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  Strategy and Tools to Drive Financial Capital Into Communities and Their Changemakers

  Vol. 35 (2026)

  Dear Reader,

  At this moment in our nation's civic and economic life, communities across the country are calling for new models of investment—models that trust local wisdom, expand access to capital, and elevate changemakers closest to the issues. A Leadership Exchange, convened across multiple gatherings, brought leaders together to ask a simple but profound question: What will it take to unlock the full potential of communities and what is the role of financial investors?  The exchange was driven by a shared value that community-centered governance must anchor any successful community investment strategy.

  Across sectors—philanthropy, community development finance, wealth advisory, academia, and civic leadership—participants affirmed that the future of social innovation depends on our willingness to redesign how capital flows, how decisions are made, and how talent is cultivated. The discussions highlighted both urgency and opportunity: urgency in acknowledging systemic blind spots that prevent capital from reaching the neighborhoods that need it most, and opportunity in the growing number of tools, partnerships, and models emerging across the region.

  The Exchange surfaced powerful truths. Communities cannot invest in themselves without equitable access to capital—and social investors cannot meet today’s challenges without deeper knowledge of the tools and markets available to them. We heard calls for new intermediaries, renewed trust in community voice, and investment strategies that blend catalytic philanthropy with market discipline. We were reminded that when one sector struggles or fails, all of us are impacted, and that our collective success requires reimagining the infrastructures that support social progress.

  This edition titled Strategy and Tools to Drive Financial Capital into Communities and their Changemakers showcases an emerging architecture that has the potential to transform a region’s impact landscape.  The articles within this edition provides both the theory and practical financial tools for adoption and implementation within ecosystems and communities.  The articles address topics from impact investing innovations to mission-driven lending, from policy fellowships to capacity-building ecosystems, and from collaborative funds to technical assistance platforms.

  Impact Investment Tools & Capital Mobilization Context
  Experts emphasized the rapid growth of global impact funds, blended finance mechanisms, and regionally focused investment vehicles that align capital with community needs. Participants explored how catalytic philanthropy, revenue-based financing, and pay-for-success models can be leveraged to strengthen deal flow and broaden access for community-led initiatives. CDFI leaders underscored the long-standing role of mission lenders in financing small businesses, housing, and health centers—rooted in justice, trust, and repayment grounded in coaching rather than credit scoring.

  The Exchange also highlighted emerging strategies to mobilize philanthropic, corporate, and individual investors. The Patricia Kind Family Foundation’s Partners Fund demonstrated how pooled capital can amplify equity-focused grantmaking, particularly for Black-led grassroots organizations, while Zenith Wealth Partners outlined a model to prepare nonprofits and social enterprises to become "investment-ready"—closing gaps between community innovation and capital markets.

  Capacity Building for Leaders and Organizations Context
  Across both meetings, it became clear that capital alone cannot drive change; leadership capacity must grow alongside financial resources. The Delaware Valley Policy Fellowship and regional business/entrepreneurship training initiatives aim to equip social sector leaders with tools to influence public policy, understand systems, and adopt entrepreneurial mindsets that strengthen organizational sustainability.  BNCEP and the Center for Leadership Equity illustrated the importance of culturally grounded infrastructure that supports Black nonprofit leaders—demonstrating how wellness, coaching, peer networks, and funder-leader convenings can build ecosystems of trust and long-term community power.

  A Vision for a New Regional Ecosystem.
  This edition, resulting from the Philadelphia Charlotte Exchange, points toward an emerging model—one that brings together CDFIs, wealth advisors, community foundations, universities, policy experts, and capacity-building institutions to channel more capital into neighborhoods and accelerate the impact of local changemakers.

  As we look ahead, the work is clear:

  • Build intermediaries that remove barriers and steward capital responsibly.
  • Strengthen leadership pipelines through policy, business, and entrepreneurial training.
  • Mobilize diverse investors—from donors to foundations to corporations—toward community-designed solutions.
  • Create transparent metrics and ranking systems that hold regions accountable for investing equitably.
  • Embrace collaborative funds that democratize investment and uplift local voices.

  This moment invites us to imagine a future where innovation is not a product of isolation, but of collaboration across cities, sectors, and communities. The Philadelphia–Charlotte Exchange has laid the foundation for a shared movement—one grounded in humility, trust, and a belief that bold ideas deserve bold investment.

  We hope this work inspires you to participate in shaping the next chapter of social innovation. Whether as a funder, community leader, policymaker, entrepreneur, or advocate, your voice and your vision matter. Together, we can build the tools, strategies, and partnerships that allow every community to thrive.

  In solidarity and shared purpose,

  Nicholas Torres, Co-Founder and Publisher

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  Innovations and Models of Care in Health and Human Services: Advancing Care, Systems, and Policy for Complex Needs

  Vol. 34 (2025)

  Dear Reader,

  For our December 2025 issue, we are excited to partner with Woods System of Care to explore “Innovations and Models of Care in Health and Human Services: Advancing Care, Systems, and Policy for Complex Needs.”

  Across the country, individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), autism, and behavioral health challenges, as well as other populations with complex care needs, continue to face barriers that prevent them from accessing the care and support they need to thrive. These barriers, such as provider shortages, fragmented systems, lack of services to address the social determinants of health, stigma, and insufficient behavioral health supports, leave many without the services essential for wellness, independence, and full participation in society[1].

  The scale of these challenges is striking. CDC data[2] show that 1 in 31 children aged 8 years has autism, while roughly 1 in 6 children aged 3–17 live with a developmental disability, including ADHD, cerebral palsy, or blindness. Between 2019 and 2021, the prevalence of diagnosed developmental disabilities in children[3] rose from 7.4% to 8.56%. Mental health challenges are also widespread across the lifespan, affecting over 61 million U.S. adults through conditions such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, and co-occurring substance use disorders[4]. Yet access to mental health care remains limited due to a shortage of providers, inadequate insurance coverage, high out-of-pocket costs, fragmented care, and persistent stigma, which leaves many without the support they need[5]. Amid these complexities, family caregivers shoulder immense responsibility, navigating fragmented systems while providing extensive, often unpaid, care.

  This issue explores four core themes: policy and systems for IDD and behavioral health, supportive and affordable housing, therapeutic, clinical, and technological innovations, and workforce, family, and community engagement. Articles explore advancements in trauma-informed and high-reliability psychiatric care, overdose prevention, residential behavioral health, and creative therapies such as music and arts interventions. The collection also highlights specialized education, oral health initiatives, family engagement, advocacy, and community-based models that promote independence and inclusion. Additionally, it addresses systemic solutions in public policy, workforce development, and supportive and affordable housing, offering practical insights and emerging strategies that are transforming care and improving outcomes for people with complex needs.

  We hope this edition inspires community organizations, health systems, policymakers, and all stakeholders to embrace innovative, human-centered approaches. By working together, sharing knowledge, and advancing thoughtful policies, we can improve care, create greater opportunities, and empower individuals and communities.

  Warm regards,
  Tine Hansen-Turton, Guest Edition Curator and Editor, Woods System of Care

  Nicholas Torres, Co-Founder, Social Innovations Journal

   

  Meet the Authors Event - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a90WmTHANEc

   

  References:

  [1] Healthy Minds Policy Research. (2024, June 27). Barriers to care for people with co-occurring mental health disorders and intellectual and developmental disabilities. https://www.healthymindspolicy.org/research/barriers-to-care-for-people-with-co-occurring-mental-health-disorders-and-intellectual-and-developmental-disabilities#:~:text=Identifying%20barriers%20to%20behavioral%20health,providers%20and%20families%20or%20caregivers

  [2] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2025, May 27). Data and statistics on autism spectrum disorder. https://www.cdc.gov/autism/data-research/index.html

  [3] National Center for Health Statistics. (2023). Diagnosed developmental disabilities in children aged 3–17 years: United States, 2019–2021. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db473.htm

  [4] National Alliance on Mental Illness. (2024). Mental health by the numbers. https://www.nami.org/about-mental-illness/mental-health-by-the-numbers/

  [5] Association of American Medical Colleges. Exploring barriers to mental health care in the U.S. https://www.aamc.org/about-us/mission-areas/health-care/exploring-barriers-mental-health-care-us

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  Social Innovations Towards Leadership Excellence

  Vol. 33 (2025)

  Dear Reader,

  Nonprofit executives today must possess a blended set of policy competencies and business acumen to lead mission-driven organizations effectively in a rapidly changing environment.

  On the policy side, leaders need to be fluent in systems thinking, policy analysis, and stakeholder mapping to translate on-the-ground needs into persuasive policy briefs, testimony, and tactical advocacy plans. They must also know how to build coalitions, engage community voices, and anticipate the unintended consequences of policy proposals. Recent research and practice in the sector highlight that nonprofits increasingly operate at the intersection of government, private, and civic actors—making it essential for executive leaders to navigate legislative processes, design evidence-based interventions, and communicate impact in policy-ready terms.

  Equally essential are business and financial skills, including budgeting and cash-flow forecasting, diversified revenue strategies (such as earned income, philanthropy, and contract revenue), financial modeling for investment readiness, and strong performance measurement and data literacy to demonstrate both social and economic returns. Recent funding volatility has made clear that organizations with robust financial planning, technology adoption, and operational discipline are significantly more resilient. Sector analyses now emphasize the need for executives to strengthen the effectiveness of their leadership teams, adopt business-grade financial practices, and leverage data to inform strategic decision-making.

  Taken together, these competencies enable leaders to translate frontline insights into scalable policy solutions while ensuring long-term organizational sustainability. Funders and capacity builders are increasingly prioritizing leadership development programs that combine advocacy training with practical business tools—because influence without financial stewardship (and vice versa) limits lasting impact. Investing deliberately in these cross-cutting skills—policy analysis, coalition strategy, financial management, and data systems—is now widely recognized as a high-leverage approach to improving both organizational performance and community outcomes.

  We present this edition, Social Innovations Toward Leadership Excellence, grounded in the belief that leadership growth emerges through reflection, shared learning, and the intentional integration of new insights into practice. Our pedagogy for this edition follows a two-part learning model: how leadership works and how to work leadership. We invite you, as participants, to explore key ideas through the speaker videos and articles, and to translate your insights into practice—evolving your leadership style, character, and management competencies. We encourage you to bring your lived experiences, questions, and aspirations into this learning environment, challenging yourself to “see the world differently” by comparing perspectives, examining assumptions, and expanding your leadership mindset.

  This edition features six articles exploring Social Innovation, Social Finance, and Economic Development Competencies, and sixteen leadership videos covering:

  • Strategy and Planning
  • Policy and Systems Change
  • Organizational Culture
  • Business and Finance
  • Partnerships, Collaborations, and Networks
  • Brand and Image

  Looking ahead to 2026, the Social Innovations Journal—responding to the growing need for nonprofit executives to strengthen both policy competencies and business/financial skills—will curate two special editions designed to help social sector leaders convert frontline insight into scalable policy solutions while ensuring organizational sustainability.

