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sacapp — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:42:09 CST

Social Entrepreneurship in the Bay Area

Alternative Spring Break 2008

Itinerary

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"A social entrepreneur identifies and solves social problems on a large scale... just as business entrepreneurs create and transform whole industries"

-- PBS documentary "The New Heroes"

Social entrepreneurship is a new way of thinking about society’s tough issues. In diverse fields like poverty relief, health, technology, and education, social entrepreneurs look beyond traditional approaches to design and implement creative, sustainable solutions to real-world problems.

As one of the most innovative places in the world, the Bay Area has served as an incubator for many of social entrepreneurship’s great ideas. It is home to organizations like Benetech, a nonprofit technology company developing software to document human rights abuses, OneWorld Health, a nonprofit pharmaceutical company producing affordable medicines for diseases affecting developing countries, and Delancey Street, a network of businesses run by ex-felons and substance abusers to learn skills to rebuild their lives.

Over the course of winter quarter we will examine innovative Bay Area organizations and learn about the infrastructure that makes social entrepreneurship possible. During spring break, we will visit these organizations and engage with experts in the field of social entrepreneurship. Through conversations with successful social entrepreneurs, service activities, and active creativity, we will get involved with every step of social entrepreneurship—from observation to idea generation to potential implementation.

There’s never been a more exciting time to begin learning about social entrepreneurship, and there’s no better place to get started than here at Stanford and around the Bay Area.

Trip Leaders: Kalvin Wang & Sophia Tu

socialeasb [at] gmail [dot] com

Faculty Sponsor: Professor Tina Seelig

==========================================

what is Alternative Spring Break (ASB)?

what is social entrepreneurship?

How can I help?

give us a tour of your organization (March 22-29)
speak to our group (March 22-29)
speak at our winter quarter class (dates and times TBD)
refer us to someone who would be interested in doing one of the above
check our wishlist

ASB 2007

Kalvin W

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:25:14 CDT

Kalvin Wang is a Computer Science major, class of 2008, who grew up in Silicon Valley watching the bubble grow and pop. He enjoys activities involving social change, technology, and entrepreneurship, preferably all three. In past summers he has worked at ever-smaller Internet startups. Last year’s Social Entrepreneurship ASB shattered his preconceptions of nonprofit/social organizations as slow-moving and populated by profit-averse technophobes. He currently has 25,000 gumballs in his dorm room.

2/5/08 reading questions

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 12:19:58 CDT

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Yin Yin
1) The Salvation Army, Goodwill, and Cadbury chocolatesstarted with a religious mission that grew into a focus of helping the underpriviliged. What is the role of religion in influencing social change?
2) Zimmermen notes that for-profit businessess brings a "feet to the fire" accountability is effective in producing continued change. What aspect of non-profit organizations lack this accountability?

Susan

1. How do funding (investments, grants) and the financial infrastructure of a company change when it transitions from the nonprofit to for-profit sector and vice versa?

2. There is an emphasis on the organization "making its intentions clear to its stakeholders". How do you make your intentions clear to your stakeholders when the mission duality of social and profit depends on the progress of the organization?

David
1. Is Cadbury Choclates an effective social enterprise or would you label it a "sell-out" to the social causes it once stood for?

2. What legal structure (profit, nonprofit, or other?) do you think is optimal for social enterprises that are just starting out?

Dania
1. Evergreen stresses that the key decision to their adopting a for profit structure is that it gave them the ability to raise capital through securities. Given that they still have a social mission and do good for the outdoors/youth, why wouldn’t many more social organizations adopt a similar strategy—have a structure that allows them to raise more money to fund their projects yet concentrate on a way to maintain the investors content and use the money for long term social action?
2. Is there a set scale for what counts as social mission? For example, Cadbury’s social mission is to help employees better their lives. Should this really count, as some could argue that this should be inherent in every business, especially if the employees are continuously loyal to the company?

SHELLY

1. What are examples of ventures (for profit, or non-profit) that have failed? Learning about characteristics of both successful and unsuccessful enterprises can help us make more improved business decisions in the future.

2. When scaling up a business to maximize its impact, is there any difference between the effectiveness of for-profit vs. non-profit models?

Leah

1. Gair seems to be arguing that any organization whose primary focus is a social mission should be non-profit. We've been discussing how social entrepreurship is directed at a social mission. Does this mean all social entrepreneurs should operate in the framework of non-profits?

2. Do you think social entrepreneurs can fill gaps left by the capitalistic marketplace, even if they choose a for-profit structure?

Sean

1. Is it really debatable that a social profit organization should be non-profit or for-profit based on the ability of the structure to yield social profit?

2. Why did Cadbury Chocolates change its employee policy as it scaled?

Shazad
1. Is there a need to define new "hybrid" legal structures that take elements from both non-profit and for profit structures?
2. What effect do legal structures have on the operational efficiency of organizations?

Catherine
1. Wolfe's Neck Farm Natural Meats made the transition in 2005 from non-profit to for-profit, purportedly because the Farm's board of directors decided its Natural Meats program had the potential to be commercially successful. Thus far however, the company has failed to achieve profitability - what do you think fuels the decision to change to for-profit, and when is it appropriate? Does changing to for-profit, in your opinion, almost necessarily detract from the original ideals and goals of the non-profit?
2. The authors write that " 'hybrid' mixes of for-profit and nonprofit entities still involve categorizing activities as either for-profit or nonprofit" and that essentially a hybrid is no solution. Do you agree? Is there any way to balance the two?

Belinda
1. Instead of creating non-profits to fill the gaps in the private sector, can you think of any ways to minimize those gaps in the first place?
2. Do you think Omidyar or Google.org's for-profit approach is feasible for any organization, given their already well-established resources and legitimacy?

Michael

1. What role does the legal structure play in motivating people? For instance, Jessica Flannery, the cofounder of Kiva, said that people told her that they wouldn't be as likely to lend money if Kiva was a for-profit? Do you think a for-profit social venture is likely to be viewed with skepticism?

2. What can for-profit social ventures do to establish a reputation as genuinely working towards a social mission? Would third-party certification help in this regard? For instance, some fair trade organizations certify companies if they have bought their goods at a fair price.

Wes Mateo

1) How difficult is it to switch from one business model to the other (profit to non-profit, or vice versa)? Given the possibility, is it ever strategic to plan such a switch prior to any sort of pressure to make such a transition?

2) I find it very interesting to think about the case of the Salvation Army’s invention of safe matches to compete with the already existent toxic brands. Is there any sort of product (or labor method) today that could be economically replaced in a similar fashion? My inclination is to say that no, there isn’t, but it’s likely worth thinking about a bit more . . .

