This is such an important issue to lift up. The subtle and not-so-subtle ways that implicit bias operates often blind us to how we inadvertently and systematically exclude people and innovations that can make profound differences in the world. Thank you, Michael Zakaras and Ashoka, for your continued leadership and willingness to grow and adapt.
- Katherine Pease, KP Advisors
I am trying to launch an artist owned cooperative and non profit foundation Mesa heART Coop and Foundation to connect artists in Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix Arizona to the opportunities that large recent arts infrastructure investment has made. The coop will allow artists themselves to literally own their success in helping to grow the local arts based economy and connect then through the non profit to directly impact their economy by hiring them to provide creative educational opportunities to different local underserved neighbors. There are barriers, and yet the time is now and a large social impact can be realized for the artists and the community. Seed Spot, a highly successful Social Entrepreneurship start up accelerator and incubator has provided me the well defined roadmap, connections, mentors and frame work to actually get there. We are fortunate to have this opportunity here. After 7 highly successful years in Phoenix, Seed Spot is now taking their proprietary business canvas (which models financial sustainability as well as measuring success in lives impacted) to the National stage with plans on opening five branches in five cities beginning with Washington DC. Check out the 15 ventures who successfully competed for admission to the Fall 2016 cohort: http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/techflash/2016/09/seed-spot-announcing-latest-class-of-ventures.html
There IS social entrepreneurship here in the Phoenix Metro area and I am currently fortunate to have begun this opportunity with Seed Spot. Ashana and others should look here at this promising incubator outside the regular “bubble”. Seed Spot has managed to cultivate and nurture a diverse, inclusive socially impactful start up culture here, including a sucessful partnership with the Inrernational Rescue Committee offering opportunities for refugees and establishing a high school program introducing the awareness for impactful social change to the next generation of social entrepreneurs. http://www.seedspot.org/
Recognizing these efforts will do a lot to spread the word and encourage more!
Good article to stimulate conversation. This is also a trend here in Australia. We have many middle-class social entrepreneurs created in urban centres, often focused on intermediary or arms-length approaches - established to generate movements or money to pass-on, but not in the community where the challenges are faced. Very often we forget where social enterprise emerged from. Its roots are driven from complex disadvantaged communities (urban and rural) which use enterprise alongside other tools to move towards improved socioeconomic outcomes. This is a layered, blended and timely process. While I appreciate urban centres have areas of severe disadvantage, many of the socially entrepreneurial initiatives and sponsors are present in the business/financial districts of the cities, or the gentrified areas. We need to identify the geographic areas and populations where there is real, ingrained disadvantage and move the initiatives (integrated and blended with government, corporate and community sectors) there for the long-term, and enable local people to become social entrepreneurs. Ostensibly social entrepreneurship needs to re-embrace the community development (and collective impact) approach if we are to get long-term outcomes for people/environment in the places and spaces that need it most.
COMMENTS
BY Katherine Pease, Katherine Pease & Associates
ON September 11, 2016 12:09 PM
This is such an important issue to lift up. The subtle and not-so-subtle ways that implicit bias operates often blind us to how we inadvertently and systematically exclude people and innovations that can make profound differences in the world. Thank you, Michael Zakaras and Ashoka, for your continued leadership and willingness to grow and adapt.
- Katherine Pease, KP Advisors
BY Jaime Glasser
ON September 18, 2016 09:07 AM
I am trying to launch an artist owned cooperative and non profit foundation Mesa heART Coop and Foundation to connect artists in Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix Arizona to the opportunities that large recent arts infrastructure investment has made. The coop will allow artists themselves to literally own their success in helping to grow the local arts based economy and connect then through the non profit to directly impact their economy by hiring them to provide creative educational opportunities to different local underserved neighbors. There are barriers, and yet the time is now and a large social impact can be realized for the artists and the community. Seed Spot, a highly successful Social Entrepreneurship start up accelerator and incubator has provided me the well defined roadmap, connections, mentors and frame work to actually get there. We are fortunate to have this opportunity here. After 7 highly successful years in Phoenix, Seed Spot is now taking their proprietary business canvas (which models financial sustainability as well as measuring success in lives impacted) to the National stage with plans on opening five branches in five cities beginning with Washington DC. Check out the 15 ventures who successfully competed for admission to the Fall 2016 cohort:
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/techflash/2016/09/seed-spot-announcing-latest-class-of-ventures.html
There IS social entrepreneurship here in the Phoenix Metro area and I am currently fortunate to have begun this opportunity with Seed Spot. Ashana and others should look here at this promising incubator outside the regular “bubble”. Seed Spot has managed to cultivate and nurture a diverse, inclusive socially impactful start up culture here, including a sucessful partnership with the Inrernational Rescue Committee offering opportunities for refugees and establishing a high school program introducing the awareness for impactful social change to the next generation of social entrepreneurs.
http://www.seedspot.org/
Recognizing these efforts will do a lot to spread the word and encourage more!
BY robin dick
ON September 19, 2016 10:07 PM
Good article to stimulate conversation. This is also a trend here in Australia. We have many middle-class social entrepreneurs created in urban centres, often focused on intermediary or arms-length approaches - established to generate movements or money to pass-on, but not in the community where the challenges are faced. Very often we forget where social enterprise emerged from. Its roots are driven from complex disadvantaged communities (urban and rural) which use enterprise alongside other tools to move towards improved socioeconomic outcomes. This is a layered, blended and timely process. While I appreciate urban centres have areas of severe disadvantage, many of the socially entrepreneurial initiatives and sponsors are present in the business/financial districts of the cities, or the gentrified areas. We need to identify the geographic areas and populations where there is real, ingrained disadvantage and move the initiatives (integrated and blended with government, corporate and community sectors) there for the long-term, and enable local people to become social entrepreneurs. Ostensibly social entrepreneurship needs to re-embrace the community development (and collective impact) approach if we are to get long-term outcomes for people/environment in the places and spaces that need it most.