In 2006, Louisiana Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu established the nation's first statewide Office of Social Entrepreneurship (see an overview of the OSE's mission, model, strategies, and vision).  This coming fall, the office will pilot a social innovation fund which will provide support to innovative, effective and sustainable solutions to social problems in Louisiana.
 
In preparing to launch a competition to determine the best models for investment, we faced an important question:  Do we focus on a particular social issue and solicit the best solutions for one particular problem, such as childhood obesity or high-school dropout rates? Or do we focus on seeking those models with the highest potential for increased social impact, regardless of the social area it addressed? We chose the latter and will launch the competition focused on a proposed solution’s ability to meet the highest standards of established criteria including innovation, social impact, measurability and sustainability.
 
This approach maintains our focus on promoting social entrepreneurship as a new way to solve decades-old social problems in our state. The goal is to provide a different methodology for developing and implementing solutions, with an emphasis on using business principles to effectively build and scale models.
 
We will work within our own sector by educating elected and appointed officials on the benefits of using social entrepreneurship as an innovative strategy to address social issues. But, recognizing that the best models for social innovation occur at the intersection of the public, private and nonprofit sectors, we hope to work across sectors to forge new partnerships focused on a multitude of social problems.
 
The next important question for the Louisiana Office of Social Entrepreneurship will be to determine the acceptable level of risk for a portfolio of public investments. The tension between innovation and accountability is a delicate one - particularly as government begins to invest public funding in social entrepreneurship - but we believe that social entrepreneurship can create both innovative and accountable solutions. (See recent blog posting on this topic.)
 
Brooke Smith is the Director of Strategic Partnerships in the Office of Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu and oversees the Louisiana Office of Social Entrepreneurship whose mission is to advance social innovation by supporting the creation and growth of the most innovative, effective and sustainable solutions to the social problems affecting Louisiana’s citizens.  Read Public Innovators' related recommendation.