Center for Social Innovation

Every fall brings a new crop of MBA students to the Stanford Graduate School of Business. From my perch in the editorial offices of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, I have now watched four cohorts undergo the slow and subtle transformation from mere first years, to seasoned second years, to bona fide masters of business administration.

One of the things that I like about being a magazine editor is that it gives me the opportunity to have an outsized impact on the world. That's what happened this past year. In the spring 2008 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review we published an op-ed by Michele Jolin (then of the Center for American Progress) that argued that the next president of the United States should create a new White House Office of Social Innovation and Impact. The purpose of the new office would be to stimulate and scale social innovations.

Every cause has its baddie--the country that represents everything the cause is trying to change. Democracy has North Korea. HIV prevention has South Africa. Peace and tolerance has Sudan. Women's rights has Afghanistan. Food security has Ethiopia.

It’s become a national fact: “social innovation” is hot.

The concept is emerging as a central theme in the Obama administration's efforts to address our nation's domestic challenges. In April, the president proposed $50 million in his 2010 budget for a social innovation fund. Soon afterward, the administration officially established the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation. The new office will help nonprofit groups start or expand successful programs.

Welcome to our new blog!

I’m Federico Lozano (you can call me Fede), founder and CEO of Puentes Global, a nonprofit international employment agency for workers at the base of the pyramid.  We aim to help break down international borders and the global economic divide by connecting poor, semiskilled workers from the developing world with legal, well-paying jobs in the developed world.