All People Making a Difference
- Difference Maker‘El Librotraficante’: Getting banned Latino books into readers’ hands
Tony Diaz has spent two decades stitching together a network that encourages Latino writers and readers to treasure their stories – and themselves.
- Difference MakerIn Cleveland, fine dining serves up training – and dignity – after prison
Inspired by his own experience, a chef offers an instructional approach in which skills and dignity are both key ingredients to helping formerly incarcerated people get back on their feet.
- Christine M’Lot breathes new life into Indigenous education
A spirit of Indigenous renewal is helping to transform education in Canada, giving voice to silent histories and reviving Indigenous methods of learning.
- Difference MakerSchool on Wheels delivers tutoring – and hope – for homeless students
Thousands of homeless students in LA are matched with tutors and get school supplies through the nonprofit School on Wheels.
- From soup to jobs: How Boston’s Haley House builds community
Haley House is more than a soup kitchen. The organization’s live-in model takes a holistic approach to combating homelessness and food insecurity.
- Difference MakerMeet the volunteers maintaining the Appalachian Trail
Dedication. Love. Humility. Those are just a few of the qualities volunteers who maintain the Appalachian Trail bring to the paths year after year.
- Laughing Bear Bakery has a recipe for a fresh start out of prison
Hiring at Laughing Bear Bakery is aimed at those with a criminal record – it’s a place to give them skills and the space to start anew without stigma.
- Difference MakerGame changer: How Sam Wasser became the ivory detective
Sam Wasser developed forensics to link poaching to perpetrators, and a new center brings together scientists and governments to expand the work.
- Difference MakerHelping homeless moms ‘get their shot’ at opportunity and education
Homeless mothers get life-changing emotional, financial, and professional mentoring – not just money – from the Hearts of Gold nonprofit program.
- Meet the nurdle hunter combing the beach for hidden pollution
Mark McReynolds’ nurdle hunters scour the sands for a tiny pollutant most beachgoers don’t even know exists.
- Difference MakerSponsor Circle opens hearts and homes to Afghan refugees
Afghan refugees are finding their resilience bolstered by one-on-one relationships that nurture transitions to life in the U.S. after upheaval.
- Preserved by students, WWII internment camp becomes national park
For decades, Colorado students have preserved a World War II Japanese American internment camp to honor those relocated there. Now it will be a national park.
- How to help Ukraine? A sampling of charitable efforts.
Dozens of charitable groups are feeding, sheltering, and assisting those in Ukraine and the more than 3 million people who have fled the war. Here are a few of those organizations helping out.
- Difference MakerA secret town’s renewal, from radioactive cleanup to recycling jobs
Northern Estonia once fueled the USSR’s nuclear arsenal. Tõnis Kaasik cleaned up the radioactive waste and created jobs for the Russians left behind.
- At 82, she coded an app. She just wanted a game she could win.
Technology serves as a gateway to new skills and social opportunities. Wakamiya Masako is making sure fellow seniors aren’t left behind.
- Growing Griots: Modern-day storytelling shapes young people’s identities
Growing Griots: Modern-day storytelling builds confidence and bridges cultural divides.
- Difference MakerRhythmic gymnastics: One man’s fight for equality
Peterson Ceus is creating space for men in rhythmic gymnastics, hoping to change ideas about what the sport should look like.
- ‘You are not alone’: Love For Our Elders offers embrace via letters
Love For Our Elders volunteers write and send letters to older people around the globe to help remedy their isolation.
- Birding on Capitol Hill: An Audubon expert gathers a bipartisan flock
Bird-watching tours of Capitol Hill led by an Audubon Society “bird lobbyist” draw legislators and staff into “rare” bipartisan gatherings.
- What a string ensemble can do: Harmonize community, calm baby
Whether composing lullabies with new mothers or performing symphonic stories of social justice, Palaver Strings aims to unify community.