Archive for Social Justice

Zev Shapiro – The Social Activist Entrepreneur

      Zev Shapiro is no ordinary college student. His childhood was unlike his peers. Born and raised in Cambridge Massachusetts, he is currently a sophomore at Harvard University. At the age of 10, he helped manage Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign. In 2014, he was invited to the State of the Union Address as Elizabeth Warren’s guest. He enjoys reading academic law and public policy journals for fun and discussing politics. He always has had an entrepreneurial spirit, especially with his visionary personality; he often looks ahead as to what can be solved and improved in our society. Before graduating high school at Cambridge Rindge and Latin in 2020, he launched TurnUp (in 2019), a non profit application dedicated for young activists to increase voter turnout. TurnUp targets Generation Z progressives by having the capability to connect with other progressive individuals for specific causes. Zev wants to provide his peers with a network to organize events, marches, and protests for teenage activists. He specifically focuses on increasing voter turnout in all U.S elections but there are some other causes such as social justice, racial inequality and educational rights issues. The use of TurnUp proved to increase 36 million young voters nationally in 2020. Additionally, TurnUp made it possible for 17,000 people to make connections with one another and attend progressive events and it has over $2,000 individual donors. This new progressive activism app has grown in such a short amount of time. Through TurnUp, Zev Shapiro brings together a new generation of young activists for leftist causes. 

      Despite Zev Shapiro’s political beliefs, as Christian entrepreneurs we should be inspired by his entrepreneurial spirit and dedication so that we can create some kind of innovation which spreads Biblical Truth, the Word of God, and conservative thought to Generation Z.  So what are we waiting for? 

 

To Learn more about Zev:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zevshapiro 

https://www.turnup.us/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zev_Shapiro

Reforming the System: Clementine Jacoby

“I left Stanford thinking that I would be a professional circus performer,” says Clementine Jacoby, who graduated from Stanford in 2015 with a degree in software engineering. Interestingly, Jacoby spent her first year after graduation teaching acrobatics in a Brazilian gang diversion program. During that time, Jacoby witnessed the flaws of the criminal justice system in Brazil, which disproportionately targeted citizens of lower socioeconomic status and often imprisoned those who committed petty crimes with excessive sentences. At the time, Jacoby did not realize that her experience would become the foundation needed for a company that advocates for criminal justice reform here in the United States.

More than 2 million people remain incarcerated in the United States, and among those in prison, experts say thousands of them don’t pose a public-safety threat. The problem? The data that allows them to be released is backlogged because it is spread out among different departments.

That’s why in 2019, Jacoby created Recidiviz, a nonprofit that works with more than 30 states to consolidate key data points of prisons around the country, such as whether an incarcerated person has shown progress by completing a treatment plan or how well equipped a correction facility can handle a COVID-19 outbreak.

Although no algorithm is perfect and there is not one solution that can solve the criminal-justice system problem alone, Recidiviz demonstrates early signs of success. To date, Recidiviz has released nearly 44,000 inmates in 34 states. Despite her young age of 29, Clementine Jacoby is changing the way our country views the criminal justice system. It’s giving those who deserve another chance, a second chance beyond the bars.

 

To read Clementine’s feature in Forbes 30 Under 30

click on the link below!

Clementine Jacoby (forbes.com)

 

Creating HAPPY- The Story of Halie Thomas

Happy, it’s a simple, five-letter word that everyone wants, but might not know how to achieve. What does it mean to live a happy life? A good way to live a happy life, many say, is to live a healthy life. The idea of a happy life built from a healthy one is something Halie Thomas has thought a lot about. So, where do we start? Well, when we think of happiness, it sometimes happiness that inspires us to have great ideas. Halie’s story begins with something that brings a lot of happiness- food.

Hallie’s mJamaican-American teen Haile Thomas is CNN Young Wonder of The Yearother taught her to cook when she was five years old. In 2008, her father was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Since then, she and her family became devoted to living a healthy life, in their eating and lifestyle choices. Since then, they have been able to reverse her father’s diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.

Diseases like type 2 diabetes come from obesity don’t just affect adults. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13.7 million children and teenagers suffer from obesity. Studies show that obesity rates are higher in communities with social and economic disadvantages.

