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According to a 2019 point-in-time count, there are more than 612 unsheltered homeless individuals in the Coachella Valley. A Southern California company, Renova Energy, has handed out a few dozen cell phone solar chargers to homeless individuals living in Sunrise Park in downtown Palm Springs to power their phones while living unsheltered so they can reach public safety, caseworkers, family members, doctors and friends.
Renova Energy CEO Vincent Battaglia believes that any business no matter how large or small has the responsibility to give back. And he's not alone.
Companies around the country are doing more to tackle homelessness. Some companies, like Microsoft, are providing loans for affordable housing in Seattle. Others are small start-ups like The Giving Keys, an L.A. jewelry company that hires homeless individuals, or Detroit's Empowerment Plan, which hires homeless women to sew jackets for people on the streets.
According to experts, there are several ways businesses can work toward being socially responsible: philanthropy, volunteering, using company skills to create human-centered products or services, or providing innovative opportunities for community members.
For any business wanting to be sustainable and mission-based, it needs to be innovative. Abby Fifer Mandell, a University of Southern California business professor and the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab director, requires the need for business models that are "financially sustainable, which means they have to be clever, creative and innovative, and are also digging deep on pressing problems by addressing long-term solutions." Read the Entire Article
Selected Grant News Headlines
A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.
Foundation: Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, Gates Foundation
"For too long, a lack of money has forced organizations fighting for women's rights into a defensive posture while the enemies of progress play offense," writes Melinda French Gates in a New York...more
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio is using nearly $1 million in grants from Battelle to create after-school and summer programs focused on science, technology, engineering, and math for...more
The city of Vantaa, Finland, is known as one of the most international cities in the country, with between 4,000 and 5,000 new residents each year, most of them immigrants, Eurocities...more
If you're an engineer looking to make your mark in the tech world, Forbes has just the list for you. The magazine interviewed 11 engineering leaders, including James Dyson of vacuum company...more
A team of former top executives at Aegon Asset Management has launched a new firm to invest in the climate finance industry. CurvePoint Capital was founded by James Rich, Brian Wayne, and Alena...more
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul today announced the official opening of the Advanced Grid Innovation Laboratory for Energy (AGILe), "a first-of-its-kind, world-class electric grid and power systems...more
The World Bank is calling for urgent action to help small island developing states (SIDS) deal with the effects of climate change as leaders from the nations meet in Antigua this week. The bank's...more
The Syrian refugee crisis is expected to worsen over the next four years as more than 19 million peoplemore than a fifth of the country's population flee their homes, the New York Times...more
Canada's housing crisis and climate change are two of the country's biggest concerns, and a professor at McGill University has come up with an innovative solution to both. Daniele Malomo's $1.7...more
Fast fashion is here to stay, at least according to a new report from the European Commission, which notes that by 2050, the fashion industry is expected to be responsible for more than one-third of...more
Social Entrepreneurship
Spotlight
Philanthropy as Key Enabler to Work on ‘Wicked Problems’
Australia’s Melbourne City Mission Chief Executive Officer Ric Holland writes how philanthropy can act as an enabler on many levels.
