Why Do You Do What You Do?
It's been an exciting year at College for Social Innovation as we have grown from two founding college partners to five, enrolled and graduated 34 Social Innovation Fellows, and received applications from 63 social sector organizations to host one of our Fellows for a fully-credited semester of learning and impact.
We graduated 34 students with 97 percent saying they gained significant skills as problems solvers, 94 percent saying they made significant gains in design thinking, and 91 percent citing significant gains in public speaking and general workplace skills;
63 percent of students who enrolled in the program (including next fall's cohort) are first-generation, low-income, and/or students of color, helping us advance our goal of building a bigger, better, and more diverse talent pipeline for social change;
We placed student interns at 27 of Boston's best social sector organizations (non-profits, government agencies, and social mission businesses) and all 27 organizations said they wanted to host additional interns;
Of all organizations that have hosted a Fellow, a majority said they would "hire our intern in a heartbeat" if they had an open entry-level position. In total, 63 organizations have applied to host one of our students;
We have raised $1.8 million in philanthropy and have a pathway to sustainability through earned revenue (from the colleges and social sector organizations) by 2021;
We have been profiled in The Boston Globe, WGBH radio, Fortune Magazine, and numerous college-focused publications. Here is a recent article about our partnership with Clark University.
Check out College for Social Innovation graduate Emma talking about what she learned reading Of Mice and Men with an incarcerated man through her internship at Petey Greene, what Eriberto learned about telling his story, and how Jonathan learned the importance of asking "Why do you do what you do?":
