Building Strategic Partnerships in New York

Marissa Feinberg, the founder of GreenSpacesNY and I had the opportunity to meet yesterday to lay out the framework of a partnership between her organization and SoJo. GreenSpaces fosters collaboration, linkages and a shared workspace for eco-entrepreneurs in New York. They desire delivering toolkits and resources to their members, however haven't had the time or capacity to aggregate or develop informational resources as their key strength lies in fostering physical connections in the city. We are in the process of creating something they are looking for: what a perfect fit!

Within an hour, Marissa was sold on our vision. She understood the value SoJo could provide to the GreenSpace community, was generous in connecting me to other networks in the city, offered to have me work from the space for a day to mingle with the members and get a feel of their community. Once live, SoJo will be GreenSpaces' official Online Resources Partner; we will provide their 10,000+ community access to SoJo's resources to complement their offline efforts. 

I'm halfway through my two week networking trip in New York City. A conference, some events and many meetings are being coordinated with the goal of building a network to ultimately gain access to a larger user base in the United States.  Being based in Canada, there is only so much reach we have, therefore forming strategic partnerships like this one is key to building our user base. I'm excited to announce our first local partnership in New York look forward to telling you about more partnerships as they get formed. 

Startup Tech Companies with Revolutionary Idea

There are a lot of startups being built today and many of those have ideas that aren’t found in any companies before. A lot of these also rely heavily on technologies to get things done and if you are interested in knowing some of them, you better read on because we have quite a few startup tech companies with revolutionary ideas.

Green Spaces 

If you live in New York or Denver or are planning to set up an office in any of these locations, then consider checking out Green Spaces for your needs. This is because one of the aims of Green Space is to provide coworking office space for social technopreneurs. The good thing about Green Space is its environment itself. You will be surrounded with a community of people who are willing to do networking and work together with you. Read more: Green Spaces: Entrepreneurial Space in NY & Colorado

Message in a Bottle

By Mera McGrew

Mission Blue is offering an exclusive online preview of New York artist, Asher Jay’s, newest art installation — Sea Speak Sphere: Message in a Bottle. The art installation is part of a larger conceptual, collaborative campaign that aims to highlight various ocean initiatives and advocates marine conservation.

Jay told Mission Blue, “ I just wanted to come up with a way in which I could speak up for the oceans but that would also encompass all the voices that are doing something similar.”

The art installation is made up of 100 painted bottles that bring to life personal statements or “blue memos” about the world’s ocean from some of the biggest names in marine biology, conservation, photography, exploration, journalism and more. Using recycled plastic bottles, scrap paper, and paint Jay has found a way to offer a visual voice to help communicate complex ocean issues, solution strategies and urgent blue memos.

“Sea Speak Sphere is about collaboration, community and a strong commitment to the cause,” explained Jay. “This is a very quick way to communicate, in a glimpse, something that people don’t take time to fully understand or didn’t previously have a particular interest in.”

The meticulously curated content of the installation serves as a call to action for people from all walks of life. Jay explained, “I feel like images have the power to mobilize the masses, and that is why I am doing this…”

The premier of Sea Speak Sphere: Message in a Bottle by Asher Jay will premiere this Friday June 8th, 6:30-8:30pm at Green Spaces in New York. Preview the installation here. Click through the gallery to get an exclusive look at 28 of the bottles paired with excerpts from the personal statements that were offered and which helped inspire the beautiful works of art.

For more information about Sea Speak Sphere visit the campaign website. To find out more about the premiere of the installation and tickets click here.

All photographs of original artwork taken by Dar Riser, Good Light Works. 

Green Spaces: Entrepreneurial Space in NY & Colorado

If you live in New York or Denver or are planning to set up an office in any of these locations, then consider checking out Green Spaces for your needs. This is because one of the aims of Green Spaces is to provide coworking office space for social technopreneurs. The good thing about Green Spaces is its environment itself. You will be surrounded with a community of people who are willing to do networking and work together with you.

Click here for the full story. Thanks for the mention, Techzed!

Interview with Jill Kickul, Director of the Stewart Satter Program in Social Entrepreneurship

I talked with Jill Kickul, Professor at NYU Stern and Director of the Stewart Satter Program in Social Entrepreneurship, about resources and community for new social entrepreneurs in NYC. She listed a lot of resources, but used the term “fragmented” when describing them; that there is no aggregate of these resources:

Green Spaces “provides the infrastructure for triple bottom line companies to work and grow”...

She also suggested talking to Jed Emerson of blendedvalue.org, who is a guru of impact investing and start-up capital for social innovators...

The Feast “is a cross-disciplinary series of programs addressing social innovation and new ways to make the world a better place.”

Good Magazine has resources

Jill does believe there is a community of new social entrepreneurs in NYC, its just fragmented. There are schools and programs that create community, but you have to be part of that program (apply, be admitted). There are also foundations, but you need to be part of that network to be considered for funding. A stronger community for nyc new social entrepreneurs would be helpful (“absolutely”), especially for those without access to resources.

There are already some places to go for help, but they seem to be buried, embedded in amongst other traditional entrepreneurships; social entrepreneurs are treated like traditional entrepreneurs (lumped together) - even though their needs are different. And non-profits are not usually included.

Social Enterprise Alliance is for both for-profit and non-profit start-ups, but they are national and you have to sift through their website to find what you want. They at least have a database of social enterprises nationally [though I couldn’t find it on their website].

Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) is a good aggregate, but they have a global focus - not NYC. Jill said it would be great if we could create an ANDE for NYC.

Jill felt the needs of new social entrepreneurs are:

• definition: what social entrepreneurship is
• funding resources
• help in planning and strategy
• legal resources
• networking events (in one aggregated place)
• one on one interaction with others in community
• mentor/coaching resources (from those that have done it and are willing to give back)

There are angel lists for traditional entrepreneurs; there should be an angel list for social entrepreneurs - a list of NYC funders who have seed money and knowledge to share

Also, a list of thought leaders in the field who are located in NYC

No one does it right, so far - no one place to go for these resources - the nyc social entrepreneurship community is not complete - filling the gaps would be “tremendous”

Jill would love for us to be able to create a tangible collaborative community space and fill the gaps. She’d be willing to help in anyway to get it off the ground & into actual existence beyond this project, if need be.

-Emily

Click here for the full post.