What is the best way to bring for-profit, nonprofit, faith-based, education and government together for greater collective impact and social justice? Santa Barbara’s Partnership for Excellence, hosted by the Santa Barbara Foundation, is doing just that. After 18 years of bringing together and inspiring the nonprofit community, this 19th year sees for-profit, government, faith-based and education coming together to discuss ways to generate sustainable impact that reaches into all corners of the community.
Jarrod Schwartz joins me on Socially Conscious Investing online radio. He is the founding Executive Director of Just Communities Central Coast, a social justice organization located in Santa Barbara. Jarrod has a unique approach that draws upon the fields of social justice and organization development to foster inclusive, multi-stakeholder processes that result in community and social change. Under his leadership, Just Communities has developed numerous workshops and programs working with youth, families, schools, business and residential sectors. Listen to the audio above to learn more about how these programs are implemented and their results.
To truly implement change in a way that sustains social justice across ethnicity, levels of education, class structure and sexuality, it is necessary to involve all areas of the community. In addition to collaboration between nonprofits and the community, the financial foundation is strengthened by integrating for-profit business and government.
As briefly explored last week, Social Impact Bonds are being reviewed by New York, Massachusetts and California. These are government bond issues that rely on for-profit and nonprofits to collaborate on the successful delivery of social services and that can save taxpayers billions of dollars. It is these kind of shifts in the way that we provide services that will increase the sustainability of social good. Read our last week’s blog for more info.
Just Communities is involved with implementing the Santa Barbara Thrive program, a cradle-to-career programs based on Jeff Edmondson’s Strive. You may enjoy listening to our prior interview with Anita Perez Ferguson to learn more about the Thrive program. You may also enjoy our program with Geoff Green of The Fund for Santa Barbara about social equity.
Take time to educate yourself about what is going on in your own community, and how you can get involved. Use our show and the Internet to hear how others are impacting change for social good. Then take action, no matter how small you think it is. Educate your friends, family and colleagues about what you’ve discovered. Give them the opportunity to learn. You may even suggest they register for once-a-week notifications for Socially Conscious Investing.
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