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Out of India's Trash Heaps, More Than a Shred of Dignity

Sarika Bansal

June 12, 2013 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: India, Pune, Maharashtra

Throughout India, wastepickers – people who scour landfills for garbage they can sell to recyclers – live at the bottom of society. But the city of Pune did something radical: with the help of a collective, they did away with expensive garbage trucks, and now all household garbage is collected by wastepickers with pushcarts. Pune saves millions of dollars each year and recycles more – and the wastepickers have decent wages and social standing. The concept is now spreading globally.

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New Mortgage Program Helps Cambodia's Poor Find Better Homes

Daniel Zwerdling

April 04, 2013 |

NPR |

Radio |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh

An innovative program by an unusual bank allows low-income people in Cambodia to take out a 15-year fixed mortgage with little or no documentation - contradicting traditional loan assumptions and creating means for some of the country's poorest people to completely change their lives. The bank and its investors are now making a profit, and more than 700 mortgages and building loans have been provided.

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Leading the Way Out of Debt

Tina Rosenberg

January 30, 2013 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

Neighborhood Trust is a New York-based nonprofit offering financial advice to individuals experiencing economic hardships. Providing hands-on coaching, counselors are able to inform their clients about financial options they may have otherwise not known about like college financial aid or child care tax credits.

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The Autism Advantage

Gareth Cook

November 29, 2012 |

The New York Times |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Denmark

Thorkil Sonne's experiences with his own gifted, autistic son led him to start a company called Specialisterne, founded on the idea that - given the right environment - some autistic adults could not just hold down a job but also be the best person for it, increasing access to a self-sustained adulthood.

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What the world can learn from Singapore's safe and squeaky-clean high-rise housing projects

Naomi Rovnick

November 22, 2012 |

Quartz |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Singapore, Singapore

Unlike many other countries who have found public housing facilities to be highly prone to crime and toxic loan practices, Singapore uses a mix of resident home ownership, policing, and mixed-income developments to create thriving, clean housing options that may provide a model for other countries.

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Outsourcing Is Not (Always) Evil

David Bornstein

December 08, 2011 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The United States can outsource certain kinds of "microwork," such as accurately digitizing large swaths of information, to developing countries without taking jobs from Americans ― if it’s done carefully, and ethically, as some organizations are working to do. As the author Robert Wright has argued, we no longer live in a zero-sum world, where one person’s, or one country’s gain, must be another’s loss.

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On the Road, and Out of the Red

Lisa Margonelli

August 11, 2011 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Keene, New Hampshire

More Than Wheels, a New Hampshire-based non-profit offers an economically stable solution to the high cost of owning a car. The program offers low-cost car loans that go toward the purchase of fuel-efficient vehicles.

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Out of Prison, Into a Vicious Circle of Debt

Tina Rosenberg

June 09, 2011 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

Many offenders get out of jail owing hundreds or thousands of dollars in court and parole fees but face barriers to financing and job acquisition, sticking them in a punitive, vicious cycle of debt and arrest. A program called the Clapham Set, perhaps paired with conditional cash transfers - may be a solution, as it erases fees for felons who complete rehab and job training upon release.

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Publishers as Partners in Literacy

David Bornstein

May 19, 2011 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

First Book Marketplace, which makes quality, new books affordable for children in low-income families, is providing not only improved access to engaging educational materials, but a sense of dignity and self worth that a hodgepodge of used, donated books cannot. Additionally, the books are often used by nonprofits to further create opportunities for family bonding and to stimulate children's development.

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Helping the World's Poorest, for a Change

Tina Rosenberg

January 07, 2011 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Mexico, Mexico City, Distrito Federal

This is a column on an important new development program in use in at least 40 developing countries: give the poor cash payments, contingent on their use of health clinics and their children’s school attendance, to help break the cycle of poverty.

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