(Washington Post) — Social innovators have long operated with little or no government funding, mostly by choice. Government was generally considered either a faithless partner, driven by political expediency, or just plain hostile to anything that might challenge its own view of the world. It was more a target for innovators than a supporter. Government has been changing of late with its heavy focus on improving program performance. Democrats and Republicans alike have embraced social innovation as a way to solve problems such as poverty, disease, government sclerosis, discrimination, education gaps, global climate change and energy dependence. Even though the Obama administration is not the first to endorse social innovation, it has put the most money at risk, whether through monster competitions for improving public schools such as the Department of Education’s $4 billion “Race to the Top,” or tiny programs such as the $50 million Social Innovation Fund for scaling up programs such as the Local Initiative Support Corporation’s Financial Opportunity Centers.
