Kennedy Patlan (‘18), a triple major in Advertising, Citizenship and Civic Engagement, and Women’s and Gender Studies, has been named the first Blackstone LaunchPad Engagement Scholar at Syracuse University. The Engagement Scholar position was created as a part of the LaunchPad’s goal to grow social enterprise ventures across the campus.
Through her time at Syracuse University, Patlan has looked for ways to merge public and private sectors for impact. After conducting research on the relationship between nonprofits, technical fields, and sustainability, she is interested in building programs that serve as a campus-community collaborative. Kennedy has been involved with an array of organizations such as Hill Communications, the POSSE Foundation, and the Syracuse Philanthropy Council. She is a Resident Advisor and a current Remembrance Scholar. Kennedy will develop the outreach, branding, marketing, recruiting, and organizational aspects for the first annual Impact Program.
As the first Blackstone LaunchPad Engagement Scholar, Patlan will provide peer mentoring of student ventures, with a special focus on social enterprise and civic ventures. The goal is to encourage more students to think about developing for-good, not-for-profit and for-profit enterprise as part of entrepreneurial landscape. As an Engagement Scholar, Patlan is helping develop a special business plan competition for entrepreneurs who are developing ventures that serve a broader social purpose. She will be helping coordinate the upcoming Impact Prize and Hult Prize Competitions across the Syracuse University campus. She will be helping develop special “Impact Workshops” on campus to explore topics related to social entrepreneurship, and assisting with events for Global Entrepreneurship Week, November 13-17.