When first lady Michelle Obama helped turn a patch of the South Lawn into a kitchen garden for the White House, sustainable foodies savored the moment—and the overnight attention it brought to their “eat local” movement. Social innovators, meanwhile, spent early spring waiting for the Klieg lights to turn in their direction. “Any day now” was the rolling estimate of when the new President would formally announce creation of the first-ever White House Office of Social Innovation. (At press time it was learned that the office would be headed by Sonal Shah, who previously worked at the global development team of Google.org.)
Even before the announcement, spirits were high among those who have pushed hard for the creation of this new West Wing office. “This could be a very big idea,” predicts Vanessa Kirsch, executive director of New Profit Inc. Kirsch is also a founder of America Forward, a coalition of leading social entrepreneurs. During the presidential campaign, America Forward lobbied hard for a White House office that would help scale effective nonprofit programs.
More cause for optimism came in late March with the passage of the Senator Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. Passed with broad bipartisan support, the act creates a community solutions fund for replicating proven programs, starting with $50 million in 2010. It also greatly expands opportunities for community service. For social innovators, this means fresh infusions of money and people power for scaling up good ideas.
One of the people who helped establish the new office was Michele Jolin, a former senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. (Jolin first made the case for the new office in “Innovating the White House,” published in the spring 2008 issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review.)
Establishing a White House office sends a strong message. “Every President creates special offices around his priorities,” Jolin points out. “This is a way to signal that social innovation will have some extra oomph in this administration.”
With a home base in the White House, the new office staff will be in a position to convene gatherings, bring together potential partners, and use the bully pulpit to promote social innovation across sectors. At the same time, the office will likely be careful not to create any new bureaucracy that could interfere with community-level innovation. “Government’s role is creating a climate so that innovation can happen,” Jolin says, “not to put barriers in place.”
This emphasis on showcasing innovation and funding what works could enable government to act more like a venture philanthropist, predicts Kirsch. Emphasizing results and competing for resources are hallmarks of social entrepreneurs. “We welcome the chance to compete against metrics,” she says. “Tell us what you want to accomplish in government and give us the chance to show you that we can do it more cost-efficiently, or at scale, or in neighborhoods where you didn’t think we could succeed. Our dream is that this office is like the little engine that could.”
Read more stories by Suzie Boss.