I always refer to OutGrowth as a bridge- a bridge I had a passion to build so that I could begin to eliminate what I saw as major gaps in our education and professional systems. For me, exposure is key, meaning, I want students, leaders, businesses and communities to begin to cultivate shared experiences, in ways they never had in the past. I want a more diverse set of thinkers to have a place at every table, and I want us to begin to make constant, consistent efforts to expose ourselves to new learning. I aim to legitimize small, socially-minded companies (particularly those in industries we often overlook, like agriculture) in the eyes of our future business leaders. I seek to throw out the old models, not just of career development, but of our entire approach to solving social issues. I believe in breaking down a system that, from kindergarten through the corporate ladder, has kept us in silos, narrowly defining our roles and value. At OutGrowth, we believe in going off-script, taking a new and different path, and challenging what we've always taken as gospel. That is why this month, we are thrilled to cover the topic of Social Enterprise. We feature two cutting-edge local leaders who live, breathe and work social change. Social Enterprise creates a bridge, merging mission with manpower, and it is one that has the power to shape the future of our world. We all have the power to get involved, and we can help you to get there. Happy reading. Grow out with us. |
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The Sun Beam Featured Community Program Developer at Hungry Harvest, Alica Diehl Upwards Connecting Teens to Social Enterprise by Diana Solomon, Director of Innovation at 4Front Baltimore |
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This Month at OutGrowth Wrapping Up 2019 and Growing Forward The En Root Scoop Your Path to Social Change Our Top Ted Talk, Podcast and Book to Inspire Your Journey |
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I used to think that businesses and non-profits were two opposing forces. I blamed capitalism for perpetuating social vulnerabilities and environmentally damaging consumerism, and I exalted non-profits for trying to mitigate that harm. Always striving to make my own impact positive, I positioned myself definitively on the non-profit side of things. Until recently. Almost 2 years ago, I had quit my job and set off to travel in South America for a few months. This wasn’t my intention, but it was the first time I’d created the time and space to pause and reflect on my professional journey (highly recommended) rather than just rolling along, swept up in the momentum I’d built. In that reprieve I had an epiphany. I realized that no matter how much I resisted it, capitalism wasn’t going anywhere and just because examples of business practices that generate profits at the expense of people and planet seemed like the norm, it didn’t mean they were mandatory. So I returned to the states with new fire and a strategy shift. For-profit structures that had been the enemy were suddenly the opportunity. Now I get to work for a company that’s tackling both food waste and food insecurity, using one problem to solve another. It's innovative, scalable, agile, and self-sufficient, and allows me to make more of an impact than I ever have before. In a world facing so many issues, there’s unlimited opportunity for (and, beyond that, *need* for) more social enterprise too. Addressing a social or environmental problem using a market-driven approach can look like so many different things -- give-back programs, impact investing, opportunity employment, responsible sourcing, and plenty more. |
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Consider your own values and how they might be infused into the work you do now, or how they might create new opportunities for your future. We’re in an era where business practices are more visible, where consumers are using their expanding platform to share the values they’d like to see reflected in the products and services they buy, and where the lines of communication are open. Don’t wait around for government to mandate social and environmental policies that businesses are forced to follow. As a consumer or an employee, you can call for responsible practices; it only behooves businesses to oblige. The wheels are already in motion. Entrepreneurs are structuring entire new business models around social and environmental values and intrapreneurs are making critical changes to their old models to transform the influence they have on the world. *You* can be those “-preneurs!" There’s an open frontier for new strategies and processes that take humanity and the earth into consideration, and it's ripe for innovation. With open minds, empathy, and innovative spirits, we can create new models of business that uphold social and environmental sustainability, and still leave plenty of room for nonprofits to do their part too. Alica is a gastronomy nerd, health nut, and Mother Earth enthusiast, ever balancing a drive to contribute to her local community with a serious case of wanderlust. She developed the Five Times a Feast program for the Institute for Integrative Health, teaches at the Baltimore Chef Shop, and is expanding and evolving the Produce in a SNAP program at Hungry Harvest. |
