Ideas for Impact Challenge Semi-finalists Announced

-
Earlier this year, some friends of mine in New York City with a desire to create a social enterprise that employs ex-offenders hosted an idea contest that received over 125 entries. On Monday, they announced their five semi-finalists:

  • Jurrien Swarts – Farm fresh food prepared into microwavable meals for locovores and people living in “food deserts”
  • Heather Burkman – Digitizing small business records and storing hard copies off-site
  • Nickalas Goettling – Seal coating asphalt roads and parking lots
  • Kendra Pierre-Louis – Restoring brownfields through phytoremediation
  • Michael Cozzolino – Manufacturing decorative architectural wood wall panels
On June 1, 2011, Spring Into Action will announce the finalist, a task I do not envy in light of the five excellent finalist ideas. At first glance, all seem to fill innovative and sustainable market niches while providing rich opportunities for employing individuals rebuilding lives. 

I am especially intrigued by the architectural wood wall panels idea because a few years back an architect suggested to us that a huge domestic market exists for pre-made exterior architectural features. The brownfields remediation business is also interesting because I believe there is a natural synergy that arises in social enterprises that combine job training of disadvantaged populations with recycling.

But in the end, these are all excellent ideas for organizations considering starting social enterprises to employ individuals with significant barriers to employability.

Comments

Scott E Pope said…
All five are great ideas. I liked the company that is doing what appears to be road surface remediation. We have a huge infrastructure in the US of streets, roads and parking lots that must be maintained. Manually intensive and fairly straight forward learning curve for the ee. Very cool... thanks for sharing this!
April 6, 2011 at 1:26 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Accidental Janitorial Company: Freedom Cleaning Services

-
Sometimes opportunity finds you. In 2003, Cherry Hills Community Church called Baby Bud's Director Dianne Sager with a question. The recovery organization that had been cleaning their facility had just closed and Cherry Hills needed a new partner. Would Baby Bud's be interested in cleaning the school at Cherry Hills? Normally a retail baby store would think twice about committing to a job completely unrelated to its core business. But Dianne had 20 years of experience managing a janitorial company prior to Baby Buds. She saw this as a new opportunity to employ more single moms. Within a couple of weeks, Baby Bud's added five single moms for a cleaning crew and Freedom Cleaning Services was born. Within a year, the business had grown to employ ten women with several other churches and commercial businesses as clients. One of the challenges to any business start-up is maintaining the focus on your core business when other opportunities arise. Sometimes it's good to pur
Read more

Catherine Rohr's Excellent Argument for Hiring Ex-Offenders

-
I was excited to see Catherine Rohr's essay "Why You Should Hire Ex-Cons" in Inc today. She makes a wonderful case that I hope many employers will read. I've long hoped the case for ex-offender employment would start getting a wider audience. As I've written before, employers need not fear hiring ex-offenders. They provide a excellent source of dedicated workers desiring to move beyond the mistakes of their past. And while you are at it, check out the great work Rohr's organization Defy Ventures is  doing in NYC. Many business owners have overlooked a great source of untapped talent: former inmates. Many former drug dealers and gang leaders have skills and attributes you value most in employees, including charisma, resourcefulness, resilience, a willingness to take calculated risks, and strong management skills.  " Why You Should Hire Ex-Cons ," Catherine Rohr in Inc , June 25, 2012 Read rest of the story here .  
Read more

For a long time there has been a hole in international development and business as mission in the area of sales training.

-
I was excited to be introduced to the Whitten & Roy Partnership recently over lunch by one of its consultants. There are so many great organizations implementing ideas in the developing world that are not realizing their full marketing potential because of a lack of training in sales tactics or a sub-par sales plan. I've had many long conversations with a sales professional friend discussing the need for high-quality help in this area. A well thought out sales approach in developing communities can even be a force for bringing about systematic change in disadvantaged communities: This company is redefining sales tactics for the base of the pyramid SAN FRANCISCO — Scott Roy, co-founder of an international sales consultancy, was doing research for a potential client in Cambodia when he heard about a sales tactic he found appalling. A team tasked with selling toilets to families would roll into villages with a set of latrine components. In order to close th
Read more