Looking for $$$ to Use Social Enterprise/Social Networking to create jobs for exoffenders and @risk youth.

Over the last 3 years I've been working with a faith-based organization, Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Corporation, the City of Chicago Mayor's Office and Fleet Management Department, two small engine repair shop owners, and Kennedy-King College to help exoffenders and @ risk youth become self-sufficient through careers as auto repair and small engine repair technicians and business owners. This work was funded by over $2 million in grants, contracts and in-kind support from the City and auto manufacturers who were interested in addressing local skills shortages and creating jobs for exoffenders. Unfortunately, the economic downturn decreased availability of funding and jobs for program graduates in 2008-2009. Beginning in late 2008 I started developing a new  strategy, working with independent auto repair shops to create jobs and new funding. In 2009 I tried to get independents to work together to compete for government auto service contracts. This strategy didn't work.

The problem was aligning the interests of the participating individuals with those of the group.  Social networking might help to overcome this problem.  I am looking for funding to create a Web site for people to sign on, and that offers a sliding scale of monetary awards for referring customers to inner city auto repair shops.  MIT recently won a competition sponsored by DARPA by distributing monetary rewards and allowing participants to see their direct impact on the social network. MIT students 

assembled its strategy in only four days. It launched a Web site on Thursday, December 3, and enlisted close to 5,000 participants in just 48 hours. Locally, efforts like Groupon.com are successfully demonstrating the effectiveness of social networking for business development. I am looking for some funding to

 demonstrated the enormous potential of human networking, in inner city community economic development.  Like MIT, I think this exercise will show how building the proper incentives into a viral collaboration can quickly harness a large population to work together to address broad societal needs. Specifically my goal is to create 300 auto tech jobs for exoffenders and @ risk youth, in Chicago's inner city neighborhoods.

Who do you know that might be interested?

Brian

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