Brown University and Social Venture Partners Rhode Island (SVPRI) will host the Social Enterprise Ecosystem for Economic Development (SEEED) Summit April 26-27, 2013, bringing together more than 500 policymakers, social entrepreneurs, students, academics, and business leaders from the social enterprise arena to share best practices for economic development. SEEED is the first national conference to focus on building an effective social enterprise ecosystem to drive economic development. SEEED is co-organized by Brown University students and encourages student engagement with Rhode Island social enterprise ventures as well as with social enterprise on a national level. Students have the unique opportunity to integrate themselves into Rhode Island’s social enterprise ecosystem and learn from leaders in the sector. This year’s conference will feature a number of notable speakers, including Carla Javits (The Roberts Enterprise Development Fund), Providence Mayor Angel Taveras, Kevin Jones (Good Capital), and Leslie Crutchfield (FSG).