Hallie decided to confront this problem head-on, by creating HAPPY (Healthy Active Positive Purposeful Youth) when she was just twelve years old. HAPPY is an organization that strives to educate and empower people to make healthy lifestyle choices. HAPPY provides school visits, tours, and summer camps where they aim to empower kids by educating them about nutrition and self-care. Kids learn about concepts such as healthy alternatives to unhealthy foods in ways that are fun and engaging.

Since the start of her company Hallie, now 18, has connected with over 15,000 kids and thousands of adults. Over the years, Hallie has, though her programs, worked to empower young entrepreneurs to pursue their passions. She created her own podcast, called “Girl Empowered”, where she interviews girls and women of all ages about their experiences. She created a Gen Z board on her HAPPY website, which is made of young entrepreneurs and activists who are driven by a passion to make an impact.

Hallie really is an entrepreneur who empowers others to see their potential and inspires them to be happy.

Love and Hope Children’s Home: Breaking the Gang Cycle in El Salvador

 

Gang presence, violence, and even autonomy is something common throughout the majority of Central and South America. However, the issue is particularly profound in the small Central-American country of El Salvador. Home, to the notorious MS-13 gang (present all over the world now, even here in the United States), has practically run the country since the country’s civil war (1979-1992). As expected in a country run by gangs, the capitol city, San Salvador is notoriously known as the murder capitol of the world. A problem of this magnitude is certainly not solved over night, and my seem unsolvable all together, but, as it is so often said “you have to start somewhere”.

Rachel Sanson was born in Cleveland, Ohio to a christian family, where she attended Christian school. In her teenage years, she made her first trip to El Salvador working at a state run children’s home called “Shalom Children’s Home”. Here she saw an overpopulated and understaffed home which barely provided for its residence until their 18th birthday, when they were thrust into the real world. Seeing this kind of need, Sanson felt a call to start a children’s home in El Salvador herself. On another trip, while working in the community of Nejapa, she started her children’s home. In October of 2003, Love and Hope Children’s home officially opened it’s doors. Since its opening, it has moved twice, once to Los Planes de Renderos (outside of San Salvador), and finally to the capitol itself.

What makes the home so unique is its thoroughness. Instead of trying to provide the bare minimum for hundreds of children, they fully support a more segmented number of children. In providing shelter, safety, food, and education to the children, Love and Hope Children’s home provides the children with opportunists to do more than simply join the gang when they reach the age of 18, thus furthering the problem. Many of the children who have gone through the home have even had the opportunity go to university after leaving the home, giving them a job that they can use to provide for themselves, their eventual spouses, and one day kids, thus breaking the gang cycle. Currently the home hosts 20 children of all ages, and resembles more of a family than an orphanage. The children celebrate Christmas, have picnics, and have game nights. It doesn’t just keep the children alive, but really helps them thrive. Obviously, there is more work to be done. There are more than twenty children in the country of El Salvador. However, this model provides the clearest path to breaking the cycle that has plagued the poor country for years. This is simply the first step, the beta-test of the next step forward, if you will. More information about Love and Hope Children’s Home can be found at this link.

Briago Labs

Coming SoonThe Problem

A while back on the internet I saw a picture of a young woman in tears at a restaurant table. She wasn’t on a date, she was surrounded by family. After reading the post it was clear the tears were indeed happy, not sad. For the first time in her seventeen years of living this girl was given a menu she could read; in braille.

Braigo Labs

Braigo Labs is a company which provides low cost blue tooth and internet equipped braille printers to help the visually impaired. Their goal is to help 50 million of the worlds population accomplish a task most of us take for granted. Being able to read independently is a struggle for the visually impaired. Typical braille printers cost around three thousand dollars. Braigo Labs product is sold for 82% less than competitors.

Founder

Braigo Labs is one of the most impressive entrepreneurial endeavors in existence. Its impressiveness is compounded by the age of the founder and its creation story. Shubham Banerjee is 14 years old. Braigo Labs primitive version was built with Lego Mindstorms EV3. The inspiration struck while brainstorming ideas for a seventh grade science fair project. Banjeree is not alone in his journey, as many teachers and mentors are encouraging and helping make the second version of the printer possible. Banjeree says the best advice they’ve supplied is; “Be humble,” and “Innovate for the right reasons — money is not one of them.”

