Posts by Kelly Ward
Social Entrepreneurs Answer President Obama’s Call to Service
Published March 19, 2009 @ 05:10AM PT
(March 23 - Ed. note: The Senate began debate on the Serve America Act this afternoon, voting 74-14 for cloture in order to speed the debate. To find out more about the Act, read below or click here)
Social Entrepreneurs take to Capitol Hill to invest in Social Innovation and Answer President Obama's Call to Service
As Nathaniel and others have discussed extensively on this blog, innovative solutions to very persistent social problems are making a measurable difference in communities across our country. We could have a profound impact on our nation if government invested in these proven solutions and fostered a true marketplace for social innovation and national service.
We may not have to wait much longer.
There is incredible traction at the federal level to invest in social innovation and create new opportunities for citizens to serve. Momentum continues to build for legislation-especially the Serve America Act in the Senate and the GIVE Act in the House-that would foster innovation in the social sector, invest in what works, and encourage citizens in all stages of life to serve their communities. In fact, these bills are on track to pass before the April recess!
Social entrepreneurs are taking to the Hill to educate policymakers about their work and the impact of social innovation. Here are just a few highlights of some of the exciting stuff being said on Capitol Hill:
First, the House.
Cheryl Dorsey, Founder of Echoing Green, testified to the House Education and Labor Committee several weeks ago saying:
"Social entrepreneurship or social innovation is, essentially, applying the principles of innovation that have served this country so well in the private sector to the social sector-to the work being done to address the pressing social challenges we face. Even though we don't often think of it in this way, the principles of innovation, entrepreneurship, accountability, results, and competition can exist in the social sector, just as they do in the private sector. Those of us who have toiled in the field of social entrepreneurship believe that social innovation is a key driver in identifying the most effective, highest-impact solutions to the difficult social challenges facing our nation."
The House Education and Labor Committee passed the GIVE Act out of Committee by a vote of 34-3, demonstrating strong bipartisan support. And it passed the House today by a vote of 321-105.
It is worth noting what Representative Paul Tonko (NY-21) said during that Committee meeting. As he introduced the Social Innovation Fund as an amendment to the GIVE Act, he said:
"Social entrepreneurs personify a richness in their communities and develop new and innovative solutions to the problems they see. Many social entrepreneurs and the community organizations that support them don't have the capital to expand their initiatives. The Social Innovation Fund this amendment creates would give these social entrepreneurs the capital to leverage private-public partnerships. This capital enables them to implement their solutions and replicate their successes in other communities."
It's incredibly exciting to see policymakers expressing such strong support for the work of social entrepreneurs!
And this support isn't just on the House side.
The Senate is responding to President Obama's call to pass the Serve America Act (the Kennedy-Hatch bill he mentioned during his State of the Nation speech a few weeks ago). Last week, the Senate HELP Committee held a hearing on the legislation. Michael Brown, Co-Founder and CEO of City Year and Lester Strong, CEO of Experience Corps testified in front of the committee, along with social innovation policy expert Shirley Sagawa. In her testimony, Shirley Sagawa encouraged Senators to strongly support the Corporate for National Service because of its support for social innovation, saying:
"Another notable and surprising success of AmeriCorps is the contribution it has made to innovation in the social sector. When an organization takes an out-of-the-box approach to solving a problem, it often finds few sources available for sustainable funding. AmeriCorps, because it doesn't specify the strategy for problem-solving or the presumptive provider, has been a flexible source of funding and human capital to grow some of the country's most promising organizations, including Jumpstart, Citizen Schools, Experience Corps, and Habitat for Humanity... The Corporation for National and Community Service has been an agency that appreciates social entrepreneurs and the contribution they make to social innovation."
The Senate is expected to pass the Serve America Act (S277) next week. To contact your Senators and encourage them to vote for this legislation, click here.
It's worth noting that President Obama and his Administration are also demonstrating support for social innovation. In his FY2010 budget proposal, President Obama included the Social Innovation Fund, saying:
"Innovators often come up with great ideas for addressing critical national challenges, but too often lack the capital to develop, evaluate, and scale up successful ideas. The Budget would create a new social innovation fund, charged with testing promising new approaches to major challenges, leveraging private and foundation capital to meet these needs, and scaling up research-proven programs."
It's incredibly exciting to see such strong support from our federal leaders! Stay tuned for more updates, and click here if you'd like to be more directly involved in these legislative efforts.