PlanetRead

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 12:00:45 CDT

Prepared by: Wes Mateo Updated: 3/23/08
Website: http://www.planetread.org/ Mission: PlanetRead is “dedicated to reading and literacy development around the world . . . [It] was originally created around the idea of Same Language Subtitling (SLS), now a globally recognized innovation for mass literacy and reading development on TV.” PlanetRead attempts to improve reading and literacy skills by fusing this “education” with widely consumed entertainment media (thus making it more enjoyable and likely to occur). In short, PlanetRead’s mission is “a reading planet, [where] everyone can read and has access to affordable and interesting reading opportunities in one's native and other language(s).”
Inspiration/History: Brij Kothari (PlanetRead president) was pursuing a master’s degree in communication at Cornell in the mid-90’s, focusing his research work on the conservation of local knowledge in Andean Ecuador. In 1996, while attempting to learn Spanish by watching Spanish television with English subtitles, the thought struck him that Spanish television with Spanish subtitles would actually be more useful for learning the language. This idea of Same Language Subtitling was subsequently researched at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. PlanetRead “pioneered the concept of SLS for mass literacy, by suggesting its implementation on the immensely popular Bollywood film songs on TV in India.” Targeting Bollywood-style film songs in India, PlanetRead has implemented SLS into 10 TV programs in several states/languages around the country. Given that there are 108 million homes in India with a television, and each television is watched on an average by five people, the Indian television viewership number 540 million. PlanetRead leverages this widespread viewership to improve literacy of children and “neoliterates” (people technically literate but with minimal reading skills or abilities). Business Model: Nonprofit Theory of Change: If you can incorporate literacy learning into something millions of people consume every day (televised entertainment media), then you can vastly improve these people’s degree of literacy (by making it more enjoyable and to a large degree “automatic”).
Core Programs:

Doordarshan, India’s National broadcaster, currently carries programs in 10 regional languages nationwide that are accompanied by SLS captioning (interesting note: Doordarshan has seen a 15% increase in viewership on these SLS programs).

Recent Developments (if applicable): · PlanetRead presently trying to scale activities to Africa, South America and South Asia to combat literacy challenges in these countries · PlanetRead is also exploring the implementation of SLS into animated children’s products and folk songs Biography of Brij Kothari: · Grew up in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry · Received a Masters in Development Communication and a Ph.D. in Education from Cornell University. Doctoral research focused on the conservation of local knowledge in Andean Ecuador. · “Innovated, researched, and nationalized the use of "Same Language Subtitling" (SLS) on Bollywood film songs on TV, for mass literacy in India.” · “Laid the foundation for the SLS project as an Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) in its Centre for Educational Innovation.” · Co-founded PlanetRead.org (1999) and BookBox.com (a “for-profit social venture producing children's animated stories in more than 25 languages”) as a Reuters Digital Vision Fellow at Stanford University · Ashoka Fellow (2004) and the President of PlanetRead Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4): · How can we best put ourselves in position to have an “Aha!”-moment similar to yours regarding SLS? In other words, is there any particular advice you have to aspiring social entrepreneurs about how to get that one key inspirational insight? · What sorts of unique challenges did you encounter while trying to integrate your concept with national infrastructural establishments (i.e. television networks)? What advice would you give for implementing a solution that vitally depends on an already existent structure or organization (as opposed to a solution that can be effectively implemented “independently”, given sufficient capital resources)? · What are the variable factors in the effectiveness of SLS education in different parts of the world? Are there forms of televised entertainment media in other places that are as equally ubiquitous as Bollywood films in India? How do you choose which types of programming to target? Further Resources (2-3): · Article in which Brij Kothari discusses his inspiration for SLS: http://span.state.gov/wwwhspseptoct054.html · Brij’s Ashoka profile: http://www.ashoka.org/node/3557

Draper Richards Foundation

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 11:52:03 CDT

prepared by: Shazad Mohamed

updated: 03/23/2008

Website:

http://www.draperrichards.org/

Mission:

To provide funding and business mentoring to talented social entrepeneurs that can lead social change.

Inspiration/History:

"The Draper Richards Foundation was founded in 2002. Funders William H. Draper, III and Robin Richards Donohoe, venture capitalists who have run highly successful funds together, believe in the power of innovation and passionate individuals to change the world."*http://www.draperrichards.org/process/index.html

Business Model:

Provides funding of $100,000 a year for three consecutive years, along with strategic expertise and resources.

Theory of Change:

The Draper Richards Foundation accepts proposals for a number of public service areas, including, education, youth and families, environmental issues, the arts, health and community and economic development. The goal is to select promising social enterprises led by talented leaders, that have the potential create significant long-term social impact in their respective area of expertise.

Core Programs:

Draper Richards Fellows - provides selected social entrepreneurs with funding of $100,000 annually for three years. The funds are specifically and solely for entrepreneurs starting new non-profit organizations. Six fellowships are awarded annually.

Recent Developments (if applicable):

N/A

Biography ofJenny Shilling Stein:

Jenny Shilling Stein co-founded the Draper Richards Foundation in 2002 with Bill Draper and Robin Richards Donohoe to identify and support the most talented social entrepreneurs. She serves as the Executive Director of the Foundation, where she is responsible for strategic direction and management of the portfolio.

Prior to joining Draper Richards, Jenny was Director of Business Development & Strategic Partnerships at RealNames Corporation where she managed the company's relationship with Microsoft. Previously, she worked in account management at BBDO New York on the Pepsi, HBO and Campbell's Soup campaigns. She has worked at Schwab Foundation for Learning and served as a Board Intern at Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network.

Jenny is on the Board of Directors of A Home Within, Kiva. Org, and Komaza. She previously served on the boards of Upwardly Global, Taproot Foundation, Room to Read, Design that Matters, America Abroad Media, Education Pioneers, and Synapse Market Access Fund. She has volunteered on the Stanford Graduate School of Business Alumni Consulting Team, working to link business talent from the school's alumni with non-profit organizations. Jenny has been a judge for social entrepreneurship competitions for Echoing Green, Stanford University, the Civic Ventures Purpose Prize, and Fast Company's Social Capitalist Awards.

Jenny received both her Master of Business Administration and her Master of Education from Stanford University. She graduated magna cum laude in English and Psychology from Amherst College.

*http://www.draperrichards.org/team/index.html

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

Do you have any metrics to show that your model of investing in social organizations is any more successful than traditional nonprofit funding?How useful is the value that the Draper Richards Foundation adds to the organizations that you fund? Do you find that because of targeted metrics and the resources that you provide that organizations develop/scale quicker?
In your experience what are the most pressing challenges that new organizations face? Can you provide some examples of how the foundation contributes to overcoming them?Over the years how have you built up your organizational knowledge? What lessons have you learned that you didn't know in 2001?

Further Resources (2-3):

http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/funding/draper-richards-foundation-february-2005/
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/20/BUGA4GAHSL1.DTL&hw=draper&sn=001&sc=1000

BRIDGE Housing

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 11:28:17 CDT

prepared by: Catherine Lee

updated: [date]

Website: http://www.bridgehousing.com

Mission: BRIDGE pursues an ambitious goal of "quality, quantity and affordability" while meeting the growing demand for affordable housing in California's high-cost areas. Beyond creating homes, BRIDGE aims to build and revitalize communities on a large scale. BRIDGE specializes in the development of affordable apartments and homes in an array of revitalization, transit-oriented, urban infill, and mixed-use/mixed-income developments.

