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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.
PepsiCo has selected eight startups from the Middle East and North Africa region as finalists in its Mega Green Accelerator program, which aims to " nurture the next generation of innovators as they...more
Funding for green technologies is on the rise in India, and the country's biggest investment fund is aiming to raise $1 billion for a climate-related fund by 2022, Bloomberg reports. The fund,...more
Foundation: Oshkosh Area Community Foundation
A nurse in Fond du Lac, Wis., is this year's recipient of the DAISY Award, given to those who go "above and beyond" to provide excellent patient care. Haley Birschbach, a nurse in medical...more
It's time for the US to get serious about regulating artificial intelligence, according to a new report from a bipartisan group of senators. The report from the Bipartisan Senate AI Working...more
Rayees Rahman may not be a household name, but he's the winner of a prestigious life-sciences investment competition in the United Arab Emirates. The 21-year-old won the JP Morgan Asset...more
Foundation: GE Foundation
"You showed up in the classroom. You showed up in the laboratory. You showed up on Zoom. And you showed up here today," University of Massachusetts Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes told...more
The 14th annual Hawai'i Food & Wine Festival is scheduled to take place in October, and in addition to food and wine, festival-goers will get a chance to support local farmers, fishermen, and...more
More than 6.6 million people in the US are affected by alopecia areata, a disease that causes hair to fall out of the scalp and beard, usually before the age of 20. There's currently no treatment...more
"In the dynamic home furnishings industry, excellence shines through industry professionals' dedication, innovation, and unwavering commitment." That's what the Home Furnishings Association has...more
Rayees Rahman may not be a household name, but he's the winner of a prestigious life-sciences investment competition in the United Arab Emirates. The 21-year-old won the JP Morgan Life Sciences...more
Social Entrepreneurship
Spotlight
Vertical Farming: The Way to Feed a Global Population
Vertical farms are designed in a way to avoid the pressing issues about growing food crops in drought-and-disease-prone fields miles away from the population centers in which they will be consumed.
