All People Making a Difference
This community garden in Southeast Washington grows far more than foodAlong with nutritious food, the community garden in Washington鈥檚 low-income Southeast neighborhood grows opportunities and a sense of community.聽
Today鈥檚 Underground Railroad: From jail to freedom with educationIn an Illinois jail, higher education 鈥� with an emphasis on theology 鈥� has played a key role in the growth of those behind bars and those back home.
Difference MakerBlack master falconer helps birds and at-risk youth take flightThis Black master falconer is a聽mentor, conservationist, and Dr. Dolittle of sorts 鈥� saving raptors, at-risk youth, and himself along the way.
Difference MakerIndia trashes 100 million tires a year. She turns them into playgrounds.Anthill Creations, the brainchild of Pooja Rai, is a Bengaluru-based nonprofit that designs and builds low-cost playgrounds throughout India.
Difference MakerTo fight terrorism, a German imam makes daily trek to prisonImam Husamuddin Meyer shows how spiritual counseling can help inmates reach the inner peace they need to avoid veering into Islamic fundamentalism.
Difference MakerFor this Brazilian chef, stopping world hunger starts in local kitchensDavid Hertz looked at food insecurity and saw local culinary training, among other things, as a way out.
Difference MakerIndia鈥檚 blind readers had no lifestyle mag. So this woman made one.White Print, a Braille lifestyle magazine, was founded by Upasana Makati. She has also printed children鈥檚 books in Braille, including 鈥淭actabet.鈥�
Difference MakerBe like Fauci? Pandemic inspires surge in med school applications.Inspired by the selflessness of medical personnel during the pandemic, young people are applying to medical school in droves.
Difference MakerHow Ojok Okello is rebuilding the hometown he never knewOjok Okello returned to his father鈥檚 hometown in northern Uganda planning to build just a small house. But it turned into much more: 鈥淥kere City.鈥�
Difference MakerWhy do some child soldiers heal and not others? What one scholar found.Sierra Leone鈥檚 civil war spawned a generation of former child soldiers. Connection and community may explain why some have been able to recover.
Difference MakerAs Canary Islands face migration crisis, former migrants step up to helpSpain鈥檚 Canary Islands saw a spike in new arrivals last year, causing a local crisis. Those who were migrants in 2006 are helping to manage it.
Difference MakerHe grew up wanting for nothing. Now he gives other students a leg up.Helping the Homeless Colorado and EEqual aimed to support people experiencing homelessness, especially students. Matine聽Khalighi helped found both.
Difference MakerThis 12-year-old鈥檚 bold mission? To get laptops to students in need.When remote school left some of her classmates behind, Daisy Hampton found a small way to reach out and make a big difference.聽
Difference MakerIn a Brooklyn kitchen, a Statue of Liberty spirit offers a fresh startTraining for newcomers to the United States focuses on 10 weeks of culinary and job skills in the Brooklyn, N.Y., cafe of nonprofit Emma鈥檚 Torch.
First LookRescued by kindness, Megan Cohen now shares hope in PhillyMegan Cohen started the Grace Project last year to help drug addicts on the streets of Philadelphia, where she once struggled too.聽
Difference MakerFor Indian teen who launched village library, it鈥檚 about more than booksSadiya Shaikh realized her family鈥檚 ancestral village in Bihar, India, had no library. So the 18-year-old set one up herself: Maulana Azad Library.
Difference Maker鈥楲ow and slow鈥�: Latino lowriders cruise for communityCalifornia car culture includes Latino lowriders, who take pride in their cars as well as promote respect for family and community.
Difference MakerCoat as shelter: Designer Bas Timmer creates for people who have no homeA designer was motivated by the death of his friends鈥� father to make a garment for homeless people using excess fabric and workers who are refugees.
Lending an ear: 鈥楩ree listening鈥� is this guy鈥檚 businessIn this era of social distancing, Kip Clark offers human connection: From a perch on a street in Cambridge, he listens to anyone who wants to talk.聽
Difference MakerFirst Thanksgiving: How a Native woman is setting the record straightLinda Coombs鈥� lifework is to share a fuller picture of the Wampanoag Nation and its contact with some of the first English settlers.