Inspiration/History:

BRIDGE was founded in 1983 after a major anonymous grant was given to the San Francisco Foundation to spearhead new solutions to the worsening shortage of affordable housing. Members of the Bay Area Council were concerned that high housing costs were undermining the region's workforce and economy and created a special blue-ribbon task force to establish an organization that could actually build high quality affordable housing at a large scale (not just hundreds, thousands), and selected Rick Holliday and Don Terner to lead the organization.

Business Model:

Theory of Change:

Providing affordable homes that act as the catalyst for revitalizing and strengthening neighborhoods and building communities.

Core Programs:

BRIDGE has grown into a multifaceted organization with a staff of more than 200 with the capabilities to handle every aspect of affordable housing development, including project financing, community outreach and planning, construction management, property maintenance, and asset management.
Within each of those categories:

Real estate development:
creative methods of site acquisition
experience in community relations
site planning to optimize use of land
tax benefits and incentives for donated resources
focus on community-responsive design and smart growth
efficient navigation of permit and entitlement processes
design for quality and "constructability"
hands-on construction management
senior housing and life care services

Resident Services

Built-in resident services incl. child care, computer centers, learning programs, and homeownership education
Community services and facilities: senior programs, parks, libraries
Scholarships

Investment Catalyst:
BRIDGE Urban Infill Land Development (BUILD)l
largest financial intitiative is with CalPERS: $175 million t catalyze new large-scale projects in urban infill locations.

Neighborhood Partnership Intiative
goal to create a community partenership model for neighborhood revitalization
blend housing with commercial activity and new retail services
provide incentives for the development of neighborhood-serving and locally owned businesses.

Recent Developments (if applicable):

BUILDing in Oakland, Palo Alto:
MacArthur BART Transit Village, part of US Green Building Council's new LEED Neighborhood Development pilot program

Biography of [Presenter’s Name]:
Carol J. Galante
Carol Galante is the President of BRIDGE Housing Corporation. Ms. Galante is responsible for the overall direction of BRIDGE, including real estate development, property and asset management, and corporate administration, as well as its major affiliates such as BUILD and BASS, a licensed life care provider. She joined BRIDGE as Vice President in 1987. She is a Director of the national Housing Partnership Network, the California Housing Finance Agency, the California Housing Consortium and the Center for Creative Land Recycling. Ms. Galante co-chaired California’s successful Proposition 1C campaign in 2006 that garnered approval for a $2.85 billion bond for affordable housing and urban infill development. Among Ms. Galante’s honors have been Builder Magazine’s Top 50 Most Influential People in Home Building 2006, Multifamily Executive Magazine’s 30 Most Influential Men and Women in the Multifamily Industry 2006, San Francisco Business Times 2003 Deal Maker of the Year and Most Influential Women in the Bay Area, and the 2002 U.C. Berkeley College of Environmental Design Distinguished Alumna Award. She is a licensed real estate broker and holds a B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan and a Master of City Planning from U.C. Berkeley.

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

What are the biggest changes that BRIDGE has gone through during the 20 years (from when you first arrived at BRIDGE to now)?

Business model - couldn't find much information online, is BRIDGE entirely government funded?

What are some of the biggest challenges for BRIDGE?

How do you choose where to start new projects?

Further Resources (2-3):

Lenders for Community Development

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 06:24:04 CDT

Lenders for Community Development
Sean Daneshgar
March 23, 2008

Website: www.l4cd.com
Mission: LCD invests in people who are working to build financial, personal and shared assets in low-income communities throughout the Bay Area. These assets include savings, permanently affordable housing, and viable employment.

Inspiration/History: LCD was originally launched in 1993 as a for-profit, multi-bank community development corporation; their focused, results-oriented culture is the principal legacy of these for-profit roots.

Business Model: LCD relies on donations from foundations and individual donors. Each program has its own business model (see Core Programs)
Theory of Change: ?

Core Programs:
Assets for All Alliance IDA Program – helps low-wage workers and their families save, build assets, and enter the financial mainstream by educating them on financial management and matching savings 2:1, up to $4,000. Individual Development Accounts (IDA) fund home ownership, education, or small business development.
Bay Area Microfinance Fund – provides loans to small entrepreneurs who cannot qualify for a bank loan, but need capital and consulting to build their business
Affordable Housing and Community Facilities Loan Program – manages $20 million in funds for multi-family housing, homeownership projects, homeless and transitional housing, and other community facilities, like child care centers and social service agencies

Recent Developments (if applicable):
Recently expanded activities into San Francisco and Alameda County, and recently interviewed on KQED morning news. To date, LCD has invested over $90 million in low-income community development, helping over 7,000 households, and more

Biography of Gwendy Donaker Brown:
Brown was promoted to IDA Program Director in 2007. Brown attended Pomona University from 1997-2001 and New York University. She worked in Community Outreach for the One Economy Corporation, which uses technology to help low-income individuals from 2005-2006.

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):
How does LCD distinguish the clients it chooses to serve?
How much interest does LCD take on loans?
Why did LCD choose this mix of programs? Are they complementary?

Further Resources (2-3):
http://www.l4cd.com/audio/2008-01-14-news.mp3
http://strategiesllc.net/CEO_BenefitRadio.html

Kaiser Family Foundation

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:51:45 CDT

Kaiser Family Foundation

Prepared by: David Kim
Updated: 3/22/08

Website: http://kff.org

Mission:
“Since we began in 1991, our goal has been to build an institution that plays a special role as a trusted source of information in a health care world dominated by vested interests. That institution-building process continues today.”
Drew Altman, Ph.D.
President and CEO

To serve as a non-partisan source of facts, information, and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the public on major health care issue facing the U.S., with a growing role in global health.

Inspiration/History:
“Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and his wife Bess established the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in 1948 with the goal of meeting “the unmet health care needs of the citizenry.” One of Henry Kaiser’s favorite sayings was “find a need and fill it,” and that’s what the Foundation has tried to do. While the Foundation was established in 1948, it is in a sense a relatively young organization. Under the leadership of CEO Drew Altman, Kaiser was completely remade from the ground up beginning in 1991, with the mission, expertise, programs, and operating foundation-style it’s known for today.”
http://kff.org

Business Model:
“With an endowment of over half a billion dollars, Kaiser has an operating budget of over $40 million per year. The Foundation operates almost exclusively with its own resources, though we do occasionally receive funds from grant-making foundations, primarily to expand our global programs.”
http://kff.org

Theory of Change:
Kaiser Family Foundation seeks to help policymakers, the healthcare community, and the public address issues on health by providing useful services through accurate information and effective programs that are made possible by strategic joint ventures with news and media entities, large spending allocation for research and analysis, and public health information campaigns.

Core Programs:
“Our work is focused in three main areas: Health Policy, Media and Public Education, and Health and Development in South Africa.

Through our Health Policy program, we provide facts, analysis, and explanation on health policy issues to policymakers, the media and the public. We try to provide information and analysis on a broad range of policy issues, emphasizing those that most affect low-income and vulnerable populations.

