Here is a San Francisco based organization that seeks opportunity in crisis and has begun a reward program to honor those discovering them, and one is from Sacramento.
An excerpt.
Drowning in Disasters ... or Swimming in a Sea of Ingenuity?
By David Bornstein
"In a world buffeted by change, faced daily with new threats to survival, the only way to conserve is by innovating." ––Peter Drucker
Open a newspaper, turn on the TV, and within minutes you’re likely to be treated to a story about a violent crime, a political scandal, a natural disaster or another depressing installment from the so-called culture war. Reading the papers, one could be forgiven for concluding that the country, or indeed the world, has never been in worse shape. But there is a flipside to the story.
While the news tells us that our society is drowning in problems, we are also swimming in a sea of ingenuity in response to these problems. Over the past two decades, we’ve seen the widespread emergence of an ambitious and savvy breed of problem-solvers. These social innovators, or social entrepreneurs, are building new kinds organizations to attack problems more successfully than in the past.
Why now? Because of the intersection of need and opportunity. Today millions of people recognize problems that are not being adequately addressed by existing institutions – mishandled or ignored by government, business, and the media, among others. They see systems that have failed to keep up with changing times. And, significantly, they see how they can step in and advance practical and often scalable solutions.
It’s an exciting development, here and around the world. And yet there remains a lack of awareness about this ingenuity, and among those who are aware, a misguided assumption that these innovators are all of a certain type – in a word, young. That’s why I’m so impressed by The Purpose Prize, a social innovation in and of itself.
The entrepreneurs at Civic Ventures, and their funders at Atlantic Philanthropies and the Templeton Foundation, took a look at the nation’s problems, the sea of ingenuity, and the deep well of experience, energy, and entrepreneurship in today’s older adults – and put all the pieces together. A big prize, they figured, could bring awareness and investment to the field of social innovation, while dispelling myths about aging and encouraging a generation once known for social activism to reclaim its vision.
You just have to look at the finalists for the first-ever Purpose Prize to know that they were right. These exceptional innovators demonstrate that those over 60 represent one of the greatest areas of untapped potential in society. They are tackling some of the toughest jobs we face: finding new ways to educate hard to reach kids, managing the diseases of poverty, creating economic opportunities in forgotten neighborhoods, and promoting tolerance among age-old foes. They are making change and making real news – and they will be making a lot more of it in the years ahead.
Tonight, instead of tuning into the world’s problems for 30 minutes, use that time to check out the Purpose Prize finalists. You’ll discover stories of personal and social transformation that just might change your view of the world – and your life.
David Bornstein is a senior fellow at Civic Ventures and author of How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas.
