Opticos Design touted as purpose-driven "B corporation"

There's a new group of firms that are so serious about their commitment to environmental sustainability and social benefits for an array of stakeholders, not just shareholders, that they're writing that commitment into their corporate by-laws. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on this trend last week and identified Opticos Design., founded by CNU-members Dan and Karen Parolek, as one of 24 original "B corporations" in the Bay Area.

As Dan Parolek explains, B corporations have "a triple bottom line, integrating social, environmental, and economic concerns." For firms that are guided by the Charter for the New Urbanism and its principles for sustainable community design and development, becoming a B corporation may indeed be a logical step.

Here's how Opticos describes its mission as a change-oriented, new urbanist B corp: "Opticos seeks to create and revitalize healthy, sustainable, and diverse communities. These are places where kids can ride their bikes to school and residents can walk to meet their daily needs. They include a variety of housing choices to promote socially, economically, and age-diverse communities, and provide access to transit and alternative modes of transportation."

It's great to see a new urbanist firm (the first of many?) playing a role in this budding nationwide movement.