Design for Social Entrepreneurship

De-SE
I signed up for this class because I ave always had an interest in social enterprise. In the past 5 years I have been exposed this field of work through my father. He is the director of Zen Peacemakers, an organization that focuses on socially engaged Buddhism. For their primary source of income they develop socially responsible businesses that are centered on a triple bottom line and sell them once they have become financially independent.

Greyston Bakery
One example is Greyston Bakery Founded in 1982 in the southwest corner of Yonkers, a poor neighborhood beset by high unemployment, violence and drugs. The bakery was designed to hire the homeless and any people that conventional businesses had deemed unemployable. It trained its employees in bakery crafts and soon they were producing some of New York's most expensive, high-end cakes and tarts sold in the city's fanciest eateries. In 1990 it began to produce brownies for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream and its revenues shot up dramatically. Since its humble founding, the bakery grew into a successful $6 million business with more than 75 employees. Its hiring remains to this very day "First come, first served," and much of its profits are recycled into seed money for its sister not-for-profits, thus making the entire network more sustainable and financially independent.

Change
There are so many organizations that are working to improve our quality of life, and minimize our impact on the environment. I want the opportunity to design the tools, and products, that these organizations will need to facilitate change.