that we can make the world a better place by developing leaders at every level,” said Co-Founder David Novak, former CEO and Chairman of Yum! Brands. “GGC has a breakthrough curriculum for impacting the self-esteem and leadership development of elementary students.”
“This generous grant from Lift a Life Foundation will provide Global Game Changers the capacity to build an organization with the foundation to expand our reach and become more self-sustaining so that we can change the trajectory of underserved populations and empower all children to be great citizens. I am humbled and honored by the Novak family’s belief in our work and trust in our team.” – Jan Helson, GGC Co-Founder and Board Chair
Ultimately, GGC gives students the opportunity – and the challenge – to be their own superheroes. Through collaboration, technology, and investment in human capital, Global Game Changers seeks to be a catalyst for change in the education landscape of communities across the country by providing quality, consistent and sustainable learning opportunities to all children, especially our most at-risk, that will help them develop the skills that they need to succeed in school and life.
ABOUT GLOBAL GAME CHANGERS
The Mission of Global Game Changers is to provide enriching educational programs that empower all children to discover their inner superpower to make the world a better place using our superpower equation: MY TALENT + MY HEART = MY SUPERPOWER!. The organization’s mission is that every child will learn to utilize their unique superpower to IGNITE GOOD!® becoming more empowered, more compassionate, more responsible, and more successful throughout their lives. The GGC Student Empowerment Program teaches philanthropy as a tool to build character, develop leadership skills, and strengthen social-emotional skills. Through in-school and afterschool enrichment partnerships GGC evidence based, standards-compliant Student Empowerment Program promotes deeper learning experiences as a catalyst to improve academic outcomes for all students, especially our most at-risk, K-5th grade.
Mother-daughter team Jan and Rachel Annette Helson co-founded Global Game Changers in 2013. Jan Helson, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, nurtured the idea for GGC after she and her husband identified a need to better engage and empower employees within their own global food manufacturing company. It came together when their daughter, NYU graduate, actress and TONY award-nominated producer Rachel Annette Helson, stepped up to the plate to do something about breast cancer. Out of love for her four aunts, all of whom had battled breast cancer, Rachel Annette used her acting talent and big heart to create her own superpower – producing multiple theatrical productions from Louisville, KY to Broadway benefiting breast cancer research. Their joint belief in the power of education led them to the development of the transformative program after co-writing two award winning children’s books, “Philanthropy…a big word for big-hearted people” and “Global Game Changers.”
ABOUT LIFT A LIFE FOUNDATION
The Lift a Life Foundation was established in 1999 by David and Wendy Novak. The mission of the Lift a Life Foundation is to help those in need achieve their full potential with the goal of funding innovative, high impact projects that are led by passionate leaders who are committed to outstanding execution. The foundation focuses on grant funding in the areas of student leadership development, juvenile diabetes, hunger relief, early childhood education and military family support. Since Lift a Life Foundation began, it has helped thousands of people in need through grants and programming support.
David Novak is the Co-Founder, former CEO and Chairman of Yum! Brands, one of the world’s largest restaurant companies with nearly 43,500 KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut restaurants in more than 135 countries and territories. A renowned expert on leadership and recognition culture, Novak is the author of three highly respected and critically acclaimed books, The Education of an Accidental CEO, The New York Times Best Seller Taking People With You as well as his latest parable, O Great One! A Little Story About The Awesome Power of Recognition. David has been recognized as “2012 CEO of the Year” by Chief Executive magazine, one of the world’s “30 Best CEOs” by Barron’s, one of the “Top People in Business” by FORTUNE and one of the “100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World” by Harvard Business Review. In April 2015, he received the prestigious 2015 Horatio Alger Award for his commitment to philanthropy and higher education and became a lifetime member of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. He is the recipient of the 2012 UN World Food Program Leadership Award for Yum! Brands World Hunger Relief effort that raises awareness, volunteerism and funds to address this global problem. He received the national 2008 Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship. He is currently the founder and CEO of the digital leadership platform, oGOLead.com. Wendy Novak is a lifelong philanthropist and volunteer. She serves on the advisory board for the Wendy Novak Diabetes Care Center.
CONNECT
Global Game Changers at www.globalgamechangers.org
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Lift a Life Foundation at http://liftalifefoundation.org/
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