BUILD Greater Boston’s “BUILDFest” Gala to honor Michael Bronner, Founder of UPromise and Digitas

3rd Annual Gala, with Senator Ed Markey as Honorary Event Chair, will feature a Student Business Expo, Live Music, an Open Bar, Dinner, Dancing, and Fun!

BUILD Greater Boston (www.buildinboston.org), a not-for-profit organization that uses entrepreneurship to excite and propel disengaged, low-income students through high school to college success, will honor Michael Bronner at its 3rd Annual Fall Fundraising Gala, “BUILDFest.” The event will be held on Tuesday, December 3, at the Westin Copley Place, 10 Huntington Avenue, Boston.

At the event, BUILD will be honoring Bronner with its annual BUILDer Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Bronner is the founder of Digitas and UPromise and co-founder—with his sons—of his third company, UNREAL, which aims to “get the junk out of junk food,” says Bronner.

“I have dedicated much of my life to entrepreneurship, and I have seen the profound impact that the entrepreneurial spirit has on young people’s confidence about themselves and their future, so I am thrilled to be honored by BUILD,” says Bronner. “BUILD is an innovative and exciting organization that is dramatically improving outcomes and college access rates among urban students in Boston and beyond. Their work needs to be strongly supported and widely replicated.”

Also being honored at the event as BUILD “Friend of the Year” is Dennis Kunian, long-time BUILD supporter and mentor to students. “What makes being a mentor at BUILD so rewarding is the dramatic impact you can have on kids in a very short period of time,” says Dennis. “There is an almost immediate and constant sense of gratification that what I am doing really matters.”

Proceeds from the gala will support BUILD’s mission to make college accessible to at-risk urban youth in Boston Public Schools. “BUILD is so grateful to our donors, sponsors and supporters, whose generosity enables us to help Boston high school youth graduate and go on to success in college,” says Ayele Shakur, Regional Executive Director. If you can’t make the event but you still want to support BUILD’s mission, please visit the website, www.build.org/donatenow.

About BUILD: Founded in 1999, BUILD’s mission is to use entrepreneurship to interest and motivate disengaged, low-income students to succeed in high school, and go on to college and career success. In Boston, BUILD began in 2011 and is working with nearly 250 students in four high schools, in Dorchester, Charlestown and Brighton.