Harlem Children's Zone

Serving 17,000 children in a hundred block area, Harlem Children's Zone implements a new method to end the cycle of generational poverty. An entire community is empowered with information at the same time that the educational needs of the community's children are being met.  Parents learn developmental milestones to watch for and discover ways to turn ordinary life at home into an educational experience.

The Harlem Children's Zone sees families through a child's college experience.  Ninety percent of the nonprofit's high school participants go on to study on the university level. This incoming freshman class obtained over $6.4 million in scholarships and grants.

Harmony, Hope & Healing

Music possesses a power that reaches beyond entertainment and performance.  Harmony, Hope & Healing harnesses the creative and therapeutic aspect of song as a way of offering dignity and spiritual healing to homeless and underserved women, men and children. This Chicago-based nonprofit was founded in 2000 by singer and educator Marge Nykaza.  Programs offer a chance to learn, heal, and experience a sense of community:

• Adult music sessions
• Musical English lessons for non native speakers
• Senior group piano lessons
• Senior choir rehearsals
• Parent / child music classes
• Children’s music classes
• Pre-school music classes
• Annual music event at each program site
• Choir performances in public or private venues

Harmony, Hope & Healing "delivers direct services in the form of therapeutic music programs that offer healing from the devastating effects of poverty, homelessness, domestic violence, substance abuse and the isolation of aging."  (Mission Statement)

Patrice Millet: a Life Rededicated to the Service of Haiti's Children

Patrice Millet survived life-threatening bone cancer and decided to do something different with his life.  The successful businessman sold his construction company to dedicate his life to the service of Haiti's children.  He founded the Foundation Notre-Dame du Perpétuel Secours (FONDAPS).

Millet's nonprofit organization uses sports to educate kids on fair play, teamwork, respect, love, and how to become a responsible, contributing citizen.  Poverty is pervasive in Haiti; so, FONDAPS offers a food program that addresses health and nutrition.  School tuition is also paid for youth whose parents cannot afford the fees. Besides offering sports, nutrition, and opportunities for education, FONDAPS makes regular donations to Haiti's orphanages and youth soccer clubs.

Millet has been nominated as a top 2011 CNN Hero.

A Little Girl and Charity Water

Young Rachel Beckwith hoped to raise $300 by her ninth birthday in an effort to help supply clean water to an impoverished African village.  The girl lost her life in a car accident before she reached her goal, but word spread quickly about her birthday wish for charity.  Washington state and then national news organizations picked up the story inspiring tens of thousands of donors to support her cause, Charity Water.

The fundraising campaign on charitywater.org has now surpassed the $1 million mark.  One hundred percent of these donations go directly to providing clean water to those in developing nations.

Time is Now to Help: a one man crusade to help the poor

CNN Heroes calls Sal Dimiceli a "Dear Abby" for the poor.  He grew up experiencing bouts of poverty and wondered as a boy why no one would help his mother.  Seeing his own family suffer moved him to promise God that he would help the poor whenever he could. Struggling families, widows, single mothers, children, the elderly, and good people enduring hard times--all are often too proud or too ashamed to reach out and say they need help.  In the beginning, Dimiceli found them.

Eventually he started his own nonprofit to streamline his efforts.  The Time is Now to Help assists people with rent, utilities, food, blankets, and books.  Dimiceli has negotiated lower rents with landlords and stocked the bare cupboards of food pantries.

He generously donates at least 20% of his own income, but in the last decade he has begun to rely more on donations to his nonprofit, which he started in 1989.  He networks with local clubs and businesses to raise awareness about the immediate needs of the impoverished in Southeastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois.

The $300 House Project: a dream for sustainable and dignified living

Vijay Govindarajan and Christian Sarkar first proposed The $300 House in the The Harvard Business Review.  Severe limitations on choices keep the poor impoverished forever, trapped in poverty by lack of opportunity.  Furthermore, Govindarajan suggests leaving 5 billion impoverished people out of the loop is a missed opportunity for corporations as equal talent, creativity, and enthusiasm is just as likely to be found in poor populations.

The $300 House project began with simple questions:

• How can organic, self-built slums be turned into livable housing?
• What might a house for the poor look like?  
• How can world-class engineering and design capabilities be utilized to solve the problem?  
• What reverse-innovation lessons might be learned by the participants in such a project?  
• How could the poor afford to buy this house?

The project now has its winning designs and will move forward with prototypes and pilot projects before eventual implementation.  The poor of India, Indonesia, and Haiti will be the first nations given the chance

"...to live safely and build an inclusive ecosystem of services around them which includes, clean water, sanitation, health services, family planning, education, and micro enterprise, maybe we can start reducing the disease of poverty. By helping create this ecosystem, we believe companies can make money while providing services needed by the poor at an affordable cost. The poor deserve a chance, a real chance, to make it out of poverty."

You can check out the winning designs here.

Architecture for Humanity

Architecture for Humanity wields the power of design to build sustainable communities. This nonprofit taps the talent of tens of thousands of professionals on behalf of survivors of natural disasters like Katrina and the December 2004 Tsunami in South Asia and impoverished people in developing nations.

