RIC SIZZLE 2019
The Riseboro Impact Competition (The RIC) is an innovative crash-course in how to organize and fund a start-up social enterprise. Three ambitious women - a former teen mom, a social worker for homebound seniors, and a subsidized housing specialist, all with deep roots in their Brooklyn community, are among those competing for the top prize - a chance to launch a division of their own, designed to benefit some of the neediest in their community.
The best people to find solutions are those closest to the problem, and there is no shortage of problems in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn. From isolated seniors to the physically handicapped, from homeless families to pregnant teens, Riseboro, the largest social services agency in the borough, serves thousands of local residents with disparate needs.
When Riseboro’s senior staff hire a consultant to help promote entrepreneurship within their ranks, more than 50 employees jump into the competition, learning what it means to be entrepreneurs, fighting for the opportunity to give back, and demonstrating the untapped potential of this understated neighborhood in the heart of Brooklyn.
RiseBoro is a Brooklyn-based community development agency that works across generations and service areas to invest in Bushwick’s people and challenge narratives that have painted Bushwick as hopeless and helpless. The story documents competitors as they use the RebelBase innovation platform to pilot, partner and pitch disruptive models for making their community more resilient and unleashing its potential to thrive.
