Earlham & Dimick Eastman Grand Challenge

One hallmark of the Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity is educating students about social entrepreneurship: using established methods for starting a business or organization to bring about social change or impact a cause.

In its inaugural year, the Earlham & Dimick Eastman Grand Challenge invites students to actively improve the well-being of Richmond, Indiana, residents through social entrepreneurship. Participants develop comprehensive project plans to address one of the following concerns:

• Food insecurity or food deserts
• Lack of warming stations for people with insecure housing

Competing in teams of up to five members, students present their proposals in three phases to a panel of judges, with the chance to win funding at each level.

If you’ve got the ideas and the passion to accept the challenge but aren’t sure where to start, never fear—a series of workshops presented by experts will prepare you for every step of the process. With a top award of $20,000, the Earlham & Dimick Eastman Grand Challenge is a chance to develop great skills, make connections in the community and even turn your vision into reality!

Meet our donors

This initiative would not be possible without the community investment and generosity of Richmond residents Eric ’96 and Becky ’97 Dimick Eastman, and the CEIC is grateful for their partnership. They have a passion for helping the underserved and underrepresented in Richmond, and the Earlham & Dimick Eastman Grand Challenge is one way they have chosen to give back to their local community.