Entrepreneurship Education for Resilient Communities in Southern Dallas

Social Entrepreneurship Education as a Viable Approach to Building Resilient Communities

Synonyms and Definitions

Synonyms: Social enterprise; Social entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurship: Engaging in new and innovative activities geared toward creating social value and producing measurable societal benefits.
- This activity can be sector-specific (public, business, nonprofit) or interconnected across sectors to address complex or endemic social problems.
- It is synonymous with social enterprise, denoting business ventures focused on garnering societal benefits.
Building resilient communities: Equipping communities with capacities to identify and address vulnerabilities, as well as to withstand and/or recover from major incidence(s) that impact viability and sustainability.
Dallas southern sector: Loosely defined as the area south of Interstate 30, encompassing communities such as West Dallas, Oak Cliff, South Dallas/Fair Park, Pleasant Grove, and Southeast Dallas.

Introduction: Economic Divide and the Need for Transformation in Southern Dallas County

Economic Opportunity: Dallas County, particularly its southern sector, offers numerous opportunities to foster economic development and socioeconomic mobility.
Social Entrepreneurship as an Antidote: Implementing a social entrepreneurship approach can drive transformational change in southern Dallas County.
- This approach empowers residents, particularly youth, to become change agents.
- It complements existing economic development agendas by the City of Dallas (e.g., Grow South Initiative, South Dallas/Fair Park Opportunity Fund) and emerging private ventures from community nonprofits and business advocacy organizations (e.g., Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce, Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce).
Economic Disparities (as of 2017): A significant economic divide exists between northern and southern Dallas County.
- Jobs: $86\%$ of jobs were in northern Dallas, while the south accounted for $14\%$ .
- Property Values: Northern Dallas held $83\%$ of property values, compared to $17\%$ in the south.
- Permit Values: Northern Dallas had $86\%$ of permit values, with $14\%$ in the south.
- This inequality translates to billions of dollars in economic disparities related to income, debt, assets, and education (Joseph and Cowan, 2017).
**Socioeconomic Disparities:
- Median Income: For Blacks and Hispanics in the southern sector, median income is less than $60\%$ of their Asian and White counterparts (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015).
- Credit Scores: Approximately $30\%$ or more residents have subprime credit scores.
- Housing Costs: $65\%$ of residents spend more than $30\%$ of their income on rent.
- Economically Challenged Students: $73\%$ of Dallas County public school students are economically challenged, qualifying for federal food assistance.
- Educational Attainment: White residents are $2.4$ to $5.2$ times more likely to complete a bachelor's degree than their Hispanic and Black counterparts (Groves and Tingle, 2018; Texas Education Agency, 2016; U.S. Census Bureau, 2010).
Long-Term Implications: Such staggering disparities impede the county's long-term socioeconomic health, especially on a per capita basis.
Intervention Need: There is a critical need to build resilient communities in southern Dallas County to promote equity in socioeconomic development and ensure sustainable living wages.

Education as a Catalyst for Resilient Communities

Education, particularly social entrepreneurship education, is identified as a potential catalyst for building and fostering resilient communities.
- This involves equipping communities to identify vulnerabilities, address them, and recover from significant incidents impacting viability and sustainability.

UNT Dallas's Commitment to Social Innovation

Motivation: The Urban SERCH Institute (SERCH) and the School of Business (SB) at UNT Dallas are motivated by the emergent opportunities for social value creation in various sectors (economic, social, education, transportation, health) within Dallas County, especially the southern sector, to embrace social innovation through tailored training and education programs.
Mission Alignment: SERCH and SB's efforts are deeply intertwined with UNT Dallas's mission to "empower students, transform lives and strengthen communities" (UNT Dallas, 2020).
Strategic Position: UNT Dallas's location in the midst of vulnerable communities, coupled with its mission, uniquely positions it as a catalyst for transformational change.
- In the 2018–2019 academic year, over $900$ students graduated, many of whom are now leading change in southern Dallas through involvement with nonprofits, local governments, and private entities.
SERCH and SB Partnership: SERCH and SB will collaborate to develop and implement a scalable model social entrepreneurship program.
- SERCH will facilitate multistakeholder engagements.
- SB will enrich program content and experiential learning through its pragmatic educational methodologies and industry connections.
- Community partners will create synergy to leverage resources and knowledge, leading to exponential improvements.

