Los Angeles, California - The American Red Cross, together with Project Paradigm, announced 10,000 youth aged 7 to 18 have signed up for The Paradigm Challenge, a new contest launched by Project Paradigm that inspires youth to affect positive change in the world. The inaugural Paradigm Challenge seeks new ideas to prevent injuries and fatalities from home fires America’s #1 disaster threat.

“We are thrilled with our very successful launch during the first part of 2015,” said Jeff Richardson, Project Paradigm’s Founder and CEO. “For context, many national youth contests and challenges garner fewer than 1,000 participants. With the support of our growing coalition, we will work together to engage as many youth as possible by the May 1, 2016 entry deadline,” said Richardson.

Participants in The Paradigm Challenge team up and use their creativity to help save lives by generating home fire prevention ideas. The top 100 teams will win prizes ranging from $500 up to $100,000 from Project Paradigm. Finalists will be judged by a blue-ribbon panel based on efficacy, feasibility, originality, presentation, and collaboration. Members of the public will also vote for their favorite finalist.

As part of its Home Fire Campaign, a multi-year push to reduce the number of deaths and injuries from home fires, the Red Cross is encouraging youth to participate in The Paradigm Challenge. “Red Cross congratulates Project Paradigm on reaching this impressive milestone. Empowering youth to help make their communities safer is incredibly important,” said Russ Paulsen, Executive Director of Community Preparedness at the American Red Cross.

Project Paradigm also engages and activates youth around home fire awareness through the hosting of monthly photo and video contests tied to fire safety. Youth upload their entries and ask friends and family to vote. The 10 entries with the most votes each month receive cash prizes from $100 to $1,000.

The Paradigm Challenge further engages youth by enlisting them as Ambassadors for the cause of home fire safety. Through The Paradigm Challenge Ambassador Program, youth help spread awareness about fire safety and The Challenge in a competition to win one of six trips to Los Angeles to attend The Challenge awards ceremony.

About Project Paradigm

Project Paradigm, a national private foundation headquartered in Los Angeles, California aims to identify, support, and collaborate with passionate individuals and organizations to inspire, lead, and facilitate paradigm shifts in the approaches to global challenges. Learn more at projectparadigm.org/founder.