Ballard Center for Economic Self-Reliance
The Provo Monster Mile & 5k is fundraising for the Ballard Center for Economic Self-Reliance at BYU this year. (Last year the PMM raised several hundred dollars for the Academy for Creating Enterprise! Thanks for participating!)
The Ballard Center is an academic center that interacts with students, faculty, and practitioners to search for pattern-breaking social innovations that address some of today’s most vexing social problems.
Throughout history we see examples of people who have developed original ways of addressingsocial problems. Their impact has created new school systems, economic patterns, health programs and more. Though the idea of social innovation has been around a long time, the application isconstantly changing, improving and growing.
Social innovation encompasses a broad spectrum of methods which we are exploring including social entrepreneurship, impact investing, corporate social innovation and high-impact non-profits. We are excited to participate in connecting social innovators across disciplines and locations, bringing together ideas and expanding possibilities.
The Ballard Center’s primary focus is students. Brigham Young University is home to over 30,000 talented students studying various disciplines. We are providing ways for these students to apply the skills they learn in the classroom to solving real societal problems. We work hard to provide rigorous and valuable experiences whereby students may supplement their education and gain understanding which they can apply to their various careers.
The Ballard Center is also interested in supporting social innovation that is already in progress. We support faculty who look at their research through the lens of social innovation. We have done groundbreaking research about microfranchising and extensive studies about single mothers. We also support a number of well-known practitioners who are doing innovative projects throughout this country and across the world.
The field of social innovation is exciting; it is always growing and changing. Join us as we work to teach students, break patterns, solve problems and change perspectives.