| Background: |
. Over the last ten years, there has been tremendous growth in social enterprise businesses, defined as nonprofit or for profit business ventures that strive to achieve a quantifiable double bottom line of financial and social returns. In many cases, these are revenue-generating businesses run by nonprofit organizations that understand and already provide services to the individuals they would employ through the business. Social enterprise businesses are self-sustaining and adopt commercial strategies to increase their effectiveness. This approach has been particularly promising in creating new opportunities for individuals with disabilities in emerging industries and increasing employment of people with disabilities. The purpose of this article is to describe and profile two different models of social enterprise businesses funded by Kessler Foundation that employ people with disabilities
in integrated settings earning market-driven pay rates. |
|
Purpose:
|
Over the past 10 years, there has been tremendous growth in entities known as social enterprise businesses. This approach has been particularly promising in creating
new opportunities for individuals with disabilities in emerging and growth industries (Katz & Kauder, 2011). |
|
Conclusions:
|
While many programs and practices are being used today by community-based employment service agencies
to help people with disabilities be actively and gainfully employed, establishing a social enterprise business can be, for some nonprofits, a viable strategy. Kessler Foundation has invested in such businesses with promising results. Other organizations, such as REDF (2011), with experience in social enterprise development, have continued their work to promote the success of such endeavors. |