Intervention Through Social Entrepreneurship Education

Demographics of Dallas County (as of 2019):
- Population: Over $2.6$ million people.
- Hispanics: $40.5\%$
- Whites: $28.5\%$
- Blacks or African-Americans: $22.4\%$
- Asians: $6.7\%$
- American Indians and Alaska Natives: $1.1\%$
Future Projections (by 2050): The county population is projected to reach $3.8$ million, with people of color constituting $80\%$ to $88\%$ of the population (Texas Demographic Center, 2019).
Socioeconomic Health Cornerstone: People of color are crucial to the county's socioeconomic health, yet there's a clear geographical separation by race and ethnicity (Groves and Tingle, 2018).
Historical Context of Disparities:
- Past policies drew lines to separate communities culturally, ethnically, and economically, isolating disenfranchised populations.
- This prevented these communities from benefiting from economic advancements reaped by the majority White business community (Glasrud, 1974).
- Practices like redlining during the Jim Crow era specifically hindered social and economic advancement for communities of color (Macon, 2017).
Persistent Disparities: Income, education, and health disparities are apparent and strongly correlated with geographic location in Dallas County.
- Wage Gap: Black or African-American workers earn $54$ cents, and Hispanics earn $58$ cents, for every dollar earned by their White counterparts (Groves and Tingle, 2018; U.S. Census Bureau, 2015).
- Educational Attainment: Only $16.5\%$ of disadvantaged students earn a college degree or certification (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2017; Groves and Tingle, 2018).
Opportunities for Solutions: These dire disparities present opportunities for constructive and innovative solutions, with social entrepreneurship education being a viable means to promote change, empower individuals, and build resilient communities.
Education as an Opportunity Equalizer: Education, especially higher education, is considered an opportunity equalizer (Marina and Holmes, 2009).
- Educating youth in southern Dallas County, particularly in social entrepreneurship, will build their skills as change agents capable of developing resource bases for resilient communities.
Community-Centric Approach: The proposed social entrepreneurship education will be community-centric.
- Youth interested in using business approaches to address endemic social problems will be identified, recruited, and supported throughout their entrepreneurship education.
UNT Dallas's Vision Connection: The program aligns with UNT Dallas's mission and vision, which encapsulates education and community connectedness as a conduit to viable social and economic mobility.

Components of the Social Entrepreneurship Program

Intent: The SERCH and SB Social Entrepreneurship Program aims to develop social entrepreneurs focused on local system contexts, providing market-based solutions to complex social challenges in Dallas County (especially southern Dallas) and eventually, the State of Texas.
Skills Provided: Participants will gain social entrepreneurship, technical, and business skills and competencies to facilitate change through innovative social enterprises.
Certificate Program Structure:
- Participants will enroll in a five-course Social Entrepreneurship Certificate Program at UNT Dallas.
- The curriculum is rooted in social enterprise principles and practices within a market-based solutions framework.
- A satellite campus will eventually be established through partnership with Dallas County Community College District (now Dallas College) to maximize access.
Training Goal: To train $150$ – $200$ social entrepreneurs within a $5$ -year period, with $20$ – $25$ students per cohort, over a $6$ months-to-a-year timeframe.
Curriculum: Will be innovative and evidence-based, delivered by highly-credentialed faculty and professionals.
- Content: Relevant and timely market-based social enterprise content.
- Augmentation: Distinguished innovative entrepreneurship guest speaker series featuring accomplished business and social enterprise entrepreneurs.
- Experiential Learning Components: Individual and group mentorship, field trips, conferences, a social innovation lab, a social entrepreneur-in-residence program, a knowledge network, and placements with key market-based social impact entities.
- Example Courses:
  - Microfinance and Applied Finance in the Social Sector: Connects business principles (Finance, Accounting, Economics, Microfinance) to the entrepreneurial journey.
  - Strategic Perspectives and Principles in Social Entrepreneurship: Introduces various schools of thought in strategy and their application to entrepreneurial pursuits.
  - Sociology of Social Sector Entrepreneurship: Links the study of society and social relationships to building and scaling businesses emphasizing social good.
  - Fundamentals of Social Impact Investing: Covers the rudiments of social impact investment in vulnerable communities for social value and financial returns.
  - Cases in New Venture Leadership and Management: Uses conceptual and practical cases in social ventures from emergent and established economies.
- Overall Goal: These courses blend conceptual and functional competencies essential for social enterprise endeavors, including management and sustainability.

