All People Making a Difference
Difference MakerSam Hawkins opened a shoe factory to give ex-cons a second chanceA shoe factory located just outside a prison in El Salvador is an act of love, a way to help former convicts stay out of prison.
EcoZoom: a model for selling clean cookstoves in AfricaEcoZoom stoves reduce fuel use by 50 percent to 60 percent and toxic emissions by 70 percent, while cutting cooking time in half, which allows women to spend more time gardening and tending to children.
Partnering with the poor: four powerful programs that fight povertyAid groups have shifted their focus from charity to building local markets for the poor so that they become buyers, sellers, and agents of long-term economic development.
How a small California town curbed a teen suicide epidemic鈥攂y talking about itAfter Indian Valley, Calif., lost its sixth teenager, residents started talking about suicide out in the open 鈥� and it's working.
Grow Appalachia: a better food system for AmericaAs Americans, we should help people grow their own food and become their own solutions to food insecurity, the way we've done with Grow Appalachia.
Difference MakerOlga Murray found a second career educating the children of NepalAfter retiring from legal work Olga Murray took on a new task: educating the children, especially the girls, of Nepal.
Harrison, Ark., works to scrub away a 'whites only' labelMayor Jeff Crockett and others try to change the image of Harrison, Ark., a town that once told African-Americans they were neither welcome nor safe there.
GE gives $15 million for a community center in Newtown, Conn.A $15 million gift from GE will build a new community center in Newtown, Conn., the scene of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
Bridges to somewhere help communities thriveDenver-based nonprofit Bridges to Prosperity builds footbridges to provide isolated communities in the developing world with access to health care, education, and economic opportunities.
Nonprofit serves 1.5 million school lunches across India every dayThe Akshaya Patra Foundation has quickly become one of the largest and most efficient nonprofits in the world, serving 330 million hot meals to schoolchildren in India each year.
Pen pal program helps Chinese youths affected by AIDSThe China AIDS Fund fosters friendships between HIV/AIDS affected children in China and American youths.
Difference MakerSiavosh Derakhti, a young Muslim, defends Jews and others targeted by hate crimesA young Swedish Muslim, Siavosh Derakhti, has founded a group that educates young people about the evils and dangers of anti-Semitism, racism, and xenophobia.
Woman finds second career providing homes to disabled US vetsVicki Thomas put her 35 years of experience to work, raising millions of dollars for Purple Heart Homes, which provides housing for wounded soldiers.
Leveling the playing field: a nonprofit helps student athletes rate schoolsThe APCA ranks schools on 25 factors, including how well they take care of their athletes, to help prospective student athletes choose wisely.
Katey Sagal: More than the matriarch of 'Sons of Anarchy'Katey Sagal joined Kurt Sutter and other 'Sons of Anarchy' cast members to raise $70,000 for hurricane Sandy relief organizations. Katey Sagal also released a new album.
How to help with Typhoon Haiyan relief in the PhilippinesMake cash donations to groups that have experience with disaster relief and an existing presence in the Philippines, recommends an expert. And remember that long-term help will be needed too.
Mobile banking without a phone: Here comes the bank vanIn Uganda, Rwanda, and the Philippines mobile banking vans reach out to the rural poor as an alternative to cell phone banking schemes.聽
Nonprofit legal aid helps sort the tangles of superstorm SandyThe New York Legal Assistance Group has worked hand-in-hand with Sandy victims to try to make the arduous road to recovery a little easier.
Difference MakerSister Mary Sean Hodges gives ex-convicts a second chanceAfter visiting prisons to pray with inmates, she began to offer former convicts a place to live and a program to deal with their social, practical, and spiritual needs.
Cash cows: Why bank accounts that work like livestock help the poorIf a savings account worked more like owning a cow, poor people might be more willing to put their money in a bank.