i3, UofSC’s newest social innovation endeavor, hit the ground running yesterday, launching its first year-long cohort to support creative community change in the Midlands area. This year, i3 is teaming up with the Autism Academy and the Richland County Public Defenders’ Office, who seek to improve the quality of life for the Midlands area. The meeting space was filled with creative minds and abundant energy Thursday morning as the two teams came together for the first time

Attempting to make systemic change can be an incredibly difficult task. Even more so if this change is going against a long held belief about how things should be done. Change makers are probably already familiar with design thinking and adaptive leadership. Using these methods can have mixed results, design thinking can provide innovative ideas but fails to address underlying challenges for implementing these ideas. Adaptive leadership provides change makers the tools needed

In the spirit of Galen and his legacy, students who participate in this workshop have an opportunity to be curious and open-minded, and to make novel connections. Using principles of human-centered design, students will work in transdisciplinary teams to identify, develop, prototype then present an innovation that addresses a current health or social challenge or need. Students will attend four (4) two hour content and activity-based sessions and will be expected to complete