Golden Key is excited to enter into our second year of SPARK a Change, our global service initiative to impact and improve the lives of at-risk youth (ages 0-17) through literacy, education and real-world preparedness. Since August 2014, chapters have dedicated 9,890 hours, touched the lives of 6,627 people and raised $2,159 towards SPARK a Change. Together we can impact the lives of youth around the globe! (Chapter leaders, please remember to record your events on the Golden Key website so we can include your accomplishments in our statistics.)
Follow SPARK a Change on social media. Each month, Headquarters will be posting a challenge and a contest for SPARK a Change. Be sure to follow Golden Key on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for articles on the benefits of volunteering and posts featuring great SPARK events. If you think your chapter has a great event, please email your event details and pictures to: khiatt@goldenkey.org.
 
February Featured Service Project:
This month, we’d like to highlight the GK chapter at the University of Vermont. Dr. Kathleen Liang, the chapter advisor, teaches a service-learning and experiential-learning course at UVM called Introduction to Community Entrepreneurship. In the course, there is an activity called the Dollar Enterprise Program where students learn entrepreneurial procedures directly through a new-venture creation experience. Students actually learn about theories, and directly start new ventures at UVM! A team consists of 11-12 individuals get $11-$12 per team as seed money. Dollar Enterprise simulates a formation of any business in the real world from teamwork, generating resources, creating coalitions, and building community partners, to dealing with day-to-day operations, assessment, optimization, and time management.  Once the semester begins, it takes one month to prepare and apply for food permits and business details.  Each team runs their business for 4 weeks (at least 3 hours every day from Monday through Friday, between 8am to 5pm) during the semester in various pre-reserved locations on campus only. At the end of the Dollar Enterprise activities, all proceeds are donated to charity organizations. At the end of the 4-week business activity, each team concludes with a business report, financial report, self-assessment, and final team member assessment.  Each team donates all proceeds to local charities and a Community Entrepreneurship Education fund that has been established to assist future students who are interested in becoming successful Community Entrepreneurs. Since the spring of 2005, Dollar Enterprise has worked with over 20 Vermont organizations to generate more than $50,000 for more than 300 charity organizations.