The Social Enterprise Club (SEC) is organizing its first Social Immersion program through financial sponsorship under the Community Impact Fund created by the Student Association (SA) in an effort to raise the awareness among HBS students on social problems facing Boston communities. Over the course of one day in April, approximately 40 HBS students and HBS faculty will work on-site at local social enterprises to learn first-hand about the challenges in the community while providing strategic support to the social enterprises working on
these programs.
“The students will be assigned to teams organized by issue areas including education, economic development and healthcare” said Ozge Bulat, SEC VP of Fundraising. “We are targeting several organizations including Boston Cares, Thousand Hills Coffee Co., Oxfam Private Sector Team, The Food Project, City Year, and the NBA-Enterprise Solutions to Poverty”.
The teams will participate in a wide range of projects, aimed to help them gain a deep understanding of the efforts underway to improve the lives of the less fortunate in Boston. One such project in the works with the Year Up Organization would partner HBS students with young adults to serve as business skill instructors.
The day will culminate for the students, professors and leaders of the social enterprises with a reception and working dinner. At this event, the social enterprise leaders will present overviews of their organization to the larger group and students will be able to share their experiences with each other. “This reception will give the students the opportunity to understand and learn the organizations’ business models and foster meaning dialogue and idea exploration with the social enterprise leaders. This will be a collaborative learning effort”, said Bulat.
The Social Immersion is one of the first programs to be sponsored by the Student Association through its new Community Impact Fund. Inspired by the Hurricane Katrina Relief Trek, the fund was established to support student-led initiatives focused on supporting the community. “The funding from the SA is critical for this event. The grant will be used for transportation, lunch and the reception at the end of the day,” said Bulat. “We expect the fund to offset any costs to the participants.”
The Social Immersion is open to all HBS students. If you are interested in taking part in this activity, please email
obulat@mba2009.hbs.edu for more information.
