The Power of Social Innovation: How Civic Entrepreneurs Ignite Community Networks for Good

Acknowledgments ix

The Author xi

Foreword xiii

Preface xvii

Part I: Catalyzing Social Change 1

Chapter 1 Igniting Civic Progress 3

Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Change 4

So Many Ideas, So Little Progress 6

Civic Entrepreneurship as the Solution 12

Igniting Civic Progress 17

The Mandate and Caution of Engaging Government 20

Conclusions 24

Chapter 2 Innovation as Catalytic Ingredient 27

Discovering the Missing Ingredient 30

Choosing the Right Catalyst 36

Bringing It All Together: The Nehemiah Foundation 58

Conclusions 61

Part II: Market Maker as Civic Entrepreneur 65

Chapter 3 Open Sourcing Social Innovation 67

Breaking Down Protectionist Barriers 69

Opening Space for Innovation 73

Leveling the Playing Field 79

Inviting the Exceptional 82

Forcing Cultural Change 85

Bringing It All Together: The Enlightened Monopolist 90

Conclusions 97

Chapter 4 Trading Good Deeds for Measurable Results 101

Current Funding Limitations 103

What Public Value are We Purchasing? 106

Are the Funded Activities Still the Most Relevant? 111

What Change Does the Community Want and What Assets Can It Mobilize? 114

Are We Funding a Project or Sustainable System Change? 116

What Will We Measure? 120

Bringing It All Together: Linda Gibbs 125

Conclusions 126

Part III: Service Provider as Civic Entrepreneur 131

Chapter 5 Animating and Trusting the Citizen 133

Balancing the Professional with the Public 135

Building a Public 139

Leveraging Social Media for Change 149

“Client” Choice 153

Curing the Expectation Gap 157

Bringing It All Together: Family Independence Initiative 160

Conclusions 165

Chapter 6 Turning Risk into Reward 169

Seeing Opportunity Where Others See Liability 171

Taking First Risk 172

Fully Calculating Cascading Return on Investment 182

Political Risk and Reward 184

Bringing It All Together: Wraparound Milwaukee 192

Conclusions 195

Chapter 7 The Fertile Community 197

The Fertile City (and the Entrepreneurial Mayor) 199

Civic Entrepreneurs and School Reform 202

Entrepreneurial Community Solutions 214

Staying Entrepreneurial: Saving Yourself from Success 221

The Future 222

Notes 225

References 255

Index 265