Executive Session on Transforming Cities Through Civic Entrepreneurship

From 2008 to 2010, the Ash Center is convening the Executive Session on Transforming Cities through Civic Entrepreneurship. With support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Executive Session sought to change the environment in which communities solve their social problems. Out of these discussions came a series of working papers and a new book, The Power of Social Innovation (Jossey-Bass/Wiley 2010) by Stephen Goldsmith.

About the Session

Through a series of closed-door discussions that build upon participants' own experiences in disrupting and reinventing their respective fields, the Executive Session explored city’s challenges in solving problems, avenues for encouraging social innovation in neighborhoods, and opportunities for national social entrepreneurs to more effectively engage local communities. Between meetings, participants experimented with these new ideas and strategies and actively integrate them into the national discourse.

Research and Writing: A Sampling

• FedScoop! column by Executive Session member David Gragan, former chief purchasing officer for the District of Columbia, on making public contracting more entrepreneurial
• Philanthrocapitalism authors Matthew Bishop (of The Economist) and Michael Green list The Power of Social Innovation as one of their Top 15 Books of 2010
• Manifesto from Professor Mark Moore and other members of the Executive Session
• NewTalk.org conversation "Social Innovation in America's Cities: Getting More Out of Our Social Service Delivery Systems," held September 23-25, 2009
• Recordings of our Power of Social Innovation Webinar Series featuring Executive Session members and other social innovators from across the country
• Better, Faster, Cheaper column "Superman Isn't Waiting in the Wings," by J.B. Schramm, College Summit and Dorothy Stoneman, Youthbuild
• Better, Faster, Cheaper column "Social Innovation Snagged in Procurement Red Tape," by NYC Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs and former D.C. Chief Procurement Officer David Gragan

Read other columns and articles by Executive Session members here»

Members

Led by HKS Professors Steve Goldsmith, Mark Moore, and Frank Hartman, the Session's members comprise a prestigious group of national leaders and policy makers. View the full list of members»

About Executive Sessions at Harvard Kennedy School

For more than 20 years, Harvard Kennedy School has supported the work of practitioners through its Executive Sessions. Each Session, held over three or more years, addresses a public policy issue that seems both intractable and, at the same time, ripe for a leap forward. Past Executive Sessions have addressed community policing, medical errors, and children in poverty. Bill Bratton, former commissioner of the New York City Police Department and former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, has said that community policing was born in an Executive Session at Harvard Kennedy School. Executive Sessions often prompt scholars and practitioners to collaborate on a series of reports or valuable papers that lead to policy change.

Learn More

The Project on Social Innovation recently launched an online hub for social innovation in cities and municipalities. Its purpose is to provide a practical platform for sharing stories and lessons of exciting innovators from the nonprofit, philanthropic, and public sectors. The hub accomplishes this purpose through an innovator's toolkit, relevant news updates, profiles of best practices, regular blogging, and links to other online resources. Visit the online hub»

For More Information

Tim Burke, Research Associate
617-496-4703
tim_burke@hks.harvard.edu