Prosocial Schools
Alison Malisa is a high school economics teacher and founding member of Prosocial Schools – a movement to adapt Prosocial Processes for schools that are culturally diverse, trauma aware, and youth-informed.
Prosocial Youth Corps is a nine-month educational co-design program that empowers youth as researchers and curriculum designers.
Grand Rapids Civic Theatre
Allyson Paris is the Associate Director of Grand Rapids Civic Theatre, where she runs Civic’s extensive education and outreach programming, and directs several productions each year.
Faculty Facilitated Belonging Project is a series of training modules that focus on specific diversity, equity, and inclusion topics for community-based arts education classrooms
Hispanic Center of Western Michigan
Ana Ortiz is the program coordinator at the Hispanic Center. She moved to Grand Rapids four years ago after graduating with a Master’s degree in Visual Arts.
Youth Employment Initiative is a program that provides students, ages 14-24, with paid internships in an area of professional interest with a local employer.
Godfrey-Lee Public Schools
Dr. Carol Lautenbach is Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Design at Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, where she works with teams to create conditions for teaching and learning that ensure all students discover personal meaning and contribute to building joyful and equitable communities.
Bilingualism is My Superpower! is a program for kindergartners that inspires and encourages all students to celebrate and activate the superpowers of heritage language and culture.
Joblinge
Cecilie Schjerven holds a licentiate degree (Lund University, Sweden) with a thesis on culture in design management. She is currently a consultant for projects in various fields in Oslo and Frankfurt and with Joblinge since 2020.
Basecamp Connect aims to support under-privileged young trainees in the German job market and establishes a hybrid, social learning space where the trainees are mentored and prepared prior to and during their vocational training.
Reproductive Media
Danielle C. Wyckoff and Cayla Skillin-Brauchle are artists, educators, and moms. Co-founders of the initiative Reproductive Media, they focus on developing family friendly practices for arts and educational institutions.
Reproductive Media’s Equity Incubator serves academic administrators who believe in equity and want to help women and primary caregivers thrive. This incubator includes workshops and resources to identify and remedy sexist institutional structures.
New York School of Interior Design
Dr. Ellen Fisher, CID, FASID, IIDA, is VP & Dean at New York School of Interior Design, author, and president of the Interior Design Educators Council. Her expertise is designing PreK-5 classrooms for literacy and independent learning.
A Pipeline for Design is a 3-week pre-college intensive intro course for BIPOC high school students lead by The New York School of Interior Design in partnership with the YWCA of NYC.
Affinity Mentoring
Holly Hetherington is a youth development professional driven by a passion for fostering equity and youth agency. She holds an Elementary Education degree and is currently seeking a Master’s in Social Innovation.
Middle School Mentoring Steering Committee is a co-created initiative to foster belonging for middle school students that meets their developmental and self-identified needs.
St. Ignatius College Preparatory
Jennifer Gaspar Santos is Director of Ed Tech & Innovation at St. Ignatius College Preparatory. She partners w/ teachers on technology exploration during this time of hybrid learning. She is Girls who Code Moderator and believes design is a lever for change.
Belonging through Times of Isolation is a program that creates and supports a sense of belonging for girls & students of color who feel isolated in their STEM pursuits.
Substantial Classrooms
Jessie Weiser has dedicated her career to fostering engagement in schools, workplaces, and communities, and currently serves as the Director of Capacity Building at Substantial Classrooms.
SubSchool is a virtual, ongoing professional development opportunity for substitute teachers to have the chance to find meaning, achieve mastery & build community at work.
Oregon Institute of Technology
Dr. John Schoppert is the University Librarian for OregonTech libraries located at both Klamath Falls, OR. and Portland-Metro campuses. He earned his Ed.D from Oregon State University doing research on the intersection of librarianship and open education resources.
The Hub Center for Teaching and Learning brings together key constituents within a reimagined innovative space to foster creativity and promote holistic support for faculty.
York University
Kelly Parke has been a creative/technical innovation consultant for more than 30 years and teaches innovation at the Schulich School of Business in Toronto. He advises various groups and governments on creative strategies and projects.
W.I.S.H. (Wellness Initiative for Student Health) uses artificial intelligence to understand the stress points and factors in measuring student mental health by using wearable technology.
Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative
Dr. Nkechy Ekere Ezeh is an author, associate professor at Aquinas College, and founder and pedagogical leader of the landmark Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative (ELNC) – a trusted, place-based early learning collaborative that provides funding, innovative shared support services, and advocacy to partner organizations rooted in vulnerable communities.
ELNC Play-Book is an early learning toolkit that supports community-based organizations in vulnerable neighborhoods in order to promote racial equity within the Early Childhood Education system.
The Diatribe
Rachel Gleason is a poet whose work has been commissioned by local and national organizations. They are the Director of Education of The Diatribe, a nonprofit working to empower the youth through poetry.
The Diatribe Sex Ed. Program provides an inclusive, comprehensive approach for middle schoolers. Created and taught by Black and LGBTQ teaching artists, the content is both engaging and informative.
University of South Carolina Upstate
Toni DiMella is the Director of Transformative and Inclusive Pedagogy who specializes in the use of critical pedagogies, online course development, and the use of technology in the mathematics classroom.
Teaching and Learning at the Intersections is a series of engagements that help faculty understand differences, develop empathy & create an inclusive climate.
Social Innovation 2020-2021 Evaluation Panel
- Patricia Bou, Principal of CannonDesign
- Renay Loper, VP Program Innovation of Pyxera Global
- Ranee Lee, Associate Professor at OCAD University
- Dina Ghobashy, Global Senior Manager of Education Leadership at Microsoft
- Dr. Susie Wise, Designer at Design for Belonging
- Scott Boylston, Professor of Design at SCAD
- Raja Schaar, Assistant Professor and Program Director of Product Design at Drexel University
- Dr. Pierce Gordon, Innovation Catalyst
- Chris Rudd, Founder + Lead Activator at ChiByDesign
Social Innovation Lab
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