The December 19 edition of the Washington Post contains an article written by Mr. Marc Fisher titled “A New Calling for Innovators” in which the author quotes a millennial as making the following statement regarding a governmental career on the Hill relative to pursuing an entrepreneurial career in the private sector in DC.
“A few years ago, people on Hill were revered”, “Now they are mocked”
Mr. Fisher goes on to state that the DC region is becoming a rapidly expanding incubator for innovative businesses along the line of those in Silicon Valley but the DC based firms are considerably broader in scope.
“The innovation [in DC] is coming not only in the computer world but also in a slew of new fields, especially health, education, energy, transportation and hospitality—industries in which government regulation or international commerce are important”.
Notwithstanding the emergence of business entrepreneurs in the DC area there is also a solid base of social entrepreneurial organizations in Washington DC region, including for example the Ashoka Foundation Global Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
Little notice is given to social entrepreneurs who reside in the DC region, individuals who use techniques employed in the private sector to solve societal problems. Even less notice is given to educating new entrants to the labor force of the existence of these career opportunities.
Fortunately the information base on the activities of social entrepreneurs is expanding as set forth in an article titled “Accomplishment Beyond Dollars” in the January/February edition of The Environmental Forum published by the Environmental Law Institute , The Environmental Forum Jan 2014.
Consequently we believe it important that DC bound millennials be made aware of at least three career choices; a career in government; an entrepreneurial career in the private sector or a social entrepreneurial career in the public sector. The aforementioned article in The Environmental Forum delineates in considerable detail the non-financial awards from a career as a social, policy or environmental entrepreneur and hopefully it will set the stage for future articles that will educate new entrants to the labor force of the wide range of entrepreneurial careers located outside the private sector.