re—inc: The story of a company founded by four US Women’s National Team soccer players seeking to challenge norms and inspire lasting progress.

By Nicole Procaccio
Description

The company re-inc is a social entrepreneurship company founded by US Women’s National Team members Tobin Heath, Meghan Klingenberg, Christen Press, and Megan Rapinoe. While they focus on gender fluid streetwear, the organization is dedicated to creating innovative solutions to address social issues. This lesson will task students with identifying factors of the social entrepreneurship model and re-inc’s mission to build a community of change makers that work for social progress.

Guiding Question: Do businesses have a responsibility to use their platform to create progress and sustainable change?

Supporting Questions:

  • What is social entrepreneurship?
  • What are ethical and sustainable practices?
  • What is the “status quo”?
  • What norms exist in society and business?
Time

30 minutes recommended

Objective

re—inc is, “a BIPOC/woman-owned and operated brand that intentionally hires people with a diversity of backgrounds and experiences, believing that there's power in differences." This mini lesson will invite students to examine articles and identify the ways that re—inc change makers are challenging business and social norms to positively impact progress.

Prerequisites

Before beginning the lesson, students should complete the following activities to prepare them to engage in discussion and lesson activities.

Procedures

Warm-Up:

Students will watch What is Social Entrepreneurship? and record 2-3 key components that describe this business model. Then, with a partner, students should discuss the key components that they recorded. They can use this activity to record their thoughts and to facilitate discussion. This will help introduce students to the factors of social entrepreneurship utilized by re-inc.

Introduction & Do Now (4 minutes)

  • Engage students in a whole class discussion to share what they believe are the responsibilities of corporations.
  • Ask students what they believe are an individual’s civic responsibilities.
  • Survey students: Do you believe that people should uphold their civic responsibilities when they are part of a corporation?
  • Students will watch What is Social Entrepreneurship? and use this activity to record 2-3 key components that describe this business model. Have students discuss their lists with a partner and ask 1-2 students to share the factors that they discussed.

Activity I Quote Analysis (6 minutes)

  • Explain to students that re-inc is a company focused on disrupting the status quo and engaging in social issues to create change.
  • Tell students that they should use this activity I sheet, read the quotes and use a think-pair-share to explain what is meant by “the status quo” and identify an individual's perspective.
  • Ask 1-2 groups to share their answers.
    • If student responses do not clearly define the status quo or correctly identify the individual’s perspective, the teacher should provide the information to the class.
    • It is very important that students understand the status quo and what it means to disrupt the status quo.
  • Extension opportunity: If the teacher would like to extend this activity, students can use their understanding of the status quo and disrupting the status quo to identify the extent to which re-inc disrupts norms using the prerequisite reading (re-inc interview with the founders).

Activity II Mission Statement Analysis Diagram (10 minutes)

  • Inform students that organizations have mission statements. Share that a mission statement explains the purpose and goals of an organization. Explain that a company uses a mission statement to develop their business strategies.
  • Tell students that they will read the re-inc mission statement and use the activity II sheet and the links (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) from the re-inc website to identify which category of the mission statement the business action best represents or aligns.
  • Indicate that students will put the link number in the mission statement category and that numbers may be used more than once.
  • Students should be prepared to share their placement, and reason for placement, during the whole class discussion.

Activity III Discussion Questions (8 minutes)

Using think-pair-share and the activity III sheet, tell students that they will be using their new learning gathered from the articles, video, and activities about social entrepreneurship and re-inc to discuss their responses to the questions. If time allows, ask students if there is a response that they would like to share with the class. Student discussion questions include:

Summary & Informed Action:

To conclude the lesson, inform students that they should submit the completed exit ticket prior to the end of class. Students will create a brief written response to demonstrate understanding of the lesson.

Exit Ticket Prompt:

  1. How do re-inc, and similar social entrepreneurs, benefit the community (local or global)?
  2. Describe any strategies, mindsets, or ideas from social entrepreneurship through the lens of re-inc that you can use in your own life to create change.
Assessment / Homework

As an extension or homework activity, the teacher can direct students to read the article Female-led soccer club founded by Natalie Portman aims to deliver equity in women's soccer and respond to the following prompts using the provided organizer-

  1. What motivates the founders of the Angel City Football Club?
  2. Is the ACFC a social entrepreneurship? Why/not? Explain your stance using at least two facts from the article and/or today’s lesson.
  3. Imagine that you are a social entrepreneur. What is the first issue that you would want to address through your business?
Future Research / Resources

Modifications:

  • This Business & Ethics video is also available for use.
  • Teachers may provide students with a definition for status quo to use for the quote or may want to substitute with a different quote.
  • Teachers may provide students with a list of terms and definitions to reference during activities.
  • Teachers can replace articles with videos (Ethically Sourced  and Sustainability) or use the kids.britannica.com Sustainability reading.
Standard

D2.Civ.5.9-12. Evaluate citizens’ and institutions’ effectiveness in addressing social and political problems at the local, state, tribal, national, and/or international level.

D2.Civ.14.9-12. Analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights.

D2.His.3.9-12. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.