Through our Media and Public Education program, we work to broadly communicate information about health care issues to our audiences and to give people information that can help improve their health. As part of this effort, the Foundation operates the country's largest program in public opinion research on health issues and conducts a wide range of research projects on the impact of media in contemporary society. We also operate more than 20 joint ventures with different news and entertainment media organizations to reach key target groups with information on public health issues like reproductive health and HIV. Through our online information programs, the Foundation directly provides health policy and public health information to the health care community and the public.

Through our program for Health and Development in South Africa, the Foundation continues its more than 15 year-long commitment to help South Africa develop a more equitable health system and a successful democracy.”
http://kff.org

Recent Developments (if applicable):
Grammy Winner Common, MTV, and Kaiser Family Foundation Launch Lyrics Contest To Promote HIV Testing -- February 2008

Biography of Matt James:
“Matt James, Senior Vice President for Media and Public Education, Kaiser Family Foundation, Executive Director, kaisernetwork.org
Mr. James is responsible for a large portion of the Kaiser Family Foundation's project initiatives. Mr. James currently serves on the board of trustees of the Morris K. Udall Foundation, the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health and on advisory committees for the Council on Foundations and Independent Sector. Prior to joining the Foundation in 1991, Mr. James spent many years on Capitol Hill as Chief of Staff for Congressman Morris K. Udall and as a communication and political aide to Senators Dale Bumpers and the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Mr. James was also a former newscaster and reporter and is widely published, with articles appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), The Los Angeles Times, The Detroit Free Press, The Washingtonian, and many other magazines and newspapers. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo.”
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/static/about_editorial.cfm

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):
1) What is your analysis on the current state of health care system in the U.S. compared to that of other nations?
2) Has Kaiser Family Foundation considered switching to a for-profit model?
3) What are the directions for growth and development for Kaiser Family Foundation?
4) What are other groups that provide the similar services as Kaiser?

Further Resources (2-3):
www.kaisernetwork.org
www.statehealthfacts.org
www.kaiserEDU.org
www.GlobalHealthReporting.org
www.GlobalHealthFacts.org
www.health08.org

Taproot Foundation

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:49:13 CDT

prepared by: Yin Yin Wu

updated: 09/23/2008

Website: http://www.taprootfoundation.org/

Mission:

Every year, hundreds of nonprofit organizations rely on the Taproot Foundation’s award winning Service Grant program to provide millions of dollars worth of pro bono marketing, HR and IT consulting services that better equip them to tackle society’s toughest challenges.

Taproot partners with corporations, universities, and trade associations to infuse the pro bono ethic into every business profession – increasing the resources available to the nonprofit sector. By 2020, this organization strives to have all business professionals consider pro bono work an integrated and esteemed part of their careers.

Inspiration/History:

Nonprofits have the greatest potential for addressing our society’s most challenging social and environmental problems, but often lack the operational resources to be effective. The Taproot Foundation exists to close this gap and ensure all nonprofits have the infrastructure they need to thrive.

Business Model:

Harnessing human capital to improve the human condition. The Taproot Foundation responds to the need of nonprofits by inspiring and engaging the business community to fill this resource gap – not by giving cash, but by leveraging the skills and talents of business professionals.

Theory of Change:

Taproots aims to improve the efficiency and ability of many nonprofit organizations that provide a meaningful benefit to their communities. Taproot reviews hundreds of grant applications each year to select nonprofit clients that we think can make the biggest impact.
It selects projects based on the applicant’s financials, management, evaluation practices, and other data. After insuring that the organizations is ready to work, they provide professionals to help the group gain ground.
Historically, pro bono work has been an unreliable source of support for the nonprofit sector. The Taproot Foundation has solved this problem by creating the structure necessary to consistently deliver high-quality pro bono work in volume

Core Programs:

Taproot grant pro bono services to nonprofit organizations tackling society’s most pressing issues, specifically in the areas of:

Education
Social Services
Environment
Health

Recent Developments (if applicable):

Biography of Aaron Hurst:

Aaron Hurst has been widely recognized as a leading social entrepreneur for his work in civic engagement, nonprofit management, and corporate social responsibility. He is the founder and president of the Taproot Foundation. He also received the Draper Richards Foundation’s Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurship and was elected into the prestigious international Ashoka Fellowship. For his dedication to social entrepreneurial work, he was recognized by Fast Company as a 2006 Rising Star – “a social capitalist with extraordinary potential.” Aaron founded the Taproot Foundation in 2001, 40 years after his grandfather, Joseph E. Slater, wrote the original blueprint for the Peace Corps. Inspired by the Peace Corps’ model for getting people to work together, Aaron created the Taproot Foundation to engage this country’s millions of business professionals in pro bono work building the infrastructure of the nonprofit sector.Aaron graduated from the University of Michigan. He currently serves on the Board of Public Architecture, a nonprofit that leverages the skills of architects and design professionals for public service. Aaron is a frequent speaker to the nonprofit and for-profit sectors on civic engagement, corporate social responsibility, social entrepreneurship and nonprofit management.

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

How do you persuade professionals to volunteer their time?Is the relationship formed between professionals and nonprofits long term?
Where do you secure your funding?

Further Resources (2-3):

http://campusprogress.org/events/2075/aaron-hurst

MAPLight

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:29:23 CDT

prepared by: Yin Yin Wu

updated: 8/23/08

Website: http://www.maplight.org/

Mission: MAPLight brings together campaign contributions and how legislators vote, providing an unprecedented window into the connections between money and politics.

Inspiration/History:

Maplight is a groundbreaking public database that illuminates the connection between campaign donations and legislative votes in unprecedented ways. Elected officials collect large sums of money to run their campaigns, and they often pay back campaign contributors with special access and favorable laws. While this common practice is contrary to the public interest, it is legal. Maplight makes money/vote connections transparent in order to help citizens hold their legislators accountable.

Business Model:

Theory of Change:

Provide information to empower citizens to hold the government accountable by making it more transparent.

Core Programs:

Accessible information on their website, widgets of campaign financing

Recent Developments:

Renowned law professor Lawrence Lessig has joined the Board of Directors of Maplights an innovative nonprofit startup illuminating the connection between money and politics.

Biography of Jahel Bisharat:

She is the co-Founder and Co-Chair of Homestead Inc. and OpenTable Inc. Previously, she has also served as Vice President of marketing for Amazon.com. At Amazon.com, Jahel oversaw customer acquisition and retention, brand marketing, public relations, market intelligence and the customer experience group. Previously, Jaleh held executive positions at PointCast, Approach Software and Lotus Development Corporation. In 1999, Jaleh was named as one of Advertising Age’s Power 50 marketing executives. She holds an AB in Government from Harvard-Radcliffe and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Biography of Thomas Layton:

Thomas is the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of Maplight, and is CEO of Metaweb. Thomas was CEO of OpenTable from 2001 to June 2007. Previously, he was a co-founder of CitySearch, Inc., which later merged with Ticketmaster and is now a subsidiary of USA Networks. Prior to his experience at Ticketmaster-CitySearch, Thomas was with Score Learning Corporation, a leading educational services company, where he served first as Chief Financial Officer and later as President and Chief Operating Officer. Thomas holds an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and a BS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also a Crown Fellow with the Aspen Institute.

