In 2015, we helped to launch the Social Entrepreneurship program at Malvern Prep. They now have a Center for Social Impact (aka CSI) and CSItizen (pronounced “citizen”) Speaker Series.

In 2017, we consulted to The Hill School and suggested a signature program in social entrepreneurship given their school’s mission, commitment to the Pottstown community, and burgeoning STEAM program. They now have a signature program in Social Enterprise and a Social Innovation Lab.

In 2018, we co-designed North Shore Country Day School’s Live+Serve Lab, a social impact makerspace in the center of their library.

That same year, we co-founded Impact.Ed (at the time called SocEntEDU). That team convened social entrepreneurship educators and practitioners from around the country at U. Pennsylvania. We also facilitated weekly (now monthly) virtual gatherings for a community that includes 60+ people.

Most important of all, in January of 2018 we launched our first Expedition—a social entrepreneurship bootcamp that now comes with college credit. Since then, Expeditions have included over 200 students from schools ranging from Punahou in Honolulu (HI) to Lovett in Atlanta (GA) to Upper Darby High School in Upper Darby (PA) to KIPP College Prep in the Bronx (NY)… and 20 additional schools.

These reflect a small sample of all the places where social entrepreneurship learning is happening. In fact, some readers of this blog work at schools with such programs. All of which is to say: A movement is afoot.

Why?

We believe there are three reasons:

Mission: Great schools form young people committed to a purpose greater than themselves.
Vision: To address the needs of our VUCA world, great schools form creative and collaborative problem solvers for that Common Good.
Strategy: Great schools know that students thrive when they learn-by-doing.

Given those reasons, maybe a better question is why not?

In which case…

What are you doing about it? [1]

***

[1] For those looking for an immediate next step, we’re now accepting applications for our Dec 2020 and Jan 2021 Expeditions.

Individual students can apply for a spot here. Schools can apply to send a team of students by contacting us directly.

***

Thank you for reading this post from Basecamp's blog, Ed:Future. Do you know someone who would find the Ed:Future blog worthwhile reading? Please let them know that they can subscribe here.