FT/Citi Ingenuity Awards - Meet the Education Finalists

Rounding out our recent profiles of category finalists for the FT/Citi Ingenuity Awards, this post details the finalists in the education category, whose innovations are helping to expand the skills and knowledge bases of urban dwellers across the globe. As a reminder, visit Citi's Facebook page to find out more about all of the program finalists, and to tell us who you think should take home the award for the most ingenious education program.

FT/Citi Awards Education finalists:

As Financial Times education correspondent Chris Cook explains in this FT video profiling finalists, quality education systems are one of the most important assets for today's urban environments, given cities' need for an educated workforce to thrive as creative hubs. Currently, cities are rising to the challenge, as evidenced by these finalists who are aiming to improve access to education, or are using education as a tool by which citizens can improve their cities.

Below are the five finalists who have implemented ingenious solutions to improve urban education:

Asociacion Aprendo Contigo, Peru

Asociacion Aprendo Contigo, based in Lima, Peru, offers schooling in Peru's largest pediatric hospital, providing education and distraction to children forced to spend long periods under medical supervision. The program has a team of about 200 volunteers who dedicate an average of four hours a day to educate hospitalized children. Read more: https://on.ft.com/WAUNgi

City of Dubrovnik Educational Vertical, Croatia

The City of Dubrovnik Educational Vertical offers affordable education to young people who are often only seasonally employed in tourism, which provides most of Dubrovnik's jobs. The goal is to attract young people to the city and to keep them there once seasonal jobs are over. Read more: https://on.ft.com/S48BxT

College Possible, United States

Minnesota-based charity College Possible is a mentoring program that gives students from low-income backgrounds access to higher education by using members of AmeriCorps, a U.S. national service program, to advise and mentor high school and college students. Read more: https://on.ft.com/RC2YVi.

Sustainable Cities Initiative, United States

The University of Oregon's Sustainable Cities Initiative deploys the expertise of departments such as architecture and planning to improve local towns and cities, engaging students and staff. Accomplishments to date include helping design new energy-efficient street lights, bicycle lanes, park signage and new uses for the wastewater treatment plant that saved the city $400,000. Read more: https://on.ft.com/VbrSBN

Power of Seeing, India

The Power of Seeing brings schoolchildren in New Delhi, India closer to their urban environment, using an innovative curriculum that inspires them to improve their city. The project asks students to choose one problematic element in their neighborhood to observe and document before sending their accounts to local government agencies requesting the problems be fixed. Read more: https://on.ft.com/S493w1

Find out more at www.ft.com/ingenuity.

Join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #FTCitiAwards.

Read about what Citi is doing in cities at www.citiforcities.com.