How Korea's galleries evaded a coronavirus standstill

In Alabama’s largest city, a story of economic confidence in an unlikely place.

Each year, close to three million dogs and cats are killed in shelters - in some cities more than 70 percent of the animals in shelters are euthanized. Target Zero is a program that works with fellow cities to spay and neuter animals and return them to the streets. Public complaints about animals have plummeted, and many shelters are well on their way to achieving a 'zero-kill' status.

For years, one of Cleveland's poorest neighborhoods seemed unalterable no matter how many government programs and well-meaning philanthropies got involved; a place where abject poverty, joblessness and crime reinforce the racism in a city long divided, and where infants still die at a higher rate than almost anywhere else in the country. But a former CIA executive and a new breed of lettuce are transforming the poorest parts of the Rust Belt city.

Raton, a town once surrounded by eight coal mines, now has a main street of boarded-up buildings. There is reason for optimism as the town diversifies its local economy, betting on "a mix of small manufacturing businesses, health care and specialty services, and hospitality for travelers" to endure the sudden decline in mining revenue. Its calculated revitalization may hold lessons for other towns.

The Live6 area is home to a robust cultural and creative community. And with an increase in development, there's opportunity for artists and institutions to tap into that energy to spur growth.

RedTire is a program operating in Kansas that helps coordinate the selling and buying of businesses. The service has proven critical in rural areas that often only have a single key entity, like a pharmacy, and would suffer greatly if it were to shut down. RedTire serves as a "matchmaking" service to assist these communities in finding new owners to take over at a fair price.

After Nepal's 2015 earthquake, many village women were left in financial devastation and struggled to support their families. The earthquake destroyed up to 90% of small enterprises and markets, so the United Nations Development Programme trained women how to weave. As a mode of recovery, the weaving industry has helped rebuild the economic and social structures through the Panchakanya group.

The Social Innovation Summit, hosted in New York City, examines five key elements that allow the strategy of marketing to the base of the pyramid to actually succeed, and the companies big and small that are leveraging this approach to sustainably break the cycle of poverty in varied industries for communities around the world.

Alabama's Historic Prattville Redevelopment Authority has emulated the successful downtown revitalization project in Columbus, Georgia, in an effort to address vacant industrial sites and a blighted downtown. Through a collaboration with local entrepreneurs, a private real estate company, the Chamber of Commerce, and other departments and members of the local government, the HPRA is transforming the small city. Several local business prepare to open, the old cotton gin mill will open new apartments, and recent community events demonstrate an increasing public interest in a revitalized downtown Prattville.

Arts education programs in the United States are subjected to cutting for maintaining tight school budgets. Technology sectors in Seattle seek professionals who have been trained in problem solving skills and innovative idea generation. In response, Seattle Public Schools and the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture collaborate to promote equity in students’ access to the arts.