Center for Social Value Creation, Annual Report 2014-2015

Dr.

THE CENTER FOR

SOCIAL VALUE CREATION annual report 2014 – 2015

Year in review

BY THE NUMBERS, 2014-15

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This year we hosted guest speakers for events including: • Ashoka U Exchange • Social Enterprise Symposium • Maryland Social Entrepreneur Corps Symposium • ChangeTheWorld Showcase • Sustainability Lunch & Learn • Career Day for JoAnn LeLeck Elementary School 7th Annual Social Enterprise Symposium (SES):

> 600 Attendees

27 Speakers and Panelists

32 Student Volunteers 4 Lead Sponsors Curricular Consulting:

20 Client Projects 101 Student Consultants ChangeTheWorld Nonprofit Consulting:

8 Partner Campuses 39 Client Projects 158 Student Consultants Coursework:

6 Undergraduate courses and 9 MBA courses dedicated to

social value-specific content Student Clubs Supported:

4 Clubs 88 Students Total Students Reached:

1,818

Dear Friends: The Center for Social Value Creation touches the lives of thousands of students across campus, supported by a talented staff of changemakers who collaborate with local, regional and global partners to help make the world a better place through business. In doing so we recognize the visionaries who came before us and thank the leaders of today, like Dean Alex Triantis, who continue to share in this vision for business management education. Thank you for being part of this community.

The Center’s vision is for the tools of business to be employed to solve many of the social and environmental challenges facing the world today. We believe that future business leaders need to be equipped to make decisions that have positive impact on people, planet and profit. As such, we continue to grow and further integrate our programming throughout the school.

The 2014-2015 academic year was truly a showcase year. Not only has the high-quality programming that CSVC is known for ─ like our ChangeTheWorld Nonprofit Consulting Program and the Maryland Social Entrepreneur Corps ─ continued to grow and advance, but we also welcomed for the first time in CSVC history an Academic Director to our team roster. Dr. Christine Beckman jumped into CSVC with both feet, focusing on increasing faculty involvement, new research, and fostering curricular offerings in social innovation.

In February 2015 CSVC led the charge as the University of Maryland co-hosted the 5th Annual Ashoka U Exchange, the world’s largest convening for social entrepreneurship in higher education. Held in Washington, DC and College Park, MD the event brought together 700 university faculty, staff, students, and administrators from 160 institutions. Supported by the Office of the Provost, the Robert H. Smith School of Business, the School of Public Policy, the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, and the Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 18 University of Maryland faculty, staff, and administrators presented at the event, including all 4 full-time CSVC staff members. As featured programming of the Exchange, CSVC also hosted its 7th Annual Social Enterprise Symposium (SES) where we explored social impact and value creation from a variety of academic lenses.

Last but not least, in April we welcomed Elana Fine to the team as Acting Managing Director.

Elana has spent the last three years taking the Smith School’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship to new heights and has enthusiastically and effectively been laying the groundwork for CSVC’s next stages of development. With that said, we are excited to share the many highlights of the 2014-2015 academic year, and look forward to the year ahead!

~ The Center for Social Value Creation

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Meet our team ELANA FINE, Acting Managing Director Elana is Acting Managing Director of CSVC, and Director of the Smith School’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. At CSVC, Elana is focused on strategic visioning, fundraising, and team development. Elana is adjunct faculty with the Smith School’s Department of Management & Organization and part of the national teaching team for NSF’s ICorps program. Elana is a recently-named Washingtonian Magazine “Tech Titan” and contributes regularly to the Washington Post Capital Business column.

Kim robertella glinka, Associate Director Kim helps manages the strategic focus of the Center, including oversight of the marketing and brand strategy. She serves as the resident sustainability specialist and works to develop offerings in this space. For the past four years Kim has also directed the planning and production of CSVC’s nationally-recognized event, the Social Enterprise Symposium.

