SOCIAL ENTERPRISE STRATEGY

Innovative Impacts is building a network of youth-centered social enterprises to create jobs in the neighborhoods where young people live.

Planned initiatives include laundromats, late-hour coffee houses, and retail enterprises such as thrift stores, event production, and maker-spaces. These serve as real-world training labs that teach customer service, financial literacy, leadership, and operations while helping to fund our other programs.

Our Vision

Igniting curiosity and empowering young minds with the skills of discovery to prepare the next generation to explore boldly, solve wisely, and shape a brighter future.

Guided by our tagline, Educate. Empower. Employ., we seek to prepare youth for lifelong success by helping them build confidence, critical thinking, and real-world skills that promote self-sufficiency and community engagement.

Core Values

Curiosity: We inspire the desire to explore, question, and discover.

Empowerment: We equip youth with tools to think independently and problem-solve effectively.

Community: We believe learning is strengthened through collaboration and civic pride.

Creativity: We embrace hands-on learning and the power of imagination.

Growth: We build pathways from childhood curiosity to adult capability.

ABOUT INNOVATIVE IMPACTS

Innovative Impacts is a Kansas-based youth mentoring and educational nonprofit dedicated to igniting curiosity and empowering the next generation of leaders. Rooted in the Six Skills for Success — Observation, Measurement, Classification, Inference, Hypothesizing, and Communication — we help young people use discovery, creativity, and real-world problem-solving to build confident, capable, and community-minded futures.

CORE PROGRAMS

Maximum Effort; a Character Building Program (Elementary/Middle School)

A hands-on mentoring experience that builds responsibility, resilience, confidence, teamwork, and character through STEM challenges and guided discussions. Partnership with Topeka Police Department School Resource Officers and TPS 501.

Young Entrepreneurs Training Institute (Middle School)

Teaches middle and high school youth small-business skills including budgeting, marketing, planning, and customer service. Tempers this with introduction to community groups like Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary, Odd Fellows, Optimists, Masons, and more.

Get a Job. Get a Ride. Get a Life (High School)

A workforce and life-readiness pipeline:

• Get a Job — Employability and soft skills training with on-the-job experience.

• Get a Ride — Transportation readiness, driver's education support, and mobility planning.

• Get a Life — Budgeting, cooking, apartment hunting, and planning for adulthood.

Science Selfies

Social media outreach with demonstrations, animations, and activities to publicly show how we work with children and teens.