Fresh Idea

Teresa Smith, a graduate student in the School of Leadership and Education Sciences’ Nonprofit Leadership and Management program, is CEO of the nonprofit Dreams for Change. Focused on a variety of ideas to help the city’s homeless, Dreams for Change’s mobile “The Fresh” food truck services its customers with items that are prepared with healthy ingredients, inexpensive through the use of Cal-Fresh benefits/EBT cards. Smith’s dream received a major boost when she won a top prize of $10,000 in USD’s second annual Social Innovation Challenge in April. The money, she said, helped cover the costs associated with purchasing the truck, supplies and more so she could launch the idea this summer. The application deadline for the 2013 Social Innovation Challenge is Feb. 18. All USD students are eligible to apply to win an award of up to $50,000 to put their social innovation idea into action.