2006 Social Innovators

Health, Human Rights & Access
Haymarket People’s Fund

In Boston, the death rate from breast cancer is highest among Black women.

Boston Black Women’s Health Institute is a membership organization that empowers Black women in Greater Boston to improve their own health and the health of their families and communities.  Through a combination of wellness programming and advocacy training, Black women receive on-going peer support to make changes in their personal lives, the health care system and the public policies that impact their health.

Executive Coach: Sylvia Simmons, The Anna B. Stearns Foundation
Presentation Coach:  Patricia Dougan, The Ariel Group

Boston Black Women's Health Institute Prospectus

Social Enterprise: Nonprofit Business Ventures
The Fund for Philanthropy & Education

More than 8,000 young people in Boston between the ages of 16 and 24 are neither working nor in school.

Circle Catering, a project of Roca, is a nonprofit business venture and full-service catering operation that sells an array of delicious, healthy, and ready-to-eat foods, including their signature burritos. Circle Catering provides job training opportunities for high-risk young people between 14 and 24 from Chelsea, East Boston, Charlestown, Revere, and the surrounding communities.

Executive Coach: Susanne Beck, The Trefler Foundation
Presentation Coach: Roberto Cremoni, The Barr Foundation

Tacos Unidos Prospectus

Open
The Margaret S. Lindsay Foundation

Boston, there are 2,800 children in the public foster care system, but only 1,000 qualified foster care and adoptive families. 

Treehouse Boston is a new community-based initiative that serves children in the public foster care system by recruiting and preparing adoptive families, engaging community members to support children in care in their neighborhoods, and sustaining families through ongoing support and education programs.  Over the next five years, Treehouse Boston will open Family Centers in multiple locations throughout the City of Boston, fundamentally changing the way children and families experience adoption through the foster care system.

Executive Coach: Janice Sherman, S&S Imports
Presentation Coach: Sukanya Lahiri Soderland, Mercer Oliver Wyman

Treehouse Boston Prospectus

Closing the Achievement Gap: Fostering Literacy in Youth
The Boston Globe Foundation

District-wide, 40% of Boston 10th graders failed to reach basic proficiency on the English and Language Acts section of the recent MCAS exam.

WriteBoston seeks to foster a “culture of writing” in all the public high schools in Boston.  As a city-wide initiative, WriteBoston is working to improve writing proficiency among high school students by matching teachers with expert writing coaches and creating opportunities for students to engage in the writing process with peers and community members.  

Executive Coach: Dan Kossman, Outstart
Presentation Coach:  Abhijit Prabhu, IDG Ventures

WriteBoston Prospectus

The Arts as a Catalyst for Change: Transforming People & Communities
Hunt Alternatives Fund

Youth who engaged with the arts are five times more likely to confront problems using logic, and twice as likely to feel confident in their ability to meet complex challenges.

ZUMIX is an exemplary arts and youth development organization rooted in the East Boston community.  Through its programs in songwriting, instrumental music and music technology, ZUMIX inspires and empowers young people to use music to make positive changes in their lives, their communities, and their world.

Executive Coach: Cotty Peabody
Presentation Coach:  Maya Townsend, Partnering Resources

Zumix Prospectus