Part of the motivation of Out of Reach is to call attention to the realities of how we help (and don't help) the poor, so that we can develop new and innovative strategies for reducing poverty.

As Arthur Brooks notes, social enterprise and social entrepreneurship are becoming increasingly central to community-based antipoverty strategies. One's first reaction may be to dismiss these approaches, particularly if the preference is for government to bear the responsibility for alleviating poverty. Our safety net, however, is highly dependent upon private nonprofit organizations for the delivery of assistance to the poor. Much of the funding may come from federal, state, and local government sources, but much of the help is provided by nonprofits. This is a relatively new development in the history of our safety net. Today, entrepreneurs working through private nonprofits and foundations are developing some of the most innovative and successful strategies for alleviating poverty.

It is my opinion that social enterprise cannot replace the public safety net, but I think it can become a more important and sophisticated complement to existing government safety net programs.

To say that we need to cultivate enterprise and entrepreneurship among the poor could be taken to suggest that the poor do not work. Yet, as we know, most poor persons work, many more than one job, which they bundle with income from informal work and social networks to get by. Simply navigating the uncertainties of the low-wage labor market and safety net, demands that poor families are entrepreneurial.

So where does social enterprise fit into the safety net? We could think of social enterprise as helping poor persons start and cultivate their own business. Over time such efforts could create jobs and reduce the significant problem of asset poverty among low-income populations.

Increasingly we see nonprofit organizations using social enterprise strategies to create job opportunities for disadvantaged populations, strengthen communities, and generate new revenue streams that support other programs of assistance. It seems to me that these nonprofit-driven approaches to social enterprise hold much promise - not only do they provide meaningful help to people in need, but they provide employment opportunities and are able to attract private philanthropy.

Yet, we should not view social enterprise as a magic bullet. The financial institutions located in high-poverty communities may not be a good fit for this type of enterprise. Subprime lending, payday loans, and check cashing shops predominate, but are hardly supportive tools for social investment. The nonprofit sector currently lacks the resources to provide much help. My interviews with almost 1,000 nonprofits indicate that less than one-third assist low-income persons with financial planning, savings, or investment. Community capacity to support this type of entrepreneurial activity simply may not be present at this time.

Social enterprise also does not remove the need for other safety net programs. Most social enterprise cannot provide the health care, access to affordable housing, child care, quality education, and transportation resources necessary for low-income families to weather temporary economic setbacks or achieve permanently higher economic trajectories. Moreover, many startup businesses fail or fail to generate significant income, which leaves the owners and workers economically vulnerable. Even with more entrepreneurial approaches in place, there remains a need and a role for the public safety net to help working poor families overcome barriers to employment and well-being.

These concerns, however, do not outweigh the potential impact of social entrepreneurship. Social enterprise should be a prominent tool in any community's antipoverty toolkit. Instead, we should be asking ourselves whether we are training the next generation of nonprofit leaders, social workers, and policy experts to think not just about creative entrepreneurial solutions, but how they fit within and strengthen the existing safety net.