Wrapping Up

The end of the semester is well and gone, and now summer is wrapping up too. As always, time is passing by far too quickly, and I'll take this moment to summarize the end of my semester.

Kevin, Sarah, and I made our case study for My Happy Shirts, and it was later presented at the SEEED conference.

Our case study introduced the venture we were working with, identifying its goals, missions, and possible opportunities.

  

When our case study was finished, we started to work on our final projects. Some of us decided to work with new ventures or on new ideas, but Kevin and I decided to stick with working on and researching the orphan crisis.

In the end, our final acted as a definition and, we hope, a wake-up call. Kevin and I soon learned that  the orphan crisis is one of the most pervasive problems we have to face, as it is the result of a countless number of issues - poverty, warfare, healthcare, education, and environmental factors, to name a few - while simultaneously propagating the very same cycle.

I made a perceptual map highlighting some of the factors that are both a cause and effect of the orphan crisis:

As you can see, the idea of fighting the orphan crisis is really quite different than the reality. How can you choose one area to combat? Is focusing on one area a futile cause?

Kevin and I struggled with the actual effectiveness of any possible solutions we came up with. Since the problem was so large and daunting, any small-scale attempt might feel more pointless than powerful, despite how much it is really helping.

After trying to narrow our focus to one or two sectors - for example, healthcare for refugees, or family planning in less developed countries - we also learned that a lot of these organizations exist but are operating independently in different spheres. We saw the value in trying to unite all of these organizations, to show them that the problems they face are connected and that they can help each other.

To do this, we felt that the first step was to show that the orphan crisis is, in some ways, passed on as if it were heritage. We wanted to connect people to an individual story and show them that people are subject to circumstances outside of their control, and without help, this cycle of misfortune continues throughout generations, both domestically and internationally.

Kevin and I decided that an online platform would be most accessible, and wanted to create different stories that would appeal to a broad audience. Kevin worked on the interactive side of the project - how our stories would act almost like pop-up books where users could click on different symbols on the page and be shown data and statistics about the orphan crisis. I worked on creating one of the more in-depth stories which highlighted the moment of impact that our cause could have.

The purpose of this story was to show that knowledge really is power. While we may never be able to control the unpredictable situations life brings us, we do have the capability to expose and alleviate the cyclical nature of the orphan crisis, and finally bring attention to the "Unseen, Unheard, Unbroken" members of our global society; young and vulnerable children left without parents, family, or guardians to support them.

SVPRI: Social Venture Proposal

Personal interest in continuing with project….

One thing that really struck me when we spoke with Eric was that in some ways, this company was really just a t-shirt company that happened to have a cause. Eric spoke about his attempts at strengthening the correlation between this simple product and this complicated effort to spread awareness on the global orphan crisis.

I am interested in making a more realistic and obvious connection between product and cause. Even within the umbrella of SVPRI, the idea of an interconnected network of services, products, and proactive cause relief exists. I want to explore the possibilities of making more than just a ‘My Happy’ t-shirt. If we can change the physical design by having a design contest where children around the world can participate, then the design becomes a story as well as a reason to buy the shirt. Another example is if the shirt design that wins is by a student in Ethiopia, then any percentage of the sales of that particular design can be used to send to the school itself to fund further educational resources. By making community connections in creating My Happy Shirts, the brand is engaging global interest as well as broadening its scope of potential customers.

Information & background on the orphan crisis

Where to go now...

I really enjoy learning about alternative farming solutions in urban communities, the issues surrounding poverty such as homelessness and literacy, and understanding gender discrimination. I am also very fascinated (and appalled) by the prison industrial complex and the ideas of systematic oppression.

What most interests me is looking at large issues in society and understanding the root cause; I feel that we are currently trained to ameliorate symptoms without taking the time and consideration to fully regard the problem. Creating an alternative approach to an extremely complicated sociological issue is very important to me, though I may not yet know what that is.

Infographics on Gender & LGBTQ+ Issues

Women & LGBTQ+ Rights in Rhode Island and the United States at large. Unsurprisingly, we have a long way yet to go.

Precedent Study: Catchafire Inforgraphic

First version of a Catchafire infographic

CATCHAFIRE: WELCOME TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF ONLINE VOLUNTEERING

Comparing to another precedent:
Catchafire, a social business venture, is a for-profit talent matching agency. They help find pro-bono talent for non-profits looking for short-term professionals on projects. The company is most similar to ReBoot and Root Cause, both for-profit agencies that revolve around gathering information on communities or non-profits for the benefit of agencies or third parties. All of these companies are searching to make social good into a sustainable business model. Their expertise is the gathering of information and understanding the companies or people they research.

Second version of infographic

Reading Responses 3

THE POWER OF UNREASONABLE PEOPLE
This article was all about the different kinds of social change organizations and how they tend to operate.

The first level are the non-profits, which leverage available resources so they can measure up to the nature and scale of their challenges. They usually get philanthropic-based funding, which makes it difficult to expand, and they work to deliver public goods to the economically under-served. An example of this is Barefoot College, a program that infuses local traditional knowledge with the skills to provide with rural villages in India.

The second consists of hybrid non-profit ventures, which have businesslike aspects that are familiar and appear reliable to most standard companies. They also serve to deliver goods & services to the under-served, but with the possibility of profit, which would help them cover the costs of working. Examples include Aravind eye care in India, which charges medical patients on a sliding scale--those who can afford it pay more, while the less financially advantaged receive heavily subsidized but still excellent eyecare.

The third level are social business ventures, which are structured for profit yet are also in business to drive change. Profits are generated but often not as the end goal, and many times these profits go to benefit lower income groups. Micro financing is very popular in this field, but Whole Foods is one of the most famous examples as it considers business as a way for people to recognize valid and legitimate concerns.

BREWING A FUTURE

A brewery in Namibia is making changes to produce absolutely no waste in their production process. Taking the phrase "one man's trash is another man's treasure," the scientists are taking the production of raw materials and finding ways to use the by-products to benefit the country. This is a new way of looking at zero waste, as it turns existing protocol into opportunities for development.

A Definition

WHAT IS SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP? A WORKING DEFINITION...
Social entrepreneurship is the financing, design, and implementation of a product or system that creates lasting change and is interdependent within local communities and the world at large.
02/17/2013