Echoing Green Blog

Fellows reflect on their White House visit

Anthony — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:12:33 -0700

It was one week ago that Echoing Green President Cheryl Dorsey and nine other fellows were invited to the White House for a special session on social innovation. We asked 2007 Echoing Green Fellow Felix Lloyd to share about his experience first hand.

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. 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 mobilizing 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.”

Wendy Kopp featured in the Corner Office of The New York Times

brian — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:10:04 -0700

We were thrilled to see 1991 Echoing Green Fellow Wendy Kopp, founder and chief executive of Teach for America was featured in the Corner Office column in this Sunday’s Business section of The New York Times. Adam Bryant spoke to Wendy about her experiences in the not-for-profit sector and views on a variety of related issues. The interview offers highlights from discussions about leadership and management with influential leaders and executives.

Wendy begins by offering insightful advice on goal setting and the value of making mistakes. When asked how she created a sense of mission for Teach for America, Wendy explains how she first defined the organization’s priorities and then developed a measurement of success. Rather than establishing key strategies, Wendy describes the emergence of her organization’s mission as a “ground-up inclusive process that just got everyone aligned with our priorities and goals.”

Wendy’s final thoughts address graduating students who may be interested in social change, but are held back by their lack of experience. She argues that being inexperienced is a strength, not a weakness, for it empowers individuals to breakaway from traditional framework and to set goals that more experienced individuals may think are not feasible.

Want to hear more words of wisdom from Echoing Green alum Wendy Kopp? Check out the full interview at The New York Times.

Join The March 18 Movement with Mideast Youth

Anthony — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:28:56 -0700

2009 Echoing Green Fellow Esra’a Al Shafei recently launched a video in collaboration with the Committee to Protect Bloggers to raise awareness on The March 18 Movement. Also referred to as “OR318,” The March 18 Movement was born from the death of Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, an Iranian journalist and blogger who was accused of spreading “propaganda” against the Islamic Republic of Iran and insulting religious leaders. By creating this video and informing others of the risks that bloggers often face for expressing their ideas, Esra’a and her team hope to extend protections generally granted to journalists to everyone who spends their time and efforts in sharing information about our world.

To help spread their message, check out the inspiring video from Mideast Youth.

NPR highlights microvolunteering with The Extraordinaries

brian — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:25:48 -0700

We were excited today to see the homepage of NPR.org feature an article about 2009 Echoing Green Fellow Jacob Colker and his organization The Extraordinaries.

Jacob and his partner Ben Rigby are harnessing technology in smart phones to inspire others to engage in social change. By combining charity with brevity, The Extraordinaries provides tech-savvy individuals a new avenue of exploring volunteering (which they call microvolunteering). The application is currently in its testing phase, but will soon allow people to pull out their smart phones during their spare time to translate a foreign-language document into English or offer advice to a student applying to college.

Want to learn more about microvolunteering and The Extraordinaries? Check out the full article at NPR's website.

President Obama meets with Echoing Green Fellows

Anthony — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:39:25 -0700

We are very excited to announce that President Obama will be meeting with social innovators today in the East Room of the White House. Through the Social Innovation Fund and the White House Office of Social Innovation, the President will be announcing plans for how government can partner with social sector innovators to solve problems.

Echoing Green President Cheryl Dorsey will be attending the event along with nine (!!) other Echoing Green Fellows including: Andrew Butcher and Chris Koch (GTECH Strategies), Felix Brandon Lloyd (CentsCity), 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). .

You, too, can be there: watch it live today at 2pm EST!

Daniel Tellalian featured in Entrepreneur Magazine

brian — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:35:31 -0700

1998 Echoing Green Fellow Daniel Tellalian and his partner, Elwood Hopkins, were featured in The June 2009 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine, in which they explore their inspiration for launching their organization called Emerging Markets Inc.

Passionate about changing the economic landscape of Los Angeles’s low-income neighborhoods, Daniel and Elwood recognized that they would need to become more business-savvy to reach their goals. In order to turn their heart-felt mission into a “limited profit business,” Daniel and Elwood conducted field research in these low-income communities to prove to banks that they were missing out on financial opportunities. By recruiting influential community members who could teach their neighbors important banking practices, a real bank soon replaced the check-cashing window. Potentially resulting in new jobs, millions of dollars, and vendor spending in areas where a tainted perception generally scares investors away, Daniel and Elwood hope to move their operations to cities outside Los Angeles, including New York City and Philadelphia.

Want to read more about how Daniel and Elwood used greed to complete their mission? Check out the full article in Entrepreneur Magazine.

Cheryl Dorsey appointed to White House Fellows commission

lara — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:09:30 -0700

We are thrilled to congratulate Cheryl Dorsey, President of Echoing Green, for her recent appointment to the position of vice-chair on the Commission of White House Fellowships.

Founded in 1964, the White House Fellows program has offered exceptional young individuals who demonstrate leadership and an unwavering commitment to serve their country the opportunity to work at one of the highest levels of the federal government. As a public policy innovator, Cheryl served as a White House Fellow from 1997-1998, aiding the U.S. Secretary of Labor as a Special Assistant, advising the Clinton Administration on health care and other important issues.

