BCSSW Dean Gautam Yadama with (left to right), Nowlin, ICW鈥檚 Jermaine and Averick, Feinman, Durkin, Dearing, and Berzin.
Four Boston area influencers headlined BCSSW鈥檚 Third Annual Social Innovation Symposium last Friday, weaving together a tapestry of diverse, actionable concepts around the theme of innovative solutions in changemaking.
The event was emceed by Surdna Foundation board member聽Kelly Nowlin, and included the perspectives of United Way CEO聽Mike Durkin聽on collaborative financing, InnerCity Weightlifting CEO聽Jon Feinman聽on social enterprise, and the co-founder of the City of Boston鈥檚 Office of New Mechanics聽Nigel Jacob, who spoke on changemaking with government.
Durkin kicked off the event by introducing聽a novel 鈥減ay for success model鈥澛爐o reduce homelessness in Massachusetts, a project convened by his organization and implemented by the聽Massachusetts Alliance for Supportive Housing聽(MASH). The goal of the initiative is to provide 500 units of permanent and supportive housing for up to 800 people over the course of six years, a number that represents half the population of the chronically homeless in the Commonwealth. Early returns are promising, he explained, as more than 250 homeless have already been resettled, and 85 percent of those resettled after the first year remain so.
Feinman followed Durkin with a short introduction on聽Inner City Weightlifting, an organization whose stated mission is to reduce youth violence 鈥渂y connecting proven-risk young people with new networks and opportunities,鈥� using the gym to 鈥渞eplace segregation and isolation with economic mobility and social inclusion.鈥�
From the beginning, said Feinman, ICW leadership knew that, 鈥渋n order for this organization to work, it wasn鈥檛 about solving problems from my perspective. Instead it was about listening and gaining someone else鈥檚 perspective and being by their side to help them to solve those problems.鈥� Staying true to ICW鈥檚 ethos, Feinman spoke briefly, in order that the symposium audience could learn from two of the trainers who are currently at InnerCity Weightlifting, Jermaine and Averick. They told their personal stories of finding new opportunity following stints in prison, and how ICW helped them to become leaders in the community.
Jacob concluded the program with thoughts on how to 鈥渕ake a smart city smart鈥� through engaging and innovative initiatives that forge partnerships between tech and local government. To begin with, 鈥測ou focus on people鈥檚 lives,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚n some ways, that may be obvious maybe to an audience like this鈥� But for the people I鈥檝e worked with, and spent most of my life with, in terms of work experience, this is a new idea鈥� Focusing on the needs of people [in terms of innovating advances in the tech sector] is in many ways a new idea.鈥�
Jacob also underlined the importance of 鈥渢he how鈥� being just as important as 鈥渢he what鈥� when building new initiatives, especially vis-脿-vis community engagement, and the fact that technology, when properly implemented, can effect compassionate change and help to generate stronger relationships across sectors. (For more on the work being done by Jacob鈥檚 office,聽).
The symposium was sponsored and organized by BCSSW鈥檚聽Center for Social Innovation, students in the School of Social work and its Macro Student Group, and the Center鈥檚 co-directors, professors聽Stephanie Berzin聽and聽Tiziana Dearing. The Center provides students and the community with opportunities and resources in innovation training, support, and research, and its impact reaches across Boston, and across the world, in places as geographically distant as聽Santiago, Chile.