Aspen Kyiv Challenge Empowers 300 Students to Rebuild Their Communities with Bold Ideas Addressing Real Problems
Students from cities heavily affected by the war to design and implement community resilience programs.
Kyiv, Ukraine, Dec. 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On November 14-15, Aspen Institute Kyiv, a member of the Aspen Institute international network of partners, launched Aspen Kyiv Challenge. The Challenge welcomed 300 teenage students from across six schools in Bucha and Borodianka where they engaged in a civic leadership program that engages teenagers in designing and implementing real projects to rebuild and strengthen their communities.
The Forum’s kickoff took place in Bucha, a city that embodies both profound loss and an unwavering determination. Six teams of students, who grew up in the largest land war in Europe since World War II, demonstrated the optimism and resilience to not only dream of rebuilding their homes, but to make them more vibrant and supportive than ever before.
Held for the first time outside the United States, the Aspen Challenge is one of the Aspen Institute’s signature youth leadership programs, meant to engage local high schoolers around the country and empower them to address tangible issues in their communities. Previous cities have included: New Orleans, Louisville, San Diego, Brooklyn, Denver, and more. Aspen Kyiv Challenge was developed as a partnership between Aspen Institute Kyiv and the Center for Rising Generations, with the support of the Global Fund of Aspen Institute International Partners, and in collaboration with the Klitschko Foundation.
The two-day kickoff let the students hear from national leaders, role models, and experts, learn from real stories of social transformation, and bond with likeminded young leaders. There was even a dance party. Each team will select their challenge and receive a seed grant equivalent to $500 USD to launch its project. Solutions and impact will be presented in February when teams reconvene at the “Solutions Showcase.”
This year’s challenge categories reflect the war’s broader impact on youth across Ukraine: strengthening inclusion and accessibility, particularly for veterans and their families, career guidance and youth development to motivate young Ukrainians to stay in the country, and creating eco-friendly, sustainable, and safe environments to encourage community.
After presenting at the Solution Showcase, judges will determine the winning team whose students will win an educational visit to Germany, where they will meet local leaders, schooling them on European approaches to civic engagement, social entrepreneurship, and community development. The winning team will also present at the Aspen Institute Kyiv Ukrainian Action Forum in Ivano-Frankivsk in May 2026.
"We intentionally chose Bucha and Borodianka — communities that became global symbols of unimaginable pain. With this program, we want them to become symbols of strength. Aspen Kyiv Challenge gives teenagers something many of them have been missing since the war began: the confidence that their ideas matter and the belief that they can shape the future of their communities and of Ukraine,” said Yulia Tychkivska, executive director of Aspen Institute Kyiv.
“It’s an honor to have Aspen Institute Kyiv kick off the first international program of the Aspen Challenge. Aspen Institute Kyiv is creating the foundation for what’s possible when countries say ‘yes’ to young people leading the way. Aspen Kyiv Challenge demonstrates to the world that, even in the darkest of circumstances, hope still exists. Through this program, young Ukrainians have the opportunity to help in rebuilding and healing their country, one project at a time,” said Katie Fitzgerald, Managing Director for the Aspen Challenge.
Speakers of note at the kickoff include Matviy Bidny, Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, Serhiy Prytula, founder of the Serhiy Prytula Charitable Foundation, Roman Hryshchuk, People's Deputy of Ukraine, Anna Zavertaylo, co-founder of bakery chain Zavertaylo and Honey, Yevhen Yanovych, Ukrainian actor and screenwriter, Ruslana Danylkina, veteran and employee of the Superhumans Center, Anita Lutsenko, owner of WOWBODY, and Mykola Riznyk, head of the Opishnya territorial community.
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Aspen Institute Kyiv is a Ukrainian non-partisan public association that supports the formation of value-oriented leadership, promotes the development of a culture of dialogue, and creates opportunities for the exchange of ideas. Learn more at www.aspeninstitutekyiv.org.
The Aspen Challenge provides inspiration, tools, and a platform for young people to design solutions to some of the most critical problems humanity faces. For more information on Aspen Challenge, please visit www.aspenchallenge.org.
Eric Baker The Aspen Institute eric.baker@aspeninstitute.org
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