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This year, Wharton debuts the Wharton in Action initiative - one that will combine leadership opportunities for our students with greater community impact.  This initiative builds off of the 2010 Pre-Term Challenge conceived and implemented by Kembrel Jones, Deputy Vice Dean of Student Affairs, and was inspired by MBA students from the class of 2012, including Elena Boyd, who is part of the leadership team for the Nonprofit Board Leadership Program and Jessup Sean and Katelyn Witek, who serve as the Divisional Vice Presidents for Community Service for the Wharton Graduate Association.

The Wharton in Action initiative will coordinate our incoming MBA students in a concentrated community service and social impact focus geared towards four Philadelphia organizations. This focus will include:

• An initial fundraising competition, with a challenge to raise a minimum of $5000 for each organization during preterm.
• Continued interaction with the organization, to include consulting projects, volunteering opportunities, and additional fundraising through the first year.

The incoming MBA class of approximately 850 students will be divided into 4 clusters; each cluster of over 200 students will work with one organization.  For the 2011-2012 academic year, the selected organizations are:

• Career Wardrobe: Empowering women in transition by providing programs which inspire the confidence necessary to achieve self-sufficiency and pursue a productive career. Website >>
• Sayre Health Center: Providing high quality health care while providing health services education for Penn students and West Philadelphia high school students. Website >>
• SummerSearch: Inspiring low-income high school students to become responsible and altruistic leaders by providing year-round mentoring, life-changing summer experiences, college advising, and a lasting support network. Website >>
• The Enterprise Center: Building neighborhoods where people are willing, able, and organized to achieve their common goals by supporting entrepreneurship and community development. Website >>

This initiative will involve three levels of coordination between students and participating organizations:

1. Each of the selected organizations is a participant in the Nonprofit Board Leadership Program and will have a Board Fellow who is a second year MBA student serving as a visiting Board Fellow for the 2011-2012 academic year.  The Board Fellow will also serve as a liaison to the Wharton in Action Team.  
2. In order to maximize the benefit for participating organizations, each cohort will have Wharton in Action community service representative(s) responsible for leading the interactions with each organization.  The Divisional Vice Presidents for Community Service for the Wharton Graduate Association will play an active role in this coordination.
3. The Wharton administrative team, and especially the Wharton Program for Social Impact, will also be coordinating the relationships between the students and the participating organizations.