All People Making a Difference
Detroit charity turns blight into gardens, parks, and homesMotor City Blight Busters is fighting to bring Detroit back one abandoned building and one vacant lot at a time. The nonprofit demolishes abandoned buildings that are beyond repair, renovates homes, and cleans up parks and illegal dump sites.
Manufactured homes can provide low-cost housing that saves energy tooLow-income families can benefit themselves and the environment by moving into energy-efficient manufactured homes, says the founder of Next Step.- Difference MakerWhen Khanyisile Motsa saw girls living on the streets, she took them homeKhanyisile Motsa is 'mother' to a very large family 鈥� 62 orphaned girls at her Johannesburg, South Africa, 'Home of Hope' orphanage.
YouthBuild: solving America's youth crisisYouthBuild has helped 120,000 low-income high school dropouts produce more than 23,000 units of affordable housing while studying for their high school equivalency diploma.
A new way to finance education: Pay part of what you earnInstead of taking out a college loan, students pay back the cost of their education using a portion of their earnings after graduation.
SCORE helps small businesses start, grow, succeedNonprofit SCORE provides education and mentoring services to small-business owners across the US, with more than 10 million clients so far.- UN turns to Twitter and Beyonce for fundraisingThe UN is turning to the power of celebrities and their social media following to raise money and awareness of international humanitarian needs.
In an Afghan refugee camp, she looked to universal principles of lawSetting up services at an Afghan refugee camp meant creating some kind of rules.聽Sakena Yacoobi looked at 'what was fair, moral, and just 鈥� what we could want for ourselves. I now know that these are sometimes called universal principles of law.'
A teen starts Genevieve鈥檚 Crutches to give others an extra boostColorful crutches decorated by Genevieve Finn and her family are being sported by wounded warriors, children, and others.
How to stop global child traffickingHilton has become the second US-based, multibrand hospitality company to sign the ECPAT Tourism Code of Conduct, supporting its voluntary principles to prevent child sex tourism and trafficking.
Difference MakerLynne Patterson brightens the futures of struggling women with Pro MujerWomen in developing countries 'hold the key' to their futures, Lynne Patterson says. Her nonprofit Pro Mujer helps them find it.
Hidden environmentalists: India's waste pickersIn Pune, India, a city that suffered a waste disposal crisis in 2010, an alliance of waste pickers has established an inclusive, sustainable model for solid waste management that presents a potential blueprint for the future.
Vermont sailing barge may be model for carbon-free shippingThe 39-foot Ceres 鈥� built by volunteers 鈥� is an update on the type of cargo vessels that once plied inland waterways throughout the northeastern US.
Baby boomers now the largest source of charity giftsBaby boomers (born 1946-1960) give 43 percent of all the money contributed to charities by individuals. But millennials (born 1981-1995) believe more fervently in volunteering, a new study finds.
Maggie Doyne went from high school graduate to surrogate mother of 40 in NepalAt age 19, Maggie Doyne founded a school and orphanage in a remote village in Nepal.
6 organizations that protect animal rights Many charitable organizations dedicate themselves to improving the welfare of animals. Here, we tell you about some of the best. These six organizations have four-star ratings from Charity Navigator, along with at least $13.5 million in total annual expenses.
Cindy Elkind started Kevlar for K9s to protect 'working' dogsPolice and military dogs benefit from body armor, and so far Kevlar for K9s has provided it to more than 140 of them.
Difference MakerDiane Luby Lane shows teens how performing poetry can ignite their dreamsHer Get Lit 鈥� Words Ignite project introduces the excitement and benefits of performing poetry to thousands of highly challenged teens in the Los Angeles area each year.
Like shopping at local businesses? Now you can invest in them, tooA newly formed company based in Seattle makes it easy to put your money to work in the local economy.
A penny saved is two pennies earned for poor women in savings groupsSaving for Change operates in 13 countries with 680,000 members, most of them women. They not only benefit from receiving loans but share in overall profits of 30 to 40 percent.