"Social Innovation"

Hey All, first post in this forum.

I've noticed a new kind business/non-profit model labeled "social innovation." What this nebulous term means I'm not quite sure. A good example of this is "The Hub" in San Francisco:

http://bayarea.the-hub.net/public/

Reading their brochure, I'm not sure how they received any investments. The concept is based around the renting and collaborative use of ergonomic, eco-friendly "space" for events, mixers, and general office use. It seems they make all of their money through scaled membership subscriptions. Is this just a liberal club or is there more to this?

For relevance with Detroit, what do people think of the Green Garage?

http://www.greengaragedetroit.com/in...itle=Main_Page

Are they similar models? Could this work/be useful in Detroit? Just hoping for some general discussion on this topic.

I'm more interested in how/why they are taking doors from inside St. Charles School. That WAS supposed to be part of the English Village condo development at some point.