Scrappy

Even as a young schoolgirl, Mary Seton Corboy took her dissent from the norm rather seriously. In class, she would lead rebellions from atop her desk and build consensus in the way that only true leaders do. She would eventually turn that tenacity to a new mission for change in a place that was desperate for something different. She bought a remediated brownfield – a former factory site, in one of the most socioeconomically depressed parts of Philadelphia, and turn it into an urban oasis. A place she once dubbed “the idea farm” would go on to grow not just lettuce and tomatoes, but actually breathe new life, and new ideas of what’s possible, into the neighborhood and far beyond.

LINKS:

* Greensgrow Website* The Philadelphia Bee Company

Julie and Scott Brusaw met when they were just kids, hiding behind their mothers’ legs as they were introduced to each other, neighbors in a new development in Southern California. Once their shyness wore off, however, they formed a lasting bond and would eventually be married. And then they found another common goal over which to bond – helping to save the planet from the impending climate crisis. From their humble home in Idaho, Scott, an electrical engineer, and Julie, an advocate for the environment, took to brainstorming after seeing Al Gore’s movie – An Inconvenient Truth. They came up with an idea that may fundamentally change global infrastructure and help to stave off the worst of a warming world.

LINKS:

* Solar Roadways website* Donate!

One fall day at a college football game, Therese Williams’ son realized something so obvious, and so shocking, that their family was spurred to action. As often happens, they had some food left over from their pre-game tailgating party – and so did many of the other tailgaters at the game. Most of this food was prepared on site, and it would end up getting trashed before the game even started. They realized that if you added up all the food left over from all the tailgaters at all the games, the waste would be astronomical. For a problem this big, Therese and colleague Kerri Marin have identified a two-part solution: addressing food insecurity in their community by repurposing the leftovers, and educating tailgaters to prevent food waste in the first place.

LINKS:

* Tailgates Tackle Hunger website* The MVP Toolkit* Donate to Tailgates Tackle Hunger* Project Home* Manna on Main* Disrupt Hunger

When she was a kid, Amy Edelstein’s father, a particle physicist, would challenge her with deep questions about the big, complex world around her. This kind of upbringing opened her eyes and nurtured Amy’s adventurous spirit. At 8 years old, she moved with her father to live in Israel. By 20, she had moved to Asia on her own, eventually ending up in the mountains of Nepal. This was the 80’s, a much different world from the constantly connected culture we live in today, but Amy was embarking on a decades-long journey that would see her teaching around the world, and crossing paths with the likes of the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and Jane Goodall. Now, she’s using all of her experiences to help inner-city kids in Philadelphia.

LINKS:

* Inner Strength Foundation website* Donate to Inner Strength* Purchase Amy’s book The Conscious Classroom* Teen Resources* Emergence Education Press

As a young boy growing up on Long Island, New York, Richard Bronson was mainly interested in reading and writing. He was even the editor of his high school newspaper. But by the time he got out of college, his biggest interest was in making money and living the high life. These desires led him to rise through the ranks of one of the most infamous investment firms on Wall Street – Stratton Oakmont (as featured in Martin Scorcese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street”). But the good life he created was built on lies, deception and corruption that would not go unpunished. After a two-year stint in prison, Richard chose to turn his life around, and found a new calling – helping other ex-felons find good and honest work. 

LINKS:

* 70 Million Jobs* U.S. Departent of Justice 2018 Update on Recidivism