Social Innovation: From the Community to the Region and

Beyond

Karen ChappleUniversity of California, Berkeley

Social Innovation

• Models of community development

• Scale and sustainability

• Towards a theory of social innovation

• Impact

Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, 1967

Philadelphia Mural Arts Program – 1984

Per Scholas, South Bronx

1995

Great Communities Collaborative,

SF Bay Area, 2006

Lurín River Basin,

Lima, Peru

Lurín River Basin, Lima, Peru

Price Charities

Winners build on existing institutions• Microenterprise and Schedule C (CFED, Aspen)• Energy Efficiency and MUSH (COWS)• Anchor Institutions (Democracy Collaborative)• Employment Social Enterprise (REDF)

Towards a theory of social innovation

• Social innovation: combine methods, ideas, or institutions in unique ways to create new solutions to social and economic problems

• Nonprofit governance literature• Regional economic development literature– Variation/diversity– Networked, learning region– Role of venture capitalists– Space

Revisiting the models

• Bed-Stuy Restoration Corporation

• Philadelphia Mural Arts Program

• Per Scholas

• Great Communities Collaborative

• City Heights

Impact

If you don’t start the conversation,

nothing will happen.

- Per Scholas leader