An ecosystem for change

I’m on a panel with that title at the ReVisioning conference in Portland next month@kevindoylejones. Here is the topic: What do city leaders, professional organizations, foundations, business owners, and community members need to provide to encourage and sustain social innovation? What are the conditions under which social innovation will flourish? From the media and networking events, to legal and political support, educational programs and incubation spaces, each contribute to the essential ecosystem that enables social and environmental leaders to succeed. Hear from a panel that represents many sectors and some of the most innovative projects worldwide.
I l like the fact that I’m on there with rural community and economic development and finance people. I see the things I do in exactly that context, but not with a specific geographic lens. With the Hub, Socap and Goodcap,  we are kind of another map overlay on the same problem of building an ecosystem for social change. Hubs as they roll out will be based in cities where there is a critical mass of social innovators.
How that same dynamic  could also play in rural areas is of high interest to me as a Mississippian and a person concerned about the problem of endemic poverty in the south as a place of scare resources. what can be learned from urban hubs that can work in Kentucky and Louisana?  How have places with scarcer resources developed an understanding of resources and community assets and beneficial relationships that the urban players can learn from?
How can capital bridge some of those gaps? How can online technology, media, etc. link up Louisiana, Kentucky, Berkeley, San Francisco, as well as Atlanta, where a new hubs is launching. We provide free legal consults, consults with accountants and other services providers in our hubs and are also doing a prosper peer to peer lending platform that would all be transportable kinds of programs, and im sure they have things we could learn from.
Socap, of course, is a global gathering for three days, of the people who are creating the asset class and leading the movement. It’s just community development, trying to build a community where good businesses can survive.