Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation Blog

Sonal Shah, Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, discusses the power of a community to develop community solutions to address local issues, as demonstrated by the South Memphis Farmers Market.

Patrick Corvington, Chief Excecutive Officer for the Corporation for National and Community Service, discusses yesterday's announcement of grantees for the Social Innovation Fund and the impact it will have on the nation.

As part of the President and First Lady's call to service, United We Serve: Let's Read, Let's Move, organizations across the nation are addressing the "summer reading gap" by participating in service events and activities to celebrate National Summer Learning in 2010.

Howard W. Buffett, Policy Advisor in the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation provides an update on the first regional Energy Innovation Conference hosted yesterday in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation and the Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships co-sponsored an event to Advance Interfaith and Community Service on College and University Campuses.

John Berry, Director of the United States Office of Personnel Management announces the launch of the 2010 Feds Feed Families with an event at the Capital Area Food Bank. Federal employees nationwide are stepping up to meet this challenge by gathering 1,200,000 pounds of food for families in need this summer.

Patrick Corvington, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, discusses a new Social Innovation Fund that has the potential to transform how our nation tackles social challenges. Watch a live stream on Thursday, May 27th at 11:45 AM EDT with First Lady Michelle Obama for an exciting announcement about the fund's progress.

Over on the Office of Science and Technology Policy's blog, Hillary Chen discusses progress on Text4Baby, a service provided through a public-private partnership with cell phone companies.

Sonal Shah, Director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, visits Youth Villages in Memphis, Tennessee today as part of the Community Solutions Tour. Youth Villages is a great example of an organization using data to effectively drive better outcomes for kids.

Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams discusses how Peace Corps volunteers carry with them the spirit of social entrepreneurship and makes an exciting announcment on the heels of the Summit about plans to expand Peace Corps presence in Muslim communities.

Sonal Shah, Director of the Office, blogs about the Presidential Summit on Entpreneurship, an exciting gathering of entrepreneurs - business and social - and the people who support them.

Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes gives the opening remarks at a luncheon recognizing the one year Anniversary of the Serve America Act. Read the full remarks.

Melody Barnes, Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, discusses the one year anniversary of the President signing the bipartisan Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act and announces the launch of the new website for the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation.

We are looking for students to play the role of innovators again by leading the way in the development of broadband applications. In the same way that Mosaic and Google drove demand for today’s Internet, new applications could drive demand for a gigabit/second Internet and 4G wireless.