Sara herald, Assistant Director - Social Entrepreneurship Sara expands social entrepreneurship coursework and programs on campus and beyond. Key initiatives include co-leading the annual Do Good Challenge with the School of Public Policy and co-developing academic programs including the Maryland Social Entrepreneur Corps, the Social Entrepreneurship Laboratory, and the Community Wealth Building Practicum. Sara is also Adjunct Faculty with the Smith School’s Department of Management & Organization.

Pammi bhullar, Manager - Experiential Learning Pammi oversees and manages CSVC’s award-winning ChangeTheWorld Nonprofit Consulting Program. She also coordinates experiential learning opportunities in social value across the Smith community, working to provide undergraduate and MBA students with resume-building hands-on experience.

Team spotlight: Christine Beckman, academic director Dr. Christine Beckman joined CSVC in Fall 2014 to help coordinate curricular programming and encourage academic research on social value creation. Christine is a professor of Management and Organization at the Smith School and has a Ph.D from Stanford University in Organization Behavior. Prior to coming to Smith Christine was at University of California, Irvine, where she was the Director of The Don Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Co-Director of the Center for Organizational Research. Christine’s interest in social innovation focuses on education and gender equality.

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Social entrepreneurs in residence: Drew Bewick, Managing Director, Tree House Ventures Drew brings more than 20 years of experience at the intersection of technology and innovation. As Managing Director of Tree House Ventures, Drew advises multiple companies and nonprofit organizations and helps them discover opportunities and apply entrepreneurial principles to organize and launch successful ventures that make an impact.

Ali Cherry, Founder, Snack Packers Ali is a social entrepreneur focused on developing sustainable habits that promote well-being through food. Ali founded Snack Packers in 2011, a healthy snack delivery service that improves workplace wellness and productivity, and sold the company in January 2015. Ali maintains active roles in health promotion by working with individuals and groups via the Health Huddle, the United States Healthful Food Council and Weight Watchers.

Kim Person, President & CEO, The KAP Group, LLC Kim is an experienced entrepreneur and sales professional with expertise in business development.

Kim founded a handbag and fashion accessory company in Asia and over a 10 year period scaled the company to ship merchandise to nearly 50 U.S. states, Canada, Europe, and Australia. She sold the company in the spring of 2009 and since then has advised companies on market entry strategies. Kim is Managing Director of Cerius Interim Executive Solutions, and President and CEO of The KAP Group, LLC. Her early career included time at State Street Bank, Hallmark, and Mc Donald’s Corporation.

ADVISORS: Faculty

Industry

Sandor Boyson, Research Professor; Co-Director, Supply Chain Management Center

Stanley Litow (Chair) IBM Vice President, Corp. Citizenship & Affairs / President, IBM Foundation

Shreevardhan Lele, Assistant Dean; Clinical Professor Vojislav (Max) Maksimovic, Professor of Finance; Chair of the Department of Finance Paulo Prochno, Clinical Professor, Management & Organization Rebecca Ratner, Assistant Dean; Professor of Marketing

John Chickering, Vice President, Fidelity Investments Robert Kashan Founder and CEO, Earth Color Elizabeth Langbein Co-Founder, Due East Partners Dennis Wraase Former CEO, Pepco Holdings

Partners and allies connections that make a difference The Center for Social Value Creation has engaged more than 200 nonprofit and for-profit organizations on forward-thinking initiatives that deliver social and environmental impact and help Smith students earn valuable industry experience. From social enterprise to government agencies, we connect with partners and allies through events, resource sharing and experiential learning projects. The groups highlighted below represent a small sample of the many collaborations of the 2014-2015 academic year.

Special thanks to: ► THE SMITH FAMILY FOUNDATION ► THE LONGBRAKE FAMILY FOUNDATION ► RICHARD & LAURA NOVAK ► JOHN CHICKERING ► ROBERT KASHAN ► THE WRAASE FAMILY FOUNDATION ► MAKE CHANGE! TRUST

In addition to our valued partners and allies, the work of the Center for Social Value Creation would not be possible without our donors and sponsors. Thank you for helping us cultivate solution-driven, socially-minded students and empower them to be the next generation of leaders who will do well by doing good.

Thank you...

