Social Issue Tracks

2011-2012

Lead Sponsors: The Margaret Stewart Lindsay Foundation and Fiduciary Trust Company

• At-Risk Children and Youth in MetroWest: Providing Adult Guidance and Support
• Food, Nutrition, and Fitness: Promoting Healthy Living for Children, Youth, and Families
• Healthy Aging:Engaging and Supporting Older Adults in their Communities
• Impact Investing: Scaling Social Enterprise
• Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education and Enrichment for Children and Youth
• Workforce Development: Skills and Support for Workers in Today’s Economy

At-Risk Children and Youth in MetroWest: Providing Adult Guidance and Support

Sponsoring Partner: The Sudbury Foundation

For young people, having a meaningful relationship with an adult – whether a parent, family member, teacher, or other member of the community – is critical to encourage positive outcomes in the areas of education, employment, mental health, physical health, and social behavior.The effects of adult guidance and support are especially remarkable for at-risk youth. Yet an estimated 8.5 million youth in the United States do not have caring adults in their lives, and those from disadvantaged homes and communities are overrepresented in this number.For this track, the Social Innovation Forum is seeking nonprofit programs and organizations that provide opportunities for children and youth in Sudbury and surrounding communities (Acton, Ashland, Boxborough, Concord, Dover, Framingham, Hudson, Lincoln, Marlboro, Maynard, Natick, Sherborn, Southborough, Stow, Waltham, Wayland) to build positive, sustained relationships with adults. Eligible programs may include those that: connect at-risk children and youth with adults in committed, mentor-style relationships; rely on engaged adult support to guide young people as they grow and develop; and empower parents to develop strong, nurturing relationships with their own children.

Food, Nutrition, and Fitness: Promoting Healthy Living for Children, Youth, and Families

Sponsoring Partner: The Trefler Foundation

Poor nutrition and lack of exercise have created a public health emergency in the United States. Lifestyle-related disease is now the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States and is poised to overtake cigarette smoking as the leading cause in the near future. Research has linked health outcomes to socioeconomic conditions, as low-income families are more likely to live in neighborhoods with inadequate availability of affordable, nutritious food; limited green space, sidewalks, and playgrounds; and few after-school physical activity programs for children and youth. In addition, many children consume at least half of their daily calories at school, and for those dependent on free or reduced meal programs, food served at school may be the only food they regularly eat. When food choices in schools are unappealing or have limited nutritional value, both students’ health and academic performance suffer. Poor diet and exercise habits developed at a young age can have lifelong health implications, including the serious consequences of chronic illness and obesity. Furthermore, an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise can lead to societal costs such as lost productivity and increased health care expenses. For this track, the Social Innovation Forum seeks programs and organizations that advance lifelong health, nutrition, and fitness among children, youth, and families in the greater Boston area. Eligible programs and organizations may include those that deliver education about active living, nutrition, food production, and/or food preparation; advance strategies to improve the quality of food offered in schools and in out-of-school settings; improve access to healthful food choices for school-aged children and their families; and provide opportunities for safe, physical exercise.

Healthy Aging:Engaging and Supporting Older Adults in their Communities

Sponsoring Partner: Tufts Health Plan Foundation

It is widely understood that the population of older Americans is growing rapidly. In Massachusetts, older adults will represent close to 20% of the population in 2025, as compared to 14% in 2008. In order to accommodate this shift and foster healthy aging, it is essential to provide older adults with support to maintain their physical, mental, and emotional health, including opportunities to remain active in their communities. This is particularly true for members of vulnerable sub-groups, such as the LGBT, low-income, chronically-ill and disabled, immigrant, and non-English speaking populations, who often face additional challenges in maintaining lifelong wellness. Healthy aging can be advanced through programs that address basic needs such as housing, health care, and social services, promote exercise and healthy nutrition, and provide opportunities for social and civic engagement. Access to affordable housing, the availability of affordable and healthful foods, transportation, well-maintained streets and sidewalks and other environmental factors also play a key role in promoting healthy aging. For this track, the Social Innovation Forum is seeking nonprofit programs and organizations in Greater Boston that promote healthy aging for older adults, including opportunities for them to maintain and improve their well-being through physical activity, community engagement, and other healthy lifestyle choices. We are interested in applicants that are working to engage older adults in healthy living in their communities, particularly organizations working with economically-disadvantaged and culturally-diverse populations.

