The Importance of the Serve America Act: Part I

As I get ready to head back to Washington for another trip to Capitol Hill, this time I can’t help but feel a sense of promise ahead. This week the Serve America Act makes its way to the Senate floor for debate. Judging by the email alerts I get (sometimes on an hourly basis), there are two coalitions that have stewarded this through, Voices for National Service and America Forward. I urge you to visit their websites and find ways to help pass this legislation.

Why? For two reasons:

First of all, this is the only piece of legislation that I know of that has a critical social innovation agenda item in it − the establishment of what is called a “Community Solutions Funds Pilot Program.” As Shirley Sagawa, who is currently a Fellow at the Center for American Progress working on recommendations for a national service policy, said while testifying earlier in March, “When an organization takes an out-of-the-box approach to solving a problem, it often finds few sources available for sustainable funding…For this reason, it makes sense that Serve America includes funding to support a social innovation fund network, called the ‘Community Solutions Funds Pilot Program,’ [otherwise known as the social innovation fund] that will use federal dollars to leverage other public and private sector contributions to take our most innovative and effective organizations to scale.”

A social innovation fund is a critical element for advancing social innovation. By allocating some portion of federal dollars to focus specifically on investing in what works, we will begin to shift the way in which resources are allocated by the government − which is, in fact, where most of the resources are being allocated from.

We can expect countless discussions and opinions about how the fund should work, if it actually makes it through with funding. One critical point I would argue for is that some of the money should flow through the states. Each state would then be required to provide some sort of match in both public and private dollars. As I wrote in a report for the Aspen Institute, a model already exists to guide us: the SBA’s Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program. We do not have to recreate the wheel.

Stay tuned for the second reason…

Andrew Wolk, Root Cause Founder and CEO

Andrew Wolk is the founder and CEO of Root Cause, a nonprofit research and consulting firm in Cambridge, MA that partners with nonprofits, philanthropy, government, and business to advance solutions to today’s toughest social issues. Please visit Root Cause's website at rootcause.org.

Despite the billions of dollars and millions of nonprofit and government programs devoted to addressing social issues here in the United States and abroad, proven innovations often do not spread and endure. Even the most successful programs are only reaching a fraction of the populations in need.

In an era of limited resources that requires leaders in all sectors to do more with less, the future of society’s health and ability to advance depends on tackling today’s challenges in education, health, job creation, and environmental sustainability.

No one organization or sector has the resources to tackle today’s difficult social issues alone. Instead, leaders in nonprofits, philanthropy, government, and business must work together to identify effective solutions. They must also provide access to resources and distribution systems that will lead to widespread impact.

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In the spirit of reverse innovation, and reverse mentoring, what do you think about reverse leadership? http://t.co/h8MvpCcX

About Andrew

Andrew Wolk is Founder and CEO of Root Cause, a nonprofit organization that advances enduring solutions to social and economic problems by supporting social innovators and educating social impact investors.

He is also a senior lecturer in social entrepreneurship at MIT and was recently appointed a Gleitsman Visiting Practitioner in Social Innovation at David Gergen’s Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University. He holds an M.B.A. in Entrepreneurship and Nonprofit Management from Boston University and a B.A. from Lehigh University.

Andrew Wolk