Design is important to every aspect of our lives. It informs the places in which we live, work, learn, heal and gather. We engage all stakeholders in the design process. We believe our clients are designers in their own right.  --Architecture for Humanity website

Thoughtful designs can begin to alleviate poverty and insure access to clean water, power, and other essential services.

• Bringing safe shelter to communities prone to disaster and displaced populations
• Rebuilding community and creating neutral spaces for dialogue in post-conflict areas
• Mitigating the effects of rapid urbanization in unplanned settlements
• Creating spaces to meet the needs of those with disabilities and other at-risk populations
• Reducing the footprint of the built environment and addressing climate change

You can see Architecture for Humanity's finished projects around the world.

Food for the Poor Nourishing Souls

As the third largest international relief and development organization in the U.S., Food For The Poor  feeds 2 million people every day. The Christian-based nonprofit helps children and the poorest of the poor by providing food, housing, health care, education, water projects, emergency relief and micro-enterprise assistance in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Praise from Charity Navigator:

“We are proud to announce that Food For The Poor has earned our tenth consecutive 4-star rating for its ability to efficiently manage and grow its finances. Less than 1% of the charities we rate have received at least 10 consecutive 4-star evaluations, indicating that Food For The Poor consistently executes its mission in a fiscally responsible way, and outperforms most other charities in America."

Food For The Poor makes sure nutritious food, clean drinking water, sturdy housing, necessary medical care, educational materials is at the disposal of people in desperate need.   Support for orphans and the elderly and self-sustaining projects are part of their on-going mission. Please visit their projects page to find out how you can join the effort.

An 11-Year-Old Builds a Village

11-year-old Rachel Wheeler of Florida saw the struggles people in Haiti faced and wanted to help.  That was before the 2009 earthquake.  The quake fueled her inspiration to make sure she followed through with her idea to help alleviate suffering.  She raised more than $170,000 with the mission of providing homes to families who needed homes.  The 5th grader received a hero's welcome when she traveled to the Caribbean nation to see the village built with her efforts. 

Rachel worked with Food for the Poor to make her dream a reality.

BlinkNow Foundation

Kopila Valley Children's Home from maggie doyne on Vimeo.

As a  recent high school graduate, Maggie Doyne set out to see the world.  She got as far as the Himalayas and fell in love.  Hundreds of orphaned children captured her heart.  With money Maggie saved from babysitting, she bought a piece of land and had a home built for children in need of education, health care, nutrition, and love.

Her nonprofit, the BlinkNow Foundation aims to empower future leaders and end the cyclical poverty the squanders human potential. 

"The organization focuses on under-developed, war-torn countries where extreme poverty exists. These nations have high rates of illiteracy, disease, child labor, and unstable governments, thus making them the prime focus for our organization."

Find out more about Maggie's vision by visiting the BlinkNow Foundation.

World Access Project: Wheelchairs to Those in Need

"As I was waiting for the program to begin, I was shocked to see people using branches for crutches, being pushed in wheelbarrows and crawling. One wheelchair was not enough. I just felt someone had to come and help." --Richard St. Denis.

Richard St. Denis survived a skiing accident but forever lost his ability to walk. He didn't lose his mobility and through his World Access Project he provides wheelchairs to impoverished people in Mexico.  St. Denis' organization also teaches new wheelchair users how to make the most of their new found mobility.  World Access Project hosts three annual sports camps around Mexico.

"During the camps participants have the opportunity to meet others who use wheelchairs.   They share their experiences, feelings and concerns.  They make new friends, share their lives, help each other, and develop a support system."  World Access Project Website

All donations go straight to the people World Access Project serves.  No board or staff member receives a salary.  Read about the organization's "Pay It Forward" ideas on the website.

St. Denis has been featured as a CNN Hero.

Acumen Fund's Unique Synthesis of Charity and Freedom

Thirty million people benefit from the difference the Acumen Fund has made.  The organization's mission is to move the world beyond poverty by investing in entrepreneurship, tomorrow's leaders, and revolutionary thinking.  They are changing the way the world fights poverty.

From their website:

"Tremendous wealth is being created in the world today thanks to globalization and the power of technology and markets. Yet there is a growing gap between rich and poor. Something must be done to extend the benefits of the global economy to the majority of the world’s population that lives on less than four dollars a day."

Choices in the form of affordable health care, water, housing, energy, agricultural and services are provided as people in poverty-plagued regions build their own businesses with funding from Acumen which gives a hand up, not handout. 

A new dignity is born with the freedom to forge a livelihood.  Traditional charity efforts often meet immediate needs but are not geared for the long-term. Acumen's market-based approach gives people the opportunity and choice to raise their standards of living and sustain a life for themselves and enrich their communities.

Acumen's founder, Jacqueline Novogratz, reflects how her vision for Acumen came about:

You can help support Acumen Fund's effort here.

Narayanan Krishnan: Serving the Destitute

Narayanan Krishnan went from an award-winning chef to a caregiver in the service of India's homeless and destitute.  Since, 2002, he has provided 1.6 million hot meals to his nation's poorest through his nonprofit, The Akshya Trust.  His organization's mission is to provide healthy food and love and to offer an opportunity for rehabilitation.  Krishnan strives to help restore human dignity.

Krishnan and his efforts earned him a tribute as one of CNN's Heroes.