This past week, the BetterWorld team was fortunate to attend some great events and meetings up and down the west coast, seeing many familiar faces as well as many new ones. Here are some quick highlights of all the great customers, partners and new orgs that we met and saw:
B Corp Portland and San Francisco Events: PremGroup’s hip HQ office was the scene last week where many existing Portland-area B Corp companies and some prospective B Corps gathered to share their own stories and learn more about the history and foundation of B Corp from co-founder, Jay Coen Gilbert. As the B Corp movement has really taken hold in the last few years, its strength is evidenced by local gathers like this one, where dozens of companies are now in attendance and looking for ways that we can all work together to advance the triple bottom line, for Benefit, business model. As fate would have it, there was a San Francisco B Corp gathering at Elixir in the Mission as well & we had a great evening of meeting new and old B Corp affiliates in the Bay area. A big shout out to our B Corp partners Stephanie Ryan in the Northwest and Deborah Hirsch in San Francisco for all their help with these events and our ongoing close work together.
BetterWorld is a proud founding B Corp – B Corporations are a new type of corporation which uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. B Corporations are unlike traditional responsible businesses because they: a) Meet comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards, b) Institutionalize stakeholder interests, and c) Build collective voice through the power of a unifying brand. For more information: www.bcorporation.net
**CEN/Climate Solutions Mixer, Portland: ** We stopped by to see our partners and customers, the Clean Economy Network and Climate Solutions, host the Pacific Northwest Chapter mixer. Many leaders of the sustainable economy in Portland and surrounding areas were in attendance, discussing upcoming legislation at the state and federal levels and what we, as business leaders, can to to help move the agenda forward.
The Clean Economy Network is a national organization of business leaders who are building the foundation for American competitiveness in the clean energy revolution. CEN recently joined forces with the Renewable Energy Business Network, and is planning to be much more active in the coming year. In the Northwest, it will be working closely with Business Leaders for Climate Solutions and other local partners. For more information: www.cleaneconomynetwork.org
Oakland Green Youth Arts & Media Center: Last Thursday night, the streets of Oakland were buzzing as hundreds turned out to cheer the opening of the amazing Oakland Green Youth Arts & Media Center. Combining arts, education and sustainability all into one package, there was a fired up, passionate crowd to greet this important community center as it opened its doors to the public for the first time last Thursday night.
Dozens of youths affiliated with Oakland organizations aimed at nonviolent solutions to gang and street-life chaos – ranging from Art in Action, which has been leading the formation of the center, to fellow organizers Grind for the Green, Colored Ink and Community Rejuvenation Project – have been testing out the center for more than a month. Those organizations and about a dozen others will be using the center collaboratively now that it has opened, offering classes and holding meetings alongside the studio recording and art sessions. For more information: www.greenyoutharts.org
In service,
Gina, Jacob and Matt