Featured Idea: Provide National Service College Coaches for Low-Income Students
Published December 20, 2008 @ 09:35AM PT
As our economy continues to decline, our nation's leaders face the difficult dilemma of meeting an increased demand for services with a decreased amount of money. Nowhere is this truer than in education. While the initial reaction may be to cut the resources we dedicate to education, that's in fact where we need to invest the most. As President-elect Obama said earlier this week when he announced Arne Duncan as his Education Secretary, "In the long run, the path to jobs and growth begins right here in America's schools, in America's classrooms... the decisions we make about how to educate our children will shape our future for generations to come." I couldn’t agree more.
One way to have a high-quality education system even in these troubling times is to use our existing resources as efficiently as we can. The good news is that there are proven models around the country that we can learn from.
Take Admission Possible.
Founded in Minnesota in 2000 to help promising low-income students get into college, Admission Possible teaches four critical lessons to these students: ACT and SAT test preparation, intensive guidance in writing college applications, help in obtaining financial aid, and preparation for the transition to college. The especially exciting part of their model though is that they recruit recent college graduates serving as Americorps volunteers to act as the college coaches, walking students through the four part program.
Admission Possible's college coach model is working. Ninety-nine percent of the students they've assisted have successfully enrolled in college, and 80 percent of those students are either still enrolled or graduated. Pretty amazing! This year alone, the program will serve 1300 students at 17 high schools and charter schools in the Greater Twin Cities.
And as an added bonus, Admission Possible also encourages their participants to engage in community service in exchange for the college preparation lessons. Students in the program lead workshops for younger low-income students teaching them the steps necessary to prepare for college.
So let's get this straight: Admission Possible is utilizing recent college grads and existing AmeriCorps dollars to provide high-quality college prep to low-income students, who then turn around and share their college prep lessons with a younger generation of students--all of whom may never receive college prep assistance otherwise. Talk about an efficient use of existing resources to provide high-quality education services!
Considering that every year roughly 200,000 college-capable students don’t pursue a post-secondary degree because they either don’t understand the admissions process or don’t have access to adequate financial aid, the work that Admission Possible is doing is just a drop in the bucket on solving this problem. But imagine if we had a White House Office on Social Innovation that could help scale their effective program so that students from low-income families and under-resourced areas around the country could have the great college-going assistance Admission Possible provides. What an incredible impact we could have with a hugely efficient use of existing resources.
You can vote to support Admission Possible’s idea here.
Kelly Ward is the Director of America Forward, a coalition of social entrepreneurs building momentum around big ideas for changing government and changing the world. She will be guest blogging about America Forward member organizations throughout the Ideas for Change in America competition.
Featured Idea: Convert School Kitchens into Meal Distribution Hubs
Published December 17, 2008 @ 08:37AM PT
When you first hear about DC Central Kitchen, you might be tempted to think of them as a traditional soup kitchen that feeds homeless men and women. Let me tell you that they are so much more. DC Central Kitchen is a proven model for addressing the interrelated problems of poverty, hunger, and homelessness. Through seven different programs, they address the many problems that cause hunger, not just hunger itself.
One of my favorite initiatives is their Culinary Training Program. Over the course of twelve weeks, unemployed, underemployed, homeless adults, and people who were previously incarcerated are trained for careers in the foodservice industry. They go through cooking technique courses with local chef volunteers while at the same time learning lessons in professional development and life skills.
To date 650 men and women have graduated from the program, and the program has a 95 percent job placement rate. Last year, 85 percent of graduates had retained their job after six months of employment with an average starting salary of $10 per hour. Students who complete the program have gone on to work at places like Centerplate at Washington Convention Center, The Smithsonian Institution, the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, and Fresh Start Catering.
DC Central Kitchen has taken this culinary training program model to a national level through their Campus Kitchens Project. Working from the assumption that every college campus has unserved food in its dining halls and brilliant students in its classrooms, the program enables thousands of students to recycle food from their cafeterias into nourishing meals for those who need them most. These university kitchens are also used to teach culinary skills to unemployed men and women, who, according to DC Central Kitchen, “teach the college students a thing or two about poverty, stereotypes, and what it takes to make it these days.”
The Campus Kitchens Project is at 12 campuses across the country, but DC Central Kitchen believes the model has potential to scale.
This type of successful model—and potential growth—is exactly the type of innovation the White House Office of Social Innovation could support.
Vote here to support DC Central Kitchen’s idea to make all school kitchens into social enterprise classrooms and meal distribution hubs.
