MIAMI — Aug. 19, 2015 — Venture for America, a national nonprofit that recruits and trains top recent college graduates and offers them placements at leading startups, will send its second class of fellows to Miami in August with $240,000 from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The eight new fellows will join six current fellows for a two-year program working for Miami-based startups.

These recent college graduates will undergo a five-week training camp at Brown University to hone the skills they need to contribute to high-impact local companies. Once placed, fellows will serve as core team members, receiving first-hand experience in building a startup, while helping Miami entrepreneurs expand and scale.

Venture for America’s purpose is job generation; the organization hopes to help create 100,000 new U.S. jobs by 2025 by helping companies expand and training a critical mass of top graduates to become business builders and job creators. In the last four years, VFA Fellows and partner companies have contributed to the creation of 1,200 new jobs in the United States.

The new fellows, who will start this month, will work for Miami-based growth companies and have access to opportunities to start their own businesses in Miami in the coming years. Among the fellows are recent graduates of Columbia University, University of Michigan, Morehouse College, University of Notre Dame and Vanderbilt University. They will be working in a variety of roles at local firms Rokk3r Labs, AdMobilize, Kairos and Venture Hive.

One of the members of the first class of VFA Fellows in Miami, Princeton graduate Seth Forsgren, has already founded a new startup, Tracks, which makes a video messaging app.

In addition to Knight Foundation, other local supporters include former Miami Heat guard Shane Battier, who will be joining the Venture for America board of directors in September.

“We see tremendous potential in the Miami entrepreneurial ecosystem,” said Andrew Yang, founder and CEO of Venture for America. “We hope to seed this next generation of entrepreneurs with the skills, experience and networks they need to one day become successful entrepreneurs who create enduring jobs in Miami and across the country.”

“The right mix of talent and opportunity is essential to making Miami a global innovation hub,” said Matt Haggman, Knight Foundation program director for Miami. “Venture for America is pushing us toward that goal by seeking out high-impact startups and connecting them with the talent that will help these businesses scale and grow right here in Miami.”

Since its founding in 2011, Venture for America has placed 300 fellows in 15 cities, including Baltimore, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Philadelphia and Providence, R.I. Venture for America partner companies have added an average of five jobs within a year of hiring a fellow and 72 percent have experienced job growth.

Both fellows and startups go through a comprehensive vetting process led by Venture for America. The company matchmaking process typically takes place between March and June of each year. Fellowship applications are accepted in four rounds, beginning in October of each year and concluding the following March. For more information, please visit ventureforamerica.org.

This is the second year that Knight Foundation has supported Venture for America. Support for the organization is part of Knight Foundation’s efforts to invest in Miami’s emerging innovators and entrepreneurs as a tool to build community, while fostering talent and expanding economic opportunity. Over the past three years, Knight has made more than 100 investments in entrepreneurship in South Florida.

About Venture for America

Venture for America is a fellowship program for enterprising recent college graduates to launch their careers as entrepreneurs and revitalize American cities. After five weeks of training, VFA Fellows spend two years in the trenches of a startup in an emerging U.S. city where they learn how to contribute to a high-growth business. Afterwards, VFA provides the mentorship, network, and resources Fellows need to become entrepreneurs.

Venture for America’s goal is to fuel job growth in cities throughout the U.S. while empowering the best and brightest to create value in their communities. They aim to produce effective and high-character builders who will found and lead quality organizations throughout their careers.

For more information, visit ventureforamerica.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. knightfoundation.org

CONTACTS:

Anusha Alikhan, Director of Communications, Knight Foundation, 305-908-2677, [email protected]

Leandra Elberger, Senior Communications and Development Manager, Venture for America, 646-736-6460, [email protected]