Last Thursday representatives from RNSI attended the West Coast Green 2009 Conference. West Coast Green is a conference focused on environmental innovation in the building industry. Along with the usual tradeshow floor offerings, the conference hosted an overabundance of classes and seminars focused on education of eco-friendly construction practices. The conference was chock-full of interesting organizations vying for face time and growth in the green building sector. These organizations ran the gamut from traditional construction companies reforming their practices to disruptive technology producers aiming to save the world. Some of my personal favorites were Ideabuilders, North Cal Wood Products,and Driptech.

The ability to network with and learn from these organizations is what drew RNSI to this conference. Environmental protection is currently the vehicle of two of our enterprises (Mattress Recycling and Energy Efficiency Retrofit). While at the show we were able to connect with other organizations in the green space and develop our network. We are excited that at least one of these connections will blossom into a customer for our recycling program. But not only did we meet potential business partners, we also learned of exciting new trends in the industry. It is impressive the speed with which companies are adopting green practices. It took a while for the snowball to get going but it is truly picking up speed.

The West Coast Green experience was valuable for Rubicon National Social Innovations. The success is obviously manifested in the partnership we came away with, but other wins occurred as well. The conference was a valuable opportunity to make contacts with the visionaries who are changing the building industry. Additionally, it laid the seeds for future innovations and projects. Disruptive innovations could provide us with excellent opportunities to fulfill our mission, to employ the hardest to employ populations. West Coast Green was also an excellent chance to update ourselves with the technological advances that are changing construction. Our presence at the conference heightened the importance of being in the bay area, a great hub for environmental and social enterprise work. The connections and collaborations here are great for incubating ideas that we can then scale nationally.

A Summer Intern’s Thoughts on Working for Rubicon National

Before I became an intern at Rubicon National Social Innovations, I had little idea of what social enterprise entailed. I received a summer fellowship from U Penn with funding provided by the Levy Social Impact Fund at the Wharton School. I was intrigued with the internship position because it focused on a feasibility study on the viability of a weatherization and energy efficiency retrofit social enterprise and I had similar previous coursework related to sustainable energy.

My knowledge of social enterprise was limited to the notion that social enterprise somehow uses business skills to try to solve injustices or economic inequities throughout the world. With the little experience I had from doing community service in my spare time, I honestly could not distinguish one non-profit from another in terms of their strategies and approaches to having social impact. After a phenomenal and memorable 2-month experience with RNSI, I am proud to say that I can now make that distinction (or at least I think I can).

One thing that I have questioned over the years while participating in numerous service activities is how effective those service organizations are. Although their direct services were beneficial to those they were helping, it never seemed like lasting change in people’s lives was being made. By no means are these organizations unnecessary or obsolete; it just seemed to me that their work was “patchwork,” -- only temporarily providing relief.

That’s partly why I have continually been impressed by the work that Rubicon National is doing. The approach to battling a vicious cycle of intergenerational poverty is deeply rooted in creating sustainable, long-lasting employment opportunities powerful enough to lift people up and out of their predicament. The social enterprise models that are developed are truly innovative, creating social enterprises relying on market forces (for financial stability) and operating on a national scale to maximize social impact. They clearly break away from the patchwork model of traditional charities and make a lasting social impact in the communities that need the most help.
What’s more is that their recognition that social change and environmental responsibility do not have to be mutually exclusive, a tenet to which I firmly adhere. During my time here at Rubicon National, we have been diligently developing an energy efficiency retrofit service as a social enterprise that would create green collar jobs and pathways out of poverty in cities around the United States. Because of the federal mandate for economic recovery and climate change mitigation, Rubicon National realizes that retrofitting homes with energy efficiency measures creates excellent opportunities for the hardest to employ, offering training services and career advancement possibilities in a growing industry.

By leveraging tremendous volunteer support, Rubicon National has made significant progress on the enterprise that would not otherwise have been achieved. It is incredible how much buy-in to the project Rubicon National has received from corporate, civic and professional groups, accelerating the development process exponentially. Not only have the volunteers shown their interest in energy efficiency retrofits, but also that they genuinely believe in the potential it has for making a lasting social impact.

As my internship comes to a close, I am proud to say that I contributed meaningfully to Rubicon National’s energy efficiency retrofit enterprise. As biased as this may seem, I believe that Rubicon National Social Innovations is one-of-a-kind, having unmatchable experience in the field of social enterprise and a proven track record of success. They may just be getting their footing as social enterprise modelers, but they truly are the “laboratory for scaling social enterprise” and deserve much recognition for their work.

New RNSI Website! www.rubiconnational.org

It's official!

On July 1st, after a successful two-year incubation and with the support of the Surdna, S. H. Cowell, REDF, William Randolph Hearst, Woodcock, and John S. and James L. Knight Foundations, Rubicon National Social Innovations (RNSI) was launched by Rubicon Programs as a separately governed nonprofit organization to become the national laboratory for scaling social enterprise, focusing on nationally scaled initiatives built through local collaborative partnerships.

Check out our new Rubicon National Social Innovations website at www.rubiconnational.org for more information about our current initiatives.

RNSI Adventures - San Patrignano

The following entries are from a trip our Director, Jonathan Harrison, took on behalf of Rubicon Bakery to San Patrignano, a social enterprise bar none outside of Rimini, in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. San Patrignano is so large; it is really a small town as well as an tremendously successful residential drug recovery program and community. The over 1000 people in recovery work are not charged for room, board and intensive therapies including free health care, but rather work in community-owned businesses including about a thousand of acres of vineyards, a world-class winery, high end Italian furniture, cheesemaking, and all of the operating principles of a sustainably managed farm system. The average “stay” at San Patrignano is 4 years, with a minimum of 3.5 years in residence. Their success is over 80% who do not relapse after leaving the program, (tracked at 1, 2, 3, and 5 years intervals). This is compared to shorter programs of 30-90 days where success rates hover in the 10-15% percentage rates.

Jonathan was joined on this journey by Jaime Cunningham, training manager of the Rubicon Bakery. The two of them were invited to participate in a trade pavilion at the San Patrignano Food and Wine festival called “Squisito” (Exquisite). Squisito was created five years ago as an event dedicated to the culture of good taste, good food, and to those who never tire of trying new flavor combinations and sampling long forgotten culinary traditions. Michelin starred chefs, experts, journalists and gourmets meet each year to redefine contemporary cuisine, creating an itinerary of taste that goes beyond our nation's borders. This 4 day event brought the best of Italian artisan meats, cheeses, breads, and wines and a little bit of everything (over 200 vendors in all) complete with all the culture and charm that is Italy and the Italian people. It was a very difficult assignment, but Jaime and Jonathan were willing to sacrifice their precious time for this great cause.

RNSI Adventures - San Patrignano Day One

I am looking out my window in Rimini at my hotel balcony and can see and smell the Adriatic a block away. I am here finally, it is nearly 24 hours in real time since I left the offices of Rubicon. There is a Pizzeria tipico near here with good margherita pizza so I hear; I will follow my nose. Tomorrow we set up our booth for the Festival, where we will be sampling bakery confections including gourmet marshmallows and Rubicon’s new product—Cocoaberries, a lower calorie dark chocolate covered berry meringue.

We were invited to participate in the Good Food Pavilion, where organizations from around the globe gather to display the results of social enterprises including those produced at places like Fifteen (Jaime Oliver’s social enterprise which trains at-risk youth in culinary arts in an on-the-job restaurant) and organizations looking for alternatives to drug crops in Afghanistan (from poppy to Saffron and teas), Columbia (from coca to cacao), Thailand (from marijuana to macadamia nuts) and even Roots of Peace, a US nonprofit dedicated to eradicating landmines worldwide and rehabilitating the land to make it productive once more. Rubicon was in good company.

RNSI Adventures - San Patrignano Day Two

It is quite an experience in so many ways here at San Patrignano, which is a virtual gastronomic overload. In many ways this is one of the most impressive social enterprise in the world, as far as I can tell. Where else can you spend between 3.5-5 years in recovery from drugs? The Italians are smart; they combine the best in all the worldly arts - cheese, wine, and smoked meats - and help 1000 people in their community build skills and craftsmanship that can take them places in the outside world. It is really a small city complete with hospital, kitchens that feed hundreds, horses, kennels with breeding facilities , artisan pigs (which become high end prosciutto and other hams) and a dairy. Perhaps it was just that they were on their best behavior with so much company visiting, but San Patrignano runs like a well oiled machine. The people are what make the place. Although they are struggling, they are compassionate, tender, and always ready for a joke.

Our booth in the Good Food Pavilion was right inside the front door, and we had thousands (some say 40,000 total over 4 days) and it was great to test market the marshmallows and Cocoaberries.
The reactions were wonderful, although the Italians don’t eat marshmallow (an American phenomenon) and it was hilarious to watch them try one. Of course, the children all loved them and said that they saw them on “Charlie Brown”. The parents were skeptical, even when touching them, most were shocked that they were soft (morbido in Italian). I don’t think they will be a big hit in the Italian market, but who knows, it just might be strange enough. The Cocoaberries were a hit, but not when we told people that they were low calorie (“light” as they say in Italian). Most people said diet foods are for Americans and were a bit superior sounding if you ask me. Many, many people wanted to buy the products – mostly the marshmallows, but definitely a strong demand given that most were on vacation and ready to spend.

RNSI Adventures - San Patrignano Day Three

Wandering around the festival a bit it is clear. Even compared to the sizable movements afoot in Northern California to bring artisanship and slow food back to America, I was struck immediately about how authentic and grounded everything was. Okay, it was my first time in Italy and all, I know I am stating the obvious! But artisanal everything!? Beer, cheeses, meats capo and prosciutto, Pizzeria and Barbecue. I am getting tips on how to roast a pig from a family member who has been curing meats for hundreds of years. Of course not just any pig, but a local heritage breed, a free range breed: mora Romagnala.

San Patrignano has social enterprises within its community. For example, the Neapolitan pizzeria (open to the public) that recently won 5th place in the world competition, is extremely authentic and uses world class ingredients that are "confirmed" by Naples.

RNSI Adventures - San Patrignano Day Four

I attended the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (based in Vienna) seminar today to learn about the trials and tribulations of turning drug crops in developing countries into "alternative agriculture" crops to drug crops. Ironically to Americans mainly, San Patrignano operates a vineyard and a winery and other social enterprises (for at risk youth) operate breweries. The relationship to wine and beer is a culinary and cultural one that does not force an “abstinence only” ideology for well-being. On a lighter note, San Patrignano has just introduced cheese wrapped and and aged in a tobacco leaf that when swallowed leaves a delicious burn in the throat that tingles like you just smoked a cigarette - really strange but delicious.

I will just leave you with a few of the more mouthwatering delicious culinary offerings that our hosts forced us to try:

- Bombanella sandwich (From Puglia)- pork sausage wrapped in bacon and then shish kabobed and put into a sandwich cone
- Tripe Sandwich – this was the Tuscan version from Florence, never thought I liked tripe until I ate this!
- Fried tiny fish - don’t know the names, tasted like the sea
- Asti Champagne and a Canoli - a peak eating experience
- Gelato – one with Pistachios from Lebanon, one with saffron and mint from Afghanistan and one with mangos from Columbia.
- “Caramela” - handmade pasta by Fifteen that looks like shape of caramel, stuffed with cheeses
- Olives stuffed with beef and pork, breaded and deep fried
- Copa di Parma, and the Culatello di Zibello courtesy of the ancient local breed of pig, mora Romagnola

RNSI Adventures - San Patrignano Day Five

Back to the airport . . . Driving back to Bologna it was a regular UN. I got background information from my two new Afghani friends from Hirat (this is the relatively “safe” place in the Western part of Afghanistan which borders Turkmenistan and Iran) on the ever worsening conditions in Afghanistan and the Taliban’s hold on the region of the country that they are trying to convert from poppy but can’t safely enter to even speak to farmers. Also on the bus were a Colombian woman, a Chinese woman from Myanmar, a few folks from Thailand and the Italian driver. I am looking forward to being forced to go again next year.

A Message From Rick Aubry

Bold. Audacious. Risky. Essential. Foolish. Critical. Necessary. Quixotic. Impracticable. Romantic. Impossible. Unrealistic. Finally . . .

These are just some of the adjectives friends of Rubicon use as I describe our new vision for social enterprise in the United States. Our vision is now embodied by our new Rubicon National Social Innovation team. Many of you know Rubicon Programs. For 35 years we have created jobs, housing, services and hope for people and communities left out of the mainstream, including homeless people, residents of neglected communities, people in the mental health system, formerly incarcerated people, young fathers wanting to re-engage with their families and many other marginalized communities. We have built social enterprises, worked with employers to create pathways into the mainstream, taken vacant land and turned it into affordable housing and created innovative programs which have become models for others. Our work has been focused in the San Francisco Bay Area, where we have served over 50,000 people the last 20 years.

Most notably, we are seen as a leader in the field of social enterprise in the United States. Rubicon Landscape and Rubicon Bakery are oft sited examples to define social enterprise in the United States. With our roots in Richmond, one of California's most economically disadvantaged communities, our entrepreneurship was born out of necessity. We have had to rely on innovation, bold ideas, and scrappiness to survive and build an organization which has a direct impact on the people we serve and on helping build and define the field of social entrepreneurship.

We are proud that our positive social impact has been recognized with accolades such as the Fast Company Magazine's "Social Capitalist of the Year" five years running, Time Magazine/CNN's "Principal Voices" on social entrepreneurship, and our selection to be a part of the yearly World Economic Forum's "Schwab Foundation of Social Entrepreneurs" since 2001.

However, we have always tried to rely not on past successes, our own press releases, or to drink our own kool-aid as we contemplate our future. During a comprehensive strategic planning process, we concluded that amongst the variety of integrated solutions we offer to create paths out of poverty for people and communities, our best chance to dramatically change the system is to more than just improve our performance within that system as a great but local non profit. We must re-imagine the scale, scope and impact of social enterprise in the United States, and build a game shifting national social enterprise. To do so, we have created a "laboratory for scaling social enterprise" which we hope will bring social enterprise to a national level in the United States.

We believe that for social enterprise to have a significant impact on poverty and employment opportunities in America, it must be re-imagined on a much greater scale with the focus on a national business model of greater social impact and public presence then is widely seen today. We believe social enterprise as non profit poverty alleviation strategy has been important but limited in its impact, even for field leaders such as Rubicon. Rubicon currently runs small to mid-size businesses in a local market, similar to virtually all the other social enterprises which have been created during the past 20+ years of the social enterprise movement. Aside from the national thrift shop models created by St Vincent De Paul, Goodwill Industries and others, social enterprise remains predominantly local.

For us to move from a regional to national platform we have committed to a significant organizational re-structure to maximize the likelihood of success in creating a national social enterprise. We are leveraging our experience, relationships, and reputation to create a special "National Social Innovation Team". We set out to bring on new project staff to develop a new Social Enterprise business model. From a 35 year old success story, this small "start up team" will focus on developing business models that fit within a national social enterprise model.

We brought on an amazing dream team of folks with deep experience in the social enterprise, corporate and marketing worlds and launched November 2007. Our team is building partnerships with individuals and organizations around the country with aligned interests to broaden our intellectual capital.

At the heart of our exploration is the recognition that for social enterprise to be a powerful tool of social change, we must imagine and develop a greater scale and a national platform. We are finding that when we consider opportunities from this radically different perspective, there are exciting new ways to fundamentally re-structure the way social enterprise can address poverty in the United States. I invite all of you to stay tuned for what's coming and to actively join us as a business idea submitter, advisor, and financial supporter of our start up work.

Welcome To Our Blog!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to the Rubicon National Social Innovations blog.

Below you will find articles we are reading, updated daily.

Enjoy!