CIPS Social Innovation Partners

Social innovation and social entrepreneurship seeks to apply new technologies and organization forms to reduce poverty especially when formal and informal institutions are inadequate or exclude vulnerable groups. Common denominators among CIPS Social Innovation partners are new ideas to promote the application of new digital technologies to social mobility though Transnational Diaspora Enterprises, the application of knowledge. Immigrants from the DR, Peru, El Salvador and Mexico and New York City immigrants become entrepreneurs because this is often the only employment open to them.

List of CIPS' Social Innovation Partners:

Both the European Commission and Unicef sponsored CIPS’s policy forum on “Child Friendly Budgets.” The European Commission also sponsors Diasporalink, of which CIPS is a member. Diasporalink is a research network which investigates and supports the role of transnational diaspora entrepreneurship as a driver of development and wealth creation in countries of origin.

The Concourse Group is a nonprofit microfinance organization based in The Bronx that fosters and accelerates entrepreneurship in low-income communities. Concourse is a Startup, Consulting, and Funding source that work sequentially to help Bronx entrepreneurs realize their objectives. It is one way Fordham students to give back to their community and put their knowledge to use in a way that benefits all. Right now we are young professionals providing valuable services to financial institutions in low-income areas and working toward the revitalization and economic empowerment of unbanked communities throughout New York City.

Fordham University has been honored as a leader in social innovation education with a designation as “changemaker campus” by Ashoka, a global association of leading social entrepreneurs.
With the designation, Fordham joins a network of 25 other universities and colleges around the nation that are dedicated to changing the world through social innovation. Other members include fellow Jesuit schools Boston College and Marquette University, and elite schools such as Princeton, Duke, Cornell, and Brown Universities.

The College of Tlaxcala (Coltlax) is an institution for research and postgraduate education resources in the field of Regional Development, Public Policy and Public Management. Coltlax is committed to fair and sustainable development through postgraduate education and cooperation with governments, NGOs and Institutions of Higher Education, both local and international.
Located in the central part of Mexico, in the State of Tlaxcala, Coltlax main research focus is on regional and local issues; it has a commitment to regional and local problems But at the same time it’s actively engaged in establishing partnerships with international organizations, research centers and universities with similar research and teaching aims.

Spes Nova is a non-profit organization that was launched by Erick W. Rengifo and Steven Carlsen at Fordham University. Rengifo is the Director of the Center for International Policy Studies (CIPS) and Professor in the Economics Department. Steven Carlsen is a Ph.D. Alumnus of the Economics Department. Spes Nova’s mission is to alleviate poverty in some of the poorest regions of the world by helping the working poor help themselves using micro credit, market development, and insurance.