This is a presentation I made for Professor Jack Kirkland's class at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University. For more information on feedback from Dr. Kirkland and the class visit my website: www.whenwedreamtogether.com

1. Creating a Model for Sustainable
Urban Communities

2. “Let us be dissatisfied until the
tragic walls that separate the
outer city of wealth and
comfort and the inner city of
poverty and despair shall be
crushed by the battering rams
of the forces of justice.”
-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.--1967

3. Dr. King’s Solution for Disadvantaged Communities
In 1965, Dr. King called for a
$50 billion 10-year federal aid
program that included
business loans, housing
assistance, job training and
public works projects in
disadvantaged communities.

4.  This investment, King said,
would help blacks rebuild
their own neighborhoods
and lead to a “spectacular
decline in school dropouts,
family breakups, crime
rates, illegitimacy, swollen
relief rolls, rioting and
other social evils.”

5. “Many white people
would be surprised at
how many Negroes
would choose to live
among themselves,
exactly as Poles and
Jews and other ethnic
groups do.”
– Dr. King, Playboy Magazine, 1965

6.  Instead of investing in disadvantaged
communities & people, Government chose:
Food subsidies, public housing and vouchers,
and affirmative action programs
Mass and disproportionate incarceration of
minority population
Forced bussing outside of urban core
These efforts have contributed to:
The loss of urban resources due to integration
Divestment in the urban core
Exodus of the middle class from the urban Core
Almost 50 years of unchanged poverty rates
Breakup of the Black Family
Generational unemployment
Generational incarceration rates
Generational high school drop out rates

7. Empowerment: the missing
Component:
Government subsidies, housing, transportation
and neighborhood improvement projects in
historically disadvantaged communities are
worthy endeavors but they do little to reverse
generational cycles of poverty, unemployment
and related social ills.
More important, they do not empower the poor to
change their conditions. Everyday people must
receive the resources and inspiration to create
sustainable, vibrant communities.

8. How do we change negative
conditions in disadvantaged areas?
“You never change things by
fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build
a new model that makes the
existing model obsolete."
-- Buckminster Fuller
engineer, author and Inventor

9. Social Business: A New Model for
Empowering the Disenfranchised
Social businesses are enterprises created with
the intention to do good to and for people –
particularly people living in disadvantaged
areas. Social entrepreneurism and social
businesses can bring positive change to lives
and distressed areas while addressing basic
social needs such as food security,
unemployment, safety and health disparities.
Noble Prize-winning author, Muhammad Yunus’ pioneering
work in micro-lending and social business development,
such as the partnership with Dannone Yogurt serves as an
excellent model for urban revitalization on a massive scale.

10. Social Business Enterprise
Model for Sustainable Communities
A regional Social Business model should begin with food. The first
step is to choose a distressed area – preferably a “food desert” – an
area with limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables. This area
should already be slated for development under one of President
Obama’s initiatives, such as Promised Neighborhoods, Sustainable
Communities, Strong Cities/Strong Communities (SC2), Federal
Food Financing (FFI), etc. The goal is to develop a project that can
tap into established momentum and applicable federal resources.
SUPER-SIZED COMMUNITY SOCIAL BUSINESS VENTURE
A Social Enterprise Headquarters (center) should be developed on
vacant or abandoned property in target area. Land should be cleared,
cultivated and prepared to grow food on a scale large enough to
supply area homes, urban grocers, schools, public agencies
(retirement homes, juvenile centers, etc.) within the designated area.

11. Social Business Enterprise Zone
Model for Sustainable Communities
Immediate Inner-city Job Creation
The Center should have processing, packaging and food distribution
capabilities. Food should be processed and packaged for local,
national and even international distribution through Internet sales.
Resident within the designated area should be trained and hired to
grow, package, process, distribute and market the food.
Creating the Brand, Developing the Consumer Base
Products should be marketed under a chosen Social Enterprise
brand. Campaigns, similar to Girl Scout Cookie promotions, should
be created to convince consumers, organizations and churches that
loyalty to the “brand” equates to saving lives, helping children,
reducing crime, supporting urban revitalization, the creation of
sustainable jobs and the eradication of poverty.

