Winter 2017

Issue

Winter 2017

Volume 15, Number 1

Laws and programs designed to benefit vulnerable groups, such as the disabled or people of color, often end up benefiting all of society. From affirmative action to wheelchair friendly sidewalks, examples all around us show that investing in equity isn’t a zero-sum game. That’s the message of the cover story in the winter 2017 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review, “The Curb-Cut Effect,” by Angela Glover Blackwell.

Features

Civic Engagement

The Curb-Cut Effect

By Angela Glover Blackwell 8

Laws and programs designed to benefit vulnerable groups, such as the disabled or people of color, often end up benefiting all of society.

Organizational Development

Selling Social Change

By Taz Hussein & Matt Plummer 5

Rather than focusing so much effort on creating services that are “innovative,” nonprofits need to develop a more sales-driven approach to social change.

Impact Investing

Across the Returns Continuum

By Matt Bannick, Paula Goldman, Michael Kubzansky, & Yasemin Saltuk 5

Omidyar Network has built a framework for pursuing investment opportunities that takes into account not only firm-level impact but also market-level impact.

Impact Investing

Toward the Efficient Impact Frontier

By Michael McCreless 4

At Root Capital, leaders are using ideas from mainstream financial analysis to calibrate the role that subsidies play in their investing practice. Includes magazine extras.

What’s Next

Water & Sanitation

Plugging Into the Past

By Kristine Wong

An architecture firm is helping bring modern amenities to Beijing’s historical hutong courtyard homes with minimal disruption.

Human Rights

A Journal for Refugees

By Jamie Stark

An Oxford project provides a place where migrants forced to flee their homes can publish their work.

Technology

Mapping Land Titles From the Sky

By Jamie Stark

Can drones help solve the complex problem of recognizing property claims in the Philippines?

Social Services

Convenient Care for the Elderly

By Noël Duan

In Japan, minimart chains such as 7-Eleven and Lawson play a major role in providing services for a burgeoning elderly population.

Field Report

Arts & Culture

Healing Through Hip-Hop

By Kyle Coward 1

In the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, mental health professionals are using hip-hop culture to reach troubled youth.

Human Rights

Radio for Good

By Alicia Clegg

National Prison Radio, run by inmates, reaches more than 60,000 prisoners in England and Wales—and aspires to better the lives of every single one.

Business

Fellowship for Change

By Sarah Murray 1

A network sponsored by the Aspen Institute is enabling corporate social intrapreneurs to become less lonely—and more effective.

Education

HELP for Haiti

By Liz Carlisle

It’s a ripple effect: HELP fulfills Haitian students’ dreams of college, and then they take up the baton.

Case Study

Human Rights

Two Countries, One Vision

By Sarah Murray

From fraternity houses in the American Midwest to villages in rural India, Breakthrough is experimenting with novel approaches to reducing violence against women and girls.

Viewpoint

Measurement & Evaluation

A Question of Outcomes

By Caroline Whistler & John Grossman 2

For more and more social change efforts, the key to success lies in clearly defining the desired results for beneficiaries.

Design Thinking

Conflict Aid Goes “Lean”

By Whitney Shinkle 1

Iterative design methods are essential to development work—even (or especially) in regions marked by war and violence.

Foundations

Seeking and Solving

By Kiko Suarez & Alph Bingham

Through an online crowdsourcing platform, one foundation is reaching new types of partners who offer new types of solutions.

Economic Development

Good to the Last Mile

By Daniel Tomlinson 1

Solving the problem of rural distribution in the developing world starts with following the time-honored model of local traders.

Research

Social Services

Judging “Poor” Choices

By Corey Binns

Disapproval of welfare recipients who use their benefits to buy “ethical” but costly items is widespread.

Business

Why Some Big Companies Back Boycotts

By Corey Binns

Corporations that suffer from reputational threats often form unlikely alliances with social activist groups.

Energy

The Subsidy Solution

By Corey Binns

Contrary to conventional economic wisdom, relying solely on carbon taxes will not create an optimal transition to clean energy.

Social Enterprise

Purpose Versus Popularity

By Corey Binns

In working with stigmatized groups, an organization must manage the risk that it may experience stigma as well.

Book Reviews

Review

Security

Information Isn’t Just Power

Review By Lucy Bernholz 1

We should care about who is able to control and distribute data, but information is more than just a commodity.

Review

Cities

Dissonance, Harmony, and Compassion

Review By Richard Sinkoff 3

Rose’s bold theory, which offers a new framework for urban planning, could benefit from equally comprehensive recommendations about how to implement it.

Review

Health

Learning from Neighborhoods

Review By Faith Mitchell

A new book makes a strong case for connecting healthcare to neighborhoods, but it could focus more on the role of race and ethnicity.

Review

Economic Development

China’s Many Economies

Review By Michael Pettis

It can be tempting to overgeneralize about patterns in China’s economic development—even for scholars who acknowledge the country’s great diversity.

Last Look

Cities

Farming in Detroit

By Eric Nee

The number of urban gardens in Detroit has been increasing as people seek to put abandoned land to better use.

Drawing on Detroit

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