Welcome to Momentum!

Paula Goldman, Live from the Momentum Conference

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It’s a sunny day here in San Francisco.  Labor Day, in fact.  70 degrees and sunny, which (contrary to common perception about California) is not something we San Franciscans take for granted. 

I have to admit, there’s a part of me that’s reluctant to leave behind all the barbeques and picnics to go to a conference of all things.

But this isn’t any old conference.  This is Momentum.  And luckily, the 'wants-to-bbq' part of me is overpowered by the part of  me that's passionate about social change-- the part that holds much admiration and respect for those who are able to find innovative and effective ways to contribute their communities. And that's what Momentum is all about.  

There are lots of unique and fascinating things about Momentum. One is the format.   Yes, it covers lots of specific topics- from healthcare to global warming.  But the format is integrative.  Instead of holding issue specific panels, the speakers are asked to make connections between different issues, and look at overall organizing themes, like 'capital,' 'carbon,' and 'power.'

Which brings me to the second thing that's unique about Momentum.  It's a mix of changemakers of various profiles- from social entrepreneurs and donors to activists and political types.  We don't tend to openly discuss political issues (or even 'power' per se) in social entrepreneurial gatherings-- and partly with good reason.  After all, creating effective positive change should not be a matter for partisan bickering.  But is the social entrepreneurship community missing out on anything by not looking more closely at issues of power and politics?  This is one of many questions we'll be exploring this week.

Over the next few days, I’ll be joining my colleague and friend Lloyd Nimetz to cover the Momentum conference for Social Edge.  We’re excited and honored to do it. 

Check out the agenda, and the speakers, and if you have anything you particularly want us to pay attention to, or questions you want us to ask of the speakers, let us know!

See you here again soon.

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Postscript: I realized about an hour after posting the irony of how I began this post-- the bit about not wanting to miss picnics and bbqs on Labor Day.  Labor Day was created through a very specific political process, and is not just a holiday to mark the end of summer, but to mark the fact that we all should have holidays and breaks.  It was an ironic partial answer to the question about whether we are missing anything as an SE community by not considering the political directly- but this is a complicated question, and there are many answers to it.