December 11, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
The magazine Fast Company (December/January) has named its 10 social enterprises of the year.
Among the groups that received honors from the magazine: an organization that uses the medical-residency model to prepare teachers for inner-city Chicago schools, a charity that develops drugs to treat diseases that affect people in developing countries, and a program to help retiring executives in Silicon Valley transition into nonprofit leadership jobs.
The magazine says that one of the winners, Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit housing group in Columbia, Md., “may be one of the most influential organizations you’ve never heard of.”
“Perhaps its most important accomplishment was helping to create the low-income-housing tax credit that for 25 years has provided a way for the business world — developers, bankers, and boldface names like Warren Buffett — to address the pressing social need for affordable housing while still making a profit,” writes Ellen McGirt in a profile of the organization.
Enterprise has been an important player as Washington struggles to deal with the housing crisis, according to the article.
The Neighborhood Stabilization Fund, a $3.9-billion block grant to help states and local governments buy or rehabilitate foreclosed properties that was part of the housing bill passed in July, grew out of a proposal made by Enterprise’s chief executive, Doris Koo.
The organization has also championed the idea of making low-cost housing green.
In three years, Enterprise’s Green Communities program provided financing for 8,500 residential units built to environmentally friendly standards.
The article is available online.