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At left: Members of the CSVC team brainstorm and reflect on key attributes and long-term goals. Summer 2014.

On the work bench behind the scenes at the center for social value creation Every member of the team contributes to shaping the future of our Center. Together, we scope new projects, pilot initiatives and work to understand the needs of our community. In 2015-2016 we plan to roll out a set of Business Principles that will ultimately inform, inspire and guide CSVC programming for years to come. Stay tuned for more as we test and launch this exciting initiative!

Partner spotlight: make change! Trust Since 2009 the Make Change! Trust has supported the Center for Social Value Creation’s ChangeTheWorld Nonprofit Consulting Program. With their contributions, guidance and encouragement CSVC has been able to provide capacity-building, pro-bono services to over 200 nonprofits while helping approximately 900 students apply classroom concepts to realworld challenges. We thank Mike Mann, Founder of Make Change! Trust, Trustee Brian Taff, and Grassroots.org for helping us propel student consulting services to reach a large nonprofit network. We look forward to growing our partnership and continuing to match talented student consultants with high potential nonprofits that are changing the world.

Campus leadership umd hosts international conference on social entrepreneurship As a founding Ashoka U Changemaker Campus, Ashoka U chose the University of Maryland as the site for the 5th Annual Ashoka U Exchange, an international conference for faculty, staff and students committed to embedding social entrepreneurship in higher education. Bringing together more than 700 people from 160 institutions across 26 countries, the Exchange showcased UMD’s campus-wide commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship and served as a platform to bring UMD changemakers closer together.

The Center for Social Value Creation led the UMD planning team for this three-day event, along with partners from the Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership in the School of Public Policy, the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, the Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and 50 student volunteers. President Wallace Loh kicked off the conference with a rousing keynote address, anointing all attendees “Temporary Terps” and urging them to embrace their inner changemakers. Provost Mary Ann Rankin hosted a special program exclusively for presidents, provosts and trustees, and 18 UMD faculty and staff presented at the conference – including all full-time members of the CSVC team.

At a packed keynote address, Ashoka Founder and CEO Bill Drayton shared his vision for the leadership required in a rapidly changing world where rules and repetition are no longer the norm. Conference attendees explored the UMD campus through 3 distinct site visits, hosted by the Envi-

ronmental Finance Center, the Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Startup Shell, and the Food Recovery Network. Student attendees joined CSVC’s signature event, the Social Enterprise Symposium, for part of the conference.

► The 2015 Exchange brought together:

700 attendees, from 160 institutions, originating from 26 countries ► UMD showcased: 3 site visits, 50

student volunteers, and 18 faculty and staff speakers and panelists

7 As one of four founding Ashoka U Changemaker Campuses, the Exchange was a wonderful opportunity for the University of Maryland to celebrate and reflect on the strides it has made to integrate social innovation and entrepreneurship into courses, extracurricular programs and student life. CSVC’s Pammi Bhullar accepted a Cordes Innovation Award recognizing the teaching, learning and partnership practices exemplified by our Change TheWorld Nonprofit Consulting program.

It’s clear that social entrepreneurship is more than a passing trend: 30 Changemaker Campuses exist across the globe and new social impact programs launch every year in all types of educational institutions. The field has grown so quickly that one of the challenges facing UMD, as well as other colleges and universities, is constructing logical pathways to help students navigate the variety of social innovation offerings.

As we look forward to the 2016 Exchange at Tulane University, CSVC is working with campus partners to address that challenge and continue to integrate the principles of social value creation across our campus.

Changemakers!.