Program Objectives

To grow social entrepreneurship knowledge of participants using evidence-based social enterprise curriculum with specific student learning objectives.
To equip participants with relevant skill sets for success through innovative social enterprise rooted in market-based principles and practices.
To enhance participants' abilities to promote effective engagement and collaboration with stakeholders across public, private, and nonprofit spheres.
To help participants develop unique competencies through extensive experiential learning at key innovative market-based enterprises with established traditions of social responsibility and social impact.
To create a pipeline of entrepreneurs who can serve as consultants to foster sustainable solutions through engagement with various entities focused on innovatively addressing complex social problems.

Target Groups and Enterprise Solution Component

Recruitment Guidance: Guided by the intent to bolster collective social impact and community transformation.
Inclusivity: Program will be inclusive but will prioritize individuals with commonalities in upbringing and community experience from underserved/under-resourced settings, coupled with a passion for enterprise solutions.
Target Participants:
- Associate degree holders from any Dallas College (formerly DCCCD) programs.
- Bachelor's degree holders from Paul Quinn College.
- Bachelor's and graduate degree holders from UNT Dallas programs.
- Individuals and community stakeholders with relevant qualifications and demonstrated interest in innovative social enterprise for social and economic viability in Dallas County.
Purpose: To empower participants to become change agents, creatively using acquired social enterprise competencies, business skillsets, innovation, and passion to engineer transformational change.
Enterprise Solution Component: Fosters collaboration between for-profit, nonprofit, and public entities to promote viability and sustainability.
- Seed Funding: Startup seed funding of $50,000$ with guarantees from SERCH, School of Business, and other partners to improve access to capital.
- Support: SERCH and SB Business Education Innovation Lab will assist participants with microcredit arrangements, applying for general and categorical grants, bidding for low-threshold contracts from the City of Dallas, and providing technical assistance throughout the project lifecycle.
- Problem Areas for Support: Proposals focusing on endemic challenges in southern Dallas will be supported, including:
  - Food insecurity
  - Neighborhood development
  - Property development and management
  - Innovation in public safety
  - Career readiness education
  - Transportation
  - Reentry and reintegration of offenders
  - Creative waste management
  - Sustainability
  - Innovation in poverty alleviation
  - Promoting health equity and culture of health
- Seed Funding Considerations: Intentionality regarding participants' diverse cultural backgrounds (with similar socioeconomic predicaments), demonstrated passion for social solutions, understanding of sound financial management, viable implementation plans, and relentless resolve to make change.

