GSIPM

Members of the MIIS community are invited to join Profs. Yuwei Shi and Sandra Dow in spending time with and learning from an exceptional group of social innovators who will be on campus on Friday, November 4^th for the J.M.K Innovation Prize. The founders of the following award-winning nonprofits/social enterprises will be in attendance:

• Advancing Real Change, Inc.: Using state-of-the-art investigative tools and methods, legal defense teams can highlight an offender’s life history, reducing severe sentences and reshaping a retributive criminal justice system.
• Bay2Tray / Real Good Fish: Bringing local fish into schools proves a powerful way to cultivate the next generation of ocean stewards, while promoting sustainable seafood and supporting a community’s fishing industry. Founded by MIIS alum Alan Lovewell.
• Behold! New Lebanon: A model for activating human resources in rural places, this “living museum of contemporary rural life” celebrates the inventive residents of New Lebanon, New York while engaging every sector of the town.
• org: To advance worker well-being, Coworker.org harnesses online tools to advocate for freelancers, independent contractors, and others in today’s gig-based workforce.
• Essie Justice Group: This peer-support program’s “healing to advocacy” agenda empowers women with incarcerated loved ones to push for social and policy reform, while boosting their economic resilience.
• Growing Veterans: Through a unique blend of peer mentoring, community farming, and “dirt therapy,” Growing Veterans uses sustainable agriculture as a catalyst for ending veteran isolation.
• Land Art Generator Initiative: A series of large-scale public art installations seeks to transform unloved clean-energy infrastructure into wildly inspiring cultural and economic assets.
• ScholarCHIPS: To break the cycle of intergenerational incarceration, ScholarCHIPS supports college students in the Washington, D.C. area who are among the millions of children with incarcerated parents.

From 11:00am – 12:30pm, we’ll break into groups to think through how emerging mega-trends (e.g., growing inequality) will impact the future of these and other mission-driven organizations.  From 12:30pm – 2:00pm, participants are invited to join a celebratory end-of-week picnic catered by Alan Lovewell’s organization featuring – what else? – sustainably sourced fish!

Space is limited.  Please complete this form to register.  Additional logistical details will be emailed to those who register.

We hope you can join us for this special opportunity!