Public Innovators
Through research, practice, and policy development, Public Innovators is helping to scale transformative and financially sustainable solutions to society's most pressing social problems. It assists governments in adopting five goals to more strategically support social entrepreneurship.
- Encourage social innovation
- Create an enabling environment
- Scale success
- Reward initiatives for their performance
- Produce knowledge that enhances success
Highlights of our work include the following:
Advancing Social Entrepreneurship: Recommendations for Policy Makers and Government Agencies
This report provides 13 recommendations and accompanying models to be used as tools by government leaders who are committed to spurring and supporting social innovation and entrepreneurship.
“Social Entrepreneurship & Government: A New Breed of Entrepreneurs Developing Solutions to Social Problems” from The Small Business Economy: A Report to the President, Small Business Administration (SBA), Office of Advocacy
Written by Root Cause founder/CEO and MIT Senior Lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship Andrew Wolk, this report offers a comprehensive introduction for city, state, and federal government officials to the field of social entrepreneurship and the work to date. It incorporates insights from experts in the field and case studies of eight successful social-entrepreneurial initiatives.
Louisiana Office of Social Entrepreneurship
The Office of the Lieutenant Governor in the state of Louisiana opened the nation’s first Office of Social Entrepreneurship in February 2007. It has already embraced the models and strategies laid out in the SBA chapter and incorporated them into its mission. Root Cause has been working with the office to further develop its activities.
Aspen Institute–Root Cause White Paper and Roundtable
In April, Root Cause will be co-publishing with the Aspen Institute a follow-up to the SBA report with the working title “How Can Government Develop a Strategic Approach to Supporting Social Entrepreneurship?” The paper will offer specific recommendations for adapting some of the same levers that have successfully encouraged U.S. entrepreneurialism and will be the focus of a roundtable on the subject.
To get involved or learn more about Public Innovators, contact Colleen Gross Ebinger.