Kelly Ward is the Director of America Forward, a coalition of social entrepreneurs building momentum around big ideas for changing government and changing the world. She will be guest blogging about America Forward member organizations throughout the Ideas for Change in America competition.
Featured Idea: Year Up's Innovative Workforce Development
Published December 11, 2008 @ 04:45PM PT
Through my work with America Forward, I've had the chance to see many incredible organizations in action across the country. One of those is Year Up.
Founded by social entrepreneur Gerald Chertavian in 2000, Year Up has developed an innovative solution to a phenomenon in the U.S. they call the "opportunity divide." The problem is that 4.3 million 18-24 year olds in America are not employed or enrolled in postsecondary education. This makes them ineligible for jobs that offer wages sufficient to support a family because those jobs require at least some education and training beyond high school, even at the entry-level. Year Up describes this group as "disconnected youth" because they are unable to connect with the resources and training they need to get into those higher paying jobs.
To help these youth overcome barriers to gainful employment, Year Up created a year-long program that combines classroom education with hands-on work experience. Over the course of six months, students learn technical skills like desktop and network support along with professional skills like time management and business writing. Then, once they complete classroom training, students are placed in a six-month paid apprenticeship in IT or investment operations at leading companies like Microsoft, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Bank of America. Graduates leave the Year Up program with 18 hours of college credit and a resume that shows experience in a promising field.
With this innovative and comprehensive model, Year Up is achieving incredible results. 87 percent of their graduates find jobs that average $30,000 per annum after just one year in the program. These statistics are pretty monumental when you consider them alongside the fact that one year of postsecondary education increases lifetime earnings by 5 to 15 percent per year. Additionally, 90% of their apprentices meet or exceed apprenticeship partner expectations, which is a fantastic indicator of their future success. To date, Year Up has placed more than 920 young adults on a viable path to economic self-sufficiency. The Year Up model demonstrates that young adults with post-secondary training can fulfill their potential and provide employers with a reliable and cost-effective source of entry-level, knowledge-based workers.
Imagine the impact if our federal government worked with organizations like Year Up to both scale their program and to improve our workforce development system as a whole. That's exactly the type of partnership the White House Office of Social Innovation could help facilitate.
You can support Year Up's innovative model by voting for their Idea for Change in America here!
Introducing America Forward and a White House Office of Social Innovation
Published December 09, 2008 @ 01:05PM PT
My name is Kelly Ward and I’m the Director of America Forward, a coalition of more than 70 results-driven, entrepreneurial nonprofit organizations. These organizations have innovative solutions to address some of the toughest domestic challenges facing our nation in areas like education, public health, poverty, and workforce development. For the past year we’ve been working with two goals in mind: to introduce social entrepreneurship into the national dialogue about solving domestic problems more effectively; and to advance a policy agenda that will help social entrepreneurs and government work together to invest in social innovation and grow proven solutions to new communities across the country.
It’s probably not hard to imagine that I’m super excited about the Ideas Campaign here on Change.org! What a fabulous way to engage people across the country in identifying innovative solutions to the social challenges we face. As Obama said many times on the campaign trail, government cannot solve all of our nation’s problems alone—citizens have an important role to play in identifying new solutions and participating in their communities. The ability to unite Americans around fresh approaches to our social challenges and share these ideas with our nation’s leaders is a powerful opportunity, indeed. When I read through the ideas already posted on this site, I’m amazed by the innovative ideas already being proposed in all categories. Exciting stuff!
America Forward is a proud sponsor of the social entrepreneurship category. Social entrepreneurs combine innovative ideas, accountability, entrepreneurial tenacity, and a commitment to results to achieve a high level of impact on the problems facing communities. It’s great to see Change.org taking a leadership role on highlighting social entrepreneurship as an innovative way to solve problems! They’re helping to fuel an important dialogue about how we can foster even more innovation in the social sector.
One policy idea frequently mentioned on this front is a White House Office on Social Innovation—which we’ve posted here on Change.org. This Office would highlight the innovative solutions making a difference across the country, identify barriers to innovation and entrepreneurship in the social sector, and provide recommendations to overcome these barriers, among many other activities. The fact of the matter is that great solutions exist at the local level, but many communities with similar needs aren’t able to access these services. We need a mechanism for taking proven innovations to other places that need them, and the White House Office on Social Innovation is one idea for how to make this happen.
The ideas posted on Change.org demonstrate some of these local innovations and the inventive spirit of the American people. For the next three weeks, I’ll be guest blogging on Change.org to highlight some of the exciting social innovations working in local communities. Check back on Thursday to read more!
