Macro: Social Innovation + Leadership

Social Innovation represents a new paradigm that supports the development, implementation, and sustainability of transformational responses to social needs. Boston College Graduate School of Social Work took a leadership role in this new social movement by establishing the Social Innovation Program and LAB (SIL). SIL is the first comprehensive social work graduate program to train social workers to take their place in an entrepreneurial movement heretofore dominated by business schools and schools of public policy.

The innovative SIL program has led to the designation of Boston College as an Ashoka Changemaker Campus, making Boston College the first institution internationally to receive this designation based on innovative work initiating from a graduate school of social work.

The Program will engage emerging leaders in courses that support innovation, provide experiential learning opportunities at human service organizations and in the Social Innovation LAB, offer awards for innovative proposals, and devise specialized training for practitioners who supervise students.

The Program

Courses

• Financial Management and Resource Development
• Leadership and Social Transformation
• Social Innovation

Experiential Learning

• Intensive experiential field placement opportunities at leading human service organizations
• Participation in the Social Innovation LAB for exposure to social innovation in action and real-life learning opportunities
• Interactive experiences such as scenario building and rapid prototyping at the annual Social Innovation Day

Social Innovation LAB

• A solution-focused training and research partnership between the GSSW and leading social service organizations
• Designed to stimulate innovation potential and develop leadership capacity for social innovation among human service practitioners
  
  

Center for Social Innovation

The mission of the Center for Social Innovation (CSI) is to foster effective, sustainable social innovations that support social justice. CSI is a premier resource for innovation training, support, and research. CSI partners with agencies and organizations to change their cultures by building capacity and competencies and evaluating processes and outcomes, all towards the goal of integrating design thinking into solutions. Go to the Center for Social Innovation website »

Contact Us

Co-Director: Stephanie Berzin, PhD, Phone: 617-552-0197
Co-Director: Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, PhD, Phone: 617-552-4033
Email: social.innovation@bc.edu