On the one year anniversary of Congress's passage of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, we can declare victory on the battle of ideas. Nearly two years ago, Candidate Obama embraced the agenda of social innovation, he later translated its principles into his Administration and the Congress responded to his call to pass a truly innovative Serve America Act.
But winning the idea battle is only the beginning of the larger challenge we face towards the goal of a wholesale re-engineering of government - specifically to move it from provider of service to catalyst for results. Truly integrating the concept of innovation into government will be much like the proverbial square peg in the round hole, but it is precisely the challenge we signed up for and continue to pursue.
Our work is not only important in social challenges we seek solutions for but I think it's critical for the nation as a whole. Precisely at this moment in time when the media obsession with "anti-government" sentiment is driving us further apart as a nation and in communities, I believe the opportunity is now to ask the majority of Americans, who may want government to reform but also believe there is a role for government and individuals to solve social problems, to join us in supporting social innovation and community solutions. My guess is 20% will remain in the "just say no" club but a vast majority of others - Republicans, Independents and Democrats will join us. We just need to ask them.
In order to win the second phase of the innovation revolution, we need three things:
1. An organized constituency: People drive politics, and to be successful at this movement we need to rally the group of Americans who want social innovation and national service to be a national priority and are willing to spend time and resources to demand that government and its elected leaders respond to this call.
2. Results: Taxpayers care about results, not intentions. Social entrepreneurs and innovators must show all Americans the solutions that can effectively and efficiently solve the problems faced in communities every day. To renew the social contract in America (and that is our objective) we must give citizens a confidence that their efforts thru taxes, volunteerism or other forms of community service are valued and effective. The days of asking Americans to do more but offering nothing different from government are gone. Nothing spurs replication quite like success so engaging Americans in the success of social innovation is the future of this movement.
3. Human capital: When I ask the most successful social innovators what is the largest obstacle to their success they unanimously answer: human capital. They don't have the talent or the systems to grow their program's impact or manage and develop professionally their own staff. Volunteers and national service programs can be a pipeline for talent, but social entrepreneurs must establish management systems, career paths, and resources to ensure that a career in social change is an end, not merely a stepping stone in the aspirations of our best and brightest. This issue must rise to the top of the agenda, with the resources and attention to match, before we will produce the results the political system demands.
Because "just say no" or "antigovernment" is popular at the moment, we need strong advocates for a "change government for the better" message. To allow the cacophony of noise, controlled by a small number of small thinking groups, to overwhelm the opportunity to bring change and innovation to government would be a strategic error of historic proportion. We live in interesting and stressful times but if we look at history we know that it is exactly at this moment when great things can happen. A serious, strong, committed cadre of citizens who believe in renewing the social contract America has always held between her citizens and our government is urgently needed. Whose is ready to join and get to work?