Social Entrepreneurship Model (Figure 1 Refers to a Visual Model Not Provided)

Central Role of Education: Education is central due to its catalytic role in fostering knowledge, skills, and abilities, leading to empowerment and economic mobility at individual and community levels.
Synergy in Collaboration: Linkages of aspirations, interests, shared understanding, communication, and commitment among collaborative partners create synergy for constructive societal benefits.
Robust Partnerships: The model emphasizes robust, integrated partnerships aimed at ameliorating or eliminating endemic vulnerabilities in southern Dallas County.
Uniqueness: Rooted in focused intervention and local value proposition for societal benefits.
Collaborating Partners (Multisector Collaboration):
- SERCH, School of Business, UNT Dallas
- Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce (DBCC)
- Greater Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (GDHCC)
- Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) / Dallas College
- Dallas Entrepreneurship Center (DEC)
- Dallas Regional Chamber (DRC)
- Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce (GDAACC)
- The African American Leadership Institute at Paul Quinn College
- Star United Global Outreach (SUGO)
- Career Services at UNT Dallas
- Like-minded community-oriented foundations, individuals, and corporate investors
- Other emergent partners as the program evolves.
Partner Roles:
- Chambers of Commerce, Foundations, Corporate Partners: Resource generation, mentorship, experiential learning.
- Civic and Educational Partners: Curriculum shaping, strategic community engagement, workshops, seminars, innovation lab, augmenting SERCH & SB efforts.
Key Feature: Convergence of three spheres (private, nonprofit/civic, public) for collective impact, collaborative education/learning, and sustainable outcomes.

Significance, Benefits, and Best Practices

Complexity of Social Problems: Growing complexity and endemic nature of social problems (poverty, homelessness, lack of affordable housing, inequity in urban infrastructure/transportation) necessitate innovative, viable, and sustainable solutions.
Gaps in Existing Solutions: While government and private sectors offer policy-based and profit-oriented solutions, gaps remain in addressing these complex issues.
Social Entrepreneurship as an Accepted Approach: It is an accepted approach in both developed and emerging economies for tackling complex social problems through innovative, community-centric, enterprise-oriented undertakings.
Scholarly Support: Scholars like Austin and Rangan (2019), MacMillan and Thompson (2013), and Bornstein and Davis (2010) confirm its effectiveness.
Harvard Business School Experience (Austin and Rangan, 2019):
- Reflects $25$ years of social entrepreneurship education.
- Emphasizes multi-sector stakeholders and the use of cases from developing areas/Global South.
- Graduated $7,565$ students at the graduate level and $12,329$ executive practitioners worldwide.
- Produced over $1,000$ scholarly cases highlighting social enterprise efforts.
Likely Benefits of SERCH and SB Program:
- (i) Empowered County Residents: Will creatively help address endemic social problems.
- (ii) Equitable Economic Development: Emergent entrepreneurs will foster economic opportunity, especially in southern Dallas.
- (iii) Empowered Communities: Created economic opportunities will promote social viability and sustainability.
- (iv) Increased Tax Base: Innovative social enterprise activities will improve the city’s revenue, increasing access to development funds.
- (v) Enhanced Economic Mobility: For individuals, with attendant benefits to families and communities.
Program Evaluation: Regular evaluation of content, outputs, and outcomes will use both direct and indirect measures.
Benchmarking Best Practices: The program will benchmark against established models such as:
- Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative
- Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab (BSEL) model at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business
- Other proven programs in the U.S. and internationally.
Advisory Board and Knowledge Network: Will establish an Advisory Board for viability and sustainability, and a Social Enterprise Knowledge Network (SEKN) of local, national, and global social entrepreneurs to share practical knowledge and expertise.

Conclusion

Hope for Southern Dallas: The paper proposes a social entrepreneurship education program involving multisector stakeholders, targeting individuals with similar socioeconomic backgrounds but a passion for change.
Innovative Approach: Conceptualized as an innovative approach to tackle endemic social problems, drawing insights from established programs (e.g., Harvard, USC) with a specific focus on Dallas.
Education as an Equalizer: Education is an impactful equalizer (Bernardi and Ballarino, 2016; Marina and Holmes, 2009), and this program could be a genesis of sustainable systems and a social impact approach to building resilient communities in southern Dallas.
Local Context and Collective Solutions: It relies on individuals with an understanding of the local system context and collective solution-oriented interests to spearhead transformational change.
Addressing Challenges: While implementation will face systems and resource challenges, the common resolve of multisector stakeholders should help overcome these emergent situations.