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| July / August 2009 |
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Hundreds Gather to Discuss a Solution for Systemic Change Within California
 California is broken, but the people can fix it. On August 11, Full Circle Fund joined forces with Repair California and Bay Area Council to convene over 350 people to discuss the possibility of a California Constitutional Convention. The non-partisan event, moderated by Full Circle Fund CEO Amy Lesnick, featured a panel of cross-sector leaders including our very own Jeff Camp, Chair of Full Circle Fund's Education Circle, Jim Wunderman, CEO/ President of the Bay Area Council, Andrew Giacomini, Managing Director of Hanson Bridgett and Steven Hill from the New America Foundation. The event was San Francisco's first major opportunity to learn more about and ask questions the process that could profoundly affect California for generations to come.
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Members Co-Found Innovative Nationwide Cleantech Network
 Accelerating progress towards a clean, low carbon economy is not only better for the environment, but can also play a major role in reviving the economy. With lawmakers increasingly looking for ways to implement clean technology policy, the time for influencing good decisions is now. That's one of the reasons Full Circle Fund members Josh Becker, Sanjay Wagle, Jack Oswald, Rahul Prakash and others recently co-founded the innovative Clean Economy Network (CEN) in an effort to help increase the national voice for the business community in shaping clean energy policy. CEN is a group of business leaders, investors, professionals, workers and entrepreneurs engaged in catalyzing clean development and creating green jobs. Explains Josh Becker, “The framework that will shape clean energy policy is being created now and we need to communicate persuasively with lawmakers. If we don’t provide input, effective policy will not be written.”
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FCC Looks to Technology Circle Grantees to Inform National Broadband Strategy
 Full Circle Fund has been effectively leveraging technology as a tool to address our community’s most pressing needs since our inception in 2000. Due to this work, five Full Circle Fund grantees were selected in early August to meet with the new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski to showcase their innovative practices in reducing the digital divide. Genachowski has been charged by Congress to lead the creation of a national broadband strategy in order to increase access to technology for America’s low-resource citizens. His team is currently researching the best models for digital inclusion, and so The Stride Center, Community Technology Network (CTN), One Economy, BayCAT, as well as The City and County of San Francisco were brought together as leaders in this arena.
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Summer Programming Offers Roster of Leading Social Innovators
 With the establishment of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, the Obama Administration proves to be an exciting new partner in fostering social innovation across the country. For our June 2009 Joint Impact Circle Event, we were honored to hear from Full Circle Fund Member Greg Nelson (now the White House Associate Director for Energy, Environment and Technology at the Office of Public Engagement), Sonal Shah (Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation), and Michele Jolin (White House Senior Advisor for Social Innovation for the Domestic Policy Council). Click here to watch the video, see photos and more!
This month, we welcome Greg Avis of Summit Partners to our Joint Impact Circle Event on August 26. Greg is one of the foremost leaders investing in innovation in America today and is also a role model who volunteers to improve Education in his community.
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Special thanks to our presenting corporate partners for these events, Hanson Bridgett and Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, as well as our other corporate partners, community sponsors, and volunteers.
Member Brian David
 Congratulations to Board Member Brian David who has just been appointed to a role at the Federal Communications Commission. Brian will be helping lead a small task force that is writing the National Broadband Strategy, which the task force will deliver to Congress in February 2010. In addition to Brian, there will be three other directors on the project, with each director managing one component of the final plan. Brian has responsibility for adoption and usage issues, which means understanding at a detailed level why people do and do not buy a broadband service for their home or small business, and making recommendations on whether and how to reduce the number of non-adopters.
"I owe this role exclusively to my Full Circle Fund involvement," Brian shared.
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EdSource Project
Full Circle Fund's Education Circle has learned countless important lessons through its work to improve education in California. Two of the most critical are: we need to go upstream to change the systemic issues that plague the troubled system, and, we can’t do it alone. Working with esteemed public and private entities that are their leaders in their field is one of Full Circle Fund’s hallmarks, and there may be no other independent organization in California that has a better grasp of the key education issues than EdSource. With a solid reputation as a credible and respected source of K–12 education information, research, analysis, and data over the past 30 years, its mission is to clarify complex education issues and to promote thoughtful policy decisions about public school improvement.
More about the project...
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August 26 - Joint Impact Circle Event: 
I feel comforted in knowing that there is a committed group of young philanthropists preparing to take over the reins from my generation. Full Circle Fund’s dedication and enthusiasm is evidence that future generations will rise to the challenge, and I’m confident you will succeed.