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Crypto power: Can solar boost cheap, green homes in S.Africa?

Kim Harrisberg

April 22, 2021 |

Thomson Reuters Foundation |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: South Africa, Cape Town

Watergate Estate is working on two issues in South Africa: affordable housing and renewable energy. The housing development is installing solar panels for its residents that are being bought by people all over the world using cash or bitcoin as a way to offset their own carbon costs. Not everyone agrees that gated communities like this are helping to fight social inequalities, crime, and unemployment, but about 470 people bought solar cells for the apartment complex and some residents say they feel safer in their community.

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Pedal power: How bicycles can change lives

Richard Kenny

April 20, 2021 |

BBC |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: Zambia

Onyx Connect sprang from the imagination of one entrepreneur who saw how poor roads and poverty made bicycles the only practical alternative to walking great distances in southern Zambia. Onyx sells sturdy bikes with a monthly payment plan that makes them affordable but also gives bike owners a personal stake in maintaining their own investment, instead of just having it donated to them. Bikes have given girls greater access to education and farmers more income because they can deliver fresh milk or other goods more often, more quickly, at greater distances than before.

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Is Seaweed The Key To Carbon Offsets?

Teresa Carey

April 17, 2021 |

Freethink |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Maine

Running Tide Technologies, a shellfish hatchery in Maine, is betting on kelp forests as a way to store carbon deep in the ocean and sell that carbon to corporations looking to combat climate change and offset their own emissions. The startup is growing mini-farms of kelp on biodegradable floats and after a few months, they sink to the seafloor. More research is needed to see if it works, but they already have about 1,600 floats adrift in the ocean and the e-commerce company Shopify is the first to buy carbon offsets from them.

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Rivers of Milk, Islands of Prosperity

Lyudmila Maslova

April 13, 2021 |

Transitions Online |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Ukraine, Andriyivka

A dairy cooperative in Ukraine has brought jobs to farmers in the region and allowed them to work together to sell their milk on the market. An international nonprofit helped the Andriyivka Prosperity cooperative get off the ground. While villagers were skeptical of joining at first, and there are still challenges with operating the cooperative, there are 129 members that sell their milk. “The cooperative has halted the extinction of the village, allowing young people to stay in their homelands and have jobs and a livelihood,” says one of the villagers.

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This Real Estate Co-Op is Looking for Investors Who Want to Put Community First

Oscar Perry Abello

April 13, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

The 2012 federal JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) took some time to gain traction, but in recent years it has democratized the financing of worker-owned co-ops and other community-based entities that ordinarily would be frozen out of capital markets. By making possible what is called a direct public offering, the law has made it easier to finance businesses that promise greater social benefits than just profit maximization, by opening investment opportunities to a more diverse and egalitarian mix of investors.

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A collaboration of local orgs is working to boost minority-owned businesses in Kensington

Courtney Duchene

April 05, 2021 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Four local organizations have teamed up to provide $15 million in loans for the Latinx community in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. The affordable loans have gone to affordable housing, small businesses, residential mortgages, and development projects.

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How Chinatown's Community Bank Has Survived Crisis After Crisis

Oscar Perry Abello

March 30, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Community banking empowers marginalized communities that are not able to secure financing for homes and businesses through traditional financing. Establishing community banks allows members of these communities to bypass structural and institutional barriers in order to invest in themselves. Abacus Bank has a long history of advocating for businesses and families in Chinatown.

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Obawole: Neglected by banks, rescued by PoS agents

Samson Akintaro

March 25, 2021 |

New Telegraph |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Nigeria, Obawole, Lagos State

Agency banking and point-of-sales terminals provide financial services to Obawole, a community under-served by banks despite its proximity to Nigeria's banking center. Agents are third parties representing banks. They provide services such as accepting deposits and making withdrawals, replacing often-decrepit and unreliable ATM machines. Technical failures and distrust can mar relationships with the banking public, but the services provide a needed convenience, and create jobs as well.

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Fighting Gentrification

Chris Rudisill

March 19, 2021 |

QNotes Carolinas |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Houston, Texas

When gentrification made housing unaffordable for many people in Houston's historically Black Third Ward neighborhood, local activists sought remedies beyond standard federal tax incentives for affordable housing. A city-sponsored Community Land Trust developed a plan for more affordable housing. At the same time, a development catering to low-income, older LGBTQ residents, adjacent to the Third Ward, got developed on donated land. Charlotte has many similar challenges, making Houston a model for what is possible.

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Susu as a Vehicle to Advance Economic Mobility

Nana AmaAddo

March 19, 2021 |

FunTimes Magazine |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

A traditional African method of mutual aid, Susu, is helping members of the African Diaspora access capital for businesses, education, housing, and more. The informal loan network enables people to contribute periodically to a group fund with each contributor taking turns receiving the collected money. The informal loan club is a centuries-old African tradition that serves as a security net and can also provide economic mobility.

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