Jane Chen Quotes

If our society is to address social issues, it will be done at the local level or not at all.

I'd like people to be more aware of the benefits of communities. Lots of problems could be solved that way.

Social enterprise is an effective solution for social problems.

I don't think it's my job, single-handedly, to fix anything. I think it's my job to have a vision and have a plan that is reasonable and workable and get as many people to the table to effect change as possible.

While awareness-building is a crucial first step, cohesive efforts are needed to translate this into real-world change.

No single institution or effort can effectively create solutions for societal problems.

We need a collective moment where we commit ourselves to long-term solutions.

In a free society, government reflects the soul of its people. If people want change at the top, they will have to live in different ways. Our major social problems are not the cause of our decadence. They are a reflection of it.

I'm one of those people that thinks the world changes in smaller and in more mysterious ways than a lot of people like to think. A lot of traditional charities and organizations do things that on the surface seem like a good idea, but it doesn't change the way that people think about interacting with other people.

Governments do not have the answers - indeed, quite the reversal. A lot of times, they not only do not have the answers, but they themselves are the problem. If we are committed to helping our world's children, then we must begin to create solutions from the bottom up.

Business must be the solution, not the problem.

I think there's a mythology that if you want to change the world, you have to be sainted, like Mother Teresa or Nelson Mandela or Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Ordinary people with lives that go up and down and around in circles can still contribute to change.

I emphasize self-esteem, self-confidence, and dignity, not as an ideal, but as a real test of community organization. Without leadership development, community organizations do not have staying power.

When the object is to raise the permanent condition of a people, small means do not merely produce small effects; they produce no effect at all.

People who have been empowered by positive change are demanding quick solutions to current problems.

Your cities can be saved or squandered in one generation. So let's agree to set aside our philosophical disagreements and focus on those aspirations that unite us. Let's grasp the opportunity that is presented by innovation to build better communities for our neighbors. Let's replace a focus on partisan division with a focus on results. That is the path to a better future for us all.

No act of government can save the world.

I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions they will be moved to act.

The way that we are going to solve social problems is by working with multiple different types of investing.

Philanthropists can learn important lessons from business entrepreneurs. They both spend their time solving problems. And to be successful, they both must overcome physical challenges and create self-sustaining operations. And ultimately, they must allow people to take action for their own benefit.

Instead of trying to change people, we could change the world.

The way to change the world is through individual responsibility and taking local action in your own community.

You know there's problems - you can see all the poverty and so on - but it's quite another matter to know what you can do about it.

Where educators are raising and combining their voices, the seeds of positive change have emerged. Collective voice, exercised through the union, is power - the power to drive real change for our kids, families and communities.

We're building a movement. It's undeniably a work in progress, but there's a fundamental desire to see capitalism to do something different.