Social Impact Social Media

angelsusnews.org According to Will Lopez, a graduate trainee of Homeboys and their current facilitator in domestic violence prevention, “Homeboy Industries is a place of second chances.” Homeboy Industries provides training, support, counseling and real world work opportunities for previously incarcerated men and women.  You might find their delicious salsas and chips on the shelves of your grocery store. If you are ever anywhere near Los Angeles’ Union Station their cafe and bakery is a MUST destination just 2 blocks from the train station.  They have the best coffee drinks! I am not talking wimpy- I mean tasty, substantial, authentically good and baked goods that are a match for any bakery you can name. My favorite is the cranberry muffin with fresh juicy cranberries and large chunks of walnuts. The organization also provides a top notch charter high school and childcare for the children of the clients they serve to help create a supportive family environme...

Rachel Micah-Jones interned for Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey, and then worked on the Senate campaign of Oregon’s Ron Wyden, which stoked her interest in the law. While working in the Washington, D.C., public defender’s office, she saw that immigration laws ill-served her foreign-born clients. She began to think about combining her knowledge of law with its impact on real people to craft better policy. fellows.echoinggreen.org In 2005 she formed Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, or CDM, an international nonprofit that helps migrants fight for better working conditions and shape policy in the United States and Mexico. Since its founding the group, whose headquarters sits above an eyeglass shop in Baltimore, has recovered more than $5 million in stolen wages for the workers it represents. In 2014, CDM unveiled Contratados, a system it calls "the Yelp for migrant workers" because it allows workers to rate employers and their recruiters anonymousl...

durfee.org Celebrating their 10th year --ince opening in 2010, Libros Schmibros has put over 20,000 books in circulation in Boyle Heights and beyond, and welcomed 17,600 patrons. Founder and co-Director David Kipen obviously has a passion for books and literature. He was a book critic and editor for the San Francisco Chronicle for seven years. He later became Director of Literature for the National Endowment for the Arts. He is a published author and frequently reviews books for the Wall Street Journal, KPCC radio and New York Times. Libros Schmibros’ mission to champion the pleasures of literature and its power to change lives by putting low-or no-cost books into all hands, native and immigrant on Los Angeles’s East and West sides. They are launching a bicycle library outreach program with bikes especially outfitted to carry 40 books. Volunteers will ride neighborhoods including outside local area schools to distribute books from the library If you are in the Los Angeles a...

Started in 1994 by Captain Charles Moore the organization’s initial mission was to restore the disappearing kelp forests and improve water quality along the California coast.   In 1997 all that changed. Captain Moore made a startling discovery at sea. Taking a shortcut from Hawaii to California aboard his 50-foot catamaran he veered away from his usual course and went through the rarely traveled North Pacific Gyre. greatnonprofits.org He recalls that “As I gazed from the deck at the surface of what ought to have been a pristine ocean, I was confronted, as far as the eye could see, with the sight of plastic,” the captain wrote in an essay for Natural History. “It seemed unbelievable, but I never found a clear spot. In the week it took to cross the subtropical high, no matter what time of day I looked, plastic debris was floating everywhere: bottles, bottle caps, wrappers, fragments.” From that point Algalita has pioneered the scientific study of plastic pollution in ...