  The Policy Edition will immerse readers in the policymaking process through engagement with government agencies, advocacy organizations, academic institutions, and community stakeholders. Readers will explore how social, economic, legal, and political forces shape policy decisions and examine the roles that public, private, and nonprofit actors play in influencing systems that affect communities. This edition will equip readers with tools to analyze structural and social issues, understand policy history, and develop strategies to influence change. They will learn how to write policy briefs, craft testimony, develop power maps, and design tactical plans for advancing policy priorities.

  The Social Sector Business Acumen Edition will immerse readers in emerging tools and frameworks that move financial capital—and decision-making power—directly into communities. The global expansion of impact investing, along with blended-finance models, revenue-based lending, and community-led funds, is aligning capital with social outcomes. Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) remain foundational in underserved neighborhoods, pairing affordable loans with trust-based coaching to support small businesses, housing, and health centers. Together, these financing models demonstrate that capital can be structured to promote equity, sustainability, and long-term community stability—not just profit. Readers will explore how collaborative funding models are reshaping capital flows, sharing power, strengthening leadership, and fueling community-driven solutions.

  Our focus and goal in strengthening social sector systems remain clear: to enable leaders to transform frontline insight into scalable policy solutions while ensuring organizational sustainability.

   

  Sincerely,

   

  Nicholas Torres, Co-Founder/Publisher

  Tine Hansen-Turton, Co-Founder

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  Social Accountability for Medical and Allied Health Faculties in Action: Institutional Alignment, Accreditation Standards, and Access Models

  Vol. 32 (2025)

  Dear Reader,

  As we conclude the second iteration of the Social Accountability Fellowship, we can’t help but reflect on how much has been achieved in a mere two years. The idea for a Social Accountability Fellowship grew out of TUFH’s 40+ years of dedication to Social Accountability for Medical Schools AND the International Social Accountability and Accreditation Steering Committee (ISAASC), which identified the need for programs such as this to act as catalysts for change. The work of ISAASC and the Social Accountability Fellowship is centered upon strengthening and supporting health education to align their work in furtherance of the needs of their communities. This work would not be possible without partnerships and collaborations with academic institutes and global health organizations. We are grateful for TUFH, NOSM University, the Dr. Gilles Arcand Centre for Health Equity, and the Social Sciences and Health Research Council of Canada’s Connection Grant Program, whose support made this fellowship possible.

  In the last two years, 34 fellows have completed the program, from 21 different countries. To help support the continued work of the fellows, TUFH launched a new program this year, focused on creating Centers of Excellence. The goal of these centers is to build upon and scale up the work of the fellowship and to support fellows as they take what they have learned and apply it within their own countries. The articles in this edition reflect the work that is happening and the future goals to be achieved, organized into the following sections:

  Institutional Social Accountability Journey

  • “Advancing Social Accountability in a State University Offering a Medical Scholarship and Return Service Program in the Philippines”
  • “Integrating Social Accountability into Health Professions Education in Nigeria”
  • “Integrating Social Accountability in Medical School Accreditation Standards in Uganda”
  • “Establishing a Centre of Excellence for Social Accountability in Health at Universiti Malaya: A Scalable Innovation in Health Professions Education”
  • “Reimagining Accreditation: Building Community Accountability into Medical Education Systems”
  • “Advocating for Socially Accountable Teaching and Language Resources for Australian medical educators”
  • “Towards Equity in Health: Integration of Institutional Self-Assessment Tool (ISAT) Indicators in the National Accreditation System of Medical Schools in Sudan”
  • “ISAT in Action: A Social Accountability Investigation of Ahfad University for Women’s Medical Education”

  Policy Influence

  • “Social Accountability as a Core Accreditation Criterion for Medical Education Programs in Egypt: A Policy Brief”
  • “Embedding Social Accountability Standards in MBRSG to Advance Inclusive and Transparent Public Policy Education”
  • “Advocating for a Socially Accountable Package of Care for Adults Hospitalized with Tuberculosis in the Western Cape, South Africa: A Policy Brief”
  • “Advocating for Honours Psychology Students to Engage in Service-learning for Access and Provision of Mental Health Care: A South African Case.”
  • “Strengthening Zambia’s Healthcare System through Legislative Reforms”

  Increasing Access to Care and Integrated Care Models

  • “Enhancing Community Access to Health Resources through Student-Driven Mapping and Engagement in Bajo Boulogne, Argentina”
  • “Co-Creating a Socially Responsive Palliative Care Curriculum: Lessons from Stakeholder Engagement in Malawi”
  • “UNAM Adopt a Community Program: Education in Practice: Mexico”

  In today’s world, it is easy to lose faith-the challenges we face can seem insurmountable. It is through action and cooperation that we sustain our collective hope. It is our wish that in reading these articles, you experience a renewed sense of optimism for the future. The determination, passion, and fortitude of this cohort of learners is evident on every page.

   

  Ghislaine Attema       

  Social Accountability Coordinator, TUFH

   

  Nicholas Torres

  President, TUFH

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  Unseen Powerhouses: The Rise of Indigenous Enterprise

  Vol. 31 (2025)

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome to the July 2025 edition of the Social Innovation Journal, titled "Unseen Powerhouses: The Rise of Indigenous Enterprise." This edition is especially close to our hearts—not just as curators, but as individuals who have spent decades working at the intersection of community resilience, justice, and innovation. Our paths—one rooted in community development in the United States and the other grounded in 26 years of work with Indigenous communities in India—have revealed a shared truth: some of the world’s most transformative solutions come from places often unseen and unheard.

  Across the globe, Indigenous and marginalized communities are building powerful models of change—not driven by external interventions, but by collective wisdom, necessity, and a profound sense of rootedness. Tribal youth in particular are choosing to stay in their villages—not due to a lack of aspiration, but because they believe in a different kind of future—one anchored in forests, seeds, storytelling, and interdependence.

  This edition uplifts those stories. Whether it is forest-based micro-enterprises, regenerative farming rooted in ancestral knowledge, ecofeminist cooperatives, or community-led healing centers, these initiatives represent a form of innovation grounded in cultural continuity and lived experience. They challenge dominant ideas of what constitutes enterprise, success, and impact.

  To help navigate this body of work, we have organized the journal into three thematic windows:

  Regenerative Farming and Indigenous Agri-Enterprises — where traditional farming wisdom converges with climate solutions to support biodiversity, food sovereignty, and livelihoods.

  Forest Economies and Circular Enterprises — exploring ethical wild harvesting, sustainable value chains, and creative economies rooted in forest ecosystems.

  Healing, Justice, and Cultural Revival — spotlighting intergenerational trauma healing, cultural renewal, and well-being as foundations of community-led development.

  We would like to take a moment to acknowledge and appreciate the authors who have contributed to this edition. These stories did not arrive easily. Each author took on the challenge of immersing themselves in the realities of remote communities, listening deeply, doing rigorous research, and ultimately becoming a vessel for these voices. They have served as anchor-authors—holding space for truths that are often ignored—and have beautifully narrated the journeys of unseen heroes who are quietly transforming the world.

  We believe this edition arrives at a critical moment. Across the Global South and beyond, Indigenous enterprises are emerging not as niche alternatives, but as viable, scalable, and dignified pathways to regeneration. What they need is not saving, but solidarity. Not replication, but recognition.

  We hope this edition sparks your imagination and expands your understanding of what is possible when enterprise grows from the soil of community and culture. May it invite new forms of collaboration rooted in equity, respect, and a shared commitment to a just and sustainable future.

   

  With deep gratitude,

  Ruchi Kashyap

  CEO, Atmashakti Trust

   

  Nicholas Torres

  Co-Founder & Publisher, Social Innovation Journal

   

  Meet the Authors Event - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MGaJ3jGeZY

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  The Future of AI in Education: Innovations and Insights

  Vol. 30 (2025)

  Dear Reader: 

  The swift progress in artificial intelligence (AI) development is fundamentally transforming education in profound ways. As AI technologies advance, leaders, educators, researchers, and policymakers must navigate both the opportunities and challenges of integrating them into teaching and learning and all other aspects of education. AI is revolutionizing education by personalizing learning experiences, streamlining administrative tasks, changing the roles of teachers and students, and reshaping instructional methods, and all of that is before the possibilities that broad deployment of AI agents for research, AI companions for support, multimodal image generators, and the yet-to-be imagined uses for generative AI to transform the culture and design of learning environments might bring. Simultaneously this shift also raises critical concerns regarding equity, ethics, scalable implementation, and the evolving requirements for governance and policy so that all learners flourish.

  As AI becomes an integral part of educational ecosystems, it is essential to critically examine its impact, ensuring that it is harnessed to support—not replace—human-centered learning experiences.

  This special edition, The Future of AI in Education: Innovations and Insights, aims to do just that. We have brought together leading voices from across the globe to explore the dynamic relationship between AI and education. Curated by Catalyst @ Penn GSE and a diverse network of scholars, this collection of articles highlights cutting-edge research, innovative implementations, thought leadership, and emerging trends. By examining AI’s role in education from multiple perspectives—including research, policy, technology development, and classroom practice—this edition aims to foster a deeper understanding of how AI is shaping the future of learning.

  Catalyst @ Penn GSE is uniquely positioned to curate this edition, leveraging our work at the intersection of education, business, and technology. As a center for global education innovation, Catalyst connects people and ideas to develop new ways to advance education in novel and meaningful directions. Building on Penn GSE’s legacy of education innovation and leadership, Catalyst facilitates public conversations, hosts working groups on pressing challenges, and supports both educators and entrepreneurs in transforming teaching and learning. Through professional development, capacity building, and fostering collaboration across the edtech ecosystem, Catalyst helps generate, test, and scale best practices and powerful new tools for educators at all levels. By drawing from this wealth of expertise, this edition provides a comprehensive and forward-thinking perspective on the future of AI in education.

  The articles featured in this issue provide a rich exploration of AI’s potential and challenges in education. Topics include AI literacy frameworks that prepare students for an increasingly AI-driven world, the use of generative AI in lesson planning and professional development, AI-powered tools for assessment and feedback, and the ethical considerations surrounding AI’s role in shaping pedagogical practices. Contributors also investigate how AI can enhance student agency, promote ubiquitous access to education, and drive innovation in both K-12 and higher education settings.

  We hope that this edition will serve as both a reflection on current developments and a catalyst for ongoing dialogue about the responsible and innovative use of AI in education. By bringing together a broad range of perspectives, we aim to contribute to a more thoughtful, nuanced, and informed approach to AI’s role in shaping the next generation of learners and educators.

