Catholic Action for Social Entrepreneurship

Miller Center launched the Catholic Action for Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) initiative to create strategic partnerships with Catholic institutions. The goals of CASE are to:
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- Transform Catholic social ministries into social enterprises using Miller Center’s methodology, especially ministries that create women’s economic empowerment.
- Enable religious order members to become apostles—leaders and influencers—for social entrepreneurship by providing experiential, hands-on training.
- Engage youth by providing opportunities for vocations in social entrepreneurship.
Two Catholic religious order networks in Africa are partnering with Miller Center to transform their social ministries and build entrepreneurial capacity:
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- Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA) represents 30,000 Catholic Sisters in 300 congregations across 10 countries.
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- Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network Africa (JENA) serves as the hub for 21 Jesuit social ministry centers including three continent-wide ministries to children, refugees, and the sick-poor.
These networks present tremendous potential for leveraging their influence for social impact.
Sisters Blended Value Project
Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network Africa
JENA is a network of 21 Jesuit social ministry centers in 15 Sub-Saharan countries that seeks to create an innovative development model to effectively address youth unemployment, provide dignified livelihoods, and accompany vulnerable communities in becoming environmentally sustainable.
JENA’s strategic objectives for their partnership with Miller Center are to positively impact 6,000 young people by providing access to jobs; assisting youth in defining their own development; promoting economic empowerment for young people to find solutions to their own problems, creating a knowledge economy; and promoting climate resilience.
Partners in Social Entrepreneurship
Miller Center’s partnership with ACWECA and JENA includes:
- Custom GSBI Accelerator cohorts for Catholic Sisters and Jesuits focused on transforming social ministries into social enterprises. Each participant is paired with Miller Center Executive Mentors who accompany them for the duration of the program.
- “Enterprising Sisters Apprenticeship” places Sisters with Miller Center’s social enterprise partners to acquire practical start-up business skills.
- Global Social Benefit Fellows from Santa Clara University are placed with Sisters for summer fieldwork to provide market research, impact assessment, and business development strategies, and to support the development of the apprenticeship program.
- Specialized curriculum, digital content, and a digital platform that can be delivered using mobile technologies.
