The most successful women’s economic development initiatives—micro-enterprise networks and larger, mid-sized businesses or “social enterprises”— are successful, in part, because they are intensely local. Yet the very key to their success —their localness— also limits the breadth of their impact. Working to grow their economic impact, women from nearly thirty organizations in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico convened in Montreal in 2004, to launch the Women and Social Enterprise Network. The Network emerged from a series of convenings over the past three years, including the Ms.

The Aspen Institute is launching a new initiative, Enterprising Organizations: New Approaches to Social Problem-Solving, at an upcoming invitation-only conference in May. As part of the initiative, Aspen is also publishing a report, Building Wealth: The Asset-Based Approach to Solving Social and Economic Problems, authored by The Democracy Collaborative. (TDC Founding Principal Gar Alperovitz’s new book, America Beyond Capitalism, is reviewed in the April issue of SER)

In 1945, the original 50 founding delegates signed the U.N. Charter in San Francisco. "Today, Mayor Newsom has brought together 50 of the largest and most visionary cities on the planet to chart a new and bold course toward urban environmental sustainability," said Jared Blumenfeld, director of the San Francisco Environment Department. One by one, each mayor stepped forward to sign the Accords document, which sets out 21 specific actions for sustainable urban living.

The defining question of our time — the question our children and grandchildren are going to ask us a generation from now — will be: ‘What were you doing to make our community and our country and the world stronger, safer and better?’” That was the question raised by Bill Shore, founder and Executive Director of Share Our Strength, a national non-profit working to help end hunger, at the start of the Harvard Business School 6th Annual Social Enterprise Conference in Cambridge this March.

On March 1, President Bush addressed the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) Leadership Conference and announced the results of a 2004 report on competitive grant awards to faith-based organizations in a select group of programs at the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Education, Justice and Labor. President Bush had this to say about the role of government and social entrepreneurship: “You know, one of the tests of character for America is how we treat the weakest of our citizens.

San Francisco, Calif. — Tides Center has been awarded grants totaling $4.5 million to significantly expand its services to social innovators and nonprofit organizations. W.K.Kellogg Foundation led the funding with a three-year grant of $4.07 million. Additional funders of the initiative include the Skoll Foundation, which has contributed $225,000, as well as The Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, which have each contributed $100,000.

DURHAM NC – (Durham Herald-Sun) The Wachovia Foundation is giving Duke University $1 million for afterschool programs for low-income Durham schoolchildren and business support for nonprofit organizations. The after-school component will be carried out by Project HOPE (Holistic Opportunities Plan for Enrichment), which operates in the Walltown neighborhood and southwestern central Durham. In 2004,more than 165 children received tutoring, mentoring and arts enrichment at community centers after school and during the summer.Duke students volunteer as tutors.

David Green, Technology Transfer Innovator and Executive Director of Project Impact in Berkeley, California, was named a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellow for 2004.The Foundation selected 23 MacArthur Fellows, each of whom will receive $500,000 in ‘no strings attached’ support over the next five years. A pioneer in the manufacture and distribution of advanced health care products for patients in the developing world who could not otherwise afford them, Green founded Project Impact in 2002.

The W.K.Kellogg Foundation and the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) have announced the selection of 12 collaboratives that have advanced to the semi-final round of the Entrepreneurship Development Systems for Rural America Project. The collaboratives will provide effective practices in building rural entrepreneurship development systems that integrate policy, education, training, technical assistance, financing, networks, culture and social entrepreneurship strategies. One of the first products that emerged from this project is a report — Mapping Rural Entrepreneurship.

The Bayview Hunters Point Center for Arts and Technology (BAYCAT) has finalized its construction drawings for a 5,000 sq. ft. professional multimedia lab and collaborative facility in San Francisco. The spaces will be used for a gallery, group functions and meetings, and presentations. Featuring a gallery and state-of-the-art technology, the site will be used for BAYCAT’s inaugural programs in adult job training and youth arts. BAYCAT was inspired by the Manchester Bidwell Corporation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and its founder, William E. Strickland, Jr.