  Sincerely, 

  Michael & Katrina 

  Dr. L. Michael Golden, EdD, MBA 

  Vice Dean of Innovative Programs and Partnerships, Catalyst @ Penn GSE

  Policy, Organizations, Leadership, and Systems Division & Senior Fellow
  
  

  Dr. Katrina Struloeff, PhD, MAM

  Director of Growth and Impact, Catalyst @ Penn GSE

   

  Meet the Authors Event - https://youtu.be/sS6N3QPlAjk

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  Trends in Employee Ownership and Not-for-Profit Fiscal Sponsorship Management Models

  Vol. 29 (2025)

  Dear Reader, 

  We are excited to collaborate with two partner organizations, Ownership Capital Lab and Social Impact Commons, to curate and present “Trends in Employee Ownership and Not-for-Profit Fiscal Sponsorship Management Models.” 

  Ownership is ultimately what creates economic stability for individuals and families, whether home, business, or stock ownership. Broad-based employee ownership (EO), in which all employees can become owners of their workplace, creates opportunities for frontline workers to also buy a home, save for retirement, and provide for the next generation. EO is one of the rare topics that everyone seems to agree on because it creates benefits for all stakeholders: for workers, for businesses, for selling business owners, and for communities. All stripes of the political spectrum love EO—EO legislation typically gains unanimous votes, and polls demonstrate 80%+ support for EO among Republicans and Democrats alike.

  In recent years, EO has been coming out of its silo, with the last five years seeing an explosion of new growth, new entrants, and new potential. However, most people still haven’t heard of EO. That’s where nonprofits and field-building organizations have critical roles to play: in awareness building, in the business ownership succession planning marketplace (most EO is created when a retiring business owner sells their company to an EO form), and in the lending and capital marketplaces (these sales of businesses require lending or investment capital).

  The employee ownership articles below showcase a range of nonprofits that are each supporting the growth of EO in critical ways.

  1. Evergreen Cooperative Corporation: Transforming Lives and Neighborhoods Through Community Wealth Building
  2. Employee Ownership: A Strategy for Thriving Communities
  3. Turning the Silver Tsunami into a Wealth-Building Wave: Project Equity’s Vision for Employee Ownership and Economic Resilience
  4. Economic Justice for All – Cooperatives Lead the Way, CDFIs Fund the Vision
  5. Growing Investment Capital for Employee Ownership Can Fundamentally Change the Face of Ownership in The U.S. and Address Racial Wealth Gaps
  6. Catalyzing Worker Cooperative Ecosystem Development

  Alongside these organizations, there are many, many more doing amazing work. We invite you to learn and consider EO, support its growth from whatever seat you occupy, look up (and shop at) EO businesses in your local community, and think about how ownership changes lives. Today, we have an unprecedented opportunity for employee ownership to address economic mobility and racial wealth gaps.

  Fiscal Sponsorship is a growing field of nonprofit practice that offers a spectrum of management models for sharing nonprofit infrastructure among multiple discrete charitable missions and activities.  The US field of fiscal sponsorship dates to the late 1950s and has grown especially fast since 2000, per a 2023 field scan by Social Impact Commons. This growth has been motivated largely by the general polycrisis and increasing cadence of climate change, socioeconomic disparity, natural disaster, and socio-political unrest, whereby fiscal sponsorship is an effective way to move philanthropic funds to front-line workers and organizations, as well as a means to stand-up and operate charitable work quickly and more efficiently. In the past several decades, US fiscal sponsorship practices have been replicated by NGOs in other legal and tax jurisdictions around the world, operating under a variety of terms, such as fiscal hosting, shared platforms, umbrella organizations, and others.

  At present, there are about 600 self-identifying fiscal sponsors operating in the US, though we estimate (we lack public data on fiscal sponsors, as they are just 501(c)(3) public charities and not separately regulated) that there may be upwards of 5,000.  Impact Commons’ fields scan of about 15% of the discernable population surfaced a remarkable scope of impact, including over 12,000 charitable projects; more than $2.6 billion in sponsored project funds; $575 million in government funding to projects; 18,000 staff members employed and contractors managed; and almost $700 million in contributions to households (employees and contractors combined). And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

  The below fiscal sponsorship articles explore various facets of the rapidly evolving field of fiscal sponsorship informative and provocative.

  1. What is Fiscal Sponsorship? A Primer
  2. The Rise of Management Commons: A New Vision for Nonprofit Infrastructure
  3. Strength in Solidarity – Fiscal Sponsorship as Intentional Community Building: Collective Action and Resource Sharing in Puerto Rico
  4. Finding Values-Aligned Operational Homes in the How (Not the What) of Fiscal Sponsorship
  5. Shifting the Narrative: From Incubator to Forever Home

  We hope this edition, titled “Trends in Employee Ownership and Not-for-Profit Fiscal Sponsorship Management Models,” provides an overview of emerging nonprofit management and employee ownership models to address economic mobility and racial wealth gaps.

   

  Sincerely,

  Alison Lingane, Founder, Ownership Capital Lab

  Thaddeus Squire, Chief Commons Steward, Social Impact Commons

  Nicholas Torres, CEO and Publisher, Social Innovations Journal

   

  Meet the Authors Event - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve-8sQiYFfI

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  Transforming Health and Human Services Systems to Improve Care for Complex Populations

  Vol. 28 (2024)

  Dear Reader,  

  For our December 2024 issue, we are excited to collaborate with our partner organization, Woods System of Care, to curate and present “Transforming Health and Human Services Systems to Improve Care for Complex Populations.” 

  Individuals with complex needs, including those with intellectual disabilities, autism, and behavioral health challenges, continue to experience significant health disparities and face barriers to accessing crucial healthcare and services that support wellness, independence, and full participation in society. According to the CDC, approximately 1 in 36 children in the U.S. is identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Additionally, around 1 in 6 children aged 3–17 years has been diagnosed with a developmental disability, such as autism, ADHD, or cerebral palsy. Current estimates also show that 2–3% of children in the U.S. live with an intellectual disability. Mental health challenges are equally prevalent and significant. Nearly 1 in 4 U.S. adults (58.7 million people) live with a mental health condition, while 1 in 20 adults (14.6 million people) has a serious mental health condition, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression, that interferes with daily life. Among children aged 3 to 17 years, 1 in 7 (approximately 8 million children) has a diagnosed mental or behavioral health condition. Tragically, suicide is one of the leading causes of death, with over 49,000 lives lost in 2022, equivalent to 1 death every 11 minutes. In addition, health and human services providers are facing significant workforce challenges, struggling to attract and retain staff across all sectors, from direct care workers to primary care and behavioral health professionals. In 2022, nearly 47% of the U.S. population lived in areas with a mental health workforce shortage, a number expected to grow as the shortage persists. However, numerous innovative solutions and approaches exist that aim to tackle these disparities and challenges.

  This edition of the Social Innovations Journal focuses on three key themes -- Integrated Care Models and Increasing Access to Care; Inclusion and Equity; and Systems Policy and Workforce Challenges and Solutions -- each offering innovative strategies for addressing disparities in access to care and health outcomes for people with complex needs. Authors delve into topics such as fostering inclusion and collaboration within healthcare systems to enhance outcomes, promoting health equity through initiatives like vaccination programs, addressing bullying and sports participation for students with disabilities, and tackling the workforce crisis with effective strategies for staff retention and training. The issue also highlights systemic reforms through global efforts for neurodivergent populations, cutting-edge mental health innovations, and thoughtful reflections on the evolution of care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, autism, and mental health challenges.

  We hope that all stakeholders in health and human services, including community-based organizations, health and human service providers, health systems, government agencies, and policymakers, will be able to take valuable information from this issue.

  Tine Hansen-Turton, Co-Founder, Social Innovations Journal, and President and CEO, Woods System of Care

  Nicholas Torres, Co-Founder, Social Innovations Journal 

  
  
  

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  New Horizons of Social Innovation in Changemaker Education and Research

  Vol. 27 (2024)

  Dear Reader,

  As I write this, the higher education sector and the world stand at a historic moment. We are facing a future of exponential change with technological advances, damaging climate disasters, significant demographic shifts, polarization, and inequalities. The future promises that these challenging, interconnected issues will continue to increase in complexity and with greater speed. These changes and our inability to manage them make it apparent that the higher education sector also needs to change to continue to meet the needs of society.

  We are at a moment of possibility. We are at a moment where we have the freedom and the mandate to reimagine the role(s) that higher education can play in helping us meet the urgencies of the day and productively address this polycrisis. Higher education as a sector is uniquely positioned to help us all develop the capabilities that we need to solve the world’s most pressing, interconnected challenges. Colleges and universities can graduate changemakers. Colleges and universities can also serve as the lever to activate communities of changemakers – to create the environments within which individuals across a community can discover their own power as changemakers.

  This edition, titled New Horizons of Social Innovation in Changemaker Education and Research,  provides glimpses of the future as it highlights innovative ways in which higher education is graduating changemakers as well as activating ecosystems of changemakers. It was developed from research shared at the 2024 Changemaker Education Research Forum (CERF). The articles in this special issue were curated by Ashoka Fellow and scholar Dr. Adam Jagiello-Rusiłowski and represent diverse perspectives on the role of higher education in society.

  Definitions: What is a “Changemaker Ecosystem™”?

  Ashoka defines a “Changemaker” as someone who imagines a new reality, takes action, and collaborates with others to bring that new reality into being for the good of others.” Four key competencies are essential for changemaking success:

  • Conscious Empathy
  • Organizing Open, Fluid, Integrated Team of Teams
  • Changemaking Leadership
  • Practicing Changemaking

  The most important capability of changemakers is their capacity to activate those around them to realize their own power as changemakers.

  Changemaker Education is an education that helps students (at any age) build their identities and capacities as collaborative agents for change and gives them multiple opportunities to practice changemaking.

  A Changemaker Ecosystem™ engages the entire community in developing changemaking capacity to address problems collaboratively. Higher education ecosystems include students, faculty, staff, and alumni. They also include school districts, families, businesses, citizen-sector organizations, governments, communities of faith, and the media. 

  It is important to note that Individuals and institutions can become changemakers, and they can, therefore, empower individuals and institutions around them to similarly find their own power as changemakers.

  The diverse perspectives shared in this special issue are focused on how higher education can activate ecosystems of changemakers in different ways. This issue contains two parts. Part 1: Changemaker Education focuses on the role of education within an institution of higher education to develop changemakers – primarily through helping students develop changemaking competencies. Part 2: Transforming Higher Education Ecosystems is focused on changing the contexts, systems, and structures within which higher education institutions operate. Together, these two parts present a picture of the many ways in which higher education can activate changemakers and change the communities and systems within which they operate to enable everyone in the ecosystem to realize their power as changemakers. This means that students, faculty, and administrators discover their own changemaking power. It also means that parents, alumni, K-12 teachers, and individuals in local businesses, citizen-sector organizations, and faith communities also discover their changemaking power. This is not transformation just for the sake of transformation. It is transformation that enables higher education institutions to truly create an ecosystem where everyone can realize their own power as changemakers. 