 

A “New Story” for the Homeless

In many cases the world’s greatest technological advances are reserved for the rich until they slowly defuse into the mass market and if the poor are lucky, they eventually have a chance to utilize them. However, New Story, a nonprofit; has paired with ICON to give the poor an exclusive first dibs on some amazing technology.

New Story + ICON have developed the capability to 3D print houses and are using this technology to build safe, affordable, and comfortable homes for the homeless around the world.  They can print 600-800 square foot homes in 24 hours for less than 4,000 dollars. The impact this can have on third world is insane. It will create safer and cleaner communities where their residents can develop to their fullest potential.

Not only is New Story a crazy cool organization, but one of its co-founders and CEO is a millennial with a crazy cool story. Brett Hagler went to college pursuing all the wrong things in life. He wanted money, fame, and women. Instead he got cancer. His fight against cancer helped him to put his life into perspective and brought him back to his Christian faith. After beating cancer he decided to follow his new passion and start an organization that actually helps people.

 

2016 Brett was voted a Forbes 30 Under 30 Entrepreneur and in 2018 named Top 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs. In 2017 New Story was called one of the “Most Innovative Companies In The World,” by Fast Company. This organization is small, but has shown stunning growth and continues on a successful path. In college as Brett chased the wrong things he gained a lot of entrepreneurial experience. He used these skills and a lot of hard work to create something amazing and it is changing the world in insane ways.

 

Veterati

 

Veterati

is a technological platform designed to provide America’s 1.5 million transitioning veterans as the attempt to enter the civilian workforce. It also targets the 5.5 million underemployed military spouses navigate careers in the civilian world.

Beginnings

The idea came from Daniel Rau, however it was in a very elementary phase. When Daniel reached out to Diana who helped develop the idea to its current state.

The Problem and Solution

80% of jobs are not listed, they are instead they are filled by communication in personal networks. This typically leaves those who served in the military out of the loop so to speak. So husband and wife Daniel and Diana created a social network using algorithms to pair former military and their spouses with successful business people in their area, provide mentors, and help build networks vital to furthering careers. This solution is unique and solves a serious social injustice.

Success

Veterati has become the leading Veteran Service Organization to deliver free on-demand mentoring to the military community. The Raus have made it to Forbes’ “30 under 30” list and are continuing to succeed as they currently have 10,000 members and continue to grow. Their is still a large population of military service members looking to transition to civilian careers who aren’t using Veterati yet who could take advantage of this program in the future.

Personal Opinion

This company is making strides in the world of social entrepreneurship. The Raus identified a problem, and solved it in a convenient way that simultaneously adds value to the world. In my opinion, this is a win-win-win. I see the potential for this start up and it reminds me of a military version of LinkedIn. I am also a fan of the fact that this start up led to Daniel and Diana getting married, it’s a super adorable inspiration.

Others Said Nope, but They Brought HoPe

HoPe, or Hispanic Organization Promoting Education is a nonprofit with the goal of inspiring and equipping Hispanic high school students to not only complete secondary education, but excel beyond exceptions and attain higher education. Image result for David Araya & Angela Hurtado

This organization was co-founded and currently run by husband and wife, David Araya and Angela Hurtado. These millennial entrepreneurs have quite the story surrounding the development of their dream. Araya was born in Costa Rica, and Hurtado in Colombia. Both of their families immigrated to the U.S. where they ended up at the same high school. However, these two did not get together until their college years. It was during their Sophomore and Freshman years that they sat down in a Wendy’s discussing their high school years and the obstacles they had to overcome to be where they were today. They discussed the prejudice and disadvantages they faced as immigrants and how many of their peers were unable to overcome these conditions. They looked at the lack of opportunity not only in their local community, but in the Hispanic and Latino community in general. It was there and then that a 20 and 19 year old wrote HoPe down on a yellow napkin and decided they were going to spend the rest of theirs life’s attempting to give that to their community.

