Blog: Homelessness Ends Here

On May 6th, the White House blog provided a brief description of the goals and objectives behind President Obama's proposed $50 million Social Innovation Fund. Reading the First Lady's description of the fund (see below), it appears that the strategies of housing first and supportive housing are tailor made for this fund. How can we go about making this opportunity a reality? Let us know if your organization has plans to tap into this potential new - and high profile - revenue stream.

Yesterday, the President announced that he would ask Congress in the FY2010 budget to provide $50 million in seed capital for his Social Innovation Fund, fulfilling a campaign pledge. The Fund will identify the most promising, results-oriented non-profit programs and expand their reach throughout the country.

This is a dramatically different way for the government to do business – and it reflects the President’s new governing approach -- finding and scaling the best social innovations; partnering with those who are leading change in their communities; and creating a policy environment for all these innovations to thrive.

President Obama has said that this is an "all-hands-on-deck" moment and that government cannot solve our nation’s problems alone. He has said that it is critical to partner with citizens, nonprofits, social entrepreneurs, foundations and corporations to make progress on our nation’s great challenges. The President has also talked about finding new solutions to old problems, and this is where the social innovation can play a unique role.

As the First Lady said in her remarks on Tuesday to the TIME 100 Most Influential people:

The idea is simple: to find the most effective programs out there and then provide the capital needed to replicate their success in communities around the country that are facing similar challenges. By focusing on high-impact, result-oriented non-profits, we will ensure that government dollars are spent in a way that is effective, accountable and worthy of the public trust.

First Lady Michelle Obama attended and gave remarks at the TIME 100 Annual Dinner at the Rose Jazz Center in New York City. She was greeted by (L to R) Jeffrey Bewkes, Chairman of Time Warner Inc., Rick Stengel, Managing Editor of TIME magazine, and John Huey, Editorial Director of TIME Inc.