  Part 1: Changemaker Education

  The initiatives and examples shared in this section highlight practical ways in which higher education institutions are developing changemaking competencies of their students: through a Health Sciences Capstone course (Williams, Yessis, Hogan, and Del Matto), B Impact Teams collaborative consultancies (Joys, Yinka Thomas, Nath, and Haynes), through an “Org. School” approach (Faughnan, Tomczuk, Alan, Lang, Monhartova, and Otten), and through applying a Living Systems Framework to business education change (Kroening). Although these are focused on developing the changemaking competencies of students, these initiatives also empower changemakers across their campus and community – engaging with different departments, with local businesses and communities, and with the earth itself (our living system).

  The articles in this section include:

  • Equipping Students as Changemakers within a Health Sciences Capstone Course at the University of Waterloo (Williams, Yessis, Hogan, and Del Matto)
  • Transforming Changemaker Education in Business Through B Impact Teams (Joys, Yinka Thomas, Nath, and Haynes)
  • Piloting ‘Krewe School’: An Org School Approach to Social Learning in Social Innovation Education (Faughnan, Tomczuk, Alan, Lang, Monhartova, and Otten)
  • What Life Is Guiding Us to Do to Change Business Education (Kroening)

  Part 2: Transforming Higher Education Ecosystems

  Graduating millions of changemakers is necessary but not sufficient. The articles in this section question and re-imagine the role of higher education in society. They point out and explore the structuring structures and political environments within which higher education institutions operate and provide insight into how to leverage this knowledge to transform higher education. Young refugees from Ukraine explore what might be possible when one has the opportunity to completely re-imagine a higher education sector (Slesarenko). Leveraging the power of international rankings has led to powerful incentives and deep learning about how higher education institutions help deliver the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the ways in which elements of their ecosystems (students, faculty, governments) can encourage this change (Baty). Using Strong Structuration Theory to research societal change and institutional change provides actionable insights useful for anyone interested in changing a higher education institution and the ecosystem within which it lives (Fuessel and Irwin). Finally, a community-based participatory action research project led to the transformation of everyone involved – reminding us that research itself is transformative (Hunter and Mitchell-Ashley).

  The articles in this section include:

  • Rebuilding Universities of Past for Future Ukraine and Beyond (Slesarenko)
  • Impact Rankings: Measuring What Matters (Baty)
  • Innovations in Social Innovation Research: Towards Structuring Innovation Dynamics (Fuessel and Irwin)
  • Growing a Region of Changemakers through Community-Based Participatory Action Research: A Journey to be Shared (Hunter and Mitchell-Ashley)

  As you read the articles in this issue, I hope you will begin to appreciate your own power as a changemaker and be inspired by the examples and ideas to encourage the individuals and institutions around you to discover and embrace theirs.

  Heather MacCleoud, PhD

  Chief Network Officer, Ashoka U

   

  Meet the Authors Event - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iHGwP8-k2g

• 

  The Medical and Allied Health Institutional Journey to Becoming Socially Accountable and Policy Influence on Accreditation Systems

  Vol. 26 (2024)

  Dear Reader,

  Social Accountability – an essential concept in medical and allied health education that directs medical schools to serve their societies and communities – is a movement to support global health training institutions to adapt and improve based upon the needs of people and society.

  This movement is driven by the efforts of leaders in academic institutions who believe in their institutions’ ability to adapt and become more socially accountable, and to influence the adoption of Social Accountability Standards into their Accreditation Standards. 

  We publish this edition with the hope and expectation that these articles will provide a roadmap of useful case studies for Medical and Allied Health Schools and Faculties across the globe to become more socially accountable, and for accreditation agencies to adopt social accountability standards in their accreditation standards.

  We invite you to immerse yourself in these narratives, to reflect on the challenges and triumphs shared within these articles, and to join us in celebrating the transformative power of these leaders who are transforming their institutions, ecosystems, and countries.

  With contributions from deans of medical schools and their teams across the globe, this issue of the Social Innovations Journal showcases the proceedings of the inaugural cohort of the Social Accountability Fellowship co-hosted by The Network: Towards Unity for Health, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine University and its Dr. Gilles Arcand Centre for Health Equity, alongside the University of Limerick.

  The introductory article on “International and Critical Perspectives on Social Accountability from Medical Education to Public Policy” written by Maxwell Kennel provides an in-depth framing and context for this edition, and the contents appear below:

  Institutional Social Accountability Journey Articles

  1. “Addressing health inequities through social accountability: A compulsory pathway to universal health coverage: Case of The Faculty of Medicine Ibn El Jazzar of the University of Sousse, Tunisia”
  2. “Using the Indicators for Social Accountability Tool (ISAT) in Health Professions Education to Develop a Social Accountability Action Plan for a Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry”
  3. “Integrating School Health Curriculum in Allied Health Science Programs: A step towards Social Accountability.”
  4. “Advancing Social Accountability in Medical Education: The ISAT Self-Assessment at the Universidad de La Sabana”

  Policy Influence Articles 

  1. “Integrating Social Accountability Standards into Medical School Accreditation in India: A Policy Perspective” 
  2. “Advocating for the Dental Council of India to integrate social accountability standards into national accreditation standards for dental colleges”
  3. “Advocating for Social Accountability in Accreditation and Community Engagement at the Faculdade Pernambucana de Saúde in Recife, Brazil.”
  4. “Advocating for the Integration of Social Accountability Standards into Al Nasser University's Accreditation Process for International Recognition”
  5. “Social accountability, a primary driver for impactful health professions education and universal health coverage: A Policy Brief”

  The editors would like to acknowledge the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), which partially funded the Social Accountability Fellowship, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), which partially funded the LIASE Project that supported the fellowship. We would also like to thank the International Social Accountability and Accreditation Steering Committee (ISAASC) for their support of our efforts.

   

  Sincerely,

  Maxwell Kennel                                              Nicholas Torres

  Social Accountability Fellowship               Co-Founder/Publisher

  Coordinator                                                     Social Innovations Journal

• 

  Digital Empowerment: Transforming Community Growth, Health, Economic Development, and Conservation through Innovative Technologies

  Vol. 25 (2024)

  Dear Reader,

  The Social Innovations Journal (SIJ) set itself apart from traditional academic journals by being a journal written by and for practitioners. The journal was inspired by two Eisenhower Fellows who realized there needed to be a publication where practitioners could tell their stories and more importantly, share their social sector models for adoption and implementation in other ecosystems. To meet traditional academic standards, SIJ has adapted to become peer reviewed and is in the process to be indexed. However, SIJ will remain committed to practitioners and changemakers who promote innovative ideas, incubate social innovations, and spark a culture of innovation.

  SIJ is proud to bring you this edition titled, 'Digital Empowerment:  Transforming Community Growth, Health, Economic Development, and Conservation through Innovative Technologies.' This edition was curated by Atmashakti Trust who, in order to bring you these narratives, asked changemakers across the globe to articulate their stories. This edition provides you access to the stories of real people, real challenges, and real triumphs reflecting the resilience, creativity, and dedication of individuals and communities making meaningful impact.

  As we embark on this journey together, we are thrilled to share with you the stories and innovations that have emerged from the very heart of our communities. These narratives are not just about technological advancements or academic achievements—they are about real people.

  In curating this publication, we faced the challenge of reaching out to practitioners and grassroots organizations deeply immersed in their vital work. We understood the difficulty of asking busy individuals to step away from their endeavors to articulate their stories. Moreover, there is often a perception that academic journals are solely for scholarly pursuits, making it daunting for those not familiar with academic writing standards. However, we saw an opportunity to bridge this gap by embracing the authenticity and richness of their experiences.

  Atmashakti Trust’s expertise in the field helped navigate these complexities with empathy and insight. We worked tirelessly to encourage and support practitioners in crafting their narratives, ensuring their voices were heard and their achievements celebrated. This approach not only honours their work but also enriches our understanding of how digital tools, health interventions, socio-economic initiatives, and conservation efforts are reshaping our communities.

  Each narrative in this publication—from empowering village voices through digital platforms to leveraging technology for grassroots empowerment and sustainable development—reflects the resilience, creativity, and dedication of individuals and communities striving to make a meaningful impact. These stories illuminate the pathways to empowerment and inspire us to continue fostering innovation and collaboration.

  We invite you to immerse yourself in these narratives, to reflect on the challenges and triumphs shared within these pages, and to join us in celebrating the transformative power of grassroots initiatives. Together, let us embrace the potential of digital empowerment and forge a future where every community thrives.

   

  Ruchi Kashyap                                                                Nicholas Torres

  Executive Trustee, Atmashaki Trust                        Co-Founder/Publisher, Social Innovations Journal

   

  Meet the Authors Event - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYBMDxCHse8

   

• 

  Innovations in Cross-Sector Collaborations: An Approach to Increase Ecosystem and Place-Based Impact

  Vol. 24 (2024)

   Dear Reader,

  The Social Innovations Journal (SIJ) has been and is at the heart of collaborations and social impact for over 15 years. Since 2008, SIJ has brought nonprofits, philanthropy, government, businesses, and civic leaders together to collectively focus their expertise and resources on complex issues of importance. 

  In response to our readership and community expressing the need for greater coordination and coalition-building among organizations and across sectors, we are publishing this edition titled 'Innovations in Cross-Sector Collaborations: An Approach to Increase Ecosystem and Place-Based Impact'. This edition is complimentary to the prior editions curated by the Tamarak Institute titled Community Innovation: A Place-Based Approach to Social Innovation and Transformative Community titled Transformative Partnerships: Proceedings of Transformations.

  Strategic collaborations that convene government, philanthropy, private sector, and community result in better 'collective' problem solving to address the core challenges of a region. These spark further innovations and collaborations across sectors based upon collective problem-solving approaches, attract and leverage federal, state, and local investments, drive regional policy change, and build capacity, learning from and with each other, of all sectors through the exploration, project development, and implementation of solutions.  

  Cross Sector Collaborations need to be based on relationships between organizations, people, and those collaborating around common interests. These relationships are not static, but rather grow and develop as new members continually come to the table. A regional cross-sector network cannot be an insular effort but needs to be an ever-evolving and inclusive network that embraces many types of organizations that strive to create educational practices and community approaches, develop the evidence for what works, and partner on research and action. Cross sector collaborations need to address problems by looking for what is working and why. This accelerates the process of positive change by occupying people with doing rather than dwelling on why it can't be done.

  Cross sector collaborations need to lead by returning humanity to communities, including community voices, culture, lived experiences, empathy, and understanding. A cross-sector network needs to work towards improved partnerships and collaborations with regional and national associations and institutions that are aligned in strategies, efforts, and initiatives. The aim is to increase collaboration and inclusion of all participants in the ecosystem of the region to achieve healthy individuals and communities.