12. Social Business Enterprise Zone
Model for Sustainable Communities
Social Business Co-opts
Modeled in the spirit of the Grameen-Danone venture, major
corporations can develop mini-ventures, or social business co-opts,
in areas where their services are not currently offered. Companies
such as Home Depot and Whole Food Markets can receive tax
subsidies and other incentives for providing management, supplier,
distribution, marketing and sales services for the spin-off enterprises
within the Social Business Zone.
Micro-Lending & Innovative Financing
Micro-loans and other sources of public/private funding can be
offered to trained managers so they can become owner/operators of
social business enterprises within disadvantaged communities.

13. Social Business Enterprise Zone
Model for Sustainable Communities
Social Business 101
For long-term success, a strong educational component must be
inculcated within the model. Perhaps partnerships with local
universities or community colleges can be arranged so adults can
receive GEDs or business certificates at the Center during non-
working hours. The center should also offer on-site training programs
so workers can build skills that will help them transition from laborers
to managers to owner/operators of burgeoning social enterprises.
Serving High School drop outs and at-risk Youth
In order to reverse generational poverty and unemployment, on-site
educational and training programs must also be established for high
school drop outs and at-risk youth. Partnerships with the education,
Juvenile Justice and judges is paramount to make this work.

14. In-Prison Prep
The Social Business Enterprise should also redress societal
norms with disproportionate negative impact on low-income
communities. A system should be created to help ex-offenders
play empowering roles as providers, employees and even social
entrepreneurs. A partnership with the Missouri Correctional
system should be established that offers in-prison social
business training to promising, soon-to-be-released offenders.
Once released, they immediately report to the social business
center where counseling, mentoring and motivational programs
are mandatory. Opportunities will be provided so they can
further studies, advance skills and move into the vibrant world of
inner-city social business as a productive participant.
These prisoners-turned-entrepreneurs can serve as emissaries,
mentors and role models for at-risk youth.

15. Extending the Brand
Keeping in mind that the social business mission is to create
enterprises that serve social needs. Therefore the brand of the
Social Business Center an be extended to include other non-
food related items and services such as childcare, healthcare,
weatherization services and the manufacturing of clean energy
and efficient products and material.
If the project is established in an area already slated for
revitalization (new housing, public transit, clean and renewable
energy projects, “smart grid” work, etc.) it can becomes an
additional stabilizing force in the targeted neighborhood. If
federally-subsidized projects are already underway, the Social
Business model can become the ongoing nucleus that
empowers residents and keeps sustainable economic activity
circulating within the boundaries of the designated area(s).

16. The
Social
Business
Model
Flow
Chart

17. What’s needed:
Implementation steps include
* An aggressive community outreach campaign
* Alignment with an area under development
* Purchase or procurement of vacant land
* Development of massive food production, processing,
packaging and distribution system
* Buy-in from local, state and federal policymakers
* Educational, business & correctional system buy-in
* Creation of social business co-operatives
* Buy-in from civic, social and faith-base organizations
* Development of a solid consumer base
* Major marketing and promotional campaigns

18. An Implementation Opportunity:
At the end of the year (2011) the Obama Administration is
expected to launch the “SC2 Pilot Challenge” -- an initiative
with a total investment of $6 million to approximately six cities.
The effort will support the development and implementation of
comprehensive and unique economic development plans.
The initiative provides an opportunity to create a wide-ranging
and sustainable economic plan based on the principles of
social business and social entrepreneurism.
This approach as part of the SC2 Pilot Challenge can lead to
the creation of implemental models for sustainable jobs in
long-neglected urban areas and social benefit in alternative
education, prison recidivism, neighborhood revitalization and
community ownership.

19. For more details and information
Visit:
www.whenwedreamtogether.com
What is When We Dream Together:
When We Dream Together Inc. (WWDT), is a local nonprofit dedicated
to delivering the inspiration, information and resources necessary to
create vibrant urban communities of opportunity. It was
founded on the theory that sustainable change in troubled urban areas
is only possible when everyday individuals are respectfully
engaged, informed and empowered to make that change.