White House Officials Discuss Plans for Social-Innovation Office

White House Officials Discuss Plans for Social-Innovation Office

By Suzanne Perry

Washington

The new White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation was created without much fanfare. In fact, even though it has been operating for several months, it has never been formally unveiled.

But the office, set up to promote creative and effective ways to tackle social problems, is slowly starting to emerge as a public entity. The White House briefly outlined its goals in a statement last month to announce that the president was proposing $50-million in his 2010 budget for a social-innovation fund. And after months of working behind the scenes, White House officials have started to speak publicly about the office’s plans.

Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, and Sonal Shah, who heads the new office, told The Chronicle the office is giving priority to working with the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that runs national-service programs, to set up the social-innovation fund.

The money, which was authorized by the national-service law enacted in April, will help nonprofit groups expand successful programs, or set up promising new ones, with a heavy emphasis on measuring results. The projects will require matching money from private sources or local governments.

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