  The intent of this edition is to inspire collaboration which will result in the creation of better problem-solving strategies addressing the core challenges that a region and communities face. 

  Sincerely,

  

   

  Nicholas Torres

  Co-Founder/Publisher

• 

  Social Entrepreneurs Leveraging and Shaping Artificial Intelligence

  Vol. 23 (2024)

  Dear Reader,

  While tech executives in Silicon Valley and academics in Ivy League Schools are busy proliferating ethical AI principles and voluntary commitments to manage risks, a key voice is missing from the conversation. Flying under the radar is a growing group of social entrepreneurs leveraging AI for social impact and shaping its trajectory. With ethics at the center of their work, these practitioners constitute an early warning system for the unintended consequences of technology, as well as an innovation engine, constantly building new ways to address both age-old and emerging challenges. There is no more important time than now to pay attention to these bright spots, the lessons they are teaching us about building tech that works for humanity, and the role we can all play. Leading social innovators are vital stakeholders and potential leaders in the journey to build responsible AI (and its accompanying safeguards). 

  Ashoka and OpenNyAI teamed up for this publication to highlight not just bright spots in our global ecosystems but also the key how-tos that can help more social innovators and responsible AI practitioners move up their learning curves faster.

  Presently, the majority of the world’s social entrepreneurs have yet to adopt AI in their work. Whether it is out of concern for the potential negative impacts of these technologies or because of resource constraints, this represents an untapped opportunity on two fronts. Though AI, like any other technology, is just a tool and never a solution in and of itself, it can reveal brand-new opportunities for impact that will not be uncovered unless social entrepreneurs lead the way. In addition, and perhaps even more importantly, if social entrepreneurs remain absent from this space, they will have no chance of significantly shaping the future of AI. We urgently need an on-ramp to learn how to build with AI and simultaneously shape and inform Responsible AI.

  In this issue of the Social Innovations Journal, you will find insights on 1) how to build up your organizational readiness and start tinkering responsibly with Artificial Intelligence and 2) practical learnings distilled from use cases in a variety of fields such as justice, health, and media.

  Evidently, this is a field that is still in its infancy, but we must begin sharing with each other what works and what doesn’t so we can build what’s next. 

  Hanae Baruchel, Tech for Humanity Lead at Ashoka

  Sachin Malhan, Co-founder at Agami

  Nicholas Torres, Co-founder at Social Innovations Journal

  ________________________________________________

  Estimado lector,

  Mientras los ejecutivos tecnológicos de Silicon Valley y los académicos de las escuelas de la Ivy League se dedican a proliferar los principios éticos de la IA y los compromisos voluntarios para gestionar los riesgos, hay una voz clave que falta en la conversación. Por debajo del radar hay un grupo creciente de emprendedores sociales que aprovechan la IA para el impacto social y dan forma a su trayectoria. Con la ética en el centro de su trabajo, estos profesionales constituyen un sistema de alerta temprana para las consecuencias imprevistas de la tecnología, así como un motor de innovación, creando constantemente nuevas formas de abordar tanto los retos antiguos como los emergentes. No hay momento más importante que este para prestar atención a estos puntos brillantes, a las lecciones que nos enseñan sobre la creación de tecnología al servicio de la humanidad y al papel que todos podemos desempeñar. Los principales innovadores sociales son partes interesadas vitales y líderes potenciales en el camino hacia la creación de una IA responsable (y las salvaguardias que la acompañan). 

  Ashoka y OpenNyAI han colaborado en esta publicación para destacar no sólo los puntos brillantes de nuestros ecosistemas globales, sino también las claves que pueden ayudar a más innovadores sociales y profesionales de la IA responsable a avanzar más rápidamente en sus curvas de aprendizaje.

  En la actualidad, la mayoría de los emprendedores sociales del mundo aún no han adoptado la IA en su trabajo. Ya sea por preocupación por los posibles efectos negativos de estas tecnologías o por falta de recursos, esto representa una oportunidad sin explotar en dos frentes. Aunque la IA, como cualquier otra tecnología, es sólo una herramienta y nunca una solución en sí misma, puede revelar nuevas oportunidades de impacto que no se descubrirán a menos que los emprendedores sociales lideren el camino. Además, y quizás aún más importante, si los emprendedores sociales permanecen ausentes de este espacio, no tendrán ninguna oportunidad de dar forma de manera significativa al futuro de la IA. Necesitamos urgentemente una rampa de acceso para aprender a construir con IA y, al mismo tiempo, dar forma e informar a la IA responsable.

  En este número del Social Innovations Journal encontrará ideas sobre 1) cómo preparar a su organización y empezar a jugar de forma responsable con la Inteligencia Artificial y 2) enseñanzas prácticas extraídas de casos de uso en diversos campos como la justicia, la sanidad y los medios de comunicación.

  Evidentemente, se trata de un campo que aún está en pañales, pero debemos empezar a compartir entre nosotros lo que funciona y lo que no para poder construir lo que vendrá después. 

   

  Hanae Baruchel, Directora de Tecnología para la Humanidad en Ashoka

  Sachin Malhan, cofundador de Agami

  Nicholas Torres, cofundador de Social Innovations Journal

   

  Meet the Authors Event - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHSJksamm5Y

• 

  Transformative Partnerships: Proceedings of Transformations Conference '23

  Vol. 22 (2023)

  Dear Reader,

  This edition, titled "Transformative Partnerships: Proceedings of the Transformations Conference ‘23," serves as both a roadmap for action and an invitation to join a collective transformation journey. Curated by the Transformations Community—a worldwide consortium of action researchers and reflective practitioners dedicated to promoting sustainable and regenerative futures—this issue brings together insights from members across various sectors and disciplines. Since its establishment in 2013, the Transformations Community has been at the forefront of fostering transformative thought and action globally. The 2023 conferences, held in Sydney, Prague, Maine, and online, centered on transformative partnerships and featured over 250 sessions. These events attracted over 700 attendees from over 40 countries and included presentations from over 400 distinguished speakers. This special issue, organized around five key themes, captures a rich tapestry of people, ideas, and initiatives from a global community committed to driving transformation towards sustainable and regenerative futures.

  Theme 1: Sensemaking and States of the Field: The first article, “Sensemaking the Transformations Community’s Future,” captures ideas and insights from a day-long post-conference gathering in Prague to explore the emerging potential of the Transformations Community. It begins by presenting four principles that unite the Community: Temperance, Transdisciplinarity, Translocalism, and Transformative Learning. These principles are tied to a way forward for the Transformations Community, integrating decentralized conferences, digital resource-sharing platforms, collaborative workspaces, and strategic partnerships to amplify our collective impact. This article is followed by a review of the “State of the Transformations Community,” conducted by former conference organizers as an international hybrid session. The section continues with four "State of the Field" articles, which share ideas about the following domains of professional practice within the transformations field:

  1. "Network Leadership Development" traces the intricate dance between individual agency and collective impact, reframing leadership as a networked and collaborative process;
  2. "Systems Education" casts education as a crucible for nurturing empowered, reflective changemakers;
  3. “Financing Systemic Transformation,” reimagines traditional financial models to align with the complexities of global challenges; and
  4. "Evaluation and Assessment of Transformation" sheds light on adaptive evaluation methods crucial for deepening our understanding of transformative impacts.

  Theme 2: Transformative Partnerships: Six online sessions at the Transformations 2023 Conference are analyzed by participants from each session, each focusing on one of five topics related to the conference’s main theme of “Transformative Partnerships for a Better World”:

  1. Inner transformation and wellbeing
  2. Transformative policy and paradigms
  3. Engaging new narratives for a transformed future
  4. Transformative leadership
  5. Transformative policy, institutions, and organizations

  The lead article in this section, "Partnerships in Transformations: A Synthesis," interlaces key aspects of the session syntheses that follow, highlighting the fluidity of transformative leadership, the continual journey of transformation, and the vital role of inclusive communities.

  Theme 3: Transformative Policies and Practices: Robin Krabbe begins by considering how community basic income in Tasmania addresses social pathology and precarity. Louis Klein and Karima Kadaoui explore metamorphic transformations in social ecosystems, emphasizing the role of humanizing societies through co-reflection. Sarah Velten and her team highlight the importance of multi-level partnerships for biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes. Sunny Goddard and colleagues’ research on 'Research Pods' within complementary medicine illustrates a paradigm shift towards more holistic and resilient healthcare methodologies. Bryan Jenkins focuses on the adaptive cycle for ecosystem recovery, and Tani Khara's study on 'Voluntary Simplicity' in urban India offers insights into sustainable dietary practices, emphasizing the transformative role of individual choice. Collectively, these articles underscore how integrated strategies can promote transformations.

  Theme 4: Co-producing Transformative Knowledge: Samuel Wearne begins this section by challenging the academic status quo and advocating for knowledge systems that are more plural, contextual, and inclusive. This theme of challenging existing paradigms is echoed in Soli Middleby's work, which critically examines power imbalances in development practices, advocating for a shift towards more equitable and transformative approaches. The concept of relational transdisciplinarity, proposed by Farina L. Tolksdorf and colleagues, further underscores the necessity of collaborative, reciprocal learning processes in sustainability research. Similarly, Lily van Eeden and colleagues utilize a participatory future visioning approach and the Appreciative Inquiry methodology, emphasizing the development of reciprocal relationships with nature to co-produce transformative knowledge for enhancing nature conservation policies and practices. Additionally, Luea Ritter and the team's insights from the World Ethic Forum highlight the importance of inclusive and transformative learning processes rooted in an ecocentric worldview. These papers provide a mosaic of transformative ideas and strategies centered on learning and knowledge practices.

  Theme 5: Transdisciplinary Collaborative Design: Justus Wachs and Luea Ritter begin this section by delving into immersive practices for understanding and embodying systemic dynamics, highlighting the creation of spaces for deep relational engagement. Felix Beyers and colleagues discuss the intricacies of shaping transdisciplinary spaces, focusing on the reflective processes essential for navigating complex stakeholder relationships. Roxanne Henwood and colleagues examine the creation of equitable and collaborative spaces in the context of indigenous and colonizing histories. Sydney Hay and colleagues offer insights into the design of participatory labs for bioregional stewardship. Lastly, Rita Golstein-Galperin and colleagues assess the evolving landscape of academic institutions as spaces for transformative innovation. Together, these sessions underscore the significance of carefully designed collaborative spaces and processes in driving systems change.

  We hope you enjoy this special issue, which highlights the creativity and vigor of the Transformations Community. We invite you to check out our previous special issues (here and here), subscribe to our newsletter, and join us as we develop new leadership practices, institutional arrangements, and participatory techniques to bring desirable transformations to life.

