Challenging the Status Quo: Social Entrepreneurs, Democracy, Development and Environmental…

Catalog description

This community-engaged learning class is part of a broader collaboration between the Program on Social Entrepreneurship at the Haas Center for Public Service, Distinguished Visitors Program and the Doerr School of Sustainability, using practice to better inform theory about how innovation can help address society's biggest challenges with a particular focus on environmental justice, sustainability and climate resilience for frontline and marginalized communities who have or will experience environmental harms. Working with the instructor and the 2024 Distinguished Visitors ? Angela McKee-Brown, founder and CEO of Project Reflect; Jason Su, executive director of the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy; Cecilia Taylor, founder, executive director, and CEO of Belle Haven Action; and Violet Wulf-Saena, founder and executive director of Climate Resilient Communities ? students will use case studies of successful and failed social change strategies to explore relationships between social entrepreneurship, race, systemic inequities, democracy and justice. This course interrogates approaches like design theory, measuring impact, fundraising, leadership, storytelling, and policy advocacy with the Distinguished Visitors providing practical examples from their work on how this theory plays out in practice. This is a community-engaged learning class in which students will learn by working on projects that support the social entrepreneurs' efforts to promote social change. Students should register for either 3 OR 5 units only. Students enrolled in the full 5 units will have a service-learning component along with the course. Students enrolled for 3 units will not complete the service-learning component. Limited enrollment. Attendance at the first class is mandatory in order to participate in service learning. Graduate and undergraduate students may enroll.