All People Making a Difference
- Difference MakerFrank Richter uses the power of talk to help German towns think about immigrants
To Germans uneasy about their obligation to welcome foreign asylum seekers, Richter offers meaningful dialogue.
- Youths should oppose violence using #Showyourselfie
International Women's Day March 8 is a time to put a spotlight on ending violence and harmful practices against youths, especially adolescent girls, says actress and activist Bonnie Wright.
- Biking across America to teach pop-up science classes
Two young women have started Cycle for Science, a plan to bicycle across the US and drop into schools to teach kids quick lessons in physics, solar power, and renewable energy.
- Commuter travels 70 miles each day...on foot
In order to support his family, Steve Simoff walks 35 miles from his home in Davis City, Mo. to his job at Lakeside Casino in Osceola, Iowa.
- Lady Gaga jumps into a lake: Charitable giving or celeb self-promotion?
Celebrity involvement can help catapult a charitable cause to global awareness and draw in millions of dollars in fundraising. But is there a line between charity and self-promotion?
- What a town in Uganda teaches about ending aid dependency
In Iganga, Uganda, the community group Musana has changed its model from dependency on outsiders to local initiative.
- Community groups help save Kenya's vital 'water towers'
Kenya’s high-elevation forests are the source for most of its water. A new conservation strategy of working with local communities is showing signs of success.
- Difference MakerCaroline Boudreaux is a passionate, effective advocate for India's orphans
The Miracle Foundation dramatically improves standards in a growing network of orphanages.
- Can women farm owners prevent the next Dust Bowl?
Members of Women Caring for the Land plant cover crops, install buffer strips, restore wetlands, and plant native wildflowers for pollinator habitat.
- Could produce on wheels help eliminate America’s food deserts?
Amelia Pape launched My Street Grocery, a mobile grocery truck, to bring better food to communities that lack their own supermarkets.
- A quest to end hunger among coffee growers
A group of coffee companies has formed the Coalition for Coffee Communities to help eliminate hunger in coffee-growing communities around the world.
- Ex-child soldiers in Colombia face their tormentors
Rebels, paramilitaries, and criminal gangs have forcibly recruited thousands of children and teens. Now a reconciliation effort is laying the groundwork for peace through face-to-face apologies to the youths.
- 'Pop up' efforts send thousands of kids to see ‘Selma’ for free
In New York and across the country, adults are forming spontaneous groups to make sure students see the movie 'Selma,' which chronicles the civil rights protests that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
- Difference MakerJonathan Rapping helps give poor and minority Americans a strong defense in court
He cofounded Gideon’s Promise to assist idealistic public defenders, who fight long odds to make sure the scales of justice are fairly balanced.
- In Afghanistan, teaching men that education is not a threat
Sakena Yacoobi started the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) to educate young girls. Then young boys started asking if she could teach them too.
- Four projects that zero in on four big world problems
The $42.3 billion Gates Foundation is looking to achieve four monumental goals by 2030. Here are four entrepreneurs already working on solutions.
- In Haiti, a library with no books transforms the way kids learn
A library of digital books could eventually bring thousands of titles to millions of students around the world.
- Women in India fight sexual harassment with smartphones
Interest in phone apps with SOS buttons to alert contacts and websites to report sexual harassment has surged as more women challenge the view that they have a lower status than men.
- Difference MakerBarb Stegemann produces elegant fragrances from the world's trouble spots
The 'retail activist’ charged $2,000 on her Visa card and made 1,000 bottles of Afghanistan Orange Blossom, selling it out of her garage.
- A passionate 25-year-old builds a charity for Cambodia
Kenny King created Global ADE, which has already built schools in several communities in Cambodia.