  Thanks to Community Weavers Nick Graham, Thomas Haselbock, Monta Martinsone, and Chukwuma Paul, who made the conferences possible, our Associate Editors, and Shane Casey, a graduate student in the Masters of the Environment Program at the University of Colorado Boulder, who coordinated production of this special issue.

  Sincerely,

  Bruce Evan Goldstein, Guest Editor and Curator, University of Colorado Boulder

  Nicholas Torres, Co-Founder and Publisher, Social Innovations Journal

   

  Acknowledgments: A special thanks to the Associate Editors of this edition who managed the process of providing each submission to the special issue with two peer reviews:

  Felix Beyers - Research Institute for Sustainability

  Anja Bless - University of Technology Sydney

  Andrew Gaines - Inspiring Transition

  Rita Golstein - Israel Democracy Institute

  Flavia Guerra - United Nations University

  Adam Hejnowicz - Newcastle University

  Johan Holmén - Chalmers

  Anne Leitch - Griffith University

  Gilles Marciniak - Future Earth

  Robson Mukwambo - Rhodes University

  Claudia Munera - Environmental Futures at CSIRO

  Constance Perrin-Joly - IFSRA, Institute for Social Research in Africa

  Glory Dee Romo - University of the Philippines

   

  Meet the Authors Event - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS9KjXWTaa8

• 

  Health Equity: Institutions and Local Ecosystems Responding to People and Society Needs

  Vol. 21 (2023)

  Dear Reader,

  We believe that quality equitable health is a human right.  We are committed to promoting and implementing Health Equity and understand that to achieve this requires significant change at all levels. We are cognizant of the fact that to achieve Health Equity, we must involve new ways of thinking with governments, institutions, professions, and civil society.

  The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation defines Health Equity where "everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty, discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments, and health care."  Achieving health equity requires effective solutions by investing in systems that are designed to improve social and economic conditions, including housing, transportation, education, income and employment assistance, child and family supports, and legal and criminal justice services, and integrating these investments into often disconnected medical and public health programs tasked with improving health. 

  Our challenge is figuring out “HOW” to shift the aspiration of Health Equity to local action and impact. This edition focuses on three strategies embedded in an anchor strategy. An anchor strategy, first articulated by the Aspen Institute, is a place-based business approach to building community health and wealth by means of local hiring, investing, purchasing, and community engagement. The strategies are:

  1. Knowledge sharing, learning, and community-based education that serves to motivate individuals to learn and take action. Action is best accomplished by increasing opportunities in which to learn relevant knowledge from diverse colleagues.
  2. Embracing the assets, successes, initiatives, and evidence about what works within a local ecosystem.
  3. Supporting Local Change Networks by building upon their capacity through sharing systems and policy change successes and embracing a side-to-side functional model where teaching and learning happen across networks, learning from and with each other.

  The articles for this edition, a partnership with The Network: Towards Unity for Health and The Alliance for Health Equity, explore many examples of the impact of place-based approaches to achieving Health Equity.  The Network: Towards Unity for Health has curated articles focused on the Social Accountability movement in which institutions shift their practices to be responsive to people and society’s needs. The Alliance for Health Equity has curated articles focused on embedding community voice and community-designed solutions and justice and equity into place-based strategies. 

  Sincerely,

  

  Nicholas Torres, Co-Founder and Publisher

  Acknowledgements: The art produced for this edition is by emerging artist Ema Navas

   

  Meet the Authors Event - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FCeuj3vBJA

• 

  Population Health Equity for People with Intellectual Disability, Autism, and Mental Health Challenges and Other Special Populations

  Vol. 20 (2023)

  Dear Reader,  

  For this September 2023 issue, our partner organization, Woods System of Care, has joined us to curate and launch “Population Health Equity for People with Intellectual Disability, Autism, Mental Health Challenges and Other Special Populations.” 
   

  Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible while acknowledging that not everyone is the same or requires the same services. Health equity crosses over many sectors, not only disability but also child welfare, criminal and juvenile justice, and aging.

  Why is it important to focus on health equity for those with intellectual disabilities, autism, or mental health challenges, and other special populations? Disparities in access to healthcare and health outcomes are significant for those with any disability, especially for the 35% of people with intellectual disability or autism who also have a mental health diagnosis. In the U.S., 1 in 5 people has a mental health diagnosis—that equates to over 43 million people. The need is incredibly great. There are more than 7 million people with an intellectual disability diagnosis in the U.S., and 1 in 36 children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Exacerbating the issue, people who belong to minority groups tend to be diagnosed later and less often. This leads to their missing out on early intervention, which can make an enormous difference in supporting healthy development. Mental health challenges alone—considering that 60% of adults with a mental illness do not receive treatment—have a tremendous impact on a person’s overall health and well-being, which are compounded by other disabilities.

  The articles in this issue speak to three broad themes—access to healthcare, inclusion, and promising practices. Just a few of the topics authors address include fostering health equity for Latinx populations with cultural awareness; a 10-step plan for pursuing equity for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and autism and systems change; creating affordable housing for community members with disabilities; a statewide program funding pioneering inclusive, healthy community initiatives for those with disabilities; and using data and technology to enable health equity.

  We hope that all stakeholders in this space—individuals receiving services, families, providers, policymakers, and government agencies—will be able to take valuable information from this issue.
   
  Tine Hansen-Turton, Woods Services, Guest Edition Curator and Editor 
  Nicholas Torres, Co-Founder, Social Innovations Journal

• 

  Learning from Ecosystems: Gaining Insights Into Equitable and Inclusive Societies

  Vol. 19 (2023)

  Dear Reader, 

  We strive to live in an equitable society, defined as recognizing that we do not all start from the same place and must acknowledge and make adjustments to imbalances.  This edition, 'Learning from Ecosystems: Gaining Insights Into Equitable and Inclusive Societies,' provides insights into ecosystems across the globe and outlines key questions.

  The article, 'Building More Just and Equitable Societies Through a Social Innovation Strategy,' identifies social innovation ecosystem principles with the purpose of highlighting legitimate contributors and outlining expected societal impact and improvement returns if the principles are adopted. 

  Our inspiration for this edition comes from 15 years of publishing the Social Innovations Journal that now has a repository of over 1,250 articles; hosting social innovations awards in Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, New Jersey, Bogota (Colombia); and hosting social innovation incubator labs for 10+ years. Our Social Innovations work inspires 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 edition, curated by the SIJ team and Michael Wong, provides a look into many ecosystems across the United States and internationally in Africa, the United Kingdom, and Chile. We hope this edition provides you, the reader, with insights into how we might collectively achieve a more just society.

  We hope you enjoy reading the articles in this edition and are inspired to lead and drive change within your own ecosystem.

  Sincerely,

  SIJ Team and Michael Wong

   

• Capturing Social Innovation Models by Marginalized Communities from Collective Grassroots Action to Building a Pathway of Systemic Social Change

  Vol. 18 (2023)

  Dear Reader,

  We are delighted to share with you the latest edition of our journal, which is dedicated to exploring the power of collective action in advancing social innovation models for sustainable community development.

  As you may know, many organizations and collectives are increasingly recognizing the critical role that collective action plays in bringing about inclusive and equitable social change. Atmashakti, a rights-based catalyst organization that coalesces empowerment of Tribal and Dalit communities with a consistent focus on collectivizing the community in Odisha, is a prime example of this approach. Through its work, Atmashakti has shown that no organization or individual can achieve significant social change alone and that a collective approach is pivotal to building a thriving social system that benefits all.

  This journal edition highlights the practices, perspectives, and attestations that identify and capture social innovation models, such as the collective actions of the historically marginalized across the country. We aim to showcase how these models empower participants to claim their rights over resources like forests, water, and the environment and to ensure their constitutional, civil, and economic rights. By bringing together all of these elements for broader dissemination and recognition, these models aim at systemic changes that benefit the entire community.

  We hope that the stories and insights shared in this journal edition will inspire and inform your work in social innovation and community development. We can build a more just and equitable world through collective action and a people-centric approach.

  Thank you for your continued support and readership.

  Sincerely,

  Ruchi Kashyap, Atmashakti Trust 

  Nicholas Torres, Social Innovations Journal

• 

  Community Innovation: A Place-Based Approach to Social Innovation

  Vol. 17 (2023)

  Dear Reader,
  We believe that communities drive transformational change. The Tamarack Institute is a Canadian charity with a history of advancing social innovation within communities. We were established 20+ years ago with two big goals. The first was to establish a learning centre that would provide research and document real stories, exemplary practice, and effective applications for community change. The second was to apply what we learned to end poverty.

  These past 20+ years have shown that community change happens when individuals and networks have
  the skills, knowledge, and intention to work collectively around a community goal and focus on impact.
  This edition, curated by Tamarack, focuses on the evolving understanding and experience of social
  innovation and the chance to profile inspiring examples of the ingenuity of communities. It is focused on
  community innovation – defined as a dimension of social innovation that is anchored in communities.
  We believe that the practice of social and community innovation is essential in order to meaningfully
  impact the complex and interconnected issues confronting individuals, communities, and systems
  throughout the world today.

  COMMUNITY INNOVATION | THE APPLICATION OF SOCIAL INNOVATION IN PLACE
  It has been said that ingenuity in the face of adversity is something that humans have been doing since
  the beginning of time, reminding us that the notion of social innovation in communities is not new. As
  dynamic living ecosystems, communities are ideal environments for experimentation and social
  innovation.

  
  At Tamarack, we recognize community innovation as one of five essential skillsets - along with
  multisector collaboration, community engagement, collective leadership and evaluating impact –
  needed to effectively mobilize and successfully achieve community and systems-level change. Our
  approach is based on our understanding that these intertwined challenges can ONLY be resolved with
  social innovation, which challenges us to think differently about HOW we think about these issues and, in
  discovering, prototyping, and spreading novel solutions to address these challenging social issues.
  Distinguishing community innovation within the broader practice of Social Innovation explicitly
  acknowledges the importance of place and the reality that each community has unique characteristics,
  strengths and challenges that must be considered in the development and implementation of
  innovation.

  WHY PLACE BASED COMMUNITY SCALE?
   It is easier to rebuild and strengthen connections, trust, and relationships between diverse
  people who live in the same geographic area.

   Community-wide efforts offer immediate and meaningful opportunities for leadership by
  persons with lived experience and inclusive approaches.

   There is a greater chance of addressing integrated economic social and environmental issues in
  practical ways at the scale of community.

   People are typically more willing to commit to long term efforts to make change when it is
  “their” community.

   Place-based efforts allow for greater flexibility, innovation and responses that fit the unique
  nature of distinct communities.

