Disruptive Innovation – Is “Disruption” Enough?

February 24, 2011 – 1:54 pm

Once a year the Boston venture philanthropy New Profit offers a delicious smorgasbord of speakers and conversations to invited social entrepreneurs and innovators from around the country.  New Profit was an early investor in many of the most successful of these ventures – from Teach for America to Kipp Schools.  The leaders of those and [...]

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REDF Launches New Portfolio to Create California Jobs

February 15, 2011 – 7:47 am

Today we leave the starting gate — adrenalin surging, hearts pounding.  REDF and our partners in the field have been testing, learning, improving and preparing.  We’re aiming for a sweeping impact:  people who want to work find jobs and move on and up, rather than being frozen out.  Everyone who wants to work has that [...]

By Carla Javits | Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (4)

Now is the time to invest in innovation

November 11, 2010 – 10:50 am

While a flurry of different interpretations of last week’s election results clog the airwaves, one thing seems pretty clear from coast to coast – voters are in no mood to spend more taxpayer dollars.  And it’s hard to see anything but shrinkage in the size of government as a result. From my point of view [...]

By Carla Javits | Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Building the Ecosystem – Connecting the Dots

October 28, 2010 – 12:55 pm

Heroes and gurus of social entrepreneurship gathered at the Mozilla Foundation headquarters in Mountain View last week to illuminate what it takes to ‘scale social impact’.  Duke University convened the session which offered the intellectual firepower of Professors Dees, Bloom, Robinson, and Clark and the practical experience of social sector leaders Jordan Kassalow (VisionSpring ); [...]

By Carla Javits | Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Sneak Preview – REDF Goes to Work for Thousands of Californians

September 28, 2010 – 12:13 pm

When I got my first job as a teenager in New York City, I applied for my work permit at a huge, old administration building way downtown. While I stood on line, I had time to think about my grandparents who had lived nearby after immigrating to the US. My grandfather worked as a tenement [...]

By Carla Javits | Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Pictures and video from the Social Innovation Fund announcement in Washington, DC

July 26, 2010 – 2:10 pm

As I wrote about in my previous post, REDF was honored to be chosen as one of the recipients of the first annual Social Innovation Fund (SIF) grant. Jason Trimiew and I went to Washington, DC for the announcement. Below are a few photos and a short video from our trip.

By Carla Javits | Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Comments (2)

My Day in Washington: First Lady Michelle Obama Talks Innovation

June 1, 2010 – 1:07 pm

A White House invitation spurred a quick trip to Washington, D.C. for an inspiring meeting convened by First Lady Michele Obama, with Patrick Corvington, who heads up the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), and Melody Barnes, Director of the Domestic Policy Council. It was heartening to witness the commitment of the First Lady, [...]

By Carla Javits | Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Comments (3)

Notes from Israel (Part 2)

May 10, 2010 – 2:39 pm

I’ve been in Israel at the invitation of the Rothschild Foundation (called Yad Handiv here) and Fay Twersky of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who led our Visiting Committee on Evaluation and Performance Measurement, which also included Paul Brest from the Hewlett Foundation, and Martin Brookes of New Philanthropy Capital. Fay’s team at the [...]

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Seizing the opportunity for real innovation

September 21, 2009 – 3:30 pm

Sonal Shah, President Obama’s inaugural Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation, was here in the heartland of innovation for a whirlwind trip beginning with her appearance at SoCAP 2009 at Ft. Mason, and then meeting with a REDF-assembled group of leaders from REDF’s board and advisory council, social enterprise, business, foundations, and [...]

By Carla Javits | Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Turning purchasing into possibility for the formerly incarcerated

August 4, 2009 – 3:06 pm

Change is in the air, and we will need plenty of it to move the needle on poverty in the U.S. It has remained stuck at around 12-13 percent of the population for decades, officially reaching 37 million in 2007. At REDF, we are developing a new partnership that gets directly to the heart of [...]

By Carla Javits | Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Comments (2)
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