Biography of Dan Newman:

He is Co-Founder and Executive Director of MAPLight.org. Dan, an entrepreneur and political organizer, is the author of three books on speech recognition software and is the founder of Say I Can, a speech recognition firm. Dan co-founded the Berkeley Fair Elections Coalition and has served as a consultant to various political and nonprofit groups, including the Center for Voting and Democracy, Israel Venture Network, and the Mental Health Association of San Francisco. He received a MA in Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, where he attended on a National Science Foundation Fellowship, and a BA in Biomedical Ethics from Brown University.

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

What role will Lessig play?

How do you make sure people take advantage of this information?
Does the press use this information?

Further Resources (2-3):

http://www.netsquared.org/projects/proposals/light-money-and-politics-maplight-orghttp://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/24/following-the-money-trail-online/

*Information obtained from MapLight.org

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 23:52:34 CDT

prepared by: Leah Karlins

updated: 3/22/08

Website: http://ellabakercenter.org

Mission: The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights is a strategy and action center working for justice, opportunity and peace in urban America. Based in Oakland, California, we promote positive alternatives to violence and incarceration through our four cutting-edge campaigns.

Inspiration/History:

Before there was Ella Baker Center, there was Bay Area PoliceWatch. Newly minted attorney Van Jones launched the hotline for victims of police brutality in 1995, but it got so many calls that he realized it needed a formal organization. On September 1, 1996, Ella Baker Center opened payroll. Named for the civil rights movement's unsung champion of students, sharecroppers and everyday people, Ella Baker Center proudly proclaimed, "This is not your parents' civil rights organization." Seeing the denial of voting, housing and employment rights as symptoms of a much deeper sickness, Ella Baker Center wanted to heal society by transforming it.

Driven by that passion and a willingness to take on tough fights that nobody else would, we chose our mission: to document, challenge and expose human rights abuses.

Our accomplishments in the past ten years:

We got the San Francisco Police Department tofire Marc Andaya, a brutal "cowboy" copwho beat, stomped and pepper-sprayed an unarmed black man named Aaron William to death.
Wederailed plans to build a massive "super-jail"for youth. For two years, we led a "strange-bedfellows" coalition of urban youth and suburban homeowners in a campaign to stop Alameda County's plans to build what would have been one of the biggest juvenile halls in the country — at a time when juvenile crime was steadily falling.
Wewon sweeping reformsin the San Francisco Police Department's policy towards the mentally disabled.
Webuilt California's first-ever support and advocacy network for families of incarcerated youth.
Wecreated one of the nation's leading youth organizations, Silence the Violence. Silence the Violence works to prevent violence on Oakland streets, whether from police or residents. It also trains youth as advocates for rehabilitation and job opportunities.
We won thedismissal of violent, abusive guardsin one of California's youth prisons.
Wesecured the release of two wrongly-convicted Latino youth, through a mix of advocacy and strategic media that placed the case on60 Minutes.
Welaunched a pioneering campaign to transform the California Youth Authority. In just under two years the campaign has won critical reforms, and the population of the CYA has dropped by more than 40 percent.

Business Model:

They are not really a business, but they do say:

We use a mix of tactics to accomplish our mission, from grassroots organizing, direct action and media advocacy to public education, policy reform and legal service.

Theory of Change:

We need to break the cycle of violence and reinvest in our cities. Ella Baker Center offers smart solutions and uplifting alternatives to violence and incarceration.

The safest neighborhoods aren’t the ones with the most prisons and the most police. They’re the ones with the best schools, the cleanest environment, and the most opportunities for young people and working people. That’s what we want for urban America: justice in the system; opportunity in our cities; and peace on our streets.

Core Programs:

Books Not Bars
Campaigning to reform California’s abusive & costly youth prison system.
Green-Collar Jobs Campaign
Creating opportunities in the "green" economy for poor communities and communities of color.
Bay Area PoliceWatch
Supporting victims and survivors of police abuse and their families.
Silence the Violence
Uplifting young people and addressing Bay Area violence with a mix of social activism and street culture.

Recent Developments (if applicable):

--In September 2007, they launched "Green for all," a new national spin-off initiative that aims to secure $1 billion in funding for green-collar job training in order to lift 250,000 people out of poverty across the country

--They are currently sponsoring the Family Communication and Rehabilitation act to make it easier for family members to keep in touch with their loved ones who are locked up in the Division of Juvenile Justice and require youth prisons to notify family of suicide attempts and other medical emergencies.

Biography of Diana Frappier:

Diana is a founding member of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, and has remained the behind the scenes support that makes the Center's work possible. Diana has proudly supported the organization's growth from a small-scale operation of one full-time staff into a grassroots powerhouse. Diana received her B.A. in Social Welfare and her J.D. at Hastings College of Law. While she is not focused on the Ella Baker Center, she is operating a private community criminal defense practice, and serving on the boards of Bay Area non-profits Machen Center and TURF (Together United Recommitted Forever.) This San Francisco native is also a real estate broker, supporting activists and other members of her community to empower themselves through homeownership.

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

(1) Who is going to pay to train urban youth to work in green collar jobs? Governments, the industry, individuals? Is there a possibility of this model ever becoming self-sustaining?

(2) Is there already a green collar industry in Oakland for trained workers to enter, or will they have to seek worse elsewhere?

(3) If there is a shortage of green collar workers, why hasn't the green industry already reached out to the unemployed of its own accord?

(4) Will there be enough green collar jobs available to lift all poor communities out of collar? What happens when there are no longer job openings in this sector?

Further Resources (2-3):

"Green collar jobs in America's cities: Building pathways out of poverty and careers in the green energy economy"

Video: Green for all - Moving Oakland into a green economy

Speaker and Organization Profiles 08

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 20:01:18 CDT

Lenders for Community Development (esp. IDA program), Gwendy Donaker Brown - Sean
Britt Bravo, Big Vision Consulting - Belinda
Heather McLeod Grant, Forces for Good - Michael
Kaiser Family Foundation, Matt James - David
Draper Richards Foundation, Jenny Stein - Shazad
Upwardly Global, Jane Leu - Shelly
MAPLight, bios of 3 founding members - Yin Yin
People’s Grocery, Brahm Ahmadi - Dania
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Diana Frappier - Leah
Delancey Street, Mimi Silbert - Susan
BRIDGE Housing, Carol Galante - Catherine
PlanetRead, Brij Kothari - Wes

CEO Women, Farhana Huq - Belinda
Taproot Foundation, Aaron Hurst - Yin Yin
826 Valencia - Travis

826 Valencia

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:37:29 CDT

prepared by: Travis Kiefer

updated: [March 22, 2008]

Website: http://www.826valencia.org/

Mission:“Simply put, 826 Valencia is dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their writing skills, and to helping teachers get their students excited about the writing.”

Inspiration/History: It was founded in 2002 by Bay Area writer Dave Eggers (author of the autobiography A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and the novels You Shall Know Our Velocity and What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng) and is run by a small regular staff along with hundreds of volunteers and professionals. In addition to our founding site at 826 Valencia in San Francisco, there are also 826 chapters in NYC, Los Angeles, Michigan, Seattle, and Chicago.

