Social Impact Social Media

ithacachildrensgarden.org Offering year round education in the form of innovative, research-based programs, events, and workshops, designed for children, families, schools, educators, volunteers, and community members Ithaca Children’s Garden is described as a program and a place. The garden was organized in 1197 by organized in 1997 by Harriet Becker, Mary Alyce Kobler, and Monika Roth. In 2004 the organization secured a lease of 3 acres in Cass Park from the city of Ithaca. The garden’s Nature Anarchy Zone demonstrates and exemplifies the   educational and developmental benefits of unstructured play. Kids can get dirty digging for worms, playing with rocks and sticks, building forts, climbing trees, and generally daring to engage in the kind of wild and unsanitized play that was common 70 years ago but would scandalize today’s average helicopter parent.   Somehow   children’s lives and time have become overwhelmingly structured, scheduled play dates app...

twitter.com Dove Pressnall, founder of Survivors' Truths, was compelled to take action. From 2004 - 2006, while working as a trainer and field supervisor of Liberian counselors and social workers she listened to the stories of war survivors including women survivors of targeted sexual violence, male and female torture survivors of all ages, and conscripted child soldiers. She found that by getting victims to  tell their stories it not only empowered them but also helped change perceptions of them and their experiences from negative to positive. Survivors' Truths has since greatly expanded its mission since Dove relocated to Los Angeles in 2007.  The organization's goal is to transform media coverage and  media imagery of not only war survivors but here in the U.S also  homeless veterans, LGBTQ youth and teen parents from negative to positive. Their work transforms impressions and stereotypes by telling positive storie...

circusproject.org Can you imagine a  nonprofit  that celebrates  circus arts , overcomes social barriers and helps  at risk youth ? Well that's   Portland's  Circus Project founded by Jenn Cohen who became enthralled with the  flying trapeze  at a visit to  Club Med  when she was 13. The nonprofit creates professional  contemporary circus  productions  with the international known performers in the field. They offer workshops, classes and technical training courses in circus arts to  homeless  and  other at risk youth --- and uses circus arts to teach critical  life skills . The Circus Project has continually prioritized making quality circus arts education accessible for people facing barriers, and offers over $60,000 in scholarships every year.     In 2019, and with seed funding from Cirque du Soleil, The Circus Project founded The Voice Project, a social justice-focu...

Some time ago, watching the documentary Urban Fruit by Roman Zenz I was fascinated by the story of Rishi Kumar a highly educated engineer by training who gave up a promising career in information technology to choose a different path. Along with his mother they had transformed their once wasteful and nonproductive meticulously landscaped yard into a productive bio diverse urban farm which uses about 1/3 the water it took to keep their lawn green.  They have done so while creating healthy organic food in abundance. In fact more than enough for themselves, their extended family of relatives and friends and untamed wildlife not limited to rare butterflies, hummingbirds, mosquito fish, dragonflies and raccoons that struggle to eke out good diets due to urban sprawl. This project has grown into a mission of education on the how-to's and benefits of urban farming and creating bio diverse mini ecosystems that give back to our environment as opposed to simply taking.  ...

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...