Center for Innovation and Social Impact (CISI)
About CISI
(Formally the Interdisciplinary Center for Creativity and Innovation - ICCI)
Established in 2015, ICCI has had as its goal the development of an "entrepreneurial mindset" among students, faculty and the FAMU community at large, through various programming activities, including 1) student-facing innovation activities (pitch competitions, summer academy for middle- and high-school students, mentoring, design thinking training), 2) access to national entrepreneurship networks (FAMU SBDC, Global Centers for Entrepreneurship, HBCU Innovation and Entrepreneurship Collective), and 3) connections to local innovation and business networks (Minority Chamber of Commerce, Capital City Chamber of Commerce, Tallahassee Technology Alliance). While ICCI's efforts have been effective and impactful, this transformation is designed to more directly align our institutional resources with modern economic demands, fostering a robust pipeline of socially conscious ventures originating right here on the Highest of Seven Hills.
Mission and Objectives:
The primary mission of CISI is to stimulate entrepreneurship and social innovation
among Florida A&M University students, faculty, and the community at-large. By pivoting
our focus toward sustainable social change, the Center will serve as a premier hub
where entrepreneurial mindset development intersects with measurable community benefit.
To achieve this, CISI focuses heavily on three core strategic pillars:
- Entrepreneurship Development and Mentoring with Community In Focus: Connecting student and community founders with seasoned industry professionals, academic experts, and alumni to guide their ventures from ideation to execution.
- Pitch Competitions and Social Innovation Challenges: Hosting high-visibility platforms that challenge participants to engineer scalable solutions to pressing societal, environmental, and economic issues, while securing vital seed funding.
- Entrepreneurial Mindset Development with Social Footprint: Embedding critical thinking, resilience, and impact-driven problem-solving into the fabric of our campus culture through targeted workshops, speaker series, and cross-disciplinary collaborations.
As we work tirelessly to elevate FAMU’s footprint in the innovation space, CISI is perfectly positioned to empower our students to not only enter the workforce as competitive leaders but to create industries that actively uplift underserved communities.
Staff:
Dr. Jason Black, Director
(850)-412-7734
jason.black@famu.edu
Ms. Kendra Johnson, Program Manager
(850) 599-8358
kendra.johnson@famu.edu