Even through difficult times, organizations enhance the quality of our children’s lives.

“The DC Youth Orchestra Program provides music classes and ensemble training to all students who wish to participate.  Because of the program’s unique structure and curriculum, no child is turned away and every child is challenged by being placed in a level appropriate to his or her ability.  We accept all students, regardless of experience or income level.

In the last decade, a generation of social entrepreneurs has become increasingly visible by creating self-sustaining businesses. Social entrepreneurs are similar to regular entrepreneurs with one main difference–their gains aren’t measured in financial profit, but by the impact they have on society.

Many entrepreneurs have started social enterprises, breaking nonprofit tradition by blending mission with money, referred to as “double bottom line” businesses. Jerr Boschee, executive director and founder of The Institute for Social Entrepreneurship, says for a while, nonprofits were hung up on the double bottom line because it seemed contradictory to merge doing well with doing good. But Boschee says self-sufficiency has become necessary for many nonprofit groups to operate. “We have today three times as many nonprofits as we had 30 years ago, and they’re all at the same watering hole.”

No longer limited by philanthropic donations and public subsidies, these organizations now have a way of being self-sufficient while still helping others in social need. And for some of these organizations, helping others means helping them start their own businesses.

Helping Others Get Started
Mi Kitchen es Su Kitchen is a kitchen incubator in Queens, New York, dedicated to helping struggling entrepreneurs start and develop food businesses. The kitchen offers business counseling, mentoring and support for entrepreneurs who have a line of goods, but are limited in funds and business knowledge.

“We go through the whole thing,” says founder Kathrine Gregory. “How do you market? How do you write a business plan?”

The 55-year-old food industry veteran is an entrepreneur herself and offers her know-how by partnering with nonprofits that house kitchen facilities. In 1996, Gregory started her kitchen incubator concept with an organization that had an 850-square-foot kitchen in Brooklyn. The facility was being used for job training, but operation costs were quickly eating up the funding. Gregory convinced the board to let her test the kitchen incubator concept, and the resulting profits helped turn the nonprofit into a self-sustaining business.

Today, Mi Kitchen es Su Kitchen operates in conjunction with the Consortium for Worker Education and Artisan Baking Center. With a 5,000-square-foot facility, the kitchen is used for culinary arts training, general education and ESL courses during the day. At night the kitchen transforms into a bustling entrepreneurial atmosphere, complete with a dough press, chocolate melter, and a variety of mixers and ovens.

According to Gregory, most entrepreneurs at Mi Kitchen es Su Kitchen–who pay $180 to $220 per shift to use the space–turn a profit within the first six to 12 months. The revenue made from rentals has totaled about $200,000.

“People think this is an amazing concept,” Gregory says. “It’s really a win-win, everyplace that you look.” She believes that leveling the playing field for low-income entrepreneurs is one reason her idea has hit home with the local community.

Kiva founders Matt Flannery, 30, and his wife, Jessica, also took the business partner angle with their Kiva.orgmicrolending website. The two started Kiva after traveling to Africa and learning of the enterprising atmosphere there.

“We interviewed people every day for weeks and talked about people’s business plans,” says Matt. “I thought it was fascinating that I was talking about business, business plans and scaling an inventory challenges in a place that I only associated with deep poverty.”

The experience stayed with Matt and Jessica when the two returned to California and partnered with four others, working out of coffee shops and a tiny San Francisco apartment to develop the Kiva website and concept. Their goal remains showing people the business dynamic they experienced in Africa. “It was a different take on poverty, a different take on Africa than you typically hear when you’re out here in the United States,” Matt says.

On the Kiva website, lenders can donate to entrepreneurs trying to start a business in third-world countries. Loans start at $25, which goes a long way in the third world. The entrepreneurs pay back the loans 99 percent of the time–a remarkable default rate in the finance world. “[It's] connecting as an equal or a business partner, an entrepreneur, rather than as a charitable endeavor or benefactor or taking pity on someone else,” Matt says.

And pity is something Matt says the media has thrived on for some time. “Often we want to hear about war and bloodshed and disease and that’s only a small part of the story about what goes on in a huge continent like Africa,” he adds.

Like Gregory, Matt also struggled to convince others about the viability of his idea. “One attribute of good ideas is that they challenge people’s existing mindset,” he says. “Now that I know that, I wouldn’t have put so much weight in other people’s opinions.”

Why It’s Working
Despite some skepticism, “Social entrepreneurship is really taking off around the world,” says David Bornstein, author of How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, which has been translated into 16 languages. In his book, Bornstein chronicles the work of Ashoka, an international organization that helps fund entrepreneurs with innovative solutions to social problems.

According to Bornstein, the relentless won’t-take-no-for-an-answer quality of entrepreneurs is what gives them their edge in business. “They absorb the failure, they learn, they surround themselves with a good team and then they redirect.” These same attributes, when applied in the social realm, can result in community-changing solutions.

In the end, Gregory says it’s the energy of the entrepreneurs she comes into contact with that sustain her in her business. For Matt and Jessica, being part of something larger than themselves has inspired them.

“It’s not about me, it’s not about my organization,” Matt says. “It’s about people connecting to people and using technology as a conduit.”

By Jessica Chen | October 19, 2007

Susan Mitchell has been unemployed since March, but she’s never at a loss for work.

A Type A personality who found herself with time on her hands, Mitchell is almost as busy now as before she was laid off from her job as a project manager for software development. She’s a hospice volunteer, a foster mother for rescued dogs and, twice a week, the lady in the pink pinafore who visits WakeMed with the canine equivalent of a happy pill.

“It has changed my life tremendously,” Mitchell said of being able to expand her volunteer activities while looking for a new job.

Those who work with charities across the Triangle say they have seen a measurable increase in the number of volunteers who want to give time and in the number of hours volunteers have to offer since last fall, when the U.S. economy began to sour. Some say they have noticed an increase since January, which may be credited in part to President Barack Obama’s admonishment to Americans to contribute to community service.

“You’d be surprised at the calls I get. People saying, ‘I’m out of work, and I really want to help the community, but I really want to get some experience, too,’ ” said Corinne Everett, director of volunteer services at the Volunteer Center of Durham.

The center works with 600 other nonprofits, connecting people with organizations that can use them. In some cases, Everett said, organizations get far more applications for volunteers than there are open positions.

A good match can benefit both the organization and the volunteer, Everett said. Charities, which have seen their monetary donations drop with the economy, can use the hands-on help more than ever. Those who give their time get a chance to learn a new skill or stay fresh with one in the field in which they used to work.

Volunteering can also serve as a networking opportunity, and it restores some structure to the life of a person accustomed to being on the job.

“Working is just a fundamental need,” said Tamara Richert, who has just started as a volunteer in another WakeMed program.

Richert’s job in software development was recently moved to Germany. She decided to stay in Raleigh, and she’s considering changing careers, to something in the medical field. As a volunteer, she will be entering and interpreting data from interviews with patients to help the hospital improve its services — an easy fit with her computer expertise. She’ll also have the chance to observe jobs throughout the hospital to see what might interest her.

“This will give me a good feel for what it would be like to work in this environment,” she said.

Skills for a paying job

Candace Whisenant is now giving away the expertise for which she used to get paid. Whisenant lost her job as a human resources manager for Belk in early February. She wants to work outside retail, she said, but wants to put what she knows to good use.

Last Saturday, she worked her first shift at the Durham chapter of Dress for Success, which helps women prepare for job interviews by giving them clothes, accessories, training in interview techniques and other assistance.

“Because I am a human resource professional, I know the expectations of an interviewer and a recruiter,” Whisenant said. “I do want to see how I can use my experience in another industry, but mostly I want to give back and utilize the skills that I have.”

Volunteer organizers say they don’t know how long they will have this labor largesse, but they’re enjoying it while it lasts.

“People are using this as an opportunity to chase a dream that they have always had,” said Marie Johnson, manager of volunteer and community service at the Raleigh campus of WakeMed.

When people go back to work, she hopes some of her volunteers will continue to be involved.

More time to help

Mitchell has been coming to WakeMed with Sarah, her affable Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, since 2004, part of a hospital program that lets patients, doctors and staff get a regular dose of fuzz therapy. But the long hours of Mitchell’s job limited the amount of time she could give.

When she was laid off — on her 10th anniversary with the company — Mitchell decided that just because she wasn’t being paid for her time didn’t mean it couldn’t be productive. She enrolled her other dog, Luke, in the program, took him through the training and now reports with him at WakeMed every Friday morning.

“It’s very rewarding,” Mitchell said. “The patients, the ones who are on monitors, you can actually watch their blood pressure drop when they rub on the dog. Some people will say, ‘Gee, that’s the first time I’ve smiled all day.’ ”

By Martha Quillin – Staff writer
Newsobserver.com

One of these wonderful examples is happening in Nogales, Arizona, where an American and Mexican medical staff is reaching out to poor, Mexican families with disabled children. The doctors and staff of St. Andrew’s Children’s Clinic seem to be more concerned about children’s health and suffering than immigration issues:

“St. Andrew’s Children’s Clinic does not allow an artificial barrier to block the hope and compassion it offers the poor. The clinic is a non-denominational, non-profit organization whose mission is to provide free medical treatment for disabled children of impoverished parents from Mexico.”

The clinic was founded in 1973 and is staffed by volunteers from the United States and Mexico. Among our border states, St. Andrew’s is the longest-running health project in the country. The clinic is funded primarily through donations, which is sorely needed considering the range of serious, pediatric, health issues they deal with.

“The children, from ages 1 month to 18 years, have a myriad of medical problems, from spina bifida to cerebral palsy, from Down’s syndrome to speech and hearing problems, and more. X-rays, laboratory tests, prescriptions, orthopedic devices, and hearing aids are just some of the aids these children need right now, or over time.”

The clinic practices medicine “the old fashioned way:” with hand written medical records and face to face conferences. Instead of using donations for computer equipment and office-software, they are used strictly for the treatment and care of the children. Every, first Thursday of the month, two-hundred and fifty sick children and their families come to the clinic looking for help and healing. None of these families will ever receive a bill for the treatment of their child.

“The estimated dollar value of time donated each year to St. Andrew’s Children’s Clinic is approximately $1.5 million. On board most Clinic days are 2 orthopedic surgeons and several orthopedic residents and students, 5 pediatricians, 2 neurologists, 1 pediatric cardiologist, 6-8 medical students, 1 ophthalmology therapist, 1 equipment technician to fit wheel chairs, walkers, crutches, and other aids. Nearly 100 lay volunteers make the day run smoothly.”

In a time of selfishness and mistrust of strangers, it is a blessing to witness these physicians and lay persons who are willing to selflessly give of their time and money to treat and care for those who are in need. The doctors and staff of St. Andrew’s, as well as their contributors, are to be commended for their love, dedication and sacrifice, which blesses these children and their families!

If you would like to learn more or make a donation, then go to the site listed below:

http://www.standrewsclinic.org/about/about.htm