Promoting Social Innovation
The Rustandy Center’s yearlong Tarrson Fellowship helps social entrepreneurs persevere through the uncertainties of launching social ventures.
Promoting Social InnovationAt the Rustandy Center, our hearts are heavy as we reflect on recent events and absorb the gravity of the moment our nation is in. On some level, they shine a bright light on what we already knew about discrimination and the unacceptable racial disparities that exist across our society. The senseless deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless others are tragic examples of well-sown, systemic wounds.
We are committed to no longer being complicit.
In times of crisis, we tend to reach for what we know. And for us, that means equipping students and alumni, as well as business and nonprofit leaders, with tools and insights to create positive change in their workplaces and in their communities. We’re proud to call Chicago’s South Side home and actively support research, programs, and class projects that engage with the issues within our diverse community. We need to do even more going forward.
Each of us can be an influence in our own world to combat racism, sexism, and discrimination—in big and small ways. As all of us think about how our individual actions will need to change, we must figure out our distinctive contribution to the world and align that with a new understanding of what the world is and can be. Together, we all can and should do better.
To help in your journey, here are some small ways we can check our own biases:
We agree. It is long past time that we all share this burden.
—The Rustandy Center Leadership Team
The Rustandy Center’s yearlong Tarrson Fellowship helps social entrepreneurs persevere through the uncertainties of launching social ventures.
Promoting Social InnovationNew cohort-based program targets operations and finance professionals in the nonprofit sector.
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