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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.
When Balazs Bognar moved to Tokyo from Urbana, Ill., at age 17, he had no idea he'd end up living there for the rest of his life. "He would take me and my mom and my brothers to cities around the...more
Alber Elbaz's fashion brand, AZ Factory, is shutting down, but not in a bad way. Instead, it's launching a new educational program called AZ Academy: Business for Designers, reports Women's Wear...more
Foundation: Central Valley Community Foundation
California's Central Valley is home to 25% of the US' fruits and nuts, and the state's agriculture-heavy San Joaquin Valley alone accounts for 19% of revenue and 14% of gross domestic product, per a...more
Michigan has given the green light to what could be the biggest development in the state's history. The state's Strategic Fund board has approved a $250 million grant to help develop 1,000 acres...more
Swiss Re is putting its money where its mouth is in Southeast Asia. The insurance giant is launching its Shine social entrepreneurship program in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand,...more
Foundation: Barberton Community Foundation
Kenneth Cox was running for mayor of Barberton, Ohio, in 2023, and when he saw a negative Facebook post about him, he decided to do something about it. "The residents of Barberton need a...more
"I am overjoyed with the success of Elevate District 5," says Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who's spent the past two years helping more than 500 small businesses in her district get...more
"Mental illness is something that every jail in the state of Alabama deals with," Calhoun County Sheriff Matthew Wade tells the Calhoun Journal. "Resources are not there to properly take care of...more
There's a whole new industry emerging in women's health, or FemTech, and it's all about women's reproductive health. Companies are developing devices and apps that help women better understand...more
Foundation: Surdna Foundation, Ford Foundation, Wallace Foundation, Wallace Foundation, Wallace Foundation, Wallace Foundation
The Ford Foundation has donated $116 million to support artists and arts organizations of color in the US, the New York Times reports. That's more than double the $50 million the foundation...more
Social Entrepreneurship
Spotlight
Gates Foundation Pledges $50 Million to Fight Ebola Epidemic
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged $50 million to support emergency efforts to contain the threat caused by Ebola in West Africa.
