Web 2.0 Training

One of our assignments at KDMC multimedia web 2.0 camp at UC Berkeley included watching a “TED Topic” video, absorbing the point of the talk, then interviewing people on the streets about some aspect of it. My colleague Zeninjor and I, with the capable grad student Luisa, set documentary filmmaking back 100 years, and have the video to prove it. But we did manage to get some interviews, edit them up, and produce the accompanying video. This might also set the social innovation movement back a few decades. Here it is:

A handy doomsday clock:

The applications are starting to roll in for a share of $50 million the Obama administration has freed up to spend on social innovation projects. The White House recently said in a news release:

The SIF will direct funding through innovative, hands-on grant makers (or intermediaries) across the country.  These grant makers will identify fund and support over a period of years promising nonprofit organizations working in low-income communities.  …  Each federal dollar will be matched with at least $3 of private funding, for a total of $200 million or greater.

Of course, anytime taxpayer dollars are involved, there are bound to be concerns about how the money is spent. One blogger recently expressed this concern: “The whole scheme is implicitly biased towards those who speak the language of the “new philanthropy” and the service-delivery efforts they support, but there’s no evidence that these approaches make the biggest impact on what matters most – the structural and systemic problems in society that hold so many people back.”

The superstar of the federal effort is former Google economist Sonal Shah:

If you are interested in applying for the funds, here’s an FAQ from the federal government.

The grants will be announced in April.

Stanford University has a Center for Social Innovation that produces a smart review of the topic.

Canadian non-journalist offers his links and thoughts about Social Innovation.

America Forward is a coalition of entrepreneurial nonprofits.

Not many news organizations cover social innovation. The Chronicle of Philanthropy is one.

Some readers might want to know where to go to take action. This site is for the Corporation for National and Community Service, and arm of the federal government.