Net Impact

Great article, but Yale should have been mentioned!

Net Impact is a main reason for this better late than never trend!

Smith school at UMD also has a great new program: http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/svc/initiative/strategy.aspx

i "like" on behalf of all Austin members!

It's potentially very relevant to the health care debate, but to see the connection you have to step back from the usual perspectives on health care that we see in the media.

At its core, health care reform is about cost management. The cost of premiums are rising quickly because the cost of care is rising quickly. There are many contributing factors to the rising costs, but in the end they all come back to supply and demand. With an aging population, the demand for health care is certain to go up and up, even without expanding coverage. But the supply of care is constrained by many forces. In order to make health care more affordable, we have to find ways to increase its supply in order to meet the rising demand.

At the Hitachi Foundation, we're increasingly seeing that direct care workers such as nursing assistants, medical assistants and home health aides, represent an underutilized resource when it comes to the supply of health care. These front line workers make up fully half of all health care employees, and are increasingly responsible for the well-being of many Americans. Enterprising health care providers can increase the effective supply of health care by providing these workers with the training and certification they need to take on increased levels of responsibility for patient care, which in turn helps create career pathways for these workers. ... Read More

And we're finding that it also creates returns for the pioneering organizations that take this step. Examples include the (Robert Woods Johnson funded) Green House Project for nursing homes; Cooperative Home Care Associates, a worker-owned home care agency in the Bronx; the national eldercare service PACE Providers; Home Care of Rochester; and many more. While most of these pioneers haven't yet been drawn into the national conversation on health reform, their innovations offer real promise for the future.

Thanks, Tom. We'd be interested to see what other Net Impact members have to say about your observations.

What has the Business and Work program taught you about the ongoing need for education reform?

There's considerable need for remedial education among lower-wage workers, with recent studies indicating that as many as 50% of all newly employed workers begin with some level of skill deficiencies. Employers are often hard-pressed to meet this challenge - especially because they often can't get the same tax advantages for remedial training.

... Read MoreRight now, the workforce development and education reform worlds are very disconnected. But ultimately they're working towards highly related goals. They need to find a way to coordinate towards building a better future.

What is the most inspiring that you’ve learned/discovered about social purpose business?

It's everywhere and where you least expect it. Social ventures, social purpose business, sustainable enterprises, B Corporations, and the like are all on the rise and people are taking notice. But what's been the most interesting is discovering entrepreneurs who don't identify themselves with this movement at all.

To them, they are just running a cleaning service or a pie company or a real estate group. But to those of us ingrained in this work, we see entrepreneurs helping young women become financially independent, giving ex-offenders a second chance, and allowing low to middle income individuals to purchase their first homes.

If you dig just a little bit below the surface, you could be very surprised!... Read More

Please post examples of these hidden gems if you have any!