All People Making a Difference
Difference MakerDavid Eads runs FreeGeek Chicago, 'an Apple Store for the rest of us'FreeGeek Chicago gives volunteers hands-on training in restoring old computers to sell or recycle 鈥� while they earn credits toward taking home their own desktop or laptop free of charge.
Solar pumps could boost farm yields in poor countriesFoot-powered irrigation pumps are useful but limited. Diesel pumps are expensive. Solar-powered pumps could be an answer.
Difference MakerJohn Ferguson spreads goodwill for America through the power of musicPianist John Ferguson founded American Voices, a nonprofit whose mission is to help aspiring young artists around the world pursue their interest in American jazz, Broadway, break dancing, and classical music.
Cereal banks empower women and fight famine in Africa's Sahel regionGroups such as the World Food Program and Care are joining forces to create all-women-managed cereal banks in villages throughout the drought-prone Sahel region of Africa. They help protect against famine, but also empower women.
If sci-fi spurs technology, can 'social fiction' spark change?If more movies, TV series, and other media were created to help people envision better future societies, 'I bet we鈥檒l create the societies,' says Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Prize-winning founder of the microcredit movement.
2013 Torchlight Prize honors grass-roots US community groupsThe Torchlight Prize, a project of the Family Independence Initiative, recognizes homegrown groups that are finding unique ways to solve local community problems.
Law student Yasmene Mumby already is a veteran education reformerIn a feat of tenacity and organization worthy of a veteran leader, young law student Yasmene Mumby helped push passage of $1.1 billion in funding to improve Baltimore's schools.
Elaine Hamel uses power tools to teach girl powerElaine Hamel founded Girls at Work Inc., which helps at-risk girls discover their inner power tools of strength and courage through building projects.
Difference MakerWar survivor Mariatu Kamara speaks for children at risk in conflictHer story shows 'the devastation conflict has on children's lives but also the power of the human spirit.'
Ashoka Future Forum tackles 'Tomorrow's Media,' 'Leadership'The Ashoka Future Forum May 30 and 31 in Washington, D.C., (see a live video feed below) brings together social innovators, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists to explore how people can solve problems in their families, communities, and workplaces.
Gaza Sky Geeks backs tech startups in the Gaza StripThe conflict-torn Gaza Strip produces more than 2,000 young graduates with technical degrees each year. Gaza Sky Geeks helps them launch their own high-tech businesses.
Filmmaker Mira Nair tells stories 'no one else will'Her latest feature film, 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist,' and her free film school in Kampala, Uganda, are just two ways she's broadening the stories being told on screens.
100 years on, Rockefeller Foundation still promotes 'the well-being of mankind'The Rockefeller Foundation, chartered in 1913, took philanthropy in new directions with its global outlook and diligent, scientific approach that became a model for the field.
From housing to health care, 7 co-ops that are changing the economyHow manufacturers, retailers, restaurants, and others are doing business the cooperative way.
Difference MakerDave Valle plays on a new field: microloans that help to end povertyAs a pro baseball player in the Dominican Republic Dave Valle saw poverty up close. Now his microloans are helping to end it.
Changing the world, McDonald's style: 5 great social franchisesSocial franchises 鈥� businesses with a charitable purpose 鈥� develop and market cheap, innovative products that solve a social problem. Here are five examples.
Dana Frasz wants to see a Food Shift 鈥� away from wasteForty percent of all the food produced in the US is wasted. But a number of efforts in the US 鈥� such as Food Shift 鈥� and others abroad are taking on the problem.
Geeks to the rescue: How to save the world in 54 hoursAt Tech4Change participants pitch, build, and present tech-oriented social enterprise concepts that can create jobs and solve problems for the world's poorest of the poor.
Oklahoma City tornado: more ways to helpA massive tornado tore through parts of the Oklahoma City area May 19, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. Here are some of the ways you can help.
An art museum uses technology to lure young patronsThe Cleveland Museum of Art is embracing cutting-edge technology to try to lure new audiences to its collection of masterworks.