This organization was officially founded in 2009 in one school, now it currently operates in 33 schools. It is a student-led program, that empowers and enables Hispanic students to pursue and achieve academic success through educational services, programs, and extra curricular activities. The program creates opportunities and communities for kids lacking guidance and support. Currently, the program has a 100% graduation rate for all the students who participate, which is an incredible improvement from when they first started.

These two entrepreneurs not only faced racial discrimination, but age discrimination as well. They weren’t only young when they started this venture, but they looked young too. However, they believe that youth isn’t weakness, but an assest. Araya and Hurtado hold that the youth should be nurtured, inspired and given the opportunity and tools to make a difference in this world. That is why the program is student-led.

Their entire process of building this organization was innovative and driven by entrepreneurial thinking. Mostly, because they had zero experience and the entire process was new to them. They had to think and rework, test and rethink, build and redesign the layout and operation of this organization till they found an effective and plausible solution. It was their determination and ability to identity an under-served population, that made HoPe such a success, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.

African Prison’s Project is Helping the Helpless

Alexander McLean is the most inspiring man I have ever met. This past summer, I had the opportunity to talk with him at the life-changing Praxis Academy. He started our conversation by handing me a card with his name and contact information, encouraging me to reach out to him if I were to ever need anything. For the next hour or so, Alexander poured out his heart. At a young age, Alexander became extremely concerned about the social injustices taking place in Africa. He also grew an intense interest in the justice system. After he graduated high school in the UK, he spent time in Kampala volunteering at a hospice center. It was during this time in 2004 when Alexander felt called by God to begin African Prison’s Project. This ministry provides prisoners with basic health and education services, clothing, food, and legal assistance. About halfway through the conversation, the girl to my left hesitantly asked, “How do you see all of the injustice and traumatic experiences without losing hope and faith?”. His response drew tears from both himself and all of those listening. “The Lord is helping me feel emotions again. I cut them off for years and He is helping me become human again.” He spoke with a passion I have never experienced before, a passion of someone in complete surrender to the Lord. My friend Alexander is being the hands and feet of the Lord in places where it is needed most. He has inspired me to never question the Lord’s calling. This man truly loves.

Below are just a few of the high-profile awards Alexander and APP have received

  • UK Charity Volunteer of the Year 2006
  • UK Young Philanthropist of the Year 2007
  • Overall Winner, Beacon Prize for Philanthropy 2007
  • University of Nottingham Alumni of the Year 2007
  • UK Graduate of the Year 2007
  • Winner, Vodafone World of Difference Prize 2008
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (2008)
  • Ashoka Fellow
  • Time Top 30 Under 30

Meghan Markle, Global Citizen

Many people might have heard of Meghan Markle from her role as Rachel Zane in Suits, or for more recently being known as Prince Harry’s new girlfriend. That description alone might lead you to form assumptions about her character – Hollywood glam, famous celebrity, future royalty, etc., etc. However, Meghan is also a passionate political activist and entrepreneur. She is the founder of fashion/self-empowerment site The Tig. Her site features her own clothing line, articles on travel, food, fashion, and fitness as well as interviews with powerful women and blogs on issues like civil rights and empowerment. “I knew that girls were checking the site to see fashion tips or how to get a stellar blow dry,” Meghan writes about The Tig, “but in reframing the beauty content to include think pieces about self-empowerment, or feature dynamic women such as Fatima Bhutto, I was hoping to integrate social consciousness and subjects of higher value than, let’s say…selfies. A subtle means to pepper in what really matters.”

Meghan Markle, courtesy of The Tig

Meghan Markle, courtesy of The Tig

In addition to running a successful brand website, Meghan is also a global ambassador for World Vision as well as an advocate for UN Women. She writes frequently about the struggle of balancing her two worlds – the stark contrast between her glamourous celebrity lifestyle of excess and her humanitarian work with those who have nothing. She writes, “With fame comes opportunity, but in my opinion, it also includes responsibility – to advocate and share, to focus less on glass slippers and more on pushing through glass ceilings, and if I’m lucky enough – then to inspire.” Meghan Markle is truly an inspiration – for entrepreneurs, women, anybody. She has shown how you can successfully take a luxurious life and use it to bless others through an entrepreneurial spirit.