By Kara Sherrer
The Turner Family Center for Social Ventures (TFC) is committed to alleviating poverty through market-driven forces and enterprise. Although the center is housed in the Owen Graduate School of Management, the TFC is interdisciplinary and open to students across all graduate programs (and certain programming is open to undergraduates as well).
While the TFC does have staff members for support, the center is entirely student-led. Graduate students on the board and various committees decide what programming they would like to see, then devise a strategy to carry it out. Dozens of students get leadership experience and development through their work with the TFC each year.
Here’s an overview of what programming the TFC has coming up for the rest of the 2018-2019 academic year:
Hult@Vanderbilt
The Hult Prize competition is a global event that brings entrepreneurial-minded students together to solve some of the world’s most pressing societal problems through for-profit business. Teams from all over the world advance through several rounds to compete for a $1 million seed funding grand prize. Each November, the TFC hosts the first round of the competition on campus, and the winning team will advance to the regional competition (and hopefully the global finals). The problem statement changes each year; the 2018 challenge asks teams to build the foundations of a venture that will provide meaningful work for 10,000 youth within the next decade.
Treks
Each year, the TFC coordinates a variety of student-led experiential learning trips, called “treks.” So far this year, the students have already spent a day visiting local Nashville businesses and learning about gentrification during the “Beyond Broadway” trek. There is also another upcoming trek to rural West Alabama, which will explore how businesses and nonprofits are revitalizing towns in the nations’ “black belt,” an area rich in history and afflicted by systemic poverty. Other treks are in the works, including a second Nashville trek in the spring.
Social Ventures Summit
In February, the TFC’s summit committee brings together speakers and students for a full day of keynote speeches, breakout sessions, panels, workshops, and networking. The summit is designed so that students receive a lot of hands-on learning in smaller groups where they really get to know the speakers and other professionals in attendance. The 2019 Social Ventures Summit will be the fourth summit coordinated by the TFC, and the theme of the event is “growing through failure.”
Social Enterprise Consulting Class
Social Enterprise Consulting (SEc) matches teams of students who want consulting engagement experience with local and regional social ventures that have strategic, development, human capital, or operational needs. While SEc was previously not for credit, students asked that it be made into a class with a lecture learning component. This spring, the first-ever Social Enterprise Consulting class will take place in Mod III and students will receive two credit hours for taking it. The teams will learn about social enterprise consulting in class as they work on projects for their clients.
Project Pyramid
Project Pyramid is a class that takes place during Mods III and IV in the spring. In it, students learn about poverty and different ways to alleviate it. Throughout the entire course, students also consult for nonprofits and social ventures in other countries and actually travel to meet with their partners during the break between the Mods. When they return, students work on their deliverables and meet with another Project Pyramid team for cross-consultation peer feedback until the course wraps up.
In addition to this programming, the TFC hosts various workshops and Lunch&Learn events throughout the year. The TFC has also partnered with MBA Impact Investing Network & Training (MIINT) to bring Vanderbilt’s first impact investing team to campus this year; stay tuned for more updates in the coming months.
To learn more about programming at the Turner Family Center for Social Ventures, feel free to reach out to the current students below, or visit the TFC website.
Hult@Vanderbilt: Sayrge Braccio
Treks: Cali Livingstone
Social Ventures Summit: Jordan Jurinsky
Project Pyramid: Tyler Skelton
Social Enterprise Consulting: Amna Aslam
