ALPHA CENTER FOR PUBLIC/PRIVATE INITIATIVES, INC.:

An Inventory of Its Records at the Minnesota Historical Society

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HISTORY OF THE ALPHA CENTER FOR PUBLIC/PRIVATE INITIATIVES

Alpha Center was formed to assist with the development of private sector approaches to social challenges in job creation, housing, education, health, and other social issues. The organization was intended to identify specific opportunities for collaboration between profit-seeking private sector organizations and governments; to find organizations and funding sources to address those opportunities; and to enable business expertise to be applied to areas traditionally in the public sector in order to reduce the cost of government, increase the quality of services provided to the public, stimulate economic development, and foster job creation. The organization was founded and operated by business leaders from throughout the United States, and had its headquarters office in the Minneapolis suburbs of Edina and Bloomington, and a co-headquarters office in New York City. Judson Bemis served as chairman of the board from the founding of the organization in 1985 until May 1991.

The Alpha Center for Public/Private Initiatives apparently had its beginnings as the Public Policy Subcommittee of the Control Data Corporation, a Bloomington, Minnesota-based computer manufacturer. By 1984 Control Data and several other companies had informally organized an entity calling itself Alpha Enterprises. Members of its interim board of directors included Judson Bemis, retired chairman of the Minneapolis-based Bemis Company, and Robert M. Price, chairman and president of Control Data.

The organization was incorporated in Delaware on April 18, 1985 as the National Center for Public/Private Initiatives. Its name was changed to Alpha Center for Public/Private Initiatives, Inc. in July 1985. Founding directors included Alan H. Fishman, of Chemical Bank of New York; George Grune, of the Reader's Digest Association, Inc.; Samuel H. Howard, of the Hospital Corporation of America; John A. Koten, of Illinois Bell; Robert M. Price, of Control Data Corporation; and John C. Whitehead. Outside directors included Bemis; Patrick Owen Burns, of Prudential-Bache R & D Funding Corp.; Blenda J. Wilson, of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education; and James C. Worthy, of Northwestern University. Officers were C. Douglas Ades, president and chief executive officer; Judson Bemis, acting chairman of the board; Robert M. Price, vice chairman; and J. Arthur Boschee, secretary and treasurer. Funding was to be provided by membership fees from corporations and individuals, grants, brokering fees for bringing about the formation of new businesses, fees for services provided to new ventures, honorariums, and equity takeouts from Alpha's ownership position in the small businesses it helped create.

Alpha Center had a for-profit subsidiary called the National Seed Capital Fund. Both Alpha and the fund were chartered to assist with the expansion and creation of for-profit human services companies in areas such as halfway houses for felons, hospice care for the terminally ill, job training for the economically disadvantaged, intervention centers for the mentally ill, remedial training for high school dropouts, and similar ventures.

A major endeavor of the Alpha Center was its attempt to launch The Beacon Fund for Human Service Enterprises, a venture capital fund that was to focus on social service businesses. This was to be a $25 million limited partnership that would invest in small human service companies that appeared to offer the potential for significant long-term growth. Bemis and Price were members of the Advisory Committee, and Control Data Corporation was one of the investors. It apparently proved impossible to secure investment sufficient to launch the fund and the effort was evidently abandoned in early 1991.

In the early 1990s the Alpha Center apparently became the National Center for Social Entrepreneurs.

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SCOPE AND CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTION

These are Bemis' records as a founder and as chairman of the organization. Materials include audit reports, business plans, minutes, agenda packets, proposals, correspondence, memoranda, reports, financial information, and news clippings and background information relating to the Alpha Center and especially to Bemis' participation in its formation and development. Most of the material relates to the organization when it was known as the Alpha Center for Public/Private Initiatives.

Much of the information concerns Alpha Center's efforts to attract investment in its Beacon Fund for Human Service Enterprises. There are news articles about socially-conscious Control Data CEO William C. Norris and his company's investment in economically-depressed neighborhoods, including its construction of plants and the creation of jobs in such places. Correspondents include Bemis, Norris, Price, Ades, Boschee, and other Alpha Center executives and board members, foundation administrators, various business executives, academics, bankers, consultants, and government officials. There is frequent correspondence with Control Data officials.

There are some documents on the letterhead of Alpha Center for Social Entrepreneurs. It is unclear precisely what this organization was or exactly how it related to the Alpha Center for Public/Private Initiatives.

There is relatively little information about the organization's work in assisting specific nonprofit organizations.

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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Note to Researchers: To request materials, please note both the location and box numbers shown below.

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