Larger Than Yourself

After coming face to face with the human cost of food apartheid, Eric Jackson founded the Black Yield Institute in 2015. A Baltimore-based, black-led action network and think tank, Black Yield is determined to generate solutions for the systemic problems plaguing black and brown communities from within those communities themselves.

After her daughter was diagnosed with autism, Ami Taubenfeld found herself searching for programs offering adequate support for autistic individuals and their families. As the search wore on, Ami took matters into her own hands, launching Itineris–an agency that would give her, her daughter, and others the help they need.

Sent to prison at age 18, Alex Smith discovered a love and a talent for gardening while incarcerated. After graduating from the STRIVE program at Baltimore's famed Center for Urban Families upon his release 15 years later, he went on to found Division Street Landscaping, a social enterprise that creates pipeline partnerships for fellow formerly incarcerated individuals.

After suffering extreme physical and emotional pain throughout his life, Fernando Reis created an innovative treatment protocol that has helped thousands around the world heal their imbalances. His Bioenergetic Medicine school in Brazil helps people understand the power they have to change their own destiny.

By investing in places and people, Philadelphia-based Shift Capital and its founder, Brian Murray, connect the economic and social dots to create opportunity for all. Employing what they call the Whole Neighborhood approach, Shift is on a mission to create inclusive, equitable communities that do more than survive — they thrive.

After encountering the challenges teachers face firsthand, Danna Thomas realized that the educators who support school children need a support system of their own. She created Happy Teacher Revolution, an international movement with the mission to support the mental health and wellness of teachers everywhere.

At age 12, Freeman A. Hrabowski was arrested during Martin Luther King Jr.'s Children's Crusade in 1963. Decades later, that same activist spirit led Hrabowski to become President of The University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Through his work as an author, advocate, educator, and mathematician, he has reimagined public higher education in Baltimore and beyond.

After his own experiences on the Obama campaign showed him the power of movements, Alex Lofton wanted to find a pathway to stronger schools and safer communities. He co-founded Landed in 2015 to help educators, healthcare workers, and first responders finance and purchase homes in tricky markets like San Francisco, Seattle, Hawai'i, & Boston.

After nearly two decades in investment banking, Jamie McDonald turned her attention and entrepreneurial interests toward the generosity economy. Before founding Generosity Consulting, where she advises socially motivated CEO's and visionaries to drive change, Jamie founded GiveCrops, a community-building and online-giving software platform connecting nonprofits and educational institutions to digital givers, which became part of the Network for Good.

In the quest to bring the world's game to the world's city, Los Angeles Football Club reimagined what a sports team could be. LAFC's Executive Vice President of Brand & Community, Rich Orosco, helped pioneer a supporter-first approach that made space for a vibrant community unlike any other LA has seen. Instead of a sports team with a great fan base, LAFC has become an unstoppable community first and foremost, with a great sports team attached to it.