Cheryl will now work with other twenty-eight world-class leaders from private and public sectors, including Secretary of State General Colin Powell, distinguished journalist Tom Brokaw, Ebay founder Pierre M. Omidyar, and author Doris Kearns Goodwin, to select and engage the 2009-2010 White House Fellows. The Commission will select the fellows this week!

Congratulations Cheryl!

Harvard study highlights the Family Van

brian — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:00:51 -0700

The Family Van, Harvard Medical School's local health clinic co-founded by Echoing Green’s President Cheryl Dorsey, has offered free counseling and tests for seventeen years to residents in Boston's low-income neighborhoods. According to the journal, BMC Medicine, a team of researchers at Harvard University studying the Family Van have found that preventive care offers an astounding economic return on investment.

Their study posits that the Family Van returns $36 for every $1 invested, saving the healthcare system nearly $20 million last year alone. Had it not been for the presence of The Family Van, researchers concluded that approximately 80 percent of the 5,000 patients would have been forced to seek treatment at a hospital emergency room. Despite being free to patients, a visit to The Family Van costs the program $117, which is far less expensive than the costs of a visit to the emergency room—which can cost up to $900 for a non-emergency visit. By eliminating these unnecessary expenses, The Family Van saves an additional $3 million in ER visits.

The most revealing finding is that treating serious illnesses including high cholesterol, obesity, and depression, The Family Van saved 17.7 million dollars in “life years,” and 245 years of actual quality of life.

Check out this video from Boston.com to see The Family Van in action.

Watch this at Boston.com

Echoing Green Announces 2009 Fellows

lara — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:30:23 -0700

This is our favorite day of the year -- the day we announce the newest class of Echoing Green Fellows. We simply can't wait to tell the world about the extraordinary work of these promising social entrepreneurs.

More than six months ago, we received almost 1,000 applications for the 2009 Echoing Green Fellowship. Five grueling stages later, with the assistance of more than 200 experts and supporters, we are ready to announce seventeen fellows who are launching fourteen social change organizations. They will join Echoing Green's network of nearly 500 social entrepreneurs who are working to solve social, economic, and environmental problems throughout the world.

Meet Our Esteemed 2009 Echoing Green Fellows:

Our 2009 Echoing Green Fellows are ready to spark change around the world, in areas such as civil and human rights, education and youth leadership, health, and public service. See our complete list of 2009 Echoing Green Fellows to read more about these extraordinary changemakers!

We hope that after learning about the 2009 Echoing Green Fellows, you will help us in passing on the good word about their outstanding hopes and dreams. There are four easy ways to join us:

See the official press release.

Special thanks to the amazing team that helped create the film!

Directed by Tom Mason (www.tommasonportfolio.com)
Music composed by Ryan Sayward (www.ryansayward.com)

Follow these Social Entrepreneurs: Echoing Green Fellows on Twitter

Regina — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:26:30 -0700

Are you a twitterer? Do you tweet? Are you twitty? If you think I’m writing in a foreign language, you need to join Twitter, a social networking service that’s taking the internet by storm. We know how fast paced the nonprofit and social entrepreneurship fields are, so we’ve compiled a list of twittering Echoing Green Fellows to help you stay updated. Follow them and see how they are sparking social change around the world!

Doug Ulman
Livestrong
1999 Echoing Green Fellow
@LivestrongCEO

Peter Haas
AIDG
2006 Echoing Green Fellow
@AIDG

Michael Brown
CityYear
1991 Echoing Green Fellow
@CityYear

N. Taylor Thompson
PharmaSecure
2008 Echoing Green Fellow
@ntaylorthompson

Nathan Sigworth
PharmaSecure
2008 Echoing Green Fellow
@nathansigworth

Chris Myers Asch
United States Public Service Academy
2007 Echoing Green Fellow
@USPSA

Mark Hanis
Genocide Intervention Network
2006 Echoing Green Fellow
@antigenocide

Olugbemisola Amusashoubi-Perkovich
1997 Echoing Green Fellow
@Olugbemisola

Jessamyn Waldman
Hot Bread Kitchen
2008 Echoing Green Fellow
@HotBreadKitchen

Elizabeth Scharpf
Sustainable Health Enterprises
2008 Echoing Green Fellow
@SHEnterprises

Eric Dawson
Peace Games
1996 Echoing Green Fellow
@PeaceGames

Gary Kosman
America Learns
2003 Echoing Green Fellow
@americalearns

Josh Sommer
Chordoma Foundation
2008 Echoing Green Fellow
@sommerjo

Ben Smilowitz
Disaster Accountability Project
2007 Echoing Green Fellow
@BENatDAP

Leticia Jáuregui
CREA
2008 Echoing Green Fellow
@ljauregui

Rafa Cancel-Vazquez
ANDA
2008 Echoing Green Fellow
@RafaCancel

Nina Dudnik
Seeding Labs
2007 Echoing Green Fellow
@Seedinglabs

Did we miss someone? Let us know in the comments below, or tweet us: @echoinggreen!