8 social innovators made Philly mag’s ‘Best Philadelphians’ list this year

Every year, Philadelphia magazine puts together a list of movers and shakers making a splash around the city. Eight of this year’s selected movers and shakers are also making a splash as social innovators through their work as social entrepreneurs, artists, advocates and nonprofit executives.

Yes. This is a list about a list. Here’s who represented Philly’s social impact community:

• Omar Woodard — The GreenLight Fund Philadelphia executive director is now six months into his role at the venture philanthropy nonprofit. Woodard told us in February that he dropped his run for state senate for a shot at making greater impact. So far, so good.
• Yasmine Mustafa — The social entrepreneur and founder of the local Girl Develop It chapter accounts for half of ROAR for Good. Mustafa and ROAR cofounder Anthony Gold are actively engaged in the fight against sexual assault. Mustafa was also named Rad Girls Innovator of the Year this past spring.
• Penelope Giles — Giles is the founding director of Francisville Neighborhood Development Corporation (FNDC), where she’s raising the profile of local farmers while deploying neighborhood programs aimed at senior citizens and youth.
• Hannah Sassaman — Sassaman is much more than a policy director at Media Mobilizing Project. The social justice warrior and Fight for the Future board member not only played an instrumental role in Comcast‘s franchise talks with the city late last year, but recently got to see the results of her decade-old community radio policy work finally land PhillyCAM an FM station.
• Sarah Ribner and Jess Edelstein — The entrepreneurs and cofounders of natural deodorant PiperWai represented Philly on ABC‘s Shark Tank late last year, reeling in $50K from investor Barbara Corcoran for 25 percent equity. 
  
• Jennifer Kidwell — The theater artist, actress and humorist uses her craft to explore notions of race and history, most notably through her play Underground Railroad Game. Kidwell landed a $75,000 Pew Arts & Heritage fellowship earlier this summer.
• Eli Wachs — Wachs founded a student competition called High School HeroesX as means improving Philly’s high school graduation rates. He’s since scaled the program outside of his alma mater.

Here’s to hoping for more social impact nods next year.