A brief history of the SSE

To get the blog rolling, here is a little background information on the original School of Social Entrepreneurs based in the UK. 

The School for Social Entrepreneurs was founded in 1997 by Michael Young (Lord Young of Dartington), a social innovator who had previously launched the Consumers’ Association, the Open University and around 40 other organisations.

The SSE provides training and opportunities to enable people to use their creative and entrepreneurial abilities more fully for social benefit.  Individual entrepreneurs and their organisations develop and grow simultaneously through practical programmes built on learning-by-doing. The SSE also seeks to recruit more innovative and capable people into voluntary and other organisations.  Students range in age from twenty to seventy; from twelve years’ unemployment to running a community organisation full-time.

Following successful Millennium Awards programmes, the SSE expanded outside its original base in Bethnal Green, London. The school continues to flourish with 10 locations and over 400 SSE Fellows across England and Ireland. Earlier this year, SSE Australia announced the launch of its first school in Sydney, based on the highly successful UK model. 

Of course, this is just the beginning. We’ll be posting more about the SSE and other organisations as our project develops. In the meantime, learn more about the School of Social Entrepreneurs here.