December 2008
ESR Announces Social Innovator of the Year
Nearly 300 people gathered at Brigham Young University for the Eleventh Annual Economic Self-Reliance Conference which aims to fight poverty and its effects. During the ESR Conference, Stephen W. and Bette Gibson, founders of The Academy for Creating Enterprise, received the Social Innovator of the Year Award. The Gibsons were selected because of their passion for making a difference; to date, their program in the Philippines has taught some 1375 Filipinos how to start and grow their own microenterprises.
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Single Mom Initiative Report Available
This year the Single Mom Initiative began the second phase of its research effort: face to face interviews. Five student research assistants began conducting face-to-face interviews with English- and Spanish-speaking single mothers from across Utah. The focus of the interviews is to understand single moms’ attitudes and experiences interacting with institutions, including educational institutions, churches, employers, and social service providers. An executive summary and full report detailing these and other research findings is now available at the ESR website. more
Social Venture Competition 2009
Students around campus are choosing their teams and crafting their social plan submissions. The deadline for the Social Venture Competition is drawing closer, with entries due on 14 January 2009. So far students have had the opportunity to participate a variety of workshops to help them prepare their business plans. more
BYU's First Social Innovation Summit
In November, The Economic Self-Reliance Center sponsored Brigham Young University's first Social Innovation Summit in conjunction with the annual ESR Conference. The summit showcased many ongoing projects to introduce students to social innovation and provide points of engagement for them to get involved in socially innovative initiatives. more
