One Family, Inc. Selected as Finalist for 2010 Social Innovator Award

BOSTON, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The Social Innovation Forum, an initiative of Root Cause, has selected One Family, Inc. as one of 25 innovative, results-oriented nonprofit organizations competing to receive access to over $100,000 in cash and services. Over 45 leaders in business, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sector reviewed 135 applications across five Social Issue Tracks for the 2010 Social Innovator Award. The five Social Innovators will be announced and celebrated during an event in Cambridge on Tuesday, December 8, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Chris Gabrieli, a social impact investor and Chairman of Mass2020, explains the Forum: "We are all looking for nonprofit organizations we can invest in with confidence. The Social Innovation Forum is a unique and impressive program that provides a great opportunity to learn, leverage our resources, and meet dynamic social entrepreneurs who are making a real difference in our communities."

Through its in-depth work throughout the Commonwealth, One Family (www.OneFamilyInc.org), a private-public partnership founded by Paul and Phyllis Fireman and family, is committed to ending family homelessness in Massachusetts. Working together with elected officials, faith and community leaders, higher learning institutions and private businesses, One Family is helping to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness and to provide stability for future generations. Every day, One Family is changing policies and changing lives by building solution-based responses to homelessness and awakening the broader public to the realization that we are all one family, and that our public policies and private acts must be responsive to the plight of our poorest members.

Recognizing education is the pathway out of poverty, One Family offers the One Family Scholars Program -- a flexible funding and leadership training college scholarship program for formerly homeless and at-risk mothers so that they can graduate from college, pursue a career that pays a living wage and build a new path to economic independence.

The Social Innovation Forum accelerates the development of enduring solutions to social problems by directing an alternative flow of local resources to innovative, results-oriented nonprofit organizations striving for efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability. The annual Showcase Event in the spring provides a unique opportunity for up-and-coming organizations to gain visibility and expand their networks. For 2010, the Social Innovation Forum has partnered with leading local foundations to feature five Social Issue Tracks. In partnership with these Track Partners, the Forum aims to identify highly effective approaches to address Greater Boston's most pressing social issues and to foster conversations about how to generate enduring solutions.

The Social Innovation Forum will select one leading organization from each Social Issue Track to be a 2010 Social Innovator. These Social Innovators will be invited to present their work to local leaders in philanthropy, business, government, and academia at the Social Innovation Forum's Showcase Event, in May of 2010.

Social Innovators also receive access to support services from the Social Innovation Forum and its partners, including:

• A five-month consulting engagement from Root Cause
• Participation in a peer-driven business planning and capacity-building process
• The development of an investment prospectus and a PowerPoint presentation that speaks to the organization's value and approach to social problem solving
• Executive coaching from leaders in the business community who offer one year of guidance on building relationships
• Communication and presentation training from the Ariel Group
• Additional executive coaching from the graduate training program of the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology
• Graphic design support from Monitor Design Studio
• Public relations coaching from Solomon McCown & Company
  

The Social Innovation Forum's Track Partners also offer financial investment in the Social Innovators. Each selected organization will receive $10,000 from the sponsoring Track Partner, with the potential of an additional $5,000 to follow one year later upon completion of our Key Measures process. These cash awards, in conjunction with the services listed above, provide each chosen Innovator with access to over $100,000 in cash and services.

Root Cause (www.rootcause.org) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing innovative, proven solutions to today's most pressing social and economic problems. We support social innovators and educate social impact investors through advisory and consulting services, knowledge sharing, and community building.