Business Model: After being turned down for regular use of church basements and school facilities, the founders discovered an empty store for sale on Valencia Street. The city ordinances stated that any businesses in that particular area of the city must be either retail or catering, so the Pirate Supply Store was developed as the "legitimate" business front for the writing center.

Theory of Change: Whether the students are working in the realm of fiction, nonfiction, or English as a second language, the goal is to help individuals explore their love of writing, and to help students better express their ideas through the written word.

Core Programs: The services they offer are drop-in tutoring, field trips, specialized workshops, in-school assistance, and extensive student publishing help.

Recent Developments (if applicable): 826 National (the parent organization) was named as a winner at the 2007 TED conference.

Biography of [Presenter’s Name]: ???

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

Do you have any new programs in development?
Where do you see the program heading in the next 3-5 years?
What proportion of your operating budget comes from the store, individual donors, grants, etc?
How do you organize and effectively manage relationships with hundreds of volunteers and professionals?
How does 826 National relate to 826 Valencia and what is happening with 826 National?

Further Resources (2-3):

News Article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/05/15/DDGGD6KRL61.DTL
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/826_Valencia
826 National: http://www.826national.org/chapters/

CEO Women

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:15:49 CDT

prepared by: Belinda Chiang updated: March 22, 2008 Website: http://www.ceowomen.org

Mission:

The mission of C.E.O. Women (Creating Equal Opportunities for Women) is to create economic opportunities for low-income immigrant and refugee women through teaching English, communications and entrepreneurship skills, so they can establish successful livelihoods. C.E.O. Women then provides women with intensive mentoring, coaching and access to capital needed to start a small business.

Inspiration/History:

Founder’s Vision: “As a young girl, I was always stricken by the incredible degree of poverty I witnessed when traveling back to Bangladesh, my father’s birth country. In college, I learned of Muhammed Yunus’ work with the Grameen Bank and how this revolution in capitalism did so much to uplift poor women out of poverty into self-sufficiency. Moreover, seeing the struggles single women in my own family had gone through to make ends meet while grappling with social welfare systems and single parenthood really made me want to create systems for social change. After several years of studying, researching and working with women facing incredible financial and social obstacles, I began to envision a place where women could be nurtured and supported to fulfill their life dreams.” –Furhana Huq

Business Model:

Can’t find on website.

Theory of Change:

Long-term goal: to address the unique needs of immigrant and refugee women struggling to become self-sufficient, contributing members of the world Preconditions: among other things, the organization began with a $1,000 check from a philanthropist Interventions: provides English & business training, capital, and coaching services for low-income immigrant and refugee women Indicators/Metrics: C.E.O. Women has conducted interviews with 44 women and tracked: personal income increase, household income increase, wage increase, growth of business, increase in community participation, increased confidence.

Core Programs:

C.E.O. Women offers a 16-week training program that teaches English and basic business skills such as marketing, legal issues, negotiation skills, finance, public speaking, and networking. Financially, C.E.O. Women provides qualified women with small cash grants of $1500 to help them launch and grow their businesses. It also offers women a matched savings account where each dollar of savings is matched at a 2:1 ratio, provided by C.E.O. Women’s partner organizations. The Shine Your Brilliance Series hosts small entrepreneurial activities open to the public such as cooking classes, conversational groups, and art workshops. This program celebrates the strengths and talents of immigrant and refugee women. C.E.O. Women also offers one-on-one coaching and support. Upon completion of coursework, women are paired with an experienced business professional that nurtures and counsels them in their business—from negotiating a lease agreement to marketing strategy to start-up costs. C.E.O. Women now reaches over 500 women a year, and graduate 60 women from its training programs. It focuses on serving immigrant and refugee women who speak limited English.

Recent Developments:

The founder and CEO of C.E.O. Women, Farhana Huq, was one of 21 social entrepreneurs from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America recently elected to an international fellowship by Ashoka. The fellowship recognizes leading social entrepreneurs for their innovative solutions to global problems. It provides fellows with a monetary grant, a global network, and lifetime membership to help them achieve pattern-changing impact.

Biography of Farhana Huq:

Farhana comes from a family of self-made entrepreneurs of the South Asian Diaspora. In 2000, she founded C.E.O. Women, the 3rd start-up venture she has been involved with, after being inspired by the enterprise revolution in her father’s native Bangladesh and by the struggles that poor, single women in her own family faced to become self-sufficient. Farhana has always admired the creativity and freedom of micro-entrepreneurs. She envisions a world where the most powerful and unlikely relationships come together to connect women in meaningful ways.

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

1. Can you describe the first two start-up ventures you were involved with, and what lessons you learned from them that you then applied to C.E.O. Women? 2. What do you foresee within the next five years for C.E.O. Women? Ten? 3. What’s your business model?

Further Resources (2-3):

1. Hour-long Women@Google presentation on March 6, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sGMhmm8x_4&feature=user
2. Good overview of Farhana and C.E.O. Women in Tufts Magazine, Spring 2005
http://www.tufts.edu/alumni/magazine/spring2005/departments/alumni.html

Heather McLeod Grant

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 13:44:41 CDT

[Speaker Name]

Heather McLeod Grant

prepared by:

Michael Hornstein

updated:

3/22/08

Website:

http://www.forcesforgood.net/

Position(s):

Heather McLeod Grant is an advisor to the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford and the Duke Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship. She also consults for nonprofits.

Biography:

Heather McLeod Grant is an advisor to the Stanford Center for Social Innovation and Duke's Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship. She previously worked as a consultant at McKinsey. She also founded a national magazine about social entrepreneurship called Who Cares. She has worked in the social sector for more than 15 years. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, American Prospect, Alliancee, and she has been on CNN and NPR.

Current Project(s):

Heather McLeod grant is on the Advisory Boards of the Stanford Social Innovation Review and the National Civic League. She's also an Adviser to the Stanford CSI and to the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship at Duke.

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

1. Self Help Credit Union in North Carolina started with the mission of helping minorities improve their economic situations. But the organization discovered predatory lending practices, so they got involved in advocacy to prevent this. How can organizations that are primarily involved in services most effectively incorporate advocacy as well?

2. Environmental Defense reduced McDonald's packaging waste and has worked with other for-profit firms like FedEx and Wal-Mart. Are there any similarities between a nonprofit working with for-profits and advocating in the public sector?

3. You say that nonprofits can create meaningful experiences for people to engage in social change. When you work for Habitat for Humanity, there is a tangible result and you talk with others. What are the most effective ways of inspiring evangelists?

