UCI’s Pitch Competition Supports Three Innovators Focused on Social Impact

The 2017 Designing Solutions for Poverty Competition, hosted by UC Irvine’s Blum Center, recognizes the potential of three innovative social enterprises to tackle access to justice, financial literacy and community building.

For the third year, UC Irvine’s Blum Center hosted its Designing Solutions for Poverty Competition focused on supporting individuals or teams with an innovative idea that will make a social impact. The competition is open to the broader UC Irvine community, that is students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members. Winners receive a financial prize, as well as mentorship throughout the year (and the subsequent year) to strengthen their capacity to become a sustainable social enterprise.

This year’s competition recognized three different enterprises — Esqalate, Loy Loy, and Pure Game. The first, Esqalate, is a non-profit providing low to no cost legal services to populations in need, by electronically matching law school graduates with experienced lawyers. The next, Loy Loy, is an educational boardgame focused on improving financial literacy among low-income communities, with a focus on savings practices as well as improving understanding of the multidimensional causes of poverty. Lastly, Pure Game uses soccer, and an accompanying character curriculum, to instill confidence and empowerment in disadvantaged children. To learn more, please see the following articles by the Orange Country Register, and LA Times/Daily Pilot