This very need brought together over 100 individuals to the HUB San Francisco this month, to find solutions to the ever-increasing financial gap. Co-sponsored by the Federal Reserve and FDIC, leading professionals in the field joined together to discuss the issues one-on-one and create solutions together.  In addition, members of organizations like Kiva Zip, Lendup, Givkwik and Indiegogo presented their current working prototypes to an eager crowd.

And their solutions are met with big questions. How do we give change in a cashless society? Are low-income folks online? How do we use disruptive technology to change the model of how we can do things? This gathering has proven it’s time to get disruptive and find solutions for the tough questions.  What better place to get started than at the HUB?

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Ruth Braden is a HUB storyteller. Follow her at @ruthbraden

Photo Strip by Ruth Braden

Do you own a piece of furniture from Ikea?

This was the first question Kevin Chen, curator at Intersection for the Arts, asked me.  Most of us have a piece of furniture, whether it be from Ikea or another furniture mass distributor, that contains particle board or Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF).  What you may not know is that the materials used to make these boards are “largely toxic”.

The gallery at Intersection for the Arts is now featuring an exhibit where art meets science.  It also introduces the use of a new composite board developed by Christine Lee in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin.  These boards are made completely of sawdust and recycled paper pulp fibers and are non-toxic.

The exhibit features six artists who have created their own installations showcasing a range of use for the new material.  Their installations include colorful birdhouses, artistic statements about materials and sustainability, and even practical usage for the material like camper shells for trucks. This composite board has a promising place as a replacement for otherwise harmful materials.

Come visit the exhibit now through mid-March at the gallery adjacent to the HUB San Francisco.

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Ruth Braden is a HUB storyteller. Follow her at @ruthbraden

Pictured: Jason Kibbey, Laura Helland and Danielle Guerin Photo Strip by Ruth Braden

Sometimes buying into the apparel industry isn’t such a bad thing. Do you regularly don a pair of Nike shoes? How much of your closet consists of clothes from the Gap, H&M, Target or Walmart? These businesses all have a wonderful thing in common. They are members of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.

This HUB member company brings over 80 leading apparel and footwear brands, retailers, suppliers, nonprofits and NGOs  together to reduce the environmental and social impacts of apparel footwear products around the world. That should bring a spring in your fashionably-footed step!

The science is simple.  Using the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s free tool, The Higg Index, any apparel company in the industry can self-assess their sustainability and environmental impact. The Index asks practice-based, qualitative questions enabling companies to evaluate material types, products, facilities and processes based on a range of environmental and product design choices and drive behavior for improvement.

The Coalition's Offices at HUB SF Photo Credit: Ruth Braden

It’s quickly becoming best-practice in the industry. Since the Coalition’s incorporation in 2011, the use of the index as the standard for metrics has grown to over one-third of the industry. Executive Director Jason Kibbey said, “This is about industry transformation so everyone can benefit from reduced risk as well as efficiency.”

What’s the next step for the coalition? “We want to scale the [Higgs Index] up. We want to use the tool more,” said Kibbey. With a design on growing the membership and increasing the index’s features, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition personnel has needed to grow since opening their HUB offices in March of 2012. “We started with two employees, and now have nine,” said Jason. They certainly have a lot on their hands as they prepare for their Annual Meeting in San Francisco this June.  Over 250 participants from the footwear and apparel industry are anticipated at the meeting.

Here’s how you can help.  The Coalition needs volunteers for the June Meeting. They want it to be the most successful one, yet.  If it means something for the social good, where can you go wrong? Send an email Laura Helland at laura@apparelcoalition.org to find out more information.

Now, sit back in that comfy pair of slippers from Kohl’s, take a look at the Sustainable Apparel Coalition members and make your list of coalition-approved companies for this weekend’s shopping.

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Ruth Braden is a HUB storyteller. Follow her at @ruthbraden

This Inspiring Space is The Breathe Living Wall by DIRTT, currently on display at the HUB San Francisco. The living walls, filled with lovely green foliage, bring the beauty and benefits of nature indoors.

HUB SF members not only benefit from the inspiration of plants in this installation, but also get a kick of extra oxygen while they work! Breathe is a modular, sustainable and flexible living wall system. It provides the detoxifying properties, aesthetics and extra oxygen of plants, without using up precious real estate.  These self-contained troughs sit flat against the wall and use gravity to send water through the system. Pretty, neat, and easy to maintain!

Because each plant sits in its own pot, the living wall stays healthy and designers are free to create the look and feel they want. So, take a deep breath and look at this beautiful and healthy installation when you come in to the HUB SF!  For more information on the Breathe Living Wall, visit www.dirtt.net.

Photo credit: Sarah Rice and Ruth Braden

It’s the New Year and most of us are looking for a fresh start.  Do your resolutions include eating better and living healthier? Have you ever wanted all the bounty of a farmer’s market and never had the time to go? It turns out that 20 percent of the population would shop at the farmers market if it were more convenient, according to market research. That’s where Farmigo, an organizer and deliverer of farm-to-consumer produce, and HUB member company, comes in.