4. How can we encourage people to focus more on return on investment rather than on low overhead?

Further Resources (2-3):

Stanford Social Innovation Conversations:

http://sic.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail3319.html

Social Edge:

http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/scale/beyond-the-walls-leadership-1/

Interview with Heather McLeod Grant:

http://www.youronramp.com/news/2007/10/01/meet-heather-mcleod-grant-co-author-forces-good-six-practices-high-impact-nonprofits

Heather McLeod Grant speaking at Google:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFCy9AvaQIw

Blog 08

soph2 — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:26:18 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

ASB Trip 08

soph2 — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:25:52 CDT

Pre Trip Checklist

trip responsibilities with prep work - complete by Thurs 3/20

cook crews: submit a menu, making sure they address the group's dietary needs
reflection: email Sophia & Travis your ideas

gather any group materials you are responsible for
finish speaker/organization brief by Saturday 3/23 & be ready to present on Sunday 3/24
read Ch1 of Forces for Good by Monday 3/25

blog

Upwardly Global

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:19:47 CDT

prepared by: Shelly Ni

updated: March 21

Website: http://upwardlyglobal.org

Mission:

Upwardly Global is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit that seeks to connect qualified immigrants with professional job opportunities, allowing immigrants to reclaim equivalent jobs in the US, and employers to gain a more diverse employee pool.

Inspiration/History:

After working with immigrants and refugees for an extensive period of time, Upwardly Global founder Jane Leu noticed the disparity between the past education and experience of recent immigrants and their current jobs. Though immigrant job assistance organizations do exist, none of them targeted immigrant professionals or higher-paying careers. In 1999, she began counseling and connecting immigrants out of her kitchen. In 2000, UG received its first official grant.

Business Model:

UG links together jobseekers and employees so both benefit. The free job services (networking, resume workshops, mock interviews, etc) it provides are partially funded from its corporate partners. Employers wishing for UG to provide recruitment services must sign an annual contract promising they will donate to the nonprofit.

Theory of Change:

A significant proportion of qualified immigrant workers do not find or take on equivalent jobs in the US. It is a loss for both the workers themselves and for our country's economy. The potential of these qualified individuals is lost -- doctors, lawyers, scientist, engineers, and businesspeople cease to fulfill their old roles. A steady influx of new minds, cultural viewpoints, and energy is important for economical growth. Indeed, high immigration rates are correlated with bullish performance of the US economy.

UG seeks to help these qualified workers overcome culture shock, underdeveloped professional networks, job seeking skills, and employer prejudice against foreigners. In this way, everyone wins, from employers to new employees to, in the big picture, entire economies.

Core Programs:

On the jobseeker side, UG seeks to resolve problems in 4 key areas: lack of networks, resume presentation, self promotion, and misconception. It achieves this by providing free educational services for jobseekers that fit certain professional requirements. UG activities and programs include workshops (networking, interviewing, cultural, and socializing skills), resume and cover letter assistance, submission of resumes to partner employers, mock interviews, and mentorship from volunteers.

On the corporate side, UG seeks to educate and engage partner employers about hiring immigrant professionals. Education entails outreach and correspondence with corporate HR departments to encourage cross-cultural hiring. Company employees are invited to volunteer with UG, consequently raising awareness within the company for the potential of immigrant professionals.

Recent Developments (if applicable):

Biography of Jane Leu:

Jane graduated from Tufts University and holds a master's degree from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. Jane has spent a considerable amount of her career helping immigrants and refugees improve their job outlooks. She worked as the Assistant Director for Resettlement, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, and the Assistant Director of RefugeeWorks, providing technical assistance to refugee employment programs. Additionally, she worked to implement seven refugee Welfare-to-Work programs. Her social change interests are broad as well as deep, as she has contributed to the social entrepreneurship landscape as a whole by co-founding a craigslist nonprofit venture forum with Conrad Asper, to connect donors to organizations. She was a member of the Going-To-Scale Project, spreading awareness about venture philanthropy. As well as serving as Harvard's Kennedy School of Government's Program Coordinator of the Nonprofit Program, she has also been involved in research on nonprofit organizational strategies.

Jane also hold several honors aside from her extensive work and research experience. She is an Ashoka: Innovators for the Public Fellow, Draper Richards Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Fellow, and a Rockefeller Foundation Next Generation Leadership Fellow.

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

How does UG work with other immigrant job assistance programs?

What difficulties did you face in the beginning? Was it hard convincing employers to recruit from your immigrant pool?

You have had a lot of experience working with immigrant job assistance programs. If you had started UG as a younger player in the immigrant job assistance field of social work, what would have been different?

How did you choose this branch of social service - did you fall into it, or had you been pursuing it for a while?

Will you expand UG's services in the future, to help currently unqualified immigrants?

Programs such as help with visa or language services?

Encouraging currently unqualified immigrants to pursue education/internships and aspire to a professional job?

Spread to other countries?

Further Resources (2-3):

Itinerary 08

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:38:44 CDT

updated 3/12/08

for the most updated calendar, please click here:http://tinyurl.com/2cvlyc

Monday, March 24:
8:30-9:30 MicroPlace, San Jose
10:00-3:00 Lenders for Community Development, San Jose
4:00-5:00 IDEO, Palo Alto
7:00-9:00 Heather McLeod Grant, Forces for Good, hosted at Stanford

Tuesday, March 25:
9:30-1:00 Kaiser Family Foundation, Menlo Park
1:00-2:30 Draper Richards Foundation, hosted at Kaiser Family Foundation
4:00-6:30 Upwardly Global, San Francisco

Wednesday, March 26:
10:45-11:30 826 Valencia, San Francisco
12:15-1:30 lunch and tour at Berkeley Bowl, Berkeley
2:00-3:00 MAPLight, Berkeley
3:30-5:00 Taoit, Berkeley
6:00-8:00 dinner with Bay Area Ashoka Fellows, Berkeley

Thursday, March 27:
10:00-12:00 People’s Grocery, Oakland
12:30-1:30 lunch and tour at Whole Foods, Berkeley
2:00-4:00 Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Oakland
4:00-6:00 Britt Bravo, Big Vision Consulting, hosted at the Ella Baker Center

Friday, March 28:
11:00-12:30 Delancey Street Foundation, San Francisco
12:30-2:00 lunch at Delancey Street Foundation’s Crossroads Café
2:30-5:00 BRIDGE Housing, San Francisco
7:30 BBQ and retreat at Francis Beach, Half Moon Bay

Saturday, March 29:
Reflection and closing activities

People's Grocery

Anonymous — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 14:31:20 CDT

Prepared by: Dania Shor
Updated: 14 March 2008

Website: http://www.peoplesgrocery.org/index.html

Mission:
People’s Grocery is an organization based in West Oakland that develops solutions to the health, environmental, and economic challenges that the Oakland community faces. They do this by trying to reform the food system—developing a self-reliant, socially just and sustainable food system through community based, youth focused, and inventive social enterprise, agricultural projects, education, and public policy initiatives that promote healthy, equitable, and ecological community growth.

Inspiration/History: People’ Grocery was founded by Brahm Ahmadi and 2 others in 2002 because they were upset by the lack of access to healthy foods in Oakland and the effect that that was having on local health and quality of life. The idea was born out of relationships that the founders had with other community members who were developing community gardens (i.e.-relationship with Willow Rosenthal, founder of City Slicker Farms). People’s Grocery originally began its own community garden in partnership with the North Oakland Land Trust, of which Ahmadi is also the Executive Director. Then People’s Grocery decided to expand from gardening and add an education and outreach component which led to the launching of the flagship enterprise of the organization, Mobile Market, or a grocery store on wheels (see “core programs”).

