On Monday, February 7 at 9 p.m., WSBE Rhode Island PBS is proud to present Sparked! The Nonprofit Innovation Lab, a “shark-tank” style pitch competition featuring organizations from the 2021 Nonprofit Innovation Lab. Brought to the community by Social Enterprise Greenhouse and United Way of Rhode Island, the Nonprofit Innovation Lab offers several Rhode Island nonprofits the opportunity to transform their innovative ideas into reality. With the support of the program, nonprofits expand their social and positive impact as they bring innovation and entrepreneurial thinking to their organizations through social enterprise curriculum, seed funding, coaching from industry experts, and peer support.
After fine-tuning their ideas for the past several months, six nonprofit organizations will present their ideas to a panel of three judges during Sparked! The Nonprofit Innovation Lab. The three organizations with the most compelling innovation proposals will be awarded a total of $90,000 to support their projects.
Until then, the public can have a voice in determining the winner of the $5,000 Public Choice Award by voting for their favorite idea by January 25. Videos about each innovation idea and instructions on how to vote can be found here. The winner of the Public Choice Award will be announced during Sparked! The Nonprofit Innovation Lab on February 7.
Meet the Fellows:
Children's Friend - by Joshua Wizer-Vecchi, Innovation Manager
Children’s Friend is the innovative leader in improving the well-being and healthy development of Rhode Island’s most vulnerable young children. They will focus on building systems that empower staff to create innovative solutions to the challenges they experience and those facing the families they serve. They believe that by following the lead of staff and families, instead of managers and executives, they can design more seamless and family-centered services that ultimately improve outcomes for the most vulnerable.
Community Care Alliance -by Michelle, Taylor, Vice President of Social Health Services
Community Care Alliance supports individuals and families in their efforts to meet economic, social, and emotional challenges and enhance their well-being. Their innovation idea is to train people in all levels of running a business, from direct service to management to marketing. Phase One involves skills development and Phase Two orients to entrepreneurship. The vehicle for delivering this education is STARClean, a cleaning service focused on environmentally friendly cleaning strategies. Individuals can explore which elements of this business they find most rewarding, launching them into other competitive or entrepreneurial options.
Providence Preservation Society - by Kelsey Mullen, Director of Education
The Providence Preservation Society’s (PPS) mission is to support and advocate for historic preservation, thoughtful design, and people-centered planning. PPS wants to explore ways to make their nascent workforce training program more financially sustainable while enhancing the organization's ability to better serve the residents and owners of old buildings. They will do this by developing a fully equipped community workshop that includes a training lab for Rhode Islanders learning the preservation trades and a shared workspace for those who launch their own trades businesses.
Spectrum Theatre Ensemble - by Clay Martin, Artistic Director
Spectrum Theatre Ensemble (STE) empowers their neurodiverse community through inclusive professional theatre, evolving awareness, and innovative accessibility practices to build a society where we have equal opportunity and full participation. STE’s Neurodiverse Inclusive Certified Entertainment (NICE) program seeks to standardize and codify institutional sensory-friendly practices to better serve neurodiverse audiences by making the entertainment industry more inclusive, accessible, and welcoming. The NICE program, which will be led by neurodivergent artists and administrators, will educate, certify, and provide continuing support to entertainment venues of all sizes.
What Cheer Flower Farm - by Destenie Vital, Executive Director
The overall mission of What Cheer Flower Farm is to bring the joy of fresh flowers to those in dire and stressful situations throughout our state, as well as inspire people to grow, create and design with fresh flowers. They donate 100% of their flowers to charity. The innovation idea expands on their mission to include children in stressful situations to create and design with fresh flowers through educational programming and training.
Women's Fund of Rhode Island - by Kelly Nevins, Chief Executive Officer
Women's Fund of Rhode Island invests in women and girls through research, advocacy, grant-making, and strategic partnerships designed to achieve gender equity through systemic change. They are building a non-partisan support initiative for newly elected/appointed women in local government to build communication skills in a male-dominated environment and advance issues of importance to women and their families. The goal is to increase the percentage of women and people of color that are/remain at the table where decisions are made and resources are allocated.
Meet the Judges:
Darrin Johnson - Plan President, Molina Complete Care of Virginia
Darrin Johnson currently serves as plan president for Molina Complete Care of Virginia. He is responsible for managing revenue across multiple government programs and products, as well as managing all aspects of health plan operations.
Dolph Johnson - Executive Vice President and Chief Global Human Resources Officer, Hasbro, Inc.
As executive vice president and chief global human resources officer for Hasbro, Inc., Dolph Johnson leads the company’s global human resources strategy, including all aspects of the employee experience.
Sonia Millsom - Advisor Health & Technology Collective, DIALOGUE
Sonia Millsom is an executive leader, advisor, board member, and investor of high-profile healthcare companies. She leads organizations beyond the intersection of brick and mortar and digital health into valued-based care.
Sparked! The Nonprofit Innovation Lab is produced by Rhode Island PBS
in association with
WSBE Rhode Island PBS transmits high-definition (HD) programming over the air on digital 36.1; Cox 08 / 1008HD, Verizon FiOS 08 / 508HD, and Full Channel 08; Comcast 819HD and Verizon FiOS 18 / 518HD; DirecTV 36, Dish Network 36. Live stream the full schedule within the broadcast viewing area at watch.ripbs.org/livestream.