  SOCIAL AND COMMUNITY INNOVATION PRINCIPLES
  1. Community Connections: Strengthen connections and collaborations between diverse people,
  organizations, and sectors to grow and align our capacity to make a difference.
  2. Place Matters: Focus efforts on places where people live.
  3. Hope and Optimism: Focus on the possible and our collective potential for making positive
  change.
  4. Equity and Inclusion: Engage and elevate the voice of those most impacted by issues who have
  the greatest insight into possible solutions.
  5. Courage and Learning: Ask difficult questions about the systems and structures which hold
  people and communities back and engage in peer-to-peer learning to build our capacity.
  6. Action and Impact: Emphasize action and focus on impact.

  The articles curated for this edition of the journal explore many examples of the impact of place-based
  approaches to social innovation focusing on four considerations:

  1. Tamarack's role in advancing social innovation from a community or place-based lens
  (community innovation)
  2. How each article is advancing the approach of communities as learning labs
  3. How each presented “solution” is distinct from what similar organizations offer and why the
  model is successful
  4. Case studies and examples to illustrate the "solution"

  Our conversations do not exist in a bubble and are important parts of larger, intersecting global
  conversations and discourses. We welcome readers into these conversations and hope that the articles
  in this issue provide insight, share knowledge, and enhance conditions for deeper collaboration among
  communities across the globe.

  Sincerely,
  Sonja Miokovic, Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement, Consulting Director, Community
  Innovation

  Nicholas Torres, Co-Founder Social Innovations Journal

   

  Meet the Authors Event - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4rfs329lFw

• 

  Identifying and Addressing Cultural, Geopolitical, Structural, and Educational Barriers to Social Innovation

  Vol. 16 No. 1 (2023)

  Dear Reader,

  Much of current social innovation and changemaking practice occurs within and reflects asymmetries of power, privilege, and knowledge paradigms along cultural, social, and geopolitical lines. This issue explores cultural and geopolitical trends underpinning social innovation, implications for practice, and how changemaking paradigms can make space for knowledge systems within histories of colonization, imperial dominance, oppression, protracted conflict, and the environmental crisis. As the authors in this edition note, for social innovation and changemaking efforts to be successful, we must consider these various knowledge systems and address asymmetrical power structures.

  While identifying these barriers, we must also create solutions and methods to overcome these barriers. The articles within this issue highlight research and practices around the world that are working to identify and overcome many of the barriers to social innovation found in asymmetrical power dynamics.

  Education, as a key pillar of society, may provide solutions or exacerbate issues depending on how social innovation or changemaking is integrated (or not) into curriculum, leadership, institutional structures, and research agendas. The majority of the articles in this issue address this in some way. All of the articles in this issue were developed in response to Ashoka U’s Third Annual Changemaker Education Research Forum (CERF) held in September 2022. The Forum brought together practitioners and scholars from around the world interested in different aspects of social innovation and changemaking. The Forum was designed to broaden the knowledge base of social innovation and changemaking. In a world where the only constant is change, the Forum and now this special issue of the Social Innovations Journal (SIJ) have focused on creating the conditions for deeper collaboration and knowledge-sharing amongst the changemaker network and beyond, tapping into insights from scholars, practitioners, higher education staff, and students with different perspectives.

  CERF 2022 focused on two themes: Cultural, Geopolitical, and Structural Barriers to Social Innovation and the Impact of Changemaker (Social Innovation) Education. A summary of each theme is presented within this special issue of SIJ. Integrated across both themes were issues pertaining to the intersection of education and asymmetrical power structures. This special issue is organized around these four interconnected areas of inquiry:

  · International Development

  · Local vs. Global

  · Responsible Knowledge Creation and Management

  · Changemaking in, through, and for Higher Education.

  Part one of this edition focuses on international development by looking at specific social issues in Nigeria and Colombia. Part two explores the tensions between 'local' and 'global' approaches and the implications for funding. Part three lays out the various responsibilities of education stakeholders and the importance of careful stewardship of knowledge. Part four is focused on how people have been taking action in, through, and for education to address barriers and find innovative solutions to complex social problems. The research, projects, programs, and case studies shared here highlight issues around asymmetrical power structures and implications for education and provide possible solutions to some of these barriers.

  These conversations do not exist in a bubble and are important parts of larger, intersecting global conversations and discourses. We welcome readers into these conversations and hope that the articles in this issue provide insight, share knowledge, and enhance conditions for deeper collaboration among changemakers in all sectors.

   

  Sincerely,

  Heather MacCleoud, Ph.D., Chief Network Officer, Ashoka U, Ashoka

  Nicholas Torres, Co-Founder

  Please note with thanks that Ashoka U curated this edition of the Social Innovations Journal

   

  Meet the Authors Event - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnYulfGU5K0

• 

  Sustainability Transformations in Practice

  Vol. 15 (2022)

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome to the Transformations Community’s (TC) second annual special issue, Sustainability Transformations in Practice.

  This issue highlights the people, ideas, and initiatives undertaken by TC members that form a global community of action-oriented researchers and reflective practitioners supporting transformations to a sustainable and regenerative future. Our community began in Norway in 2013 with the first Transformations conference, and we have met since then in Sweden, Scotland, Chile, and online during the 2021 pandemic when we released our first special issue. This issue appears in preparation for our sixth international conference in Australia and online in July 2023.

  This special issue has four sections. The first section results from a year-long project to understand the transformation community. Over 150 Sustainability graduate students interviewed 56 members of the Transformations Community, asking them:

  • How do you pursue transformations in practice, and what skills and capacities do you use?
  • What does the word ‘transformations’ mean to you?
  • How did you become a transformations practitioner?
  • What are your challenges to being an effective transformations practitioner?

  A research team led by TC members David Manuel Navarrete, Raksha Balakrishna, and Bruce Goldstein analyzed transcripts from these interviews to produce the four articles in this special issue. Key findings include:

  • Transformations practice is rooted in three core transdisciplinary capacities: participatory
    diagnosis, expertise in knowledge co-production, and collective action. Moreover, members of our community are 'metadisciplinary', often seeking to advance the transdisciplinary field by developing innovative techniques and integrative leadership practices, creative systems pedagogies, and by reflexive theorizing on their practice.
  • For practitioners, transformations are a complex, multi-level and multi-phase process that often involves morally grounded commitments to redressing historical injustice. Transformations practice also is often grounded in personal change, which requires re-examining assumptions and core beliefs through disruptive learning experiences.
  • As this suggests, becoming a transformations practitioner is often the result of epiphanies and crises that result in abandoning conventional frames and beliefs and turning away from a conventional career path. A practitioner’s meaningful interactions with non-Western cultures often triggered these crises, causing practitioners to “let go” and “unlearn” what counts as valid and useful knowledge and how learning occurs.
  • The challenges to being an effective transformations practitioner occur at distinct levels –
    personal, professional, and systemic – throughout their transformations journey. Rigidity is a common feature of systems undergoing change and is found within institutions where transformations work occurs, expressed through obstacles such as insufficient financial resources, barriers to collaborative work, and the low priority accorded to action-oriented research.

  The next section of this issue highlights three exciting projects the TC has been conducting. The first, by TC staffer Oisin Gill and colleagues, is a deep dive into our Systems Change Education Catalog, which we developed as a resource for students, researchers, and practitioners. The analysis identified three distinguishing characteristics of systems change education programs: audience, pedagogies, and competencies. The second article, by TC staffer Michelle Benedum and colleagues, shares insights from a dialogue session organized by the TC on the ‘Pathways’ Transformative Knowledge Network (TKN), held at the 2022 Sustainability Research and Innovation Congress, a TC partner organization. The last article, by Niko Schäpke and Richard Beecroft, provides guidance on how to monitor and evaluate of highly participatory experimental spaces for transformation, known as “real-world labs”, “living labs” or “transformation labs”. These projects are examples of how the TC supports the spread of innovative techniques, integrative leadership practices, and resources for systems education.

  The third section of this issue contains three case studies of efforts to apply the three transdisciplinary capacities of participatory diagnosis, expertise in knowledge co-production, and collective action. The first, by Glenn Page and colleagues, explores how to integrate Indigenous wisdom and western science, confront issues of colonization, and enable collective “seeing” of complex systems through bioregional learning journeys in Casco Bay, Gulf of Maine, USA. The second, by Lee Frankel Goldwater and Abbey Kingdon-Smith, shares lessons for network leadership and practice from a five-year study of the Savory Global Network, a multi-scalar learning network that promotes transformations to regenerative ranching. The last case, by Mary Ann Boyer and Harrison Lundy, is a close look at Philadelphia’s People Advancing Reintegration (PAR) Recycle Works, which pursues social justice and environmental responsibility by coordinating over 200 organizations to collect e-waste, provides transitional employment to people returning from prison, and offers education in digital and financial literacy, conflict management, and mental health strategies.

  Our last section contains two excerpts from two influential books that contain core insights for transformations practitioners. A chapter from Peter Plastrik and colleagues’ second book on social innovations networks explores four distinct network leadership roles: Innovation Broker, Network Weaver, Trusted Strategist, and Storyteller. In a chapter from her book on quantum systems change, TC’s founder Karen O’Brien explores how our intentions, assumptions, and values influence our agency and capacity to engage with systems change. O’Brien focuses attention on our continuous “intra- actions” within one entangled system and underscores the importance of actions based on values that apply to the whole, such as equity, dignity, and compassion.

  We hope you enjoy this special issue highlighting the creativity and vigor of transformations practice. We invite you to join the TC as we develop new leadership practices, institutional arrangements, and participatory techniques to bring desirable transformations to life. Special thanks to the organizing genius of Nick Graham, the Transformations Community network weaver, our amazing intern Chukwuma Paul, and Shane Casey, a graduate student in the Masters of the Environment Program at the University of Colorado Boulder, who coordinated the production of this issue.

  Sincerely,

  
  Bruce Evan Goldstein, University of Colorado Boulder

  Nicholas Torres, Social Innovations Journal

   

  Meet the Authors Event - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2_TXxhVWR8

• 

  Working Title: Institutional Strategies to improve Impact on People's Health: Health Workforce Education and Train in Context and Community Engagement

  Vol. 14 (2022)

  Dear Reader,

  Living with Global Health Equity requires that everyone holds a fair and just opportunity to live healthily.  To live healthily, we first need to address obstacles to access, such as poverty, poor quality education, housing stability, safe environments, technology, and transportation. Furthermore, we must integrate them into medical and public health programs and regions that are often isolated from growth and innovation. Additionally, we also need to grow the availability of integrated healthcare teams where medical professionals from different fields collaborate with those community workers who have lesser healthcare training but still perform essential tasks and activities.   

  To achieve global Health Equity, we need:

  1) Our higher education institutions to be driven by socially responsible standards. These will help them prepare a workforce that responds effectively to society's and people’s needs. Social accountability and responsibility become an emerging contemporary issue in medical and health professionals' education.

