All Change Agent
- Rhino horn is the same stuff as human nails. Still want some?
Conservation groups are mounting public service campaigns to persuade Vietnamese that buying rhino horn is decidedly uncool.
- Francis Slakey moves from scaling heights to greening cities
The physicist heads a new $5 million Georgetown Energy Prize that encourages midsize cities to develop innovative ways to slash energy use.
- U.S. Tech Vets links military veterans with civilian jobs
The effort, through its online portal at www.ustechvets.org, matches national and regional companies with veterans who have technical skills.
- Adam Braun hands out pencils – and hope
His nonprofit Pencils of Promise has built more than 170 schools in Ghana, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Laos.
- Heather Fleming wants to solve poverty through better design
Frustrated by the inequality she experienced as a Navajo, Fleming founded Catapult Design to create new products and services for impoverished communities.
- New source of jobs for India's rural women (hint: it's in your shampoo)
Growing seaweed rich in valuable chemicals — predicted to be worth $7 billion by 2018 — is emerging as a source of employment for rural women in India.
- Jeff Kirschner uses social media to fight littering
Participants on Instagram photograph, geotag, label, and then dispose of litter. By identifying litter, he hopes to drive companies to reevaluate the kind of packaging they use.
- Could you live below the line?
The Live Below the Line project April 28-May 2 aims to help people understand extreme poverty more personally by spending only $1.50 a day on food.
- Providing a safe haven for street kids in Congo
A shelter in Kinshasa, Congo, provides aid, and sometimes a home, to children abandoned to the streets.
- Sun King wants to brighten life for rural poor
Designing and distributing technically sophisticated yet durable solar lights has been a nifty accomplishment for Greenlight Planet, whose aim is to replace dangerous kerosene lamps.
- Skoll World Forum – watch live
The annual Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship April 9 to 11 brings together top thinkers from Malala Yousafzai to Richard Branson. Watch sessions live here.
- Agnes Vertes tells her story as a Holocaust survivor
Agnes Vertes, who survived the Nazi Holocaust in Europe as a child, is one of many Americans sharing their stories now, while they still can.
- Erika Flint knows firsthand about giving dignity to the needy
Flint is executive director of the Watertown (N.Y.) Urban Mission, which works quietly to help people get back on their feet so they can take care of themselves.
- Rafiatu Lawal: education empowers African women
After persevering through her own challenges, Rafiatu Lawal now helps other young women in Ghana pursue their dreams.
- Karen Lange: volunteering 'helped my soul and heart to heal'
She volunteers at Baltimore's Moveable Feast, which provides nutritious food to home-bound people living with chronic physical problems.
- If homeless people had a safe place to live, taxpayers could save millions
By providing housing to its homeless, Charlotte, N.C., saved $1.8 million, research at the University of North Carolina–Charlotte found.
- Why Doug Friedlander moved from New York to the Mississippi Delta – and stayed
The three keys to successfully helping out in a new community, he says, are being humble, volunteering constantly – and sharing the credit.
- Born in prison, she's back behind bars on a mission
Deborah Jiang Stein, author of 'Prison Baby,' created the unPrison Project to help women in prison find their self-worth and realize that they can set goals and change their lives.
- Son of baseball great Jackie Robinson finds Sweet Unity in Tanzania
David Robinson's Sweet Unity Farms coffee co-op is farmer owned and operated. It's profits have been invested back into projects from solar panels for electricity to water management and irrigation.
- Nicole Javorsky overcame challenges by doing, not complaining
The 18-year-old aspiring trapeze artist founded Cubs for Coping, which makes and donates handmade teddy bears to young people in hospitals, shelters, and clinics.