Business Model:
People’s Grocery was founded as a model that integrates education, sustainable agriculture, and the development of local food businesses. Aside from contributing to community awareness and health, the aim is also to create training and employment opportunities for members of the community in order to support a new vision for economic development, based on self-reliance, sustainability, and health.

Theory of Change:
The main component to reach the long term goal of reforming the food system is education. While People’s Grocery has created projects that help increase the healthy food options available in the short run (Mobile Market, farming), a lot of their programs are centered on educating youth, those with the future and power to make nutrition and healthy lifestyle a self-sustaining ideal. It is through hands on experience and learning therefore that community members can become empowered to change their diets and lives.

Core Programs:
In the past 3 years, the organization has established 4 gardens, a 2 acre farm, and numerous education programs and several enterprises. Of these enterprises, they are best known for the Mobile Market. This is a postal service van than was transformed into a moving grocery store that provides organic options and fresh produce at affordable prices. Through the Mobile Market about 3,500 community members have been able to reform their eating habits every year.

People’s Grocery is also running 3 urban gardens and a 2 acre plot on a farm in Sunol. The aim is to increase, grow, and produce food through a network of garden and micro-farms as many low income residents of urban areas like Oakland, no not have access to sufficient fresh foods. Lastly, the organization offers many educational opportunities for youth. The Peer-to-Peer Youth Program delivers peer workshops about nutrition, fast food, obesity, gardening, and organic farming. Every year they also organize the Urban Rootz Food Justice Camp which allows youth from the Bay Area to learn more about organic agriculture and issues surrounding the food system. They also offer free adult cooking classes to promote healthy ingredient selection and cooking knowledge. There is also the Backyard Garden Program, Garden Nutrition Program, and Be-Heal-thy Team which are other programs that promote a healthier lifestyle.

Programs on the whole aim to:
- Educate residents about sustainable agriculture, health/nutrition, food justice
- Provide employment, entrepreneurial business training and life skills for youth
- Develop food-related enterprises and small businesses
- Develop methods of low-cost food distribution and marketing
- Support local family farms, organic farms
- Strengthen ability to produce food locally through urban agriculture
- Advocate for policy changes at the governmental and institutional level

Recent Developments (if applicable):
There are a few programs that are under development and will be ready soon. Recently, ordering organic foods online, in bulk and for cheaper prices, became an option that People’s Grocery provides. Also this summer Agriculture Park will open and give the opportunity to grow lots of local and organic produce while providing jobs to Oakland youth. This a 15 acre farm project in Sunol and People’s Grocery will use this job to create jobs for 5 young people and train them in sustainable agriculture and nutrition. The food grown will also be distributed to residents in West Oakland.

Biography of Brahm Ahmadi:
Brahm Ahmadi is Co-founder and Executive Director of People’s Grocery. He grew up in Los Angeles and now lives in Oakland. He has a B.A in Sociology and is currently a candidate for an MBA at the Presidio School of Management. Brahm combines social enterprise, cooperative economics, urban agriculture, public education and youth development to build healthy and stable inner city communities. He is also Executive Director of the North Oakland Land Trust, which preserves properties in North Oakland for the exclusive purpose of community gardening. Brahm is active in worker-owned cooperative business development and organizing for economic democracy and was a founding board member of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives.

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):
- What has been the biggest challenge in trying to get people to reform their diet?
- How have you managed the tradeoff of selling food for lower prices? Has this been an issue (profit-wise) at all?
- Does People’s Grocery try to collaborate with other community organizations that change the nutrition and health of urban community members?
- Logistically, is getting the agricultural products from Sunol/other farms onto trucks and into the market for consumers to buy a costly process both in monetary terms and in the life span of the food itself?

Further Resources (2-3):
Brahm’s blog: http://www.peoplesgrocery.org/brahm/
Part of website with helpful links: http://www.peoplesgrocery.org/learn.html

Social Entrepreneurship at Stanford - Recently Updated Pages

Home

Social Entrepreneurship in the Bay Area

Kalvin W

2/5/08 reading questions

PlanetRead

Draper Richards Foundation

prepared by: Shazad Mohamed

updated: 03/23/2008

Website:

Mission:

Inspiration/History:

Business Model:

Theory of Change:

Core Programs:

Recent Developments (if applicable):

Biography ofJenny Shilling Stein:

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

Further Resources (2-3):

BRIDGE Housing

prepared by: Catherine Lee

updated: [date]

Website: http://www.bridgehousing.com

Inspiration/History:

Business Model:

Theory of Change:

Providing affordable homes that act as the catalyst for revitalizing and strengthening neighborhoods and building communities.

Core Programs:

Resident Services

Recent Developments (if applicable):

BUILDing in Oakland, Palo Alto:MacArthur BART Transit Village, part of US Green Building Council's new LEED Neighborhood Development pilot program

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

What are the biggest changes that BRIDGE has gone through during the 20 years (from when you first arrived at BRIDGE to now)?Business model - couldn't find much information online, is BRIDGE entirely government funded?

What are some of the biggest challenges for BRIDGE?How do you choose where to start new projects?

Further Resources (2-3):

Lenders for Community Development

Kaiser Family Foundation

Taproot Foundation

prepared by: Yin Yin Wu

updated: 09/23/2008

Mission:

Inspiration/History:

Business Model:

Theory of Change:

Core Programs:

Recent Developments (if applicable):

Biography of Aaron Hurst:

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

Further Resources (2-3):

MAPLight

prepared by: Yin Yin Wu

updated: 8/23/08

Website: http://www.maplight.org/

Inspiration/History:

Business Model:

Theory of Change:

Core Programs:

Recent Developments:

Biography of Jahel Bisharat:

Biography of Thomas Layton:

Biography of Dan Newman:

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

What role will Lessig play?

Further Resources (2-3):

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights

prepared by: Leah Karlins

updated: 3/22/08

Website: http://ellabakercenter.org

Mission: The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights is a strategy and action center working for justice, opportunity and peace in urban America. Based in Oakland, California, we promote positive alternatives to violence and incarceration through our four cutting-edge campaigns.

Inspiration/History:

Business Model:

They are not really a business, but they do say:

We use a mix of tactics to accomplish our mission, from grassroots organizing, direct action and media advocacy to public education, policy reform and legal service.

Theory of Change:

Core Programs:

Recent Developments (if applicable):

--In September 2007, they launched "Green for all," a new national spin-off initiative that aims to secure $1 billion in funding for green-collar job training in order to lift 250,000 people out of poverty across the country

Biography of Diana Frappier:

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

(1) Who is going to pay to train urban youth to work in green collar jobs? Governments, the industry, individuals? Is there a possibility of this model ever becoming self-sustaining?

BUILDing in Oakland, Palo Alto:
MacArthur BART Transit Village, part of US Green Building Council's new LEED Neighborhood Development pilot program

What are the biggest changes that BRIDGE has gone through during the 20 years (from when you first arrived at BRIDGE to now)?

Business model - couldn't find much information online, is BRIDGE entirely government funded?

What are some of the biggest challenges for BRIDGE?

How do you choose where to start new projects?