Also, we are so thankful for the support of New Yorkers like Marvin and Donna Schwartz. Marvin and Donna, thank you for your compassion for the "men in blue" of Ready, Willing & Able, and for believing and investing in change.

William E. Simon once said, "The free enterprise system has blessed the United States of America with the greatest prosperity, the highest standards of living, and, most importantly, the greatest individual freedom ever known to man."

For those shut out of this great system… for those who - for whatever reason - have been, or will be left behind… it is for those people that we depend on the social entrepreneur: someone who sets out in an uncharted direction to make society better for us all.

As a successful businessman in the early 1980s, I would walk out of $200 dinners and have to step over people lying on the street. Homelessness was so rampant throughout the city that it was hard to distinguish between human beings and bags of garbage. When a woman died of hunger, there, I started giving out sandwiches to the people living in and around Grand Central Terminal.

At that time, the conventional belief was that these folks were victims who needed to be protected from the requirements and responsibilities of mainstream society - and that mainstream society needed to be protected from them. The best our government could do was to mail out monthly entitlement checks that fostered dependence, rather than self-reliance, or offer a cot for a night in dangerous and drug-infested shelters.

After a while, a refrain began to emerge in my conversations with these men and women that seemed to fly in the face of conventional wisdom. I heard it over and over again: they appreciated the sandwich, but what they really wanted was "a room and a job to pay for it." A room and a job to pay for it. They weren't asking for a handout, they were asking for a hand-up, an opportunity to build better lives. And isn't that the promise of America? Isn't that what our forefathers, and every immigrant since, came to this country in search of - opportunity?

Social entrepreneurs see opportunity in the face of adversity. I looked at hungry, hopeless people and saw a workforce. Harriet and I recruited our first program participants for Ready, Willing & Able right from the floor of Grand Central Terminal. We entered into a contract with 70 homeless men and promised them that if they gave up drugs and went to work, The Doe Fund would be there to support and open doors for them.

Long before the federal government's welfare reform, Ready, Willing & Able was the first welfare to work program in the country. And when New York City set out to develop its welfare to work program, they turned to us.

Our model has helped thousands of people who society has given up on - drug addicts, high school drop-outs, ex-offenders - reenter the mainstream and become responsible, self-sufficient citizens. More than 50% of those who come into our program - despite all their barriers and burdens - come out the other side - successful - and stay that way.

We have grown into a 54 million dollar organization with facilities in three states, and we serve more than 1,000 men and women every day. How did we get here? Like all entrepreneurs, we took risks. Our first risk was that we believed that all people had the potential to be contributing, productive members of society. And we set out prove it.

The Doe Fund won a contract to employ homeless people to renovate city-owned low-income housing and a separate contract to purchase and renovate a building for them to live in.

From day one, our crew of formerly homeless construction workers exceeded the expectations of the city contract. From the revenue earned, we paid their wages, hired staff, and implemented social services that helped them stay drug free and on the right track.

By 1994, Ready, Willing & Able was thriving. We were helping men leave the streets behind, get full-time private-sector jobs and their own apartments. They had proven that, when given a real opportunity, homeless people could and would succeed. But, later that same year, a change in city housing policy slashed our contract by more than 60%. Suddenly, there was no money and no work.

This was a decisive moment in the history of The Doe Fund and an invaluable insight into the danger of over-reliance on government funding. Rather than storm Gracie Mansion, we rolled up our sleeves. It was time to innovate.

Our city was losing its battle with litter. Dirty streets reinforced the notion that New York City was a place of grime and crime. I realized that the homeless men whom others had given up on could be the key to a cleaner, safer New York City.

But, could I really send these men out to sweep the streets they once slept and panhandled on? We decided to take that risk.

We bought bright blue uniforms and had the American flag sewn on the sleeves. I wanted passers-by to recognize our men - and I wanted our men to feel they were part of something larger than themselves.

We started with one crew, on a small stretch of East 86th Street. Harriet wrote letters to neighborhood residents explaining who these "men in blue" were and asking for financial support. The response was extraordinary and it came immediately, in the mail and even in envelopes slipped under our front door.

As the donations grew, so did the areas we cleaned. In just the first three years, we went from being a start-up operation, cleaning only one mile, to a small business cleaning 25.

Even from our grassroots beginnings, we demanded excellence and cost-efficiency. And we were solving at least two problems at once: homelessness and litter. The business community rallied around us. Leaders such as the late, great Lew Rudin saw that we were literally clearing pathways to their offices, restaurants, shops, hotels, and their homes. They too began to invest.

Just as we require that the men in our program be self sufficient, we are adamant about creating new micro-enterprises that generate revenue while providing meaningful work. We have always believed that government grants are not the answer: they carry with them too many restrictions, which all too often tie you to the failed policies and practices of the past.

In January of 1998, we created Back Office of New York, a Mail Center. Rather than spend large sums of money for someone else to process the more than one million pieces of direct mail we send out every year, we took a risk and decided that our people could do this work better and cheaper.

We now count over 55,000 New Yorkers as supporters, and companies like Toyota and Hearst Magazines have joined our more than 65 other clients of Back Office.

Our second venture was Pest@Rest, which trains and employs our men in the integrated pest management business. No matter what the economy, this is a recession proof industry that offers high wages without requiring a high level education. Our tagline is "The Bug Stops Here."

Perhaps our greatest innovation is Resource Recovery. New York City has 25,000 restaurants and they all have at least one thing in common: they all produce grease. We realized this nasty stuff, which was being dumped in our sewers and causing major infrastructure problems, could be converted to biodiesel fuel. We saw another opportunity. We took the men in blue and we made them green. We will soon be collecting three million gallons of grease a year.

And we're not stopping there. We believe that New York City needs a biodiesel refinery. I am excited to announce that The Doe Fund has partnered with Renew Energy and Steven Rockefeller, Jr., to create Legacy Oil - a new Standard for our time.

Our greatest legacy-the American dream-is built on work and opportunity. And it's through work and opportunity that thousands of homeless and formerly incarcerated men and women have pulled themselves up out of poverty and back into society.

They started out by grasping a broom instead of a welfare check. Today, they have exchanged their blue clothes for suits and ties and private company uniforms. They have returned to their families and communities as drug-free, tax-paying citizens, joining the greatest economic system in the history of the world.

William E. Simon said, "If we can preserve this system, and our freedom, we can look forward to turning over to our children and our children's children an America that is more productive, prosperous, and stronger than the one we inherited."

I am proud to do my part in leading the men and women of Ready, Willing & Able toward productivity and prosperity. I thank all of you for honoring Harriet, John and myself with this award and God bless all the social entrepreneurs who are helping to build a stronger America.