All People Making a Difference
Difference MakerFernando Garcia bridges the gap between residents and law enforcers in El Paso, TexasHis Border Network for Human Rights doesn't just point out problems but proposes solutions. It could become a national model for dealing with immigrant rights.
Shai Reshef is bringing the university to the peopleThe founder of the nonprofit University of the People, an online, degree-granting institution, wants to educate the world 鈥� for free.
Razia Jan fights to educate girls in rural AfghanistanReturning to Afghanistan from the US, Razia Jan stood up to opposition and founded the Zabuli Education Center, which now has a roster of more than 400 girls in kindergarten through ninth grade.
A rainbow for China鈥檚 orphansThe Rainbow Program is a groundbreaking partnership between the Chinese government and international nonprofit groups that's helping China reimagine its entire child welfare system.
In Kenya, selling human waste could revolutionize sanitationWorking directly with residents of Mukuru, one of Nairobi's largest slums, Sanergy has developed a promising new method to improve sanitation through low-tech, low-cost toilets that create organic fertilizer.
Gloria Shin works to end modern-day slaveryShe left her full-time marketing job to join the global fight against human trafficking and modern-day slavery.
Difference MakerAndrew Stoloff's Rubicon Bakery gives a second chance to ex-consRubicon Bakery, a moneymaking business owned by Andrew Stoloff, employs 105 full-time staff, some with only a sixth-grade education and many having served time in prison.
Turning over a new leaf in the rainforestUnder intense pressure from customers and conservation groups, forest-products giant Asia Pulp & Paper has embarked on a series of changes that could significantly reduce deforestation in Indonesia and serve as a model for forestry reform.
Local advisers deliver products and profits to Cambodia's rural farmersLors Thmey, which means 'new growth' in Khmer, teaches local entrepreneurs how to advise small farmers by providing farming necessities and technical know-how that boosts incomes.
Teenage advocate of native education in Canada becomes comics superheroShannen Koostachin, a teenage activist in Canada who died before ever seeing the results of her work, has inspired a new hero in the DC Universe.
Krochet Kids knits together sustainable jobsKrochet Kids teaches textile skills like crochet or knitting to women in Uganda and Peru, helping the women create a livelihood and escape poverty.
Mariano Rivera's latest 'save' is a churchRetired New York Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera was instrumental in restoring a 107-year-old church for Refugio de Esperanza, or Refuge of Hope, the Pentecostal 海角大神 congregation led by his wife, Clara.
Impassioned evangelist David Burstein urges millennials to get involvedActivist, speaker, and filmmaker David Burstein says being fearless about learning new things is the place to start.
Difference MakerHajime Shiraishi's tiny but influential OurPlanet-TV keeps focus on Japan's nuclear disasterThe web-based journalist is one of the few in Japan who continue to visit the region around Fukushima and give a voice to those who have been affected.
The Malala Fund spotlights need to educate child refugeesThe Malala Fund, co-founded by Malala Yousafzai, the teenage girl from Pakistan who was shot by the Taliban for promoting the education of girls, is working to put refuge children from Syria back into school.
Discipline with dignity: Oakland schools try talk circles聽As executive director of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth, Fania Davis sees programs like hers helping to shut down the school-to-prison pipeline.
Small sources could yield an energy windfall'Energy scavenging' draws on a wide array of untapped energy sources颅 鈥� radio waves, vibrations created by moving objects, waste heat from computers or car exhaust systems 鈥� to generate electricity.
Jacob Lief uses an 'old recipe' to help South Africa's poorHis Ubuntu Education Fund provides intensive, long-term help to 2,000 impoverished children and their families in South Africa.
Audrey Forshey gives the gift of education in KenyaThe Gift of Education event supports the St. Monica's Children's Home outside Nairobi, Kenya, and covers most of the education costs for the 44 girls who live there.
Difference MakerBarbara Harrell-Bond gives refugees what they say they need most 鈥� legal aidThe tiny Fahamu Refugee Programme has an ambitious goal: provide lawyers and advocates around the world with the legal resources they need to win a refugee's case.