Three US “Social Entrepreneurs of the Year” announced

 
Three social entrepreneurs are recognized as US Social Entrepreneurs of the Year, joining a global network of leading social entrepreneurs from over 40 countries. Hilde Schwab, Co-Founder of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, will confer the awards during the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of New Champions from 14-16 September, which brings together nearly 50 members of the Schwab Foundation network.

The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is proud to award Darell Hammond of KaBOOM!, Elizabeth Hausler of BuildChange, and Dan Viederman of Verité, with the title of US Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 (full press release).

Darell Hammond, KaBOOM! (USA and Mexico)
Children today spend less time playing outdoors than any previous generation, a fact that is having disastrous consequences on their health, achievement levels, and overall well-being. To fight this play deficit, social entrepreneur Darell Hammond founded non-profit KaBOOM! 15 years ago in Washington, D.C. with a vision of creating a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America. Since then, KaBOOM! has mapped over 85,000 places to play, built more than 2,000 playgrounds in lower-income communities, and successfully advocated for play policies in hundreds of cities across the country. KaBOOM! also provides communities with online tools to self-organize and take action to support play on both a local and national level. Facebook Twitter

Elizabeth Hausler, BuildChange (China, Indonesia, Haiti)
BuildChange is changing practices of home building in earthquake-prone regions to engage citizens and set in place new and lasting practices to ensure that earthquake-resistant construction becomes common. In China, where BuildChange has been active since the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, BuildChange is influencing the adoption of an improved building code—and simple tools for its enforcement—by municipal governments across China. The organization is also working on more efficient ways of generating and collating data, such as putting building codes, checklists, and home designs on mobile devices, which in turn makes it more difficult for corrupt contractors to operate. Finally, BuildChange is creating hybrid value chain partnerships with the private sector to disseminate public awareness messages on safe building techniques placed on cement bags and posted at retail outlets. Facebook Twitter

 

Dan Viederman, Verité (Latin America, Southeast Asia, China)                          Verité's mission is to ensure that people around the world work under safe, fair and legal conditions. Today's complex supply chains pose challenges for implementing international labour standards at manufacturing sites that collectively employ hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Verité works with large multinationals to ensure accountability for problems like discrimination, sexual harassment, excessive working hours, poor safety conditions, and wrongful termination. Verité helps corporate clients to embed social responsibility standards into their business operations, improving conditions for 8 million vulnerable workers in China, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, and Taiwan to date. Facebook Twitter