Blog

Here’s five interesting #SocInn links we’re clicking on today:

1. Opportunity Nation Blog: Bipartisan WIOA Passes Senate The bipartisan, bicameral Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which includes a Pay for Success option and other key provisions, passed in the Senate in a 95-3 vote: “This represents tremendous progress for all of us and our work. WIA has been in sore need of updating for more than a decade. In these politically divisive times, it shows the importance of workforce development and the power of opportunity to unite us all. WIOA is the largest federal funding source for workforce development activities in all 50 states and reauthorizes the outdated Workforce Investment Act (WIA), a nearly $3 billion-a-year program that funds critical job training programs for displaced adults and youth.” Opportunity Nation is an America Forward coalition member.
2. NationSwell: 7 Key Drivers to Turn Social Innovation into Success Kim Syman, New Profit’s Managing Partner, talks about how being optimistic about social enterprise can boost American progress: “Today’s headlines are flooded with news of high poverty and unemployment rates, failing schools and political gridlock. But American innovation has painted a bright spot in an otherwise grim picture with the help of community leaders, social innovators and entrepreneurs. Though chances of making it big in social innovation are far and few between, the sheer amount of ambition to drive national progress gives Americans a renewed sense of hope and something to look forward to, according to social innovation expert Kim Syman.”
3. Classy Awards: The Mission Continues Drives Progress for Active Duty & Veteran Services “The Mission Continues empowers veterans facing the challenge of adjusting to life at home to find new missions by redeploying veterans in their communities, so that their shared legacy will be one of action and service. The Mission Continues Fellowship & Service Platoons program was recently chosen by the Leadership Council as the CLASSY Award Winner for Active Duty & Veteran Services.” New Profit is a proud funder of The Mission Continues.
4. The Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service: Acelero offers full-day preschool, personal attention to at-risk kids “Social skills are among the lessons that Head Start program Acelero Learning instills in its preschool students. Acelero arrived in Milwaukee in June 2013; the organization also runs schools in Middlesex County, NJ, Philadelphia and Las Vegas. “Our goal is to provide high-quality, early childhood education during the years, age three to five, that are really important to childhood development, said Julie Driscoll, director of family services and health for Acelero Milwaukee. The school works to assure that low-income children start kindergarten on par with their middle-income peers, she added.” New Profit is a proud funder of Acelero.
5. SSIR: Getting Leapfrogging Right Sara Agarwal, director for international finance organizations at Hewlett Packard, and Parag Khanna, senior research fellow at the New America Foundation, share their insights on how to adopt technology in a way to deliver important social benefits: “Since the rise of mobile communications and the Internet, movements have emerged to leverage these technologies for economic growth, social equity, improved education and healthcare, and other public goods. Donor agencies, NGOs, companies, industry coalitions, and other players have clamored to launch initiatives that help countries bridge the “digital divide” or “leapfrog” to the latest—or next—technology standards.”