Social Entrepreneurs

Social entrepreneurs are not content just to give a fish or teach how to fish. They will
not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry, Bill Drayton (1). A social
entrepreneur can be anyone, it doesnt matter what age or race you are. Its about coming
together and helping each other and succeed as a whole country. Whether we help the crisis on
the economy, education, climate change, is about the little things that change our country for
good. Many social entrepreneurs start off with an idea and later on put it to work and achieve
their goal.
For the past fear years there has been many people who succeed on becoming a social
entrepreneur to make a change in our country. Ben Simon is a social entrepreneur, founder and
executive director of, Food Recovery Network, an organization that gathers food from their
school campus (UMD) and then takes it to shelters for people who are not fortunate to have a
plate of food for dinner. Ben realized that all the food that was left from his school was thrown
out, and thats when he thought of an idea. He gathered up a couple of students from campus and
at the end of their meal they would go collect all the leftover food from dining halls and would
take it to shelters (2).
As days, months, and years pass by our obstacles as a whole country become more
complex and with the reliance of social entrepreneurs they are able to establish and can far-out
take in the problems and solve them in an outstanding way. Business and social entrepreneurs
need to take action in order for them to achieve their goal, but what makes them different from
one other is their beliefs. A business entrepreneur is someone who creates something and earns
profits for themselves; however a social entrepreneur starts off by not having a lot but later on
earning profits for a cause, not for themselves (3). Generally, Business entrepreneurs are focused

more on commercialism and expanding profits, whereas social entrepreneurs are more focused
on non-profit organizations and improving the lives of others.
Ever since 9/11 stroked our country, our economy is having many dilemmas. Just recently
our government had a shutdown due economy problems. The government shutdown took $24
billion out of the U.S. economy (4) which brought a leakage to our economy affecting not only
our nations economy but individuals as well. Vince Siciliano is a social entrepreneur and the
president and CEO of the, New Resource Bank, an organization that help build a more
sustainable economy (5). As the CEO of this organization he deals with a lot of non-profit
customers. Their mission is to advance sustainability with everything (5) they do. He gives
non-profit entrepreneurs the opportunity to establish a business by giving them loans as whereas
regular banks dont know about organic food or alternative energy or solar cells (6). Siciliano
helps open small business who dont have enough money to start off but they have a well thought
idea of what they want to achieve, which benefits communities itself.
In addition to our economic problems, the US is also facing educational issues. Failure of
education is the inability to adequately address the achievement gap that disproportionately
impacts low-income high school students in the United States (7). Its no longer about students
not wanting to have an education, what is affecting them to get a career is their economy income.
Many students arent able to afford an education. Most of the students who want an education
cant afford it, are left with few options such as minimum-wage jobs or menial labor (7).
Genesys Works, gives students an opportunity to get a full-time employment within the
corporation (7) as well pursuing them to earn a college degree. Impact to date includes 90% of
Genesys Works graduates subsequently enrolling in college (7). This program gives students the
quality education and the opportunity for a professional position (7) in which they can probe to

their personal future. Alvarez the founder and CEO of this program believes that students with
low-income should manage to pursue a professional career and a higher education. Alvarez is a
social entrepreneur who was recognized by President Barack Obama for helping non-profit
individuals and for changing lives and dramatically improved communities.
In addition to Alvarezs organization, The DonorsChoose.org Experience, has also helped
our education improve. Over the past few years public schools have experienced crisis on budget
cuts. School districts across the country have been forced to compromise their academic
curricula because of enlarged class size and limited resources (7). Charles Best, a public school
teacher in the Bronx (7) started noticing all the problems schools have been facing. After
realizing what was happening he decided to open up an organization where teachers can apply to
access small grants and purchase school materials. DonorsChoose.org raised over eighty-five
million dollars and promoted more than five million students. Best became a social entrepreneur
bringing a positive outcome to educational crisis.
Moreover, the United States has also been facing environmental issues. Obama talked
about climate change about two years ago saying that if we dont do anything about it then its
going to get worse and there wont be a way to solve the problem (8). Brenden Millstein a social
entrepreneur designed an association that decreased energy bills for factories, schools and offices
called CarbonLightHouse. This association helps conserve energy and collect data on
temperatures, air flow, electricity use, and other conditions, then make small tweaks in building
operations to increase efficiency (9). This might not seem like it with benefit us but in future
generations it will. Millstein talks about how one can save money and conserving energy by just
making small readjustments. Millstein has been able to save money for non-profit organizations
for instance schools, and form a cleaner and carbon free environment.

Every social entrepreneur has a different goal to achieve. They use current crisis on what
is happening in the United States to make a change. They want to make an effect that will not
just last for a short period but for a long time. Whether it has to do with education, climate
change, or economy, it will be something that we can rely on when those problems come back.
Overall a social entrepreneur helps the US by focusing more on the non-profit organization and
making lives better for others.

Citations
1. http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/social-entrepreneurship
2. http://www.foodrecoverynetwork.org/about-us/our-story/
3. http://www.sba.gov/content/what-entrepreneur#
4. http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/17/heres-what-the-government-shutdown-cost-theeconomy/
5. https://www.newresourcebank.com/content/about-us
6. http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/2012-06-21/americas-most-promising-socialentrepreneurs-2012#slide12
7. http://mcgraw-hillresearchfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/SocialEntrepreneurship-WP.pdf
8. http://www.whitehouse.gov/energy/climate-change
9. http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/2012-06-21/americas-most-promising-socialentrepreneurs-2012#slide3