Michael Sorrell and Rosanne Haggerty have been announced as the winners of this year’s Babson College Lewis Institute Social Innovator Awards. The awards serve to both celebrate social innovators across the globe, and to inform and inspire the college’s community about what it takes to attain lasting change.
Candidates for this year’s awards were based on their activities to “re-imagine community based education by positively disrupting traditional models of higher education and to address homelessness, one of the most important societal dilemmas in our country and beyond”.
Michael Sorrel, the President of Paul Quinn College since 2007, pioneers sustainable models for more affordable and accessible education. His college now represents the possibilities of education in the future.
President and CEO of Community Solutions, Rosanne Haggerty, combats chronic homelessness in America through her company. Community Solutions produces supportive and inclusive housing, as well as research-based practices to strengthen the communities they build, and to remove the root causes of homelessness.
The winners were selected based on five criteria: personal commitment, scalability of their solution, innovation, depth of impact, and sustainability of enterprise. For 2017’s awards, the nominating committee focused on candidates who affected infrastructure for change, and in doing so influenced societal and institutional mindsets.
