Kelli Peterson is a brand and communications strategist with 20 years of professional experience in the corporate and non-profit world. Kelli currently leads strategic development for Cheskin Added Value(www.cheskin.com), an innovation consulting firm with 26 offices in 15 countries. Kelli is a sometimes blogger, an avid world traveler and passionate about creating positive social impact.
The 2009 Sustainability Conference kicked off last night in Monterey, CA with opening remarks from among others, Owen Rogers, Partner and Experience Design Lead of IDEO. A self-described non-expert in sustainability none-the-less first laid out five principals on branding then asked whether sustainability could be a brand?
Whether there is sound reasoning or “the answer” to how brands can change the world to positive effect is not the point. Owen, [...]
Yesterday the White House announced President Obama’s 2010 request to Congress for $50 million to set up a Social Innovation Fund with the goal of identifying the most promising results-oriented non-profit programs in order to expand their reach throughout the country.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? In the case of St. Thomas 7-Hot Pepper Sauce, it was definitely the chicken. Without the chicken, there wouldn’t be the fertilizer to grow the hot peppers to make the hot sauce that the sent kids from the St. Thomas projects in New Orleans Lower Garden District off to college.
And without the chickens, Derek Hoeferlin and his architectural students from Washington University would not have had reason to take interest in this little community garden which has begun to harbor interest for it’s uniquely designed “urban chicken coop”, the story of its recovery post-Katrina and the sustainability recipe it holds for other communities across America.
Good ideas have a life of their own. That’s what Paul Baricos, Executive Director of the Hollygrove Growers Market and Farm (HGMF) in New Orleans is learning two years after the Carrolton-Hollygrove Community Development Center (CHCDC) set out to figure out how to bring fresh produce to a neighborhood with no real access to affordable food.
Whether they are “social” entrepreneurships or just plain entrepreneurships, it is clear that New Orleans is laying the right groundwork for a full-scale “and then some” recovery.
New housing programs target specific populations or neighborhoods that have been dislocated by the sequence of events initiated by Hurricane Katrina and which are critical to getting the New Orleans economy thriving again.
“We have our priorities right here in Louisiana, we treasure the arts. Our friends and family come first. We have a shared sense of stewardship to the community”,
What do CarrotMobs and sugar cubes have in common? Other than finding their way into your Easter basket, they are the campaigns created by Virgance to create change through consumer organizing.
Van Jones is a rising star in the green economy. As the founding President of Green for All, he is a doer. As the author of “The Green Collar Economy” he is a spokesperson and advocate. But he is actually much more than that. He’s actually Innovation 3.0.
The objective is to use entertainment content as a vehicle for educating mainstream audiences on topics such as HIV/AIDS and education in the hopes of influencing public views and behaviors.
One of these initiatives, called Get Schooled, is a partnership with Viacom that will weave education-themed story lines into existing shows or create new shows centered on education.
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