Spotlight: CSVC beat on the street In addition to designing and running classes and student programs, contributing to the field of social impact education is an important part of our work at CSVC. During the 2014-2015 school year CSVC staff spoke at, or contributed to, conferences, gatherings and events including: ► 2015 Ashoka U Exchange, hosted by the University of Maryland: ► ChangeTheWorld Nonprofit Consulting Workshop ► Community Wealth Building: Fighting Inequality with Worker Ownership ► Do Good Now! Embedding Social Entrepreneurship Across Campus

► Building Brand Among a Community in Transition

► AACSB Annual Conference: Implementing Principles of Responsible Management

► Tibetan Innovation Challenge: Youth Entrepreneurship (ChangeTheWorld Student Team)

► Ashoka U Change Leader Retreat: Trends in Social Entrepreneurship Education Models

Entrepreneurial THINKING csvc launches the “social entrepreneurship laboratory” In Fall 2014 CSVC launched the Social Entrepreneurship Laboratory, an undergraduate course where students apply Lean Startup principles to the creation of their own social enterprises. Under the leadership of Professor Christine Beckman and Adjunct Professor Sara Herald, teams of students learned to build minimum viable products for social ventures, test their assumptions, and iterate for success over the course of the semester.

The students tackled a diverse set of problems, both local and international, such as trash in the Anacostia watershed and the negative health effects of cooking on open fires or inefficient stoves on Masaii women in Kenya. In order to better understand the root causes of each problem, the students conducted many stakeholder interviews and researched competitive landscapes. As they formulated possible solutions, the students built minimum viable products to test and learn from as they progressed. As Chris Frye, an Environmental Design major put it, “The Lab has really opened my eyes to the power of business to make a difference and have social impact.”

tives, and skills.” The Social Entrepreneurship Laboratory is a Fearless Ideas Course, a designation from the Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland, to promote courses that require students to “exercise their innovation muscles.” The course will be offered again in Spring 2016.

The three-credit course welcomed sophomores, juniors, and seniors from across the University of Maryland with an interest in getting hands-on experience in social entrepreneurship. For Frye, the interdisciplinary aspect of the course was the best part: “it made our final product that much better because we all had different backgrounds, perspec-

a difference and have

“The Lab has really opened my eyes to the power of business to make social impact” - Chris Frye, Undergraduate Environmental Design Major and Social Entrepreneurship Laboratory student

Let me tell you a story

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EVAN LUTZ, b.s. Management 2014 Evan Lutz graduated from the Smith School in 2014 in a position he never thought possible: knowing what he wants to do for the rest of his life. Lutz majored in Business Management, took as many entrepreneurship classes as he could find, and in spring of his senior year realized that a fledgling social enterprise project was more than just a passion.

Lutz’s original idea, a “Recovered Food C.S.A.” project undertaken as part of Social Innovation Fellows, is now Hungry Harvest ─ a fully functional, for-profit social enterprise with 600 customers. Lutz is CEO, and to date the organization has saved over 200,000 pounds of food from going to waste.

The Hungry Harvest business model is unique: it’s a subscription-based delivery service for fresh produce that is either surplus from local farms or too “ugly” to be sold in retail stores. Thanks to this lower margin business model, Hungry Harvest can afford to donate a bag of produce to a family in need for

every bag sold. Working with suppliers like the Mid-Atlantic Gleaning Network and donation partners like the Capital Area Food Bank and Martha’s Table, Hungry Harvest is addressing two of the biggest problems in the American food system: waste and hunger.

expand to two new cities. Millennials are the company’s largest customer segment, but Lutz wants to reach older generations as well ─ specifically those who struggle to understand why a for-profit business also has a social mission.

One in six Americans does not have enough to eat, while 40% of food goes to waste. Those alarming statistics keep Lutz and the Hungry Harvest team focused on growing the business, because every new customer means greater social impact. In the next 18 months Hungry Harvest plans to reach 3,000 active customers and

Lutz hopes that as Millennials continue to make purchasing decisions informed by the values of the businesses they support, more students will graduate in the same position as himself ─ with impactful, mission-driven careers of their own making.

Spotlight: talking social innovation with Pakistani visitors In August 2014, the Smith Office of Global Initiatives partnered with Meridian International Center to host a delegation of Pakistani professionals. The group was comprised of representatives from educational institutions, non-governmental organizations, private industry professionals, and government. CSVC Assistant Director Sara Herald spoke to the visitors about social entrepreneurship and innovation at the University of Maryland. Of prime interest among the group was the interdisciplinary programs and collaborations between CSVC and the Dingman Center. Following their visit to UMD, the delegation traveled to three other U.S. cities to learn more about how universities and businesses work together to promote successful entrepreneurship.

SMITH STUDENTS awaken E n t r e p r e n e u r i a l d e s i r e s i n T i b e ta n y o u t h The Central Tibetan Administration, also known as the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, and the Tibetan Entrepreneurship Development Initiative (TED) orchestrate entrepreneurial incubators, financing support, and inspire youth entrepreneurship among Tibetans living in exile. In early 2015 TED turned to a team of University of Maryland graduate students in CSVC’s award-winning ChangeTheWorld Nonprofit Consulting Program to codevelop an entrepreneurship program that could work within the local school system.

The ChangeTheWorld student team took on this international project after a competitive selection process and began working with the Central Tibetan Administration in February 2015.

The team was charged with developing a program that would include hands-on learning activities to excite Tibetan youth about entrepreneurship and teach them the skills required to be an entrepreneur. In March, the student team traveled to India for a week to conduct interviews with local entrepreneurs, run focus groups with students, and meet with government leaders. Smith’s Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) funded the participants with $1,000 grants for their travel to India.

“The impact of this project is huge – it’s the foundation of the Tibetan government’s entrepreneurial initiative,” said Pammi Bhullar, Director of the ChangeTheWorld Nonprofit Consulting Program. “Essentially, the Tibetan Entrepreneurship Development Initiative is hoping entrepreneurship will bring the next generation out of this state of dependency to become more self-reliant. This is a very different way to look at entrepreneurship – using entrepreneurship to lift up a refugee community.”

Bhullar traveled with the ChangeTheWorld team and organized the project. The group was in Dharamsala, India during the government’s parliamentary meetings and had the opportunity to sit in on the process and meet the Prime Minister, the Speaker of Parliament, and the Finance Minister. The group was recognized for their work.

In June, the student team delivered their final recommendations for a co-curricular framework. The program will be piloted at the Tibetan Children’s Village school in Dharamsala, then rolled out to nearly 75 other Tibetan schools throughout the country.

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Impact-driven opportunities smith students ‘spay it forward’ with montgomery county As part of the ChangeTheWorld (CTW) Nonprofit Consulting Program, a team of Smith MBA students worked with Montgomery County Partners in Animal Welfare (MCPAW) to launch “Spay It Forward,” a high-visibility campaign that delivers free spay/neuter and micro-chipping services to cats and dogs in Montgomery County, Maryland.

In Spring 2015, the Smith team created an economic impact tool to effectively measure the cost savings that Spay It Forward will provide to Montgomery County. With this tool the team also assessed the program’s financial feasibility and provided recommendations on how to maximize the savings and revenue generated for various stakeholders. The team’s recommendations included increasing pet licensing fees, providing incentives for pet owners to renew licenses, amplifying marketing and outreach efforts and partnering with local veterinarians.

As a veterinarian herself, student consultant Suma Rao noted, “Veterinarians historically have not been in support of these programs because they felt that they were losing business.” However, as a result of this ChangeTheWorld project, Rao has a new appreciation for programs like this.

“After completing the project and interacting with MCPAW volunteers, I realized that these programs are not in com-

petition with veterinary hospitals. Programs like Spay It Forward attract pet owners who normally don’t take their pets for veterinarian care and are most likely to have litters given up to animal shelters. Providing free spay/neuter services benefits local communities in the long run by reducing shelter costs substantially.” MCPAW launched Spay It Forward in December 2014 with the goal of raising $1 million in the following 18 months.

#spayitforward

Impact-driven opportunities

students devise a plan to restore the chesapeake bay

The Center for Social Value Creation and the University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center (EFC) established a joint studentled initiative to identify innovative approaches for financing Chesapeake Bay restoration and protection. The student team was comprised of four Smith MBAs and four Environmental Finance Center Project Assistants from the School of Public Policy, guided by an advisory committee of experts from key disciplines and industries

including: finance and banking, environmental science and ecological modeling, institutional management, environmental policy, and social value creation. William Longbrake, Executive-in-Residence at the Smith School of Business, provided faculty oversight to the MBA team. Together, the students outlined a business plan for effective public-private financing models in support of environmental protection and watershed restoration across the Chesapeake region.

EFC is furthering the work of the student team and plans to advance the implementation of innovative financing structures and mechanisms.

The project is supported through a grant from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources under the guidance of the Chesapeake and Coastal Service division. The final report, expected to be delivered in September 2015, will potentially impact hundreds of millions of dollars in restoration investments.

smith spotlight: David kirsch, faculty champion Now in its fourth year, Social Innovation Fellows (SIF) welcomed a new faculty champion in the fall of 2014. Professor David Kirsch, Associate Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship, has taken the reigns, bringing a fresh perspective to the classroom.

“SIF is more than just a class, it’s an experience”, said Mandy Yard, SIF Fellow ‘15. “I have been able to learn business concepts and apply them to real life, in a way that can change the world.” The program immerses students in the process of seeking innovative solutions for social problems through classroom and hands-on engagements with for-profit and nonprofit organizations. CSVC looks forward to continued collaborations with SIF, helping expand student connections to the social impact sector through speakers, projects and discussions.

Maryland social entrepreneur corps: On the ground in the Dominican republic International news outlets have covered the deportation of Haitian immigrants from the Dominican Republic since the expiration of a June 2015 paperwork filing deadline. Many of those targeted for deportation are Dominican-born individuals of Haitian descent. Stripped of citizenship rights in 2013, they have become stateless persons with no legal status in either country.

Nine University of Maryland students have watched the crisis unfold first-hand, having spent 8 weeks in the Dominican Republic learning about the tensions, history and struggles faced by Haitian migrants and Dominicans of Haitian descent. As part of the Maryland Social Entrepreneur Corps, these students worked to combat poverty by supporting local social entrepreneurs who provide reduced-cost access to technologies such as solar-powered lamps and water filtration systems, and creating easy-to-understand manuals to increase adoption of those technologies. The students also learned to implement the micro-consignment model, a unique form of social entrepreneurship that incurs no risk for the entrepreneur and ensures that consumers are provided with access to essential products, technologies and services.

Previous Social Entrepreneur Corps participants worked directly with the disenfranchised populations, creating an advocacy campaign and toolkit to assist with the naturaliza-

tion process, enabling those affected to obtain the necessary paperwork to remain in the DR as legal citizens.

In addition to the Dominican Republic, students have been hard at work in Ecuador and Nicaragua. This year’s program totals 27 students, an 80% increase in enrollment over the previous year, including 3 recipients of the Gilman Scholarship, a prestigious award to study and intern abroad that was given to only 12 students at the University of Maryland.

A unique offering, the Maryland Social Entrepreneur Corps includes both pre-departure and return courses to equip all participants with the knowledge and skills to prepare for and reflect on their transformative experiences abroad.

“I am so in love with the Dominican Republic – it’s such a beautiful and interesting place. The projects we’ve worked on have been a challenge, but it’s pushed us to persevere and take a look at the bigger picture — social impact.”

- Folarin Falade, Junior, Anthropology

Cross-disciplinary collaboration water sustainability in the middle east Students get hands-on experience addressing water scarcity and natural resource constraints in the Jordan River Basin.

Water is a precious commodity in the Palestinian territories and it is becoming more valuable every day as climate change brings longer and more significant droughts to the area. Located within the Jordan River basin and neighboring Israel and Jordan, the region has some of the scarcest renewable water resources per capita in the world. This spring, an interdisciplinary team of graduate students from the UMD Baltimore and College Park Campuses worked with the Arava Institute to address this issue by focusing on the feasibility

of greywater reuse for agricultural production in off-the-grid communities.

The team was comprised of 8 students from various disciplines including Business, Law, Dentistry, and Nursing; together they explored two business models that could commercialize the implementation of greywater treatment systems, ultimately relieving some of the resource strain and strengthening the economic viability of local communities.

environment, provided suggestions for legal framework reform, and analyzed the important public health considerations of implementing greywater systems in the region. This cross-disciplinary collaboration was the joint effort of Smith’s Office of Global Initiatives, CSVC, and allies in the Carey School of Law. Managing Director Elana Fine provided guidance and faculty oversight through the duration of the project.

In addition to a business plan, the team’s final report described the current legal

Spotlight: CSVC earns 2015 cordes innovation award As more and more colleges and universities seek to launch and grow social entrepreneurship programs on campus, there is an even greater need to share expertise in designing programs that create positive social and environmental impact. CSVC’S signature ChangeTheWorld Nonprofit Consulting Program (CTW) was awarded the Ashoka U Cordes Innovation Award at the 2015 Ashoka U Exchange, distinguishing CTW as a high impact and highly replicable education innovation.

CTW was one of six high-impact 2015 awardees. Pammi Bhullar, Program Director of ChangeTheWorld at the Center for Social Value Creation, presented on the program on Day 2 of the Exchange.

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Urban greenhouse cooperatives can build wealth for worker-owners and provide sustainably-grown, high-quality fresh produce year-round while bringing much-needed business activity to disinvested neighborhoods.

smith students offer solutions in west baltimore West Baltimore has been at the epicenter of upheaval and unrest in recent months, and city lawmakers and local officials are calling for ways to effect change in the low-income, marginalized community. An innovative experiential learning practicum piloted by the three schools in the University of Maryland system offers some potential solutions.

The “West Baltimore Community Wealth Building Practicum” had graduate students developing launch plans for worker-owned cooperatives to bolster the economy in Baltimore’s west side communities. In the worker-owned cooperative business model employees are business owners, and well-rooted community institutions – such as universities, hospitals and churches – are the customers of the cooperatives’ goods and services. It’s a model that is working in other blighted urban areas, including Cleveland. The cooperative business structure promotes a broader ownership of capital, leading to benefits beyond living-wage jobs. These businesses leverage anchor institutions for community benefit, contribute to local economic stability, build skills and opportunities in populations often excluded from quality jobs, and contribute to community pride and stewardship.

The UMD initiative is a partnership between the Center for Social Value Creation and the University of Maryland Baltimore’s School of Social Work and the Carey School of Law. In 2015, the second year of the project, students in the course built on the groundwork of the 2014 cohort. They spent the

spring semester interviewing potential customers and other community stakeholders and building out the details for what it would take to launch and sustain two worker-owned cooperatives in West Baltimore: an urban greenhouse and a furniture restoration business.

The goal of the practicum has been to lay the groundwork and reduce some of the risk associated with launching these businesses. The students in this year’s practicum presented their recommendations in early May to professors and local community members from the city government, nonprofits, foundations and workforce development groups.

Although UMD is involved in driving the project forward at the moment, the goal is to transition leadership to local community members and the anchor institutions to see it through to completion.

#solutions

Cross-disciplinary collaboration The Social Enterprise Symposium is one of the largest annual events at the University of Maryland. Created and hosted by the Center for Social Value Creation (CSVC) at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, the Symposium explores the role of business in creating economic prosperity and positive social and environmental change.

The 7th annual Social Enterprise Symposium took place at the University of Maryland on February, 27 2015. This year’s event explored social impact and value creation from a variety of academic lenses. Allies in the School of Public Policy, Arts and Humanities, Behavioral and Social Sciences, The Academy for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and the College of Agriculture & Natural Resources each played a role in providing content and hosting interactive breakout sessions.

As an added bonus, the Symposium was conducted in partnership with the 2015 Ashoka U Exchange ─an international convening on social entrepreneurship in higher education.

UMD is a founding Ashoka U “Changemaker Campus” and was the 2015 Ashoka U Exchange host. In this capacity the Symposium welcomed a broad range of student attendees from colleges and universities across the country and around the world.

The event included a keynote address by Shira Shafir, Director of Social Impact at TOMS Shoes, several breakout sessions, and featured the Do Good Showcase where aspiring

social entrepreneurs pitched their ideas and competed for startup money. CSVC Academic Director Christine Beckman led a session on “Investing in Women: Fostering Female Social Entrepreneurs” and other sessions covered topics such as science for social impact and using design thinking to solve social problems, among others. Lead sponsors included Earth Color, Macy’s, PwC, and Unilever. Additional support was provided by Womble Carlyle and the Conscious Venture Lab.

“One of the things I am most proud of is that, as a company, we actually listen to our critics, and we continue to innovate.” - Shira Shafir, TOMS

#allin #ses15

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women-led teams sweep the do good challenge The 2015 Do Good Challenge featured 78 student teams from across the University competing to do as much good as possible over 8 weeks in Spring 2015. Students in the Ventures Track leveraged the Challenge to propel their own social enterprises, while those in the Projects Track raised money, volunteered and advocated for their favorite causes. The competition culminated in an exciting Finals event in April where 6 teams competed for a total of over $20,000 in prize money.

Sponsored by Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management, the Challenge was founded in 2012 by the Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership in the School of Public Policy and is now a partnership with the Center for Social Value Creation. Two female-led teams, Miles for Smiles (Project) and Press Uncuffed (Venture), won over the judges with their results, passion, and drive. Other finalists included Help Kids Be Kids, Terps Against Hunger, K. Sultana, and MedFund.

Miles for Smiles, led by undergraduates Linda Powers and Laura Gonzalez, raised money and awareness to address the lack of oral health care for children in rural Honduras, where dental clinics and oral hygiene supplies are scarce. Press Uncuffed, led by graduate student Kirsten Craft, pre-sold $33,000 of bracelets to raise awareness of imprisoned journalists around the world and fight for their release. During the 8 week Challenge, Press Uncuffed secured partnerships with the Newseum, the New York Times, and HBO and is on track to reach $70,000 in sales. In total, Do Good Challenge teams volunteered over 5,000 hours and raised more than $105,000 for social causes.

Moving forward the year ahead The Center for Social Value Creation touches the lives of thousands of students across campus. Our talented team of changemakers collaborates with a spectrum of partners to create a better world through business principles. Here are just a few of the opportunities to look for in the 2015─2016 academic year:

GOING HORIZONTAL

DEEPENING TIES TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Social value creation is about new business models and using market-based problem solving to create economic prosperity and social and environmental well-being. In the coming school year we aim to introduce and embed these ideas through the development of “7 Business Principles,” and demonstrate their applicability to all levels of learning – from Undergraduate to Executive Education.

Entrepreneurial thinking is a critical component of business leadership in the 21st century. Our students earn these skills through real-world field experiences, an informed curriculum, interaction with thought leaders and social entrepreneurs and multidisciplinary engagement. In 2015-2016 we plan to work more closely with the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, as well as other social innovation allies across campus, to strengthen and deepen programming that develops the entrepreneurial mindset.

FOUNDATION AND CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS In the coming academic year, the Center for Social Value Creation will revisit existing programming and explore new opportunities to best position our work for enhanced collaborations with foundation and corporate partners. From client-based experiential learning projects to custom sponsorship opportunities for enhanced access to student communities, we will strengthen and grow these relationships.

Spotlight: SUPPORT THE CENTER The Center for Social Value Creation is at the forefront of social impact education.

To remain a leader and continue cultivating solution-driven students prepared for today’s challenges, we need your support.

From scholarships for the Maryland Social Entrepreneur Corps, to sponsorship of a ChangeTheWorld Nonprofit Consulting project, to general support for the Center’s administration, your contribution makes an immediate and lasting impact. To discuss a unique giving partnership please contact Kim Robertella Glinka (krobertella@rhsmith.umd.edu), Associate Director of the Center. Thank you for your support!

to make a gift today, visit: ter.ps/growCSVC

Dr. Center for Social Value Creation Robert H. Smith School of Business Suite 2410 Van Munching Hall University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742-1815 csvc@rhsmith.umd.edu rhsmith.umd.edu rhsmith.umd.edu/svc facebook.com/creatingvalue twitter.com/creatingvalue http://blogs.rhsmith.umd.edu/creatingvalue