More on our Meeting w/President Obama (Echoing Green Blog)
I recently attended a White House event, on behalf of my social enterprise Skill-Life, Inc., during which President Obama launched a new Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation. A number of other Echoing Green Fellows attended, including Andrew Butcher & Chris Koch (GTECH Strategies), Kara Bobroff (Native American Community Academy), Sara Horowitz (Working Today), Michael Brown (City Year), Vanessa Kirsch (Public Allies), Eric Schwarz (Citizen Schools) and Mark Levine (Credit Where Credit is Due). Andrew, Chris, and I made the midnight drive down to DC from our home city of Pittsburgh, PA. Cheryl Dorsey also attended and facilitated introductions to leaders in the social sector and from the Obama administration.
There’s nothing quite like sitting in the White House East Room surrounded by portraits of Presidents past and social entrepreneurs present. It’s a rare opportunity that demonstrates the place that social innovation will have in this nation’s journey forward. For me, to be included in a group that the President says is creating the most innovative programs that are transforming communities around the country, is humbling and inspiring.
President Obama’s speech celebrated the work being done by social entrepreneurs across the nation and mobilized us to do more in these times when social innovation is immensely critical. I took away a few major points:
- Financial Support: The administration has begun a $50 million Social Innovation Fund. The President challenged the private sector and philanthropies to match and surpass the government’s efforts to support organizations and approaches addressing the challenges of our communities
- Results Result Results: What matters most to the President and his team is what works. We have to set goals and then achieve exceed, and, ultimately, measure them.
- Take It To Scale: If it works, the White House wants it wherever its needed. It’s key that creative approaches be implemented with expectations to scale up as impact is achieved.
- Not the Usual Suspects: The staff at the Office of Social Innovation — which is led by Sonal Shah (former head of global development at Google.org) along with Michelle Jolin, Carlos Monje, Charlie Anderson, and Howard Buffet — will search the nation for the most innovative and effective organizations and social enterprises. They expect to break out of the box — opportunities will be there for those of us at the early stages of our impact or otherwise outside of the spotlight. In Pittsburgh, we’re planning a follow up roundtable with the White House, Echoing Green, and other public and private partners for the coming months.
In true Echoing Green style, a group of us, including Cheryl and some of the staff from the Office of Social Innovation, ended up talking shop across the street from the White House at the Old Ebbitt Grill. The overwhelming sentiment was that this is the time. At Skill-Life, we intend to harness this energy, action, and opportunity as we launch the beta version of CentsCity, an online world packed with cool games that build tweens’ financial skills, this month. In the next several months, it’s upon all of us to meet the President’s call. As he declared, “now more than ever, we need to build cross-sector partnerships to transform our schools, improve the health of Americans, and employ more people in clean energy and other emerging industries.”