San Diego students are solving local problems through the Aspen Challenge

Zoom in: Leaders from local organizations posed this year's challenges at the kick off event Tuesday at Liberty Station.

• Help unhoused, transition-aged youth use existing resources to get the skills, tools and motivation to secure stable housing.
• Create a program that fosters equity and belonging for LGBTQ+ youth.
• Create solutions and raise awareness of the impacts of sea-level rise.
• Make a plan to reduce screen time and foster in-person socialization.
• Lead an initiative to give young people better access to support for reducing substance abuse.

How it works: Teams have nine weeks to propose and implement their ideas before presenting them to a panel of local judges in April.

• The winners will share their projects at the annual Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado in June.

Flashback: Last year, students from Madison and Mira Mesa high schools, and the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts won for their projects reducing consumption of single-use plastics, improving mental health resources and addressing chronic absenteeism.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to show the challenge kicked off at Liberty Station (not Balboa Park).