Make Social Change A Reality

President Barack Obama spoke before the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on March 10th , offering more details about his plans to improve education. In 2008, American students once again ranked below many of their international peers on standardized tests. The President built his campaign on the idea of change, and it is obvious that the archaic system of American education is in dire need of just that. The question is: what does good change look like? It starts with early childhood education. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act promises an addition $5 billion to Early Head Start and Head Start programs . While the money promised will help states fund new programs and improve those in existence, is it enough ? To make post-secondary education more affordable, President Obama has said he will increase the cap on Pell Grants by $500 . He has also briefly outlined a program that would do away with private lending for student loans, replacing it with a program run by the Educa...

Rounding out the last of the Millennium Development Goals are goals seven and eight, Environmental Stability and Global Partnership . Both of these goals are so much more specific than the previous six, Goal 7 including four targets and Goal 8 including five, that it would be impossible to examine them exhaustively in such a short space. Therefore, let’s examine one target per goal. For a more detailed look at these aims, please visit the website for the United Nations, www.un.org. To ensure environment sustainability, target three aims to, “halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. “ One Step Forward: Thirst Relief International is an international nonprofit organization that works with local groups to implement safe, potable water facilities in communities all over the globe. With projects in the Congo, Amazon, Kenya, and many more countries, Thirst Relief provides funding and serves as project mana...

After reading Doing Well by Doing Good an article by Jessica Chen on entrepreneur.com, I couldn’t help but to highlight the work of another individual who – in her own way, advances social causes. It explains another perspective of how entrepreneurs are lighting the way to different business practices like social entrepreneurship where in this case, profits are not the driving force behind success or failure. When serving a community – be it online or in local neighborhood, you should be equally concerned about the impact you’ll have on the community in addition to profits. The practice of a double-bottom line not only drives business but it advances the community by challenging us to do better; asking more questions, collaborating more often, managing your resources more efficiently, all key factors leading up to what you hope will produce great results/outcomes. Here are just a few social entrepreneurs you may find of interest: Bill Gates Bell and Melinda Gates Foundation Oprah ...