Lydia Place’s mission is to disrupt the cycle of homelessness and promote sustained independence for current and future generations. Lydia Place has serves anyone experiencing homelessness and offering an array of programs to support the entire family. Their long-term vision is to have this generation be the last to experience homelessness - a truly beautiful vision. In their own words, every family deserves a home

The Five "E" High Fives are Foundational to the Success of BTSNE BTSNE is a groundbreaking Regional Wrestling Powerhouse that utilizes the sport of wrestling to provide opportunities for youth to discover their full potential by building relationships within themselves, their team, and their community. