A New Schooler’s Take on the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference
The weekend of February 14 was the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference, and unfortunately Boston was hit with another blizzard in what turned out to be a record setting winter for the region. Despite the weather conditions, eight students from the Association for International Development (AID) and Social Innovation Alliance (SIA) at The New School attended the conference.
Takeaways for the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference
By Hadley Cooper
I was disappointed with the abbreviated schedule. Many of the sessions that we were most enthusiastic about were cancelled, and the Career Lounge was operating in very limited capacity. Such is life (especially winter in the North East United States).
I was lucky enough to secure one of the coveted spots in the case study with Professor Kash Rangan. Our reading and discussion was on the topic of drawing private investment in the service of public good.  Molly Baldwin (Founder & CEO, Roca Inc.) was present to talk about the case and her organization. Roca’s mission is to: “disrupt the cycle of incarceration and poverty by helping young people transform their lives.”
This year Roca and the Massachusetts Juvenile Justice System launched a project, which is designed to improve the lives of hundreds of high-risk men while reducing recidivism, saving taxpayer dollars, and promoting safer and stronger communities. Pay for success (PFS), also known as social innovation financing, is an innovation in government and criminal justice reform. The premise of PFS is: public officials identify an issue where the government is producing poor outcomes (fiscal and social) and contract with a private equity to produce better outcomes of the state. The government pays for success, reimbursing the service provider when better outcomes are achieved.
We were lucky to have David Bornstein (Burden, and one of our key note speakers) as an attendant. Molly, David, Kash, and the engaged group of students that were drawn to the discussion hashed out specifics of social impact bonds with attendants in the industry. It was a great introduction for those not familiar with the concept.
We lost an entire day of the conference to the snow. We ended up benefiting as a group despite the inclement weather. AID and SIA spent an entire day bonding as a group, and create new friendships, talking about future projects, and collaborations. I look forward to building on what we started at Harvard, both inside, and outside the classroom.
Hadley Cooper is pursuing her Master’s of Science in Nonprofit Management at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy.  Hadley is the President of the Association for International Development and co-founder of the Social Innovation Alliance at The New School.
Photos from the Event:
