Presented by: Sharmain Matlock-Turner, Urban Affairs Coalition
1st Place: The Economy League of Greater Philadelphia brings together leaders and organizations across all sectors to address the most challenging issues facing the Greater Philadelphia region. Built on our historic foundation of independent, high-quality analysis and practical insight, we spark new ideas, develop strategies, and galvanize action to make Greater Philadelphia globally competitive. Economy League research and leadership engagement has helped power the high-profile Pre-K for PA campaign, a statewide effort to raise awareness of the value and impact of expanded access to quality pre-K. The campaign has built a strong foundation of support from prominent business executives, key elected officials, law enforcement, and military leaders that is informing funding discussions in Harrisburg.
Steve Wray, Executive Director of the Economy League, states of the organization and the recognition by the Social Innovations Journal, “The Economy League's unique approach to driving regional change in Greater Philadelphia has led to recent successes around expanding high-quality pre-K, growing our economy via increased exports, and boosting educational attainment. We're honored to be recognized by the 2017 Social Innovation Awards for this ongoing collaborative work to spur growth and opportunity in our region.”
2nd Place: Diversified Community Services provides leadership and services that strengthen and coordinate the Point Breeze and surrounding communities’ efforts on behalf of children, youth and families, especially those that are most vulnerable. Our vision is a diverse, prosperous, and vibrant Point Breeze community where all residents are treated with dignity and respect—a community where the impacts of poverty are acknowledged and action is taken to empower those in need. We are a deeply-embedded neighborhood-based nonprofit agency in Point Breeze, a low-income, predominantly minority South Philadelphia community. Diversified is a multi-purpose social service agency working with children, adults, and families and provides early childhood education as an integral function of its mission. Formally incorporated in 1968, Diversified has evolved from its roots in the University of Pennsylvania settlement house camps in the 1890s into the largest social service agency in Point Breeze. We serve nearly 8,000 children, youth, adults, and families, emphasizing education and skill-building. Diversified chooses to maximize its impact by being geographically-based and focusing on the healthy development of children and youth from low-income and other vulnerable families to help them realize long-term economic and social well-being in the Point Breeze and surrounding communities.
3rd Place: Congreso de Latinos Unidos is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1977 with a mission to strengthen Latino communities through social, economic, education and health services, leadership development and advocacy. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Congreso is a leading provider of high-quality programs with an expert focus on the Latino community. Its Primary Client Model (PCM™), which ensures a client-centered, data-driven approach to service delivery, is the foundation for Congreso’s nationally renowned emphasis on outcomes measurement. Congreso was an early adopter of this framework for how nonprofits moved from outputs to outcomes. Growing from one data manager in 2002 to a Data and Evaluation Department now providing consultation to nonprofits around the nation, Congreso’s mission to strengthen Latino communities now includes strengthening community residents and the organizations that serve them.