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“You are not obligated to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it.” Prikei Avot 2:16 This teaching by Rabbi Tarfon comes from a series of ethical principles in Judaism called Pirke Avot, or Ethics of our Fathers, and is one that has been guiding me throughout both my career and my life. I should start by sharing that I’m new to the field of social enterprise and that my background is instead in Jewish communal, non-profit work and youth engagement. But several years ago, I was set on a path that would lead me to this exciting field, meaningful work, and a new passion. In 2016, I was approached about a job at a new, grant-funded teen initiative called 4Front Baltimore to create and run a new program for Jewish high school students around the field of social innovation and entrepreneurship. The goal was to use this “hot” field to draw teens into a program that would connect them to other Jewish teens, teach them leadership and other tangible skills, and give them a new vehicle to engage in Tikkun Olam, a Jewish value that roughly translates to “repairing the world” (aka helping others/making the world a better place). With an already overflowing menu of leadership opportunities for Jewish teens in Baltimore involving social justice, I wasn’t yet sure how this program would be different. But, as I sat at my desk those first few weeks, plunging into the world of social entrepreneurship and enterprise, I quickly realized that this program had the potential to be so much more. What we ended up creating, with help from our amazing curricular partner Startup Experience, was a dynamic, complex program that exposes teens to a world they wouldn’t otherwise experience at this age; a program that empowers a generation that craves to defy the unfair stereotypes placed upon them by giving them real tools to make tangible, sustainable, positive change in their community. |
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The more I learned about social enterprise and met with passionate, hardworking social entrepreneurs, the more I was inspired by the potential of this field to improve our communities. Personally, the field of social enterprise challenged so many of my own ingrained notions of how we “help” others. Allowing me to see that “help” can be so much more than a one-time action, that profit and impact are not mutually exclusive, and that we must always ask why and challenge the way things are. Suddenly, this Pirkei Avot text that has guided me throughout so much of my life now guides my program. I teach the teens that although their ideas developed in this program may not solve our world’s problems, it’s the act of trying and of taking action to get there that matters. We are literally commanded to not stand by and to act, even if we might not succeed. And that’s exactly what social enterprise offers us a chance to do. I love that I get to wake up every day to inspire and support tomorrows future change-makers. Diana Solomon is the Director of Innovation at 4Front Baltimore, a Jewish teen engagement initiative funded and supported by the Associated Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, Jim Joseph Foundation, and JCC of Greater Baltimore. Diana is currently running her third cohort of the Social Innovation Fellowship, a program open to Jewish high-school students in the Baltimore area. Diana is a Baltimore native and graduate from the University of Maryland, College Park. |
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| | OutGrowth Blog Alison Daniels Shifting the Paradigm: How One New Venture is Setting Out to Change the Food Industry "Forget what society tells you a career looks like. So much of what we consider normal life only exists because we as a society have agreed that's how it should be. But you have the power to write your own story." Alison is the creator of Monster Shift Coaching and Consulting, a coaching program designed to cater to members of the restaurant and bar industry, as well as the Communications and Events Director for Penn Social, one of Washington, DC's biggest sports bars. She plans to effect change in the industry on a national level. | | |
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'Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.' | | |
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'Business with Purpose takes you “behind the scenes” with some of the world’s most generous entrepreneurs. I believe that every person was created with a purpose, for a purpose and this podcast gives inspiration for how we can all make an impact by supporting businesses with purpose.' | | |
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'In 2000, Gerald Chertavian, a successful technology entrepreneur and banker, dedicated his life and business expertise to founding Year Up, an intensive one-year program that provides otherwise stranded young adults with training, mentorship, internships, and ultimately real jobs. This is the inspiring story of a pioneering program that is bridging the Opportunity Divide, with results that can fuel our economy and revive the American ideal of equal opportunity for all.' | | |
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