The last thing on Jennifer Davis’ mind was winning $10,000 when she got up Saturday morning to trek down to Los Angeles Trade Technical College to attend the second annual Social Innovation Summit.
Of course, she knew that the event would give away the money.
“I read it on the flyer,” recalls Davis. “I said ‘yeah that’s never going to be me. And I’m not going for that purpose.’”
Life is sometimes funny, and as Davis admits, God knows you’re ready for something when you don’t.
At the summit, which was sponsored by Working Californians (WCA), a not-for-profit research and advocacy organization made up of a diverse coalition of labor groups, community leaders and policy makers, Davis attended a workshop taught by USC business professor Abby Fifer Mandell, executive director of the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab at the Marshall School of Business at University of Southern California.
“She was amazing. She said ‘let’s sit down and talk. In fact, she was the one who gave me the idea to start the consignment store.”
Not one to sit on an idea that motivated her spirit, Davis collected enough of the play money the organizers were giving out to determine who would be able to compete for the $10,000 grand prize and the $500 secondary prizes.
But again, the single mother of three was not thinking about winning the money.
“I was just excited for an opportunity to get on stage and be able to share what I did. This was the moment I’d been looking for. I thought to myself ‘there is going to be someone in the audience who will say ‘I need her services or I know someone who needs her services.’ I was just excited to stand on stage (and tell my story),” remembers Davis who mentors and trains single mothers through conversation and workshops.
Davis had pushed the thought of winning so far back in her mind, that when her name was called, she initially did not even react.
“I was in shock. I was thinking ‘is this real?’” Davis said she remained in shock until Sunday. Then she began to realize the ramifications of her bounty—she would be able offer her workshops to moms free of charge and would not put them in the position of having to choose between paying for her help and feeding their children.
Davis intends to use her winnings to open a brick and mortar consignment shop in South Los Angeles where moms can sell their gently used children’s clothing in the front part of the business and attend classes in the back.
Like Davis, whose primary purpose for attending the workshop was to learn how to start a business that would fund her giving-back passion, nearly 100 people turned out for the day-long event that introduced participants to the concept of social entrepreneurship.
According to the PBS.org website, a social entrepreneur identifies and solves social problems on a large scale. Social entrepreneurs act as the change agents for society, seizing opportunities others miss in order to improve systems, invent and disseminate new approaches and advance sustainable solutions that create social value.
In addition to hearing Secretary of State Alex Padilla talk about California’s business climate and former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa speak about efforts in the city of Los Angeles, attendees heard first-hand from organizations in New Orleans and Detroit about how they used social entrepreneurship to rebuild those regions hard hit respectively by a hurricane and an economic downturn.
Individuals were also given a quick overview of how to start a business as well as a chance to connect with potential resources that could help them.
Working Californians also has a website which will include post-event information as well as details on other social entrepreneurial activities they will offer in the future: http://www.workingcalifornians.org/.
For more business resources, visit www.ourweekly.com.
