Building More Just and Equitable Societies Through a Social Innovation Strategy

Authors

  • Nicholas Torres Unniversity of Pennsylvania
  • Tine Hansen Turton

Keywords:

Equity, Justice, Society, Social, Innovations, Strategy

Abstract

We strive to live in an equitable society that recognizes that we do not all start from the same place and must acknowledge and adjust to imbalances. This article frames a process to create the conditions to identify and invest in an ecosystem’s legitimate changemakers leading to a more just and equitable society. Creating these conditions starts with adopting recognized ecosystem principles for practical application. 

The article is framed within 15 years of publishing the Social Innovations Journal, which now has a repository of more than 1,250 articles; hosting social innovations awards in Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, New Jersey, and Bogota (Colombia); and hosting social innovation incubator labs for 10+ years. This work has inspired leaders and organizations to continue to dream by creating spaces for social innovators to tap into their own creativity, providing social entrepreneurs with an environment to grow their ideas, challenge social innovators to become better versions of themselves and transform social entrepreneurs and their organizations into changemakers.

This article provides a brief history of the roots and evolution of social innovation in our ecosystems, outlines the key elements and principles that create the conditions to identify legitimate contributors, and outlines the societal impact and improvement (i.e., foster the development of relationships among funders and actors resulting in social investments) if the principles are adopted. 

 

Author Biographies

Nicholas Torres, Unniversity of Pennsylvania

Nicholas Torres is a seasoned and successful Business, Healthcare and Human Services Executive with over 25 years of experience in C-suite executive leadership, serving in CEO and C-Suite Consulting roles throughout his career in start-up, small, and large social sector organizations. Nicholas currently serves as the COO for The Alliance for Health Equity Foundation, the Executive Director of The Network: Towards Unity for Health (TUFH) an official non state actor of the World Health Organization (WHO), CEO of Social Innovations Partners that publishes the Social Innovations Journal and hosts the Social Innovations Awards in multiple ecosystems. He teaches nonprofit and social enterprise leadership and social policy at The Fels Institute of Government and Social Policy School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Nicholas works at the cross section between the private sector, government, and not-for-profits and aligns them toward collective social impact goals and public policy. He has led and founded multiple for-profit and not-for-profit social ventures that are driven both by social impact and financial sustainability measures. Some of his launched social ventures include charter schools, an early literacy technology platform; school-based health centers; and community-based satellite college sites.

Tine Hansen Turton

Tine Hansen-Turton serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Woods and as the founding Executive Administrator for the Convenient Care Association (CCA), the national trade association of over 2200 private-sector retail clinic industry, serving 25 million people with basic health care services across the country.   Ms. Hansen-Turton formerly served as the Chief Operating Officer at Public Health Management Corporation and CEO of the National Nurse-led Care Consortium, a non-profit organization supporting the growth and development of over 500 nurse-managed and school health clinics, serving more than 5 million vulnerable people across the country in urban and rural locations. Ms. Hansen-Turton teaches public and social innovations, leading nonprofits, health policy and the social innovations lab at University of Pennsylvania Fels Institute of Government and School of Nursing.  Ms. Hansen-Turton is c0-founder and publisher of the social innovations journal and has co-published eight books and is known as a serial social entrepreneur who has started several national social and public innovations in the health and human services sector.

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Published

2023-08-09

How to Cite

Torres, N., & Hansen Turton, T. (2023). Building More Just and Equitable Societies Through a Social Innovation Strategy. Social Innovations Journal, 19. Retrieved from https://socialinnovationsjournal.com/index.php/sij/article/view/6567

Issue

Vol. 19 (2023): Learning from Ecosystems: Gaining Insights Into Equitable and Inclusive Societies

Section

Driving Just and Equitable Societies

Categories

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Nicholas Torres, Tine Hansen Turton (Author)

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