My first week in Baltimore has been a complete whirlwind, and it’s difficult to put into words everything I’ve seen, learned, and experienced so far. I’ll start by introducing one of the most important lessons I learned this week: why reinvent the wheel? Sometimes innovation isn’t about creating something entirely new. It’s about taking existing solutions and supporting them to achieve their greatest potential. There are so many grassroots organizations that are already working to improve Baltimore, from affordable housing initiatives and workforce development programs, to nonprofits and local black-owned businesses. But so many of them are struggling just to run their day-to-day operations. Many don’t have the time, energy, or funding to spare to seek out how they can connect with an organization just down the street that could fulfill one of their needs. What makes Innovation Works (IW) so unique is that it actively seeks out existing change-makers, walks with them in support, and makes critical connections among them. When Frank Knott founded IW, he wasn’t interested in creating any more competition; if we have a need that can be outsourced by the local talent that is already around us, then we’d love to collaborate rather than reinventing the wheel, so to speak. The IW employees are highly poised to facilitate this, because most of them have lived in Baltimore for years or even generations, and their constant networking and collaborating reveals who should be talking to who, who’s right next door that could be a collaborator, and what neighborhood assets already exist. And the beauty of IW’s first official collaboration with Miller Center, the GSBI Boost program, is that with all these local organizations in the same room at the same time, some incredible collaborations came out of the workshop. At past Miller Center Boost workshops around the world, there’s typically an air of excitement at being surrounded by so many other like-minded change-makers; but with everyone living and working in the same city, connections were just an amazing by-product of this locational advantage. The Boost presenters, Pamela Roussos and Steve White, confirmed that this was the first time that this level of connection came out of a three-day Boost workshop, and it was absolutely inspirational to witness. I did a lot of witnessing over the course of those three days, perhaps more quietly than I intended to before I arrived. But if there’s one thing we learned before we arrived, it’s that without fail, everything changes once you get to the field. Day One. Listening & Observing.I came into this fellowship planning on interviewing participants during Boost, but as soon as Day 1 went into full swing, I realized that wouldn’t be possible or helpful. Everyone was focused on trying to absorb the material, work with their mentors, and network with other organizations, and so I settled into the background. With the help of my GSBF mentor/“partner” for the week Spencer Arnold, who was attending Boost with other Miller Center employees, I was able to embrace my newfound role. I realized the value of having a third person observer in the room to ask the questions no one else is asking, pay attention to the factors that no one else is looking out for, and observe what might not be self-reported later. I started to look at the event holistically, not just the part of the curriculum that’s written out on the PowerPoint slides, because so much more goes into whether or not the event is successful, and all of it needs to be further tailored to the context of Baltimore. Even curriculum that’s as tried and true as Boost has room for improvement, particularly when entering a domestic context with complex systemic problems that operate differently here than in the Global South. Poverty in Baltimore is quite different than poverty in Fort Portal, Uganda, for example, and it’s important to account for that in the language we use, the intentionality given to the diversity of learners in the room, and the content of the curriculum. Day Two. Drawing out Knowledge.“Curriculum” is often thought of as a plan for how the teachers will impart knowledge upon the students; but both Miller Center and Innovation Works reject this conceptualization of curriculum, and rightly so. Firstly, when you’re talking about social entrepreneurs working to transform their city from the ground up, and make longtime Baltimore residents’ lives better, you’re talking about the people who know their own communities better than anyone else. You have to remember that it’s the local entrepreneurs who have all the crucial knowledge, not the presenters or mentors. So rather than imparting knowledge, the Miller Center presenters clarified time and again that they are hoping to draw out the knowledge that the social entrepreneurs already possess about their organizations, their beneficiaries, and their communities. I talked to Fr. Phil of Detroit at length about the way that we must perceive knowledge in order to afford respect and dignity to all people. He was visiting as a guest who’s run his own Boost program before, and he shared with me his belief that knowledge is not transferred or instilled, but rather, everyone possesses their own embodied knowledge. There are different kinds of knowledge, but everyone on this earth has knowledge. The approach that Miller Center has developed is simply about drawing out that knowledge in a differently conceptualized form than they might do on their own, through the lens of social entrepreneurship, so that they can think about their business as both socially impactful and viably sustainable. They take three days off to go back to their basics, and improve and lift up their own businesses. For example, they already know the mission of their business, but they might never have had to pare it down to a compelling 10-word statement that will better catch the attention of investors. The intentionality around imparting vs. drawing out knowledge is a difficult line to toe, particularly with this audience; they’ve had far too much experience with do-gooders that have tried to come into Baltimore from the outside year after year with new solutions, and little has changed except for continued gentrification and suffering for the majority of Baltimore. I’ll talk about this more in a later post. The disturbing past and present of Baltimore’s racial wealth divide is something that I will never know the full extent of because I have not experienced it myself, but I feel that it’s my responsibility to continue to educate myself precisely because it’s so invisible to those who don’t live it every day. It’s my job to listen to those who do. With that being said, the first two days of the workshop were largely successful in drawing out knowledge and broadening participants’ mindsets to innovative approaches. Day one was about taking on the mindset of a social entrepreneur in narrative form, and day two was all about the numbers. Day two was particularly grueling going through the financial model, but all 28 organizations stuck with it, working hard with their mentors, while I was busy observing and listening. Day Three. Connecting & Celebrating.The final day of Boost was about bringing it all together. The energy was palpable in the room for so many reasons—the excitement of gathering in a different space (the Impact Hub), the inspiration of everyone sharing their 2-minute pitch presentations, and the joy of everyone coming together and learning from one another, free from the assigned seating of the first two days. The social entrepreneurs’ passion truly shone through, and the peer-to-peer feedback brought out engaged participation and wise advice from even previously quieter participants. I may be a bit biased, but in my opinion the women really shined that day. Their hands may not have been raised as often, or called on as frequently on the first two days, but their voices on the final day showed that they know their stuff. Although the pitch contest wasn’t the main end goal of the whole Boost, it was inspiring to see three black women win the most votes for their compelling pitch presentations. I felt awed to be in the room with so many talented leaders, and it made me even more excited for the future. Moving forward, how can we keep this momentum going? How can IW create a valuable support system, resource, and network for everyone? What’s next? Special thanks to Sally and Libby for taking most of these photos! Check out this video recap of the event, created by Innovation Works' own Nicholas Mitchell!
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