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A Retailer For Free Stuff, Created By Walmart, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Zipcar Vets

Ariel Schwartz

December 04, 2012 |

FastCompany |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

Yerdle is a website that allows companies to resell their used and returned items in a way that is helpful for customers and the environment. The three co-founders have experience at ZipCar, Walmart, and the Sierra Club, and they decided to put their business experience to use in finding a creative solution to minimize waste. Yerdle, which is expanding across the United States, helps consumers find affordable products in their region while also minimizing the waste that accompanies new products.

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The Autism Advantage

Gareth Cook

November 29, 2012 |

The New York Times |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Denmark

Thorkil Sonne's experiences with his own gifted, autistic son led him to start a company called Specialisterne, founded on the idea that - given the right environment - some autistic adults could not just hold down a job but also be the best person for it, increasing access to a self-sustained adulthood.

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What the world can learn from Singapore's safe and squeaky-clean high-rise housing projects

Naomi Rovnick

November 22, 2012 |

Quartz |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Singapore, Singapore

Unlike many other countries who have found public housing facilities to be highly prone to crime and toxic loan practices, Singapore uses a mix of resident home ownership, policing, and mixed-income developments to create thriving, clean housing options that may provide a model for other countries.

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A Better Way to Talk About Faith

David Bornstein

June 12, 2012 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) brings together college students from different faiths so that they develop respect and appreciation for each other and different traditions. IFYC also cultivates interfaith leaders and organizes campus-based campaigns called Better Together. Some students have received push back from their faith communities, but students and faculty have reported the campaigns for interfaith engagement leads to positive outcomes of increasing tolerance on campuses. The organization has trained students who have run campaigns on 106 campuses.

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Liter by Liter, Indians Get Cleaner Water

Amy Yee

March 21, 2012 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, New Delhi

Low-cost filtration plants are finding their place in some of the most underserved areas of India. Making a cultural shift from drinking well water to filtered water isn't well-received by all villages in the country, however. Thanks in part to word of mouth as well as a noted difference in health outcomes, there is still hope in fighting the fight to persuade local communities to pay for and drink clean water.

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Prisons Rethink Isolation, Saving Money, Lives and Sanity

Erica Goode

March 10, 2012 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Mississippi

A positive transformation in a Mississippi prison has become a focal point for a growing number of states rethinking the use of long-term isolation. Humanitarian groups have long argued that solitary confinement has devastating psychological effects, but a central driver in the recent shift is economics. Some officials have also been persuaded by research suggesting that isolation is vastly overused and that it does little to reduce overall prison violence.

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Everyone Speaks Text Message

Tina Rosenberg

December 09, 2011 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Guinea

“For many tiny, endangered languages, digital technology has become a lifeline.” Phones, the web, software systems, these are all technologies being employed to keep heritage languages alive.

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Outsourcing Is Not (Always) Evil

David Bornstein

December 08, 2011 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The United States can outsource certain kinds of "microwork," such as accurately digitizing large swaths of information, to developing countries without taking jobs from Americans ― if it’s done carefully, and ethically, as some organizations are working to do. As the author Robert Wright has argued, we no longer live in a zero-sum world, where one person’s, or one country’s gain, must be another’s loss.

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Safety Nets for Freelancers

David Bornstein

December 06, 2011 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Many independent workers feel that the battle for affordable health insurance is one they are losing. The Freelancers Union is working to provide protections for “contingent” workers that go beyond just health care.

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In Famine, Vouchers Can Be Tickets to Survival

Tina Rosenberg

October 27, 2011 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Somalia

World Concern, a Seattle-based Christian humanitarian group, provides people around the world with vouchers they can use in select markets, rather than the traditional emergency food aid of rice and other grains. In Dhobley, Somalia, the solution of vouchers quickens the process of receiving the food and contributes to the local economy.

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