The school’s first social entrepreneurship conference is presented by WSU School of Social Work, OptimizeWayne, the student chapter of the Association of Black Student Social Workers and the Alumni Board Association of the School of Social Work

Media Contacts: Matt Lockwood; Wayne State University; 313.577.9098; mlockwood@wayne.edu; Barbara Fornasiero; EAFocus Communications; 248.260.8466; barbara@eafocus.com

Detroit — April 2, 2018 — Wayne State University, one of the nation’s preeminent urban research universities, will host the university’s first social entrepreneurship conference on Friday, April 6 at the Student Center Building. Entitled, Social Entrepreneurship: The Emerging Role of Social Innovation and Social Enterprise in Southeast Michigan, the conference is presented by the WSU School of Social Work, OptimizeWayne, a student-run social innovation program that provides students with a community and resources to create their own social change initiatives, the student chapter of the Association of Black Student Social Workers and the Alumni Board Association of the School of Social Work.

Workshops and presentations will touch on a variety of social enterprise topics including:

  • Defining and advancing social enterprise in Michigan’s legacy cities
  • Enterprising nonprofits: a panel of area not-for-profit leaders who are addressing social challenges in enterprising ways
  • Urban entrepreneurship
  • Fostering student-led innovation
  • Social innovation across nonprofit, commercial and public sectors
  • Impact investing: new approaches for funding social change ventures
  • Business planning for would-be and existing social entrepreneurs
  • Marketing social change ventures

Speakers and panelists include Daniel Varner, President and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit, Limi Sharif, co-founder of OptimizeWayne, David Contorer, Executive Director of the Hebrew Free Loan Program, Doug Bitonti Stuart, Executive Director of the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation, Jason Ball and Steve Wolbert, co-founders of Flint-based SIPI, Aubree Agee, Senior Program Administrator of Blackstone Launch Pad at Wayne State University, and WSU faculty members from the School of Social Work, Wayne Law and the Mike Illitch School of Business.

Event registration runs from 8:00 to 8:30a.m. and the event concludes at 2:00 p.m. Participants will select from a menu of topic tracks that best fit their social entrepreneurship interests. The cost to attend is $10; for a complete conference agenda and registration information visit the WSU events page.

Social Entrepreneurship: The Emerging Role of Social Innovation and Social Enterprise in Southeast Michigan is an example of the programs supported and encouraged by the Wayne Innovation Hub , launched in fall 2017 to enhance the university’s overall culture of innovation.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering nearly 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 27,000 students. The Wayne Innovation Hub was developed to help coordinate and support programs for entrepreneurship education, technology commercialization, and community partnerships, and to enhance Wayne State University’s overall culture of innovation.

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