Impact Investing: Scaling Social Enterprise

Sponsoring Partner: The Devonshire Foundation

In recent years, the growing field of social enterprise has blurred the lines between traditional business practices and mission-based approaches to creating social value. Social enterprises directly address social needs through the products and services they sell or through training and development of the people they employ, pursuing both social and financial benefit. Investors and philanthropists are increasingly interested in channeling capital to build and support these social enterprises and often actively seek to provide resources at a greater scale than is common in traditional philanthropy. A recent report by JP Morgan and The Rockefeller Foundation focuses on "impact investments," an emerging approach designed to connect self-sustaining social enterprises with the resources they need to grow to scale. Impact investors reject the notion that they face a binary choice between investing for maximum returns or donating for social purpose; their goal is to generate positive social impact as well as some level of financial return. With opportunities for impact investing on the horizon, effective social enterprises will be able to look beyond philanthropy to access additional sources of capital to fuel their growth. For this track, the Social Innovation Forum seeks a Massachusetts-based social enterprise that is financially self-sustaining or that has a plan to become self-sustaining through the sale of a product or service. Applicants should be affiliated with a nonprofit organization, either as a program or as a for-profit subsidiary. The Social Innovation Forum is particularly interested in programs and organizations that are at an inflection point in their development and poised for growth.

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education and Enrichment for Children and Youth

Sponsoring Partner: Amelia Peabody Foundation and Microsoft New England Research & Development Center

Building student interest and proficiency in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is becoming increasingly important for the United States to create a pipeline for a 21st century, knowledge-economy workforce. While other countries make rapid advances in these fields, American elementary and secondary school students have been lagging behind in STEM subjects. Less than a third of eighth graders in the United States show proficiency in mathematics and science, and in the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) comparison, American students ranked 21st out of 30 in science literacy among students from developed countries and 25th out of 30 in math literacy. In order to improve our results, it is critical to foster interest and capability in STEM subjects throughout a student's educational career. As early as pre-kindergarten, students must begin building a strong foundation in math and science in order to continue to be successful in those subjects and in today’s knowledge economy. The middle school years are also critical to encourage interest in STEM, as broad choices about whether to follow STEM-related career paths are often made between the ages of 11 and 14. In addition, studies have shown that it is important to continue to nurture this interest at the secondary level, especially among female and minority students, who are underrepresented in STEM-related careers and often choose not to pursue STEM studies due to lack of role models, teacher attention, and confidence. For this track, the Social Innovation Forum seeks nonprofit programs and organizations in the greater Metro-Boston area that work to increase K-12 students’ interest and proficiency in STEM subjects and careers. Eligible programs may include formal tutoring and academic programs, activities-based learning programs, and apprenticeships, both in- and out-of-school.

Workforce Development: Skills and Support for Workers in Today’s Economy

Sponsoring Partner: Highland Street Foundation

As of January 2011, there were more than five unemployed people per job opening in the U.S., and the unemployment rate in Massachusetts, while improving, was still relatively high at 8.3%. The turbulent economic climate has created an increasingly competitive job market and has amplified barriers to teens and adults gaining and retaining employment. These barriers, which include a lack of skills and work experience, limited access to childcare and/or transportation, criminal records, and homelessness or housing insecurity, can be addressed by effective, industry-focused employment training programs. These programs incorporate technical training and education, employment preparation and placement, and complementary social services to provide participants with the best chances for success. Studies show that low-income job seekers can make $4,000 more than similar job seekers within the first year of industry-focused training, and that gap is likely to grow as benefits and earnings accrue over time.To advance solutions to unemployment in the Greater Boston area, the Social Innovation Forum is seeking nonprofit programs and organizations that prepare workers of any age with the skill set and support needed to gain and sustain employment and advance their careers.