Have an Idea to Fight Poverty? Submit it to the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal

In a broad new contest, the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal is seeking ideas to alleviate poverty in the Philadelphia region.

Open to individuals, organizations and businesses, the Journal is accepting online applications until March 27, 2015. While applicants need no prior experience or specific background, all submissions should demonstrate:

• An approach to addressing poverty that can be in the form of a product or service. The approach must clearly demonstrate the potential to have a positive and measurable social impact on the region;
• An approach to growing the state or region’s economy through its impact on poverty;
• An approach that collaborates with multiple partners, such as education institutions, private industry and economic development providers.

After the submission period ends, a panel of judges will narrow down the entries to 32. Those finalists will be invited to pitch their concepts at the AmeriCorps VISTA 50th Anniversary Community Solutions Spotlight on April 24.

The national service program to fight poverty, established in 1965, is collaborating with the Journal to promote its work.

“The idea for the contest was to not only capitalize on the 50th anniversary but to say, ‘people talk about [anti-poverty], but there’s not really a place to bring it up and have a good conversation about it,” said Nick Torres, the co-founder and publisher of the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal.

After a thorough review at the Solutions Spotlight, the top 16 ideas will be selected for further development at the Journal’s Social Innovations Lab, an incubator to seed innovations with the potential for wider application.

Established in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania, the Lab provides low-risk opportunities to test and implement the strongest social impact ideas from the nonprofit, social enterprise and government sectors. Since its inception in 2012, the Lab has cultivated 60 innovative ideas and has helped raise $3 million to fund them, according to Torres.

More information is available on the Social Innovations Lab website.

Image via SBP St. Bernard Project