  2) To learn with and from each across countries and institutions. Meeting current and future health needs of society and people requires that healthcare workers have the skills that cover all sectors including social, environmental, and technical content in addition to stronger interpersonal and leadership skills. A disciplined approach to continuous improvement will help drive change.

  We can measure our progress toward global Health Equity by putting systems in place to measure our impact on society. We need to measure and track our impact on policies, practice, and performance of the health system in the communities we serve. Studying accurate impact ensures that we are addressing society's evolving needs regardless of the political and economical state in the region. This also helps healthcare professionals prepare for situations such as a pandemic, one which brings with it an increased risk to certain minorities, including violence, disparity, racism, and more. Assessing the effect of our work on health systems and society is clearly challenging as it is often influenced by a multitude of complexly interlinked and dynamic factors, many of which are not within the control of our respective institutions.

  This edition, written by “pracademics”, focuses on research that has worked toward the reduction of healthcare inequities and improvement of the impact on people’s health. Parts of it shed a spotlight on intimate partner violence statistics during the COVID-19 pandemic, innovation in authentic learning through the use of moulages, and the impact of social responsiveness on empathy, community, and healthy partnership. 

  Sincerely,

   

  Nicholas Torres and Aricia De Kempeneer

  Executive Director and Programming Director

• 

  Disrupting a Broken System: What the Future Could Look Like for People with Complex Needs

  Vol. 13 (2022)

  Dear Reader,  

  We are pleased to announce that Woods Services, our partner organization, has joined us to curate and launch our May 2022 edition, “Disrupting a Broken System: What the Future Could Look Like for People with Complex Needs”. 

  People with complex medical and behavioral healthcare-needs face challenges in accessing services that are integrated and coordinated. Integration of services and systems needs to be improved in order to meet the unique needs of individuals with intellectual disability and mental health issues. 

  We find solutions first by asking questions. Challenging ourselves with hard quesitons opens our minds to identifying barriers, but more importantly, helps start the journey to finding solutions and innovations. The five essential questions we asked ourselves for this edition include:

  1) How can we learn from the past and improve on best practices? 

  2) What could the future look like if we had model programs and best practices for integrated care that were fully-funded, or if we could widely replicate those models? 

  3) What could the future look like if we brought together payment systems, workforce systems, global human services, child welfare, and criminal justice systems with the services and systems that support individuals all along a continuum and across these aforementioned silos?

  4) What happens when we abruptly close an institution or discontinue funding a particular service model with no viable replacement at hand? 

  5) What if we knew more about the stories of those who have experienced both the benefits of model programs and the tragic consequences of systemic failure, to better inform the work that we do in the health and human services sector? 

  The articles in this edition are grouped under four sub-themes:

  1) Complex Medical and Behavioral Needs Models and Impact of COVID

  2) Global Human Services and Child Welfare Challenges

  3) Education Models 

  4) Workforce Challenges and Innovations 

  This edition of the Social Innovations Journal responds to the questions posed above, highlighting themes, trends and innovative approaches to improving systems and services in the broad mental health, human services, and intellectual disability sectors which affect all stakeholders – individuals receiving services, families, providers, policy-makers and government agencies. We invite you to explore a range of articles, case studies, policy recommendations, innovative approaches and solutions, and testimonials by families who have experienced the best and worst of the systems and policies in place now.  

  Sincerely,

  Tine Hansen-Turton, Woods Services, Guest Edition Curator and Editor 

  Nicholas Torres, Co-Founder, Social Innovations Journal 

• 

  Innovative and Entrepreneurial Nonprofits and Service Models

  Vol. 12 (2022)

  Dear Reader,

  Imagine a world where social responsibility standards, transparency, and accountability were the norm. Imagine, if the places we lived in responded to the needs of residents, and the values of equity and justice drove our policies and systems.  

  The success of the social sector depends on us embracing both tried-and-true traditional practices while simultaneously stepping out of the box to grow new ideas into innovative practices. To achieve a more just society, we need to shift our recognition processes and structures from traditional small societal circles to the public to nominate, acknowledge, and promote organic changemaker leadership who stands to re-envision social sector solutions. These community changemakers serve as catalysts to reshape communities through their innovative ideas, programs, and policies with the potential to disrupt the political landscape and revolutionize our realities; bringing us forward to a more equitable and inclusive tomorrow, today.  

  Through a public process to nominate, recognize, and promote our most passionate social innovators, entrepreneurs, and changemakers, whose work and social impact too often goes unacknowledged, we start the process of shifting our strategies and investments into the efforts that encourage regions of innovation to thrive and create equitable opportunities for all people.

  The primary challenge regions face is the process of finding those social innovators, entrepreneurs, and changemakers because they are too busy promoting their work. The simple solution to the challenge is to open up the nomination, recognition, and promotion process to the public. The Social Innovations Journal has tested and piloted this idea since 2013, resulting in the discovery of 60-75% ecosystem changemakers who were previously unknown to a region’s social sector investors. These previously unrecognized changemakers have introduced innovative solutions with a concrete impact on a region’s people. The process has also resulted in the identification of the primary social sector categories to drive change and inspire vibrant ecosystems. The public nominations, recognition, and promotion of key social sector categories are Innovations in Social Sector Investing, Innovations in Equity and Justice (i.e., community innovations, innovative partnerships, workforce innovations leading to earning a living wage and economic freedom, and education entrepreneurship), and Innovations in Integrated Healthcare Systems with the Social Determinants of Health (i.e., behavioral health, housing, healthy food access).

  This issue titled Innovative and Entrepreneurial Nonprofits and Service Models highlights samples of our most passionate social innovators, entrepreneurs, and changemakers. The articles within the edition paint a picture of how a city’s ecosystem can be transformed simply by putting processes in place to find, recognize, and celebrate an ecosystem’s most passionate social innovators, entrepreneurs, and changemakers. By putting the decision in the public’s power through nominations and voting, we amplify the voice of the community, educating government, philanthropic investors, and private social impact investors who are spending more time creating social impact and less time trying to meet the perceived interests of funders.

  We hope that this edition serves as a catalyst for cities across the globe to adopt a public nomination, recognition, and promotion process that incentivizes and embraces innovating from the bottom-up by embracing and adopting community solutions. This edition was inspired by a joint effort with NOTLEY and PHILANTHROPITCH, organizations that share a vision to expand the bottom-up model as a new approach to solve our ecosystem's continual challenges of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Their work impacts education, the workforce, economic development, and the social determinants of health. 

  Notley’s strategy is to team up with a diverse range of passionate people and partners within a city’s ecosystem to combat issues across multiple cause areas with the most effective model possible. Notley’s for-profit/nonprofit approach helps them identify solutions quicker and make the most impact possible. They are on a mission to redefine how these sectors intersect and collaborate with the communities they serve to transform with new models never before thought possible. Philanthropitch was founded as a way to support innovative & entrepreneurial nonprofits and operates in four cities annually: Austin, San Antonio, Columbus, and Philadelphia. 

  The Social Innovations Journal’s strategy is to host a publicly nominated and voted ecosystem awards process and ceremony that identifies an ecosystem’s most passionate social innovators, entrepreneurs, and changemakers whose work and the social impact often go unacknowledged. This is typically the case while their efforts are what makes their communities the thriving regions of innovation and opportunity they are. The strategy promotes a culture of bold thinking and problem-solving, increasing awareness and building a culture for social innovation, and increasing Social Impact investments by Social Sector Funders and Investors to an ecosystems changemakers.

  We would like to congratulate all the authors who wrote for this edition, who are not only making a tremendous impact on their communities but are putting in the extra time to share their impact and models with other social innovators, entrepreneurs, and changemakers across the globe.  

   

  Sincerely,

  Nicholas Torres              Georgia Thompson                       Katie Hall            

  Co-Founder/CEO             Chief Programs Officer                Executive Director

  SIJ                                       Notley                                             Philanthropitch

   

                                         

   

   

      

   

   

• 

  Global Trends in Social Entrepreneurship: Developments in a COVID-19 World

  Vol. 11 (2022)

  Dear Reader,

  In achieving the Social Innovations mission we again have partnered with Ashoka to bring you the latest trends in social entrepreneurship globally.  The Social Innovations Journal is dedicated to social innovators and entrepreneurs who work at the cross-section between the private sector, government, and not-for-profits and aligns them toward collective social impact and public policy goals. 

  In 2018 Ashoka partnered with the Social Innovations Journal to curate a whole issue on the latest trends in the field of Social Entrepreneurship. The issue, titled "From Social Entrepreneurship to Everyone a Changemaker – 40 Years of Social Innovation”, was based on evidence which had emerged from a study open to all Ashoka Fellows, comprised of quantitative and qualitative data.

  Three years later, a pandemic has brought the whole world, perhaps for the first time in history, to experience the same social problem practically at the same time. The severity, scale and simultaneity of the challenge was unprecedented, and it shook the field of social entrepreneurship, much like every other field.

  "Everyone a Changemaker”, the belief that empathy and changemaking are the building blocks for a society where solutions outrun problems, has had a global stress-test. Some social entrepreneurs saw their sources of income collapsed, some others an unparalleled opportunity to grow their impact. The use of technology leapt almost overnight. Its potential to aide human development became clearer, as well as the difference in access to technology became more visible and acute. The potential threat to privacy and democracy also emerged stronger.

  In response, Ashoka, the largest network in the world of social entrepreneurs and changemakers, decided to run another study among its Fellows, to take stock of what is happening in the field considering these pressing developments.  In April 2021, Ashoka launched its Ashoka Fellows Study, comprised of a survey that went out to all fellows and was completed by over 800 social entrepreneurs, from 80 different countries. The study was run in partnership with Tiresia, the Business School of the Polytechnic of Milan, Italy. In May and June 2021, in-depth interviews were carried out with 32 randomly selected social entrepreneurs representing different geographies, fields of work, genders and years of activity. 

  This edition of the Social Innovations Journal titled: "Global Trends in Social Entrepreneurship: Developments in a COVID-19 World"  presents the results and insights based on the study. Insights include implications relevant to business sector, tech, young people, women, DEI as well as social entrepreneurs and those who support them. We encourage you to read all the articles in the journal as outlined below.

  We would like to thank all those who made the 2021Ashoka Impact Study, and this follow-up journal volume, possible: Diana Wells and Alexandra Ioan for your leadership; Faith Rotich, Alyssa Matteucci, Somerset Gall and Meghana Parik for your support; Veronica Chiodo, Mario Calderini and their team at the Polytechnic of Milan for their valuable partnership. A special thank you to the fellows for participating in this study with generosity and honesty. Your inspirational leadership guides us at Ashoka, as well as many others around the world.

  Sincerely,

  Alessandro Valera, Edition Curator and Global Impact & Evidence Team - Europe, Ashoka Italy Founder

  Nicholas Torres, Co-Founder, Social Innovations Journal