Founded in 2009, Farmigo began as an online software solution to help farms manage their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs, allowing people to receive weekly boxes of produce directly from farmers. It has since evolved into an online marketplace that eliminates the hassle of buying fresh-from-harvest food. “Only 1% of the population participates in CSAs, and that one-to-one relationship with the farm means you are limited to specifically what they grew that week,” he said. “Our mission was to make healthy food accessible to all households while also preserving the community feeling of farmer’s markets. We are about an economy of community instead of an economy of scale. We want the community members to rise up and be a part of the solution,” according to Farmigo CEO Benzi Ronen.

This recently added service now allows workplaces, school communities and other groups to order from several farms within a 100-mile radius that will deliver produce within 48 hours of harvest, as well as fresh meats. Also on the delivery truck are fish, baked goods, and coffee. Ronen said,”If we could bring that farmers’ (market) experience – you pick which farm you want to buy from, what you want each week, you pay weekly – if we could bring that experience to you in a convenient way, that opens up the market.” Having raised $8 million from capital and finance firms to get the delivery service and online marketplace started, Farmigo means to do business.  They’ve already signed up 20 farmers on the West and East coasts and their delivery service is up and running in San Francisco and Brooklyn.

In the photo, from left to right: Colin Frolich, Emily Romanelli, Nate Jordan

Members of the HUB are typically more in tune with the power of social impact, and the buying of goods for “good”.  I AM is one such HUB-based company. I AM is currently working in the Highlands of Guatemala, building a global sales channel for hand woven textiles to create sustainable and high-wage weaving work for Mayan women living in impoverished communities. The result–beautiful, hand-woven yoga bags that also change the way we approach business. One such way towards change is in the creation of a yoga bag display for local shops, yoga studios and the HUB.

Over the last month, I AM founders William and Jessie Baxter collaborated with AJ Romine at Techshop to build a prototype yoga bag stand for the first round of market testing.  “As the stand represents a completely new retail concept that we created to distribute our Yoga Bags, the testing is critical for refining the idea and stand design,” stated Will.

Design is important for the product to really take off.  According to AJ, “The idea was to create an easily re-producible piece using as much recycled material as possible. [The sign] will sit in a yoga studio with a single bag.  The QR Code and link are specific to that studio so that if someone decides to buy a bag as a result of that specific sign, the studio will take a cut appropriate for their service.”  AJ, at the time an intern at the HUB, happened to work part-time at Techshop right next door. Will, Jessie, and AJ built the prototype at Techshop in about two weeks with the help of Pam Pascual, an architecture student at California College of the Arts.

Next, it was time to test the prototype. “To begin with, we wanted to measure individual’s reaction and engagement with the stand, and the HUB provided a great environment to test this,” said Will. The stand was set up in different locations around the HUB. As every person walked past, their reaction was recorded and measured in two-hour blocks.

With testing close to complete, the finished product will be seen in Yoga Tree Studios across the Bay Area. “We just completed our first major inventory run for our Yoga Bags which is really exciting.  The final product is incredible and one the team is very proud of,” said Will.  Online sales have officially launched; just in time for the Holidays.  The HUB, Techshop and I AM collaboration is a glimpse into the future of business, a bright example of the spirit of social impact, and a fine story to share around the fire over the Holidays.

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Ruth Braden is a HUB storyteller. Follow her at @ruthbraden

Alana:

I am afraid of being so engulfed by a professionalised setting that I lose sight of those I had hoped to engage with in the ‘real world’ thus alienating any sense of human connection or genuine collaboration. I want my work to exist outside office walls as much as possible and to be driven by the real experiences: by the beliefs, passions, hardships, emotions and actions of the community!

Mona:

I am scared of feeling that that my life and time is being robbed of me….resenting the work I do and the fact that I need it to lead a comfortable life. Now, how will I push past these worries? I will  accept opportunities that inspire me…find an opportunity, or create an opportunity in which I can choose my path and feel fulfilled and confident with where I am headed.

Carol:

I really dislike complacency. I have a lot of friends that hate their jobs and miserably get through each day. They haven’t left their companies because now they’re used to their work and it provides them with a salary and benefits. I’m afraid of (1) getting stuck in a job that is soul-destroying & (2) believing that that’s as good as it gets. To prevent such things from happening I’ll just keep reminding myself that life is not work and work is not life. I need to promise myself that if I hate what I’m doing I’ll do something about it

Sobhi:

I am scared of quitting. I tend to be an all-or-nothing type of person when it comes to most things, and that influences how I deal with challenging times or difficult situations.
How do I deal with this fear?  By reminding myself everyday that this is not a linear path with a certain end point.  Social Impact doesn’t happen overnight, that I want to be in it for life. I remind myself that, sustaining my passion is as important as being passionate in the first place. 

I’m learning that in order to sustain my drive for working in the social sector, I need to focus on myself sometimes. Maybe that means – I know this sounds crazy – having fun in ways that have nothing to do with social impact!