Since 2009 street artist Christiaan Nagel has placed over a hundred giant mushrooms on derelict rooftops around the London's East End to be enjoyed and photographed by passers-by. Unauthorized art in public places is booming in austerity Britain, as public funding dries up
Africa produces 70% of the world's chocolate and 60% of the world's vanilla crop, yet the continent makes just 1% of finished chocolate bars, which leaves very little profit for the essential farming communities. Now, an innovative company started by former Peace Corps volunteers is disrupting that market spiral to make the world's best chocolate bars -- and make a difference in Madagascar.
After three years of pitched battles in the states over who can vote and how much trouble they should have to go through to do so, two bipartisan initiatives out of Washington, D.C., are providing real hope that reform may be around the corner.
Retired grandparents Jeanne and Burt Metz lost their home when Superstorm Sandy hit Breezy Point, New York. A volunteer organization told the couple that their floors and walls would be rebuilt – but little did the Metz family know that hundreds of people were working to resurrect their entire house.
Village Harvest began two years ago, when Craig Diserens founded a backyard gleaning effort in California that now gathers thousands of pounds of fresh fruit from historical orchards (some planted during the Gold Rush 150 years ago) and private property for donatation to food agencies.
Thousands of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints volunteered for weeks following Hurricane Sandy, assisting the devastated families in digging out their flooded homes. A beautiful video was made on November 11th, when thousands of these church members cancelled their Sunday services and arrived by air, bus and train from all across the country to help.
Code for America is a new kind of public service. The 'Peace Corps for geeks' has developed apps that have trimmed Boston's costs for digging out fire hydrants after a snow and have made Philadelphia city services more accessible.
Jim Cotter was so sad after losing his wife last year that he needed to find something to do. He decided to spruce up his community -- by painting everything in sight. Well, the idea has really caught on. The once-thriving coal community of Glouster, Ohio had been peeling - and unappealing - for years. Now it glistens, every fence, building and guardrail.
Across Detroit, organizers said nearly 1,000 Jewish volunteers did good deeds on Thursday's Mitzvah Day — an annual rite of community service on Dec. 25, when Christians typically want to be home celebrating Christmas, rather than doling servings at a soup kitchen. Increasingly for the last six Christmases, Muslims have joined the horde of Jewish volunteers
After living through Hurricane Katrina six years ago, New Orleans firefighters recalled the help provided by New York City Firefighters, who arrived on the seen within days of the Louisiana levees breaking. Now they are repaying the favor, clearing out tons of debris in homes of firefighters whose Breezy Point homes were flooded.
In place of a holiday party, computer technology company NVIDIA conducted one of Silicon Valley's largest-ever employee volunteer events, with 1,500 employees and family members building structures that transformed a local community farm, donating services and materials totaling $380,000.
In 2004, the number of loggerhead sea turtle nests on this prime nesting ground, plunged to 358, the fewest on record. What a difference a decade makes.
Vietnam vet Jim Power is a local celebrity in New York City known for his eclectic and colorful mosaic work on lampposts throughout the East Village. He calls them his Mosaic Trail, each one is unique, and in 2004 the city gave him permission to continue his work on the city's property.
A man who rose from humble beginnings in Nigeria to become a U.S. Army-trained combat medic and the recipient of 13 military awards earned during two deployments in Afghanistan was shocked this week when he learned his New Jersey town was honoring him in a huge way.
Brazil's first astronaut docked at the International Space Station. In Brazil, his family and countrymen are overcome with pride.
President Obama issued a directive for U.S. development policy that called for social and political reforms as a prerequisite for foreign assistance, along with more investment from the private sector. Just one year into the project, U.S. government executives at a Washington conference reported on genuine progress.
Teach For America announced this week a record number of incoming recruits for fall placement in low-income schools across the country. 3,700 new teachers will make a two-year commitment to urban and rural public schools, almost a 30 percent increase over previous years of the organization's 18-year history.
What does an NFL player do during months of forced lockout and unending labor disputes with football team owners? Some athletes are spending the time working out with teammates, but Denver safety David Bruton has set himself on a different path — he's spending the lockout as a substitute teacher at his old high school in Ohio, teaching social studies.
Some people were given an opportunity recently to broadcast their thanks to a favorite teacher. When they say a few words before a camera about how those teachers changed their lives for the better, the video becomes a moving testament to millions of teachers.
A group called Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength came to Washington, DC this week to ask the debt reduction Super Committee to raise taxes on millionaires so that everyone can pay their fair share. Emphasizing community responsibility over greed, 200 millionaires signed a letter that calls for Bush-era tax cuts to end for those earning more than a million dollars a year.
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