This article first appeared on the MaRS blog

As a clinical psychologist trying to support sex trade-involved homeless youth, Dr. Sean Kidd found that encouraging them to participate in artistic initiatives brought far more success than the ‘best practices’ he was trained in.

While traditional evidence-based methods were still used, getting the kids to develop and act in skits together led to a far greater level of engagement than the organization he worked for had ever achieved in 25 years, as they developed the relationships and trust that helped them discuss their problems with others.
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One short year ago, the Task Force on Social Finance released its report, Mobilizing Private Capital for Public Good. It was time to more formally embrace the growing impact investment movement as a viable and necessary economic activity for Canada.

Social finance, also known as impact investing or blended value investing, is defined as proactively investing in businesses, organizations or funds that generate both a social or environmental AND financial return.

The Task Force on Social Finance was conceived by SiG (Social Innovation Generation), a national partnership of organizations focused on understanding, catalyzing and implementing transformative social innovation.
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The following post was first published by Al Etmanski on November 27, 2011

Together: Respecting the Future is now on-line. http://socialinnovationbc.ca/

You can access and comment on the draft report using Google Docs. To download a full copy of the Draft Recommendations click here.

This draft report represents the current thinking of members of the BC Government’s Advisory Council on Social Entrepreneurship on how best to address our province’s tough social challenges now and in the future.  We have chosen Bill Reid’s Spirit Canoe as our enabling metaphor.  This mythical canoe which is on the back of every twenty dollar bill holds a variety of diverse occupants, not always in harmony, who have to work together to navigate the challenges of their environment.
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The following post was first published by At Etmanski on his blog on November 1st, 2011.

200 Japanese pensioners volunteered to begin the cleanup of the Fukushima power plant earlier this year. The self-proclaimed ‘Skilled Veterans Corp,’ asserted that they, not younger people, should risk radiation because, “they are more likely to die of natural causes before the cancers take hold.”

This example jumped out as a loving illustration of future thinking in, Future Quotient, a report just released by Volans a leading UK consultancy, think tank and innovation lab and JWT. Authored by John Elkington, Alastair Morton and Charmian Love (a talented young Canadian many of us hope to some day lure back to Canada), Future Quotient is designed to stimulate thinking in advance of of the 2012′s UN Summit on Sustainable Development in Rio.

The report’s implications are broader.
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The following blog was written by Sean A. Kidd, Ph.D

Independent Clinician Scientist & Head, Psychology Service, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Despite the substantial social and economic costs of mental illness and the existence of effective interventions, access to adequate treatment and services is a major problem. In high income countries less than half of individuals with mental health problems receive treatment and in many low income countries a ratio of one psychiatrist to 1 million people is common. The scale of the problem is further highlighted by the fact that mental illness will account for 15% of the global burden of disease by 2030.
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In early October a new watershed report appeared, co-authored by John Elkington and Charmian Love of Volans and Alastair Morton from JWT. Entitled: The Future Quotient: 50 Stars in Seriously Long-Term Innovation, the report draws attention to the dramatic gap in modern society’s ability to be planning multi-generationally.

The Volans-JWT report accepts that the recent economic crisis was squandered by not being put to use to create positive change at a moment when modern society is heading into a period of dramatic transition. Unfortunately they identify that we are entering an era of creative destruction at a time “when natural resource and environmental security challenges are pressing in.”

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This post has been reprinted with permission from Roots of Empathy. We welcome Mary Gordon as a guest blogger for SiG.

When I first learned that I would be receiving a 2011 Ernest C. Manning Foundation Innovation Award for my work as founder of Roots of Empathy, I was stunned―in a good way.

“We have to change the people in the world if we want to have peace.”

This award, one of the most prestigious and traditionally science-based awards in Canada, provides not only huge encouragement for our organization and for me personally, but also for hundreds of social entrepreneurs in Canada.

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By now you have heard or read the call to action from Jack Layton in his last words to Canadians: “my friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we will change the world.”

Photo by Peter J. Thompson

A profound sentiment from a true change maker and leader. Every day at SiG we are privileged to work with Canadians, young and old who not only believe in a better Canada, they are actually working towards it. These Canadians often choose to make a difference through social entrepreneurship, Jack chose to do it through politics, and others like David Pecaut (someone who I can’t help but think of when I read the tributes to Jack) choose to do it through community building.
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2010′s Waterloo Lecture on Social Innovation featured Reos Partner’s Adam Kahane and served as launch for his book Power and Love: a theory and practice of social change. 18 months and several speeches later, Adam has coalesced his thoughts into the 10 laws of love and power.

While by no means assuming that following the laws is easy, I find his 10 laws heartening. They suggest a change theory that is possible; the first step being a commitment to a collaborative process regardless of background or interest.

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