In my April column, I made an impassioned case for catapulting innovation to the top of America’s priority list. “Nothing is more important for the long-term strength of our nation,” I concluded, “than driving greater levels of innovation across all sectors of our economy.” This month, I want to elaborate on how we can embrace this urgency and channel our creative energies into solving our biggest social, economic, and global challenges.
I believe we have an enormous amount of innovation taking place all through our nation—in physical and virtual worlds, in well-financed laboratories and converted garages, in corporations and small businesses, universities and charter schools, nonprofits and social ventures, and even government agencies. In addition to those already doing innovative things, I believe there is a deep bench of “wannabes” waiting for inspiration and a little bit of encouragement.
The challenge before us is to inspire all innovators and those who may not even know yet that they are innovators, regardless of whether their ideas and orientation are “for profit,” “public,” “nonprofit” or a hybrid of the three. We need to encourage them to dream big. We must enable them to connect seamlessly to the resources, talent, learning, and encouragement they need. And we as a nation need a national innovation vision to rally their efforts around.
A Reef Made of Silicon
In the early 1990s, a seasoned executive shared a metaphor that has stayed with me ever since. He said that innovation is like a coral reef. Marine biologists don’t understand fully what causes reefs to form, he said, but we do know that human actions can nurture (or harm) the process. The same is true for innovation. Innovation is a natural, chaotic, unpredictable process that is hard, perhaps even impossible, for well-meaning outsiders to foster. If we try to control or micromanage innovation, we risk squeezing out the very life forces that give rise to successful new ideas. Instead we must focus on finding ways to nurture and accelerate the natural processes of innovation once they’ve begun organically.
For almost a half century, Silicon Valley has been the country’s most compelling example of a healthy innovation ecosystem. Yes, first the dot.com implosion and now the Great Recession have dampened the exuberant spirits in the Valley—and the exotic Italian sports cars in the parking lots of Sand Hill Road now seem jarringly out of keeping with the somber reality of our times. But even after the deluge, Silicon Valley is the kind of reef ecosystem we need to support and nurture across our nation.
Silicon Valley’s remarkable ecosystem did not come to be as a result of a grand plan hatched by a civic or political leader. It developed organically, starting as far back as the Great Depression, when Stanford students Dave Packard and Bill Hewlett started tinkering in Packard’s Palo Alto garage.
Over many decades, Silicon Valley developed a unique, creative, informal, hierarchy-leveling culture. It developed an interconnected web of talented engineers, risk-taking entrepreneurs, big-think investors, and service providers (e.g., the law firm Wilson Sonsini and the design firm IDEO) that inherently understood the Valley’s culture. It became the world’s most fertile breeding ground for innovative technology businesses—starting with HP, then Intel, and then other successes like Apple, Cisco, eBay, Google, and many more. This ecosystem is now nurturing a disproportionate share of promising tech startups like Tesla and Facebook that have great potential to transform markets.
Academia, government, and the nonprofit community have also played a big part in the success of Silicon Valley. Stanford University, the alma mater of many of the Valley’s most prominent leaders, played an enormously catalytic role following World War II and continues to do so in the commercial and social arenas. Today, for example, Stanford engineering students and graduates are at the forefront of efforts to create inexpensive, culturally appropriate technologies for helping people in the developing world meet their basic needs.
The federal government, which rarely gets credit for its catalytic role in any field, provided critical infusions of innovation capital through the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and NASA. The Valley’s successful entrepreneurs—such as Hewlett, Packard, Jeff Skoll, Pierre Omidyar, Sergey Brin, and Larry Page—often start charitable foundations and other ventures to support innovators (nonprofit and for-profit alike) working to address the world’s hardest social and environmental challenges. Today, Silicon Valley and the Bay Area as a whole are every bit as much of an epicenter of social innovation as they are of commercial innovation.
It is critically important to point out that there has never been a defined, structured way to connect the dots in the Valley. Instead, it has been this organic ecosystem—with its interrelated professional and personal networks—that has allowed the “dots” to connect themselves. A good example of this phenomenon is the remarkable TED conference, which brings together the brightest minds in a wide range of fields to advance its mission of “spreading ideas.”
I remember working with firms in the Valley in the late 70s and through the 80s. I could see the Valley ecosystem at work all the time, everywhere—technology conversations occurring over dinner, ideas being sketched on napkins in coffee shops, new models being vetted in classrooms, innovation popping up in skunk works, startups working in garages. Even back then, it was this almost seamless interconnection of knowledge, ideas, and people that made the Valley different, and more radically innovative. And it just kept feeding itself as it grew. In Silicon Valley, the alchemical cliché 2+2=6 was and is often real.
Spreading the Success
Of course, Silicon Valley is not the only ecosystem of commercial and social innovation in America. Other highly innovative centers have emerged, such as Boston/Cambridge, the Potomac region, Raleigh/Durham, Seattle/Redmond, and San Diego. However, most regions, and the nation as a whole, default to linear thinking with formal structures to define and control innovation. What they need instead is to turn the forces of innovation loose—to create the right conditions for that reef ecosystem to grow on its own and take hold. These regions need to emulate Silicon Valley’s seamless flow of knowledge, ideas, and people.
If you look, you will find astonishing examples of innovation even in the most unlikely places. Take Greenville, Mississippi, one of the most economically depressed communities in the United States and now the test site for an innovative environmental venture of global significance. The community is planting thousands of acres of bamboo, the fastest sequester of carbon dioxide on the planet, using a new cloning technique that will dramatically decrease the time it takes to produce mature forests of bamboo.
But innovators like the scientists who toiled for years to launch this bamboo effort are often disconnected, operating in silos, without the financial resources and strategic supports they need to develop their ideas and bring them to fruition. They are not swimming in a teeming, healthy reef ecosystem.
Nurturing the reef is hard but doable. In the 1990s, I was involved in two successful nonprofit efforts in the National Capital Region that nurtured a reef in formation. The first was called Potomac KnowledgeWay. This effort helped bring together strange bedfellows from government, academia, and different economic sectors to harness the new economic forces that could position the region as a true port of commerce in the 21st century. The leaders involved in the KnowledgeWay created and then advanced a shared vision of what was needed for the region to become a global center in advanced telecommunications, life sciences, and Internet-related industries.
The second was called Netpreneur. The program, based on my own difficult experience trying to break down barriers that block great ideas from being brought to market, seeded a vibrant and chaotic community of thousands of entrepreneurs (including some nonprofit entrepreneurs), venture capitalists, and angel investors. Netpreneur helped bring these folks together in person and online so that they could help each other get over the barriers they faced. Netpreneur became the region’s most prominent matchmaker between angels, VCs, and startups. But its value went way beyond facilitating the flow of money. It created a freer flow of knowledge, ideas, and people in the region—which provided encouragement to new entrepreneurs, gave rise to successful companies, and helped emerging businesses grow.
Toward a National Innovation Strategy
Through these and other experiences, I have come to believe that nurturing innovation at the national level will require both kinds of approaches—that is, top down and bottom up.
First, our nation needs an overarching framework—perhaps it could be called a “national innovation strategy”—that would define a shared vision, create a clear direction, and identify priority areas for innovation. This national innovation strategy could be drafted by a Presidential Commission made up of A++ innovators and thinkers from across a host of relevant disciplines (and outside the political process), and then quarterbacked by a high-profile Innovation Czar appointed by the President.
The priorities might naturally start with the three top priorities the President spelled out in his address to the joint session of Congress in January: “harnessing the power of clean, renewable energy,” “addressing the crushing cost of health care,” and “expand[ing] the promise of education in America.” It would also have to embrace other needs, such as the enormous challenge of rebuilding our infrastructure and developing a more robust emergency response and homeland security.
Take something as simple as the rebuilding of our highways, bridges, and rail systems. In spite of the infusion of stimulus dollars, our approach to infrastructure is, for the most part, no different from how we’ve done things for decades. Where are the breakthroughs, the new materials, the imbedded communications, smart transportation systems, and digital censors for safety and maintenance that would give us smarter, better, longer-lasting transportation systems? We ought to apply this same “let’s break the mold” thinking across the board—from how we educate our children to how we deliver higher-quality health care at lower cost.
To put us on this innovative path, this national strategy would have to identify, to the fullest extent possible, the specific inflection points and/or tipping points within each of the priority areas—that is, opportunities where targeted innovation could have a disproportionate impact. This would be an even grander version of what the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has done in the field of global health with its $100M Grand Challenges initiative.
Additionally, the Presidential Innovation Commission could identify all the ways that the federal government could support innovators as well as remove outdated legislative and regulatory barriers to their success. It could serve as the inspiration, provide the imprimatur, and invest in ways to create fusion and connection within and between the many different islands of innovation across the country and around the world.
Simultaneously, we will need bottom-up approaches to engage tens of millions of Americans and nurture reefs in every part of our country and society. For example, building on the “stock exchange” approach used by innovative companies and outlined in this New York Times article, the Administration could create a Federal Innovation Stock Exchange and open it to any federal employee who wanted to float an out-of-the-box idea for addressing a tough societal challenge or creating new innovations that add to our economic engine.
All of the ideas listed on the “stock exchange” would be available for all to see on the Web—sparking additional ideas from inside and outside the federal government. All federal employees whose innovations were adopted would receive some form of bonus and some form of recognition from the President. And if this works for the federal government, one could imagine a network of innovation stock exchanges in which states, metropolitan regions, large universities, hospitals, and civic-minded corporations put in place similar mechanisms to advance innovation to address key social and economic needs.
With a national strategy combined with efforts to seed the creative chaos from bottom up, the Obama Administration could put America on the right path for the long term. Helping to unleash, channel, and connect the millions of innovative minds across all regions, all disciplines, and all walks of life is the most important form of long-term stimulus the President can provide. It is the key to nurturing our national reef.
- Mario Morino
School Night 2009 Celebrates What's Working in Education
Fight for Children, founded by Venture Philanthropy Partners Investor Joe Robert, raised $1 million at School Night 2009 on May 15 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. School Night and Fight Night, another annual event benefiting Fight for Children’s initiatives, are signature events on the DC social scene.
The School Night event celebrates what’s working well in education in Washington, DC, and proceeds support Fight for Children’s Quality Schools Initiative. The 2009 Champions of Quality—Capital City Public Charter School, Bell Multicultural High School, and The Washington Middle School for Girls—were recognized and each received a grant of $100,000 to continue their effective practices.
More than 700 leaders from the business, education, government, and philanthropy sectors, including US Education Secretary Arne Duncan, were entertained by NATURALLY 7, Sheila E and the E Family Project, and Wyclef Jean. Student groups also performed throughout the evening.
Carol Thompson Cole, President and CEO of Venture Philanthropy Partners attended School Night 2009. “The gala captured the spirit of philanthropy by celebrating the schools and educators that have worked tirelessly to improve the quality of education and academic achievement for our District’s children. We are all so grateful for the tremendous strides Joe Robert continues to make through Fight for Children,” she said.
Robert was described recently in a Washington Post article as “…curious about everything and quick to turn the conversation from his business to his real passion, school choice and charter schools and the myriad other children's causes he's championed as one of Washington's most active, best known and most generous philanthropists. Like the boxer he once was, he's eager to get back into the ring for the next round.” He founded Fight for Children in 1990 and the organization has raised more than $82 million for programs which serve children from low-income families.
Programs & Services
 LAYC Study on GED Best Practices Set for June Release
Thanks to Lori Kaplan, Executive Director, for this update.
The Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) provides culturally sensitive, bilingual General Education Development (GED) test preparation and job training to low-income immigrant and minority youth in the District of Columbia. Adaptations of these programs are now offered by LAYC’s Maryland Multicultural Youth Centers in Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties as well.
Successful completion of the GED exam serves as a bridge to further and continued education: community college, a four-year course of study, or advanced vocational training. Thus, GED classes at LAYC are part of a holistic set of instructional programs designed to enable youth to continue their education or obtain and retain a job with long-term career potential.
LAYC’s GED pass rate is higher than the District of Columbia and national averages. In 2008, 40 DC residents in LAYC’s workforce investment program and YouthBuild Public Charter School passed the GED, with a pass rate (percentage of those taking the test) of 94%. That same year, 62.5% of those who took the test in DC (438 individuals) passed it. Nationally, according to the American Council on Education, a total of 429,149 individuals passed the GED in 2007, with a pass rate of 71.5%.
To better understand the reasons behind LAYC’s success in preparing young people to pass the GED, LAYC’s Learning and Evaluation Division is analyzing its GED programs, as well as those of several other agencies at the local and national levels. The study will describe prior research in the GED arena and argue that consistent findings regarding economic and labor-market outcomes for individuals who obtain a GED illustrate the need for a more holistic approach—like that of LAYC—to GED preparation. Such an approach focuses on developing both cognitive and non-cognitive skills.
Based on interviews with local and national agencies, the study will also highlight common challenges in working with low-income youth, promising practices, and programming trends in GED and job training program delivery. LAYC anticipates that this research report will offer a set of best practices that will be useful to organizations and GED practitioners locally, regionally, and nationally.
The study will be available on LAYC’s website in mid-June.
Awards & Recognition
 College Summit-NCR Holds Third Annual Awards Ceremony
Thanks to Vinette Brown, Director of Development,, for this update.
On May 1, College Summit-NCR held its Third Annual Awards Ceremony to celebrate the accomplishments of its 23 partner schools—their educators, students and Peer Leaders— toward strengthening college-going culture in their schools and communities during 2008-2009. College Summit-NCR doubled the number of awards, presenting two of each: Peer Leader of the Year; Educator of the Year; and the Deloitte Award for Creating College-Going Culture.
The event was hosted by Howard University, and Deloitte sponsored the Award for Creating College-Going Culture for the third year. Four hundred Peer Leaders, supporters, funders, educators, and principals joined school district officials like Dr. William Hite, Prince George’s County Public Schools Superintendent, who presented one of the Deloitte Awards for Creating College-Going Culture to Largo High School. The other Deloitte Award for Creating College Going-Culture was presented to Renaissance Academy in Baltimore, MD.
DeAnthony Hall (center) accepts congratulations from NCR Board Chair James Dyke and Executive Director Donna Fleming (photo by Justin Schuck, Justin Schuck Photography).
The two Educator of the Year Awards went to Jubria Lewis of Surrattsville High School in Prince George’s County, and Madeline Wingate-Alfonso of TC Williams High School in Alexandria, VA.
Peer Leader of the Year Awards were presented to Renaissance Academy’s DeAnthony Hall who went from a 1.8 to a 3.2 GPA and helped found an eighth grade mentoring program and Davidson Piere-Piere of Crossland High School in Prince George’s County who created an “In Our Own Words” project, interviewing Peer Leader on subjects including how to organize your life, how to survive senior year, and how to prepare for the High School Assessment Exams. The video will be shown to underclassmen and used as a motivational tool.
The ceremony was covered by local radio station WHUR and an article in the Washington Times.
Heads Up Wins 2009 GWU Community Partnership Award
Thanks to Neeta Shah, Development of Development,, for this update.
Each year, George Washington University’s Office of Community Service (OCS) honors one community partner that has gone “above and beyond” in answering the call to service. This year’s honoree is Heads Up.
Heads Up places more than 40 DC GWU Federal Work Study and volunteer tutors to work on academic skill building and homework assistance with more than 200 K-8 students at DCPS Amidon-Bowen and LaSalle Elementary Schools. According to Karen Hopkins, Assistant Program Coordinator of DC Reads at the OCS, Heads Up “consistently raises the bar in tutor recruitment, training, and community building.”
The training provided by Heads Up offers GWU tutors the tools to help them serve students and fosters teambuilding among tutors. Tutors not only bond with their students but also interact directly with teachers and parents. Heads Up's approach to teaching and learning has lasting effects for students, GWU tutors, and the communities it serves.
 CFNC Honors Nine With Heart In Hand Awards
Thanks to Ryan Smith, Manager of Grants and Major Gifts, for this update.
On April 24, CFNC recognized supporters and staff members who have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the advancement of CFNC’s mission with the Heart In Hand Award. The awards were presented at CFNC’s 25th Anniversary Benefit at the home of Steven and Catie Peterson.
The 2009 Heart In Hand awardees included Hubert “Jay” Hoffman III for helping CFNC maintain a program presence in the West End of Alexandria; Senator John Warner for his many years of support and advocacy for early childhood education for children living in poverty; CFNC teachers Kim Moten, Lydia Bates, and Blanca Medina for over a decade of providing quality early childhood education to young children at risk of school failure; Diane French, CFNC’s Manager of HR & Administration, for 16 years of dedicated service; and Sharon Shackelford, CFNC’s Director of Education, for 14 years of dedicated service.
CFNC also presented Dagobert Soergel, Board Member, and Barbara Fox Mason, Executive Director, with special Lifetime Achievement Awards for 25 years of relentless work on behalf of young children living in poverty.
Since opening its doors in 1984, CFNC has grown from a one-room preschool classroom serving six children to a nationally accredited and award-winning organization serving 160 families at six centers across Northern Virginia. The organization was recently featured on the What’s Working news segment on NBC News 4 which highlights the stories of difference makers in the Greater Washington metropolitan region.
Announcements of Note
 AALEAD Celebrates First Lotus Festival
Thanks to Rick Chen, Manager of Development and Communication, for this update.
AALEAD began a beautification project for its DC community center in February 2009, which included building a parking lot; replacing windows, doors, and flooring; painting; and improving lighting.
A tug of war was part of the planned activities at the Lotus Festival (photo by Kendra Lee).
To celebrate the completion of the renovation and in conjunction with Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, AALEAD held its first Lotus Festival on May 16. Around 100 guests attended to enjoy food and games and recognize key volunteers and supporters.
AALEAD’s high school students played an important role in organizing the event, from inception of the idea to naming the event to coordinating activities, which included selling AALEAD t-shirts, bags, and mugs as a way to raise funds. For many of them, it was their first time planning an event of this size and scope. Young DC, a student-run publication, wrote an article publicizing the event. The festival was deemed a success by AALEAD stakeholders and planners say they will hold the event again next year.
Child Trends Releases New Publications on Early Childhood Programs
Child Trends, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center that studies children at all stages of development, released 11 new publications in May, including an issue brief, “What We Know and Don't Know About Measuring Quality in Early Childhood and School-Age Care and Education Settings,” and a research brief, “Evaluating, Developing, and Enhancing Domain-Specific Measures of Child Care Quality,” which examines the link between program quality and children's outcomes in early care and education programs and how it is measured.
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