Columbus is home to many nonprofits and social enterprises, some of which embody a laser-focused, rigorous, and highly disciplined approach to addressing specific social issues with technology and initiatives that produce solid, demonstrable, and data-backed results. When attempting to address specific social issues, the pitfalls to well-meaning organizations can be many, including lack of focus, “mission creep,” and analyzing results through rose-colored lenses.
For organizations that manage to stay laser focused on specific issues and needs – and that bluntly self-assess the impact of their efforts – genuine social change, on a local or even on a global scale, is possible. Based in Gahanna and co-founded by current CEO Greg Bixler, Design Outreach is seeking to provide some of the world’s 2.2 billion people who lack access to clean water with a solution to an age-old problem. The organization’s hand-powered water pump enables people to have reliable access to water at greater depths than before. The firm has recognized that technology alone will not solve the world’s water woes, but only when it marches in lockstep with support in the field. Great data – uploaded to the Web by many of DO’s pumps – allows the firm to track global pump operations by the hour.
Star House, led by CEO Ann Bischoff, focuses exclusively on meeting the needs of Columbus youth ages 14-24 who are experiencing temporary homelessness. Star House staff provide food, clothing, and hygiene items, while Star House itself provides showers and a safe place to stay off the street for youth with nowhere else to turn. The organization recently took a momentous step forward in its relationship with its key constituents by opening Carol Stewart Village, a $4.5M project that turned two disused motels into long-term housing for at-risk youth who have aged out of the foster care system.
Organizations seeking to change the world for the better also are not necessarily nonprofits, as Vicki Bowen Hewes well knows. Hewes is CEO of SocialVentures, which offers a network of support and advocates for businesses advancing solutions to problems in our society and earning revenue. The organization connects the dots between need and opportunity, provides leadership advisory programs for impact-driven entrepreneurs and fosters community engagement that amplifies social change and strengthens our economy. As the ecosystem continues to grow and evolve, SocialVentures is actively engaged with more than 120 social enterprises leading business on purpose in central Ohio.
Change leaders are also supported by Philanthropy Ohio, a membership association that provides the network, tools, and knowledge to help people engaged in philanthropy become more effective, powerful change agents in their communities. Led by President and CEO Deborah Aubert Thomas, Philanthropy Ohio is working to help building the skills and knowledge of the philanthropic community, to advocate on the community’s behalf, and to connect the philanthropic community together through networking opportunities.
Join CMC, along with panelists Greg Bixler, Ann Bischoff, and Vicki Bowen Hewes, and moderator Deborah Aubert Thomas, for an in-depth look at the creativity, focus, determination, and self-assessment necessary to effect meaningful social change, and the variety of approaches taken, and lessons learned by Central Ohio experts whose efforts and collaborations are making Columbus – and the world – a better place.
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