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Inspiration for { WS★}

One of last year’s highlights was meeting Bill Drayton, Founder and CEO of Ashoka, an organization that promotes the citizen sector as change agents with innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing social problems.    Drayton was a trailblazer in social entrepreneurship (a term he coined himself).    Because of him, it has become much easier to find change agents all across the globe, people whose dreams to solve social issues are bigger than themselves.   I personally crave to know more about these people, about how they began and what they have accomplished.   Their stories are my inspiration. 

I find much in common with Bill Drayton’s citizen sector.  I don’t ever remember a time when I was not a community activist.   I founded organizations after college, although relatively inexperienced and naive.  At the time, the impetus was passion for social justice and nothing else.   While I am still the same person with same passion, I feel more equipped with many years of practice and education in my toolbelt.    Fast forward to now: the world has also become more perilous, with the added weight of environmental threat.  America is not the same country of dreams that I saw when I immigrated as a teen.  The first buildings that my father took me to visit in Manhattan, the twin towers, are no longer there, a sign of the changing global political tide. Social problems have become more complicated and complex.   As I plot my next voyage in life, I am faced with many choices between the realms of relative simplicity and safety and of risk and battles from which social change springs.   A couple of years ago, I made a choice.   This year, I keep a promise and move forward.

The Social Enterprise

By going online with { We Speak America }, I make a commitment to myself and to a social cause.   Since I am creating an internet-based organization, it makes sense to be online from the outset.  I know what it looks like on paper, having written two research studies and a business plan around the idea at Harvard.   I also chose a social enterprise as an organization model, because I believe there are many successful business principles that can be used to become a self-sustaining organization.    As we have seen in the Nobelist Muhammad Yunus’ work on microfinance, there are also a lot of opportunities in emerging markets. In his own words:

The impact of the business on people or environment, rather the amount of profit made in a given period measures the success of social business. Sustainability of the company indicates that it is running as a business. The objective of the company is to achieve social goal/s.

The Next Steps

There is a long task list ahead.   This includes identifying ONE target community, mapping low-wage jobs, facilitating community needs and skills assessment, designing curriculum around those needs, and turning the curriculum into online learning platforms.   I won’t be surprised if one of these days, I find myself in Nevada.  The state of Nevada has the 3rd fastest growing LEP population in the country.   It also has the highest unemployment rate.   I have decided at this point it will be more effective to start from the ground level (as opposed to partnering with established adult literacy organizations to pilot a program) and develop a prototype that clearly follows the business plan, including at its core, community organizing.  This way, I will have a clear understanding of what it will take to put a pilot together.  There are also many challenges ahead.  I have imagine what the obstacles might be, but I am also sure there will be many surprises. 

Thank you for visiting { WS★}.   The website will continue to improve and expand in the next few weeks. Thanks again to  many of you who have encouraged me along the way. 

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Related Reading:  U.S. World Report on Bill Drayton,  Ashoka’s Stories of Change, Harvard Business School’s papers on Social Enterprise and Non-profits, From Kellogg’s conference A Transformational Approach, Columbia U’s RISE, Muhammad Yunus,

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