All Change Agent
- Corinne Hindes helps those in need enjoy Warm Winters
As a teen she founded Warm Winters, which has worked with ski resorts, Girl Scouts, and high school ski teams to donate more than 5,000 items of warm clothing to 2,500 homeless people.
- Public art in Detroit builds safer, stronger neighborhoods
Detroit artists Gina Reichert and Mitch Cope bought vacant homes and converted them into a multi-faceted artistic community, including a performing arts center and recording studio.
- Goats take on a notorious invasive species
Hungry goat herds could replace toxic herbicides, controlled burns, and even bulldozers to eliminate invasive phragmites that choke off native vegetation.
- Animals from around the world find a sanctuary in central Maine
Bob Miner's DEW Animal Kingdom & Sanctuary cares for more than 200 animals, many of which once were in zoos or kept as exotic pets.
- Nonprofit pays off education debts for US veterans
Leave No Veteran Behind helps pay for veterans' student debts not covered by other military programs, like the G.I. Bill.
- Why gangs are making sandwiches in New Zealand
The Tribal Huks gang have been making approximately 500 sandwiches daily and dropping them off at New Zealand schools. American gangs have responded similarly in the past.
- Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi: an engineer of freedom
Kailash Satyarthi has taken effective steps toward ending the worldwide exploitation of children, says the head of one of his efforts, Goodweave International.
- Farmers in Burkina Faso outsmart climate change
Farmers in one of the world's least-developed countries are restoring degraded land using innovative techniques to conserve water and soil.
- Samoa's architects look to the past to boost climate resilience
In Samoa and other Pacific island nations, which risk devastation from gale-force winds, flooding, sea surges, and tsunamis, a return to indigenous building styles could be the key to creating disaster-resilient communities of the future.
- How worker-owned co-ops lift people out of poverty
Cooperative Home Care Associates has 2,300 workers who enjoy good wages, regular hours, and family health insurance. New York City is investing $1.2 million to encourage more co-op businesses.
- Why the world is getting better
Incomes haven't improved everywhere over the last 20-30 years. But quality of life has improved everywhere, argues researcher and journalist Charles Kenny.
- In a small Maine town, it took a community to build a library
In an effort similar to an old-fashioned barn raising, scores of people from Lincolnville, Maine, contributed their materials, labor, and know-how to create a privately funded library.
- X-Prize taps the crowd to tackle global education
The goal: Create software so exciting to use that kids will want to teach themselves to read and do math.
- Young Rwandans build a nation of peace
Award-winning photographer Carol Allen-Storey traveled the length and breadth of Rwanda and found a new generation dedicated to forgiveness.
- 7 groups making communities more compassionate
Community-focused citizen efforts can be effective ways for people to help each other, from housing the homeless to relieving debt to sharing goods or services.
- Arctic greenhouse provides locals fresh produce year-round
A greenhouse in the northern Canadian community of Kuujjuaq, Nunavik is providing fresh local produce for residents of the Arctic region for the first time. The greenhouse will help improve local food security by extending the growing season past the summer months.
- Kenyan teenager's simple device could stop elephant poaching
19-year-old Mercy Sigey has developed a device that notifies park officials when poachers cross into animal reserves.
- How one woman turned two acres into a profitable business
After receiving financing and training from the nonprofit One Acre Fund, Viola Nsengiyumva nearly doubled her harvest, bought three goats, and began raising chickens.
- Emma Watson's plea for equality wins men's support
The actress, who rose to fame as Hermione in the Harry Potter movies and who now serves as a UN Women's Goodwill Ambassador, launches HeForShe, a campaign to unite men and women for gender equality.
- Climate-smart farmers get tech savvy to save India's breadbasket
Using machines to sow rice directly, devices to inform when to irrigate, and phone messages warning of infestations, farmers are learning to adapt to climate change.