Social Enterprises for the Greater Good

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

8:30 - 9:00am - Networking and Coffee
9am - Noon - Workshop

Half-Day Workshop: $90

About this session: 

Sweet Beginnings, LLC, a subsidiary of the North Lawndale Employment Network, is a for-profit, social enterprise that produces urban honey and honey-infused skincare products to create jobs for residents of North Lawndale returning from incarceration. Using Sweet Beginnings as an example, this workshop will offer honest insights on key drivers influencing the decision to launch a social enterprise, the highs and lows along the way, as well as specific tips for starting and scaling a social enterprise. Learn some of the factors involved in determining if your organization is ready to launch a social enterprise of its own, including legal structure benefits, mission fit, hiring challenges, securing capital, board leadership, long-term sustainability and social impact.

About the Presenter: Brenda Palms Barber, Executive Director, North Lawndale Employment Network; Chief Executive Officer, Sweet Beginnings, LLC

Brenda Palms Barber, Chief Executive Officer of the North Lawndale Employment Network, an urban workforce development agency, and founding social entrepreneur and CEO of Sweet Beginnings, LLC, a social enterprise using urban beekeeping to create jobs for those with significant barriers to employment, has served as Executive Director of NLEN since its founding in 1999. She launched NLEN’s wholly owned subsidiary social enterprise, Sweet Beginnings, in 2004 to ensure its hardest to employ clients could get jobs and gain a history of employment. Under Brenda’s leadership, NLEN has grown from two to 44 employees and generates an annual budget in excess of $4.2 million. Today, NLEN serves more than 2,500 people per year. Sweet Beginnings has expanded from a cottage industry to distribution at more than 43 Mariano stores, both O’Hare and Midway airports, and has been awarded one of the first Benefit Chicago loans for social impact businesses. NLEN has received numerous awards including one of the first MacArthur Foundation Awards for Creative and Effective Institutions (2006) and the prestigious Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Award (2015) and currently 2018 Citi Foundation Community Progress Makers. Brenda has raised the national profile of NLEN, Sweet Beginnings, and the plight of people with barriers to employment through extensive media coverage including CNN, the NBC Today Show, CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, a TEDWomen Documentary, and Lifetime. Brenda has published in the Wall Street Journal and appeared on ABC7 Windy City Live as a 4-Star Chicagoan. In recognition of her innovation and commitment to helping those in need, Congressman Danny Davis awarded Brenda the Cardiss Collins Trailblazer Award (2013). Brenda is a graduate of Harvard’s Strategic Perspectives in Non-Profit Management program and the Chicago Urban League’s nextOne entrepreneurship program, which included classes at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She holds a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management from the Spertus Institute in Chicago.