The Social Innovation Fund: Government Doing Business Differently

Today, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) announced the grantees for the Social Innovation Fund.  During the past year, the CNCS crafted and launched the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) with help from thousands of you who provided feedback and ideas. The grants will go to effective organizations who will then identify, support and grow the best “community solutions” –  local organizations that are addressing our persistent social challenges and transforming our cities and towns.

The Social Innovation Fund demonstrates just one of the many ways the Administration’s broader innovation agenda uses evidence to identify smart public-private partnerships and national service opportunities that provide solutions to our communities’ toughest issues.  With the creation of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, the Administration has made this “new way of doing business” a priority.  We know that the best ideas aren’t always found in Washington and we’re in search of the most impactful ideas in communities across the country. From the Investing in Innovation Fund -- i3 -- at the Department of Education to the i6 Challenge at the Department of Commerce, we’re reaping the rewards of doing business differently across government.  And today’s Social Innovation Fund announcement takes us one step further  toward our goal to ensure that government better serves the American people.

Melody Barnes, Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council