The Power of Social Innovation

THE POWER of SOCIAL INNOVATION Civic leaders across the U.S. and throughout the world are discovering creative ways to overcome the obstacles that seal the doors of opportunity for too many. These inspiring individuals believe that within our communities lie the entrepreneurial spirit, compassion, and resources to make progress in such critical areas as education, housing, and economic self-reliance. Real progress requires that we take bold action and leverage our strengths for the greater good. The Power of Social Innovation offers public officials, social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and individual citizens the insights and skills to create healthier communities and promote innovative solutions to public and social problems. This seminal work is based on Stephen Goldsmith's decades of experience, extensive ongoing research, and interviews with 100+ top leaders from a wide variety of sectors. Goldsmith shows that everyday citizens can themselves produce extraordinary social change. The book explores the levers and guiding principles used by champions of civic progress who drive new organizations, new interventions, or new policies to enhance social conditions. The Power of Social Innovation features illustrative case studies of change-oriented philanthropists, public officials, and civic leaders. While all collaborate across sectors, they run both start-ups and established organizations such as the New York City public schools, United Way of America, the United Negro College Fund, and Teach For America. The book shows the catalyzing role each plays in transforming a community's social service delivery systems. To complement the book's myriad tools and case studies,The Power of Social Innovation web site (powerofsocialinnovation.com) provides links to relevant Harvard research as well as additional helpful resources.

THE POWER of SOCIAL INNOVATIONCivic leaders across the U.S. and throughout the world are discovering creative ways to overcome the obstacles that seal the doors of opportunity for too many.These inspiring individuals believe that within our communities lie the entrepreneurial spirit, compassion, and resources to make progress in such critical areas as education, housing, and economic self-reliance. Real progress requires that we take bold action and leverage our strengths for the greater good.The Power of Social Innovation offers public officials, social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and individual citizens the insights and skills to create healthier communities and promote innovative solutions to public and social problems. This seminal work is based on Stephen Goldsmith's decades of experience, extensive ongoing research, and interviews with 100+ top leaders from a wide variety of sectors.Goldsmith shows that everyday citizens can themselves produce extraordinary social change. The book explores the levers and guiding principles used by champions of civic progress who drive new organizations, new interventions, or new policies to enhance social conditions.The Power of Social Innovation features illustrative case studies of change-oriented philanthropists, public officials, and civic leaders. While all collaborate across sectors, they run both start-ups and established organizations such as the New York City public schools, United Way of America, the United Negro College Fund, and Teach For America. The book shows the catalyzing role each plays in transforming a community's social service delivery systems.To complement the book's myriad tools and case studies,The Power of Social Innovation web site (powerofsocialinnovation.com) provides links to relevant Harvard research as well as additional helpful resources.

Acknowledgments ixThe Author xiForeword xiiiPreface xviiPart I: Catalyzing Social Change 1Chapter 1 Igniting Civic Progress 3Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Change 4So Many Ideas, So Little Progress 6Civic Entrepreneurship as the Solution 12Igniting Civic Progress 17The Mandate and Caution of Engaging Government 20Conclusions 24Chapter 2 Innovation as Catalytic Ingredient 27Discovering the Missing Ingredient 30Choosing the Right Catalyst 36Bringing It All Together: The Nehemiah Foundation 58Conclusions 61Part II: Market Maker as Civic Entrepreneur 65Chapter 3 Open Sourcing Social Innovation 67Breaking Down Protectionist Barriers 69Opening Space for Innovation 73Leveling the Playing Field 79Inviting the Exceptional 82Forcing Cultural Change 85Bringing It All Together: The Enlightened Monopolist 90Conclusions 97Chapter 4 Trading Good Deeds for Measurable Results 101Current Funding Limitations 103What Public Value are We Purchasing? 106Are the Funded Activities Still the Most Relevant? 111What Change Does the Community Want and What Assets Can It Mobilize? 114Are We Funding a Project or Sustainable System Change? 116What Will We Measure? 120Bringing It All Together: Linda Gibbs 125Conclusions 126Part III: Service Provider as Civic Entrepreneur 131Chapter 5 Animating and Trusting the Citizen 133Balancing the Professional with the Public 135Building a Public 139Leveraging Social Media for Change 149"Client" Choice 153Curing the Expectation Gap 157Bringing It All Together: Family Independence Initiative 160Conclusions 165Chapter 6 Turning Risk into Reward 169Seeing Opportunity Where Others See Liability 171Taking First Risk 172Fully Calculating Cascading Return on Investment 182Political Risk and Reward 184Bringing It All Together: Wraparound Milwaukee 192Conclusions 195Chapter 7 The Fertile Community 197The Fertile City (and the Entrepreneurial Mayor) 199Civic Entrepreneurs and School Reform 202Entrepreneurial Community Solutions 214Staying Entrepreneurial: Saving Yourself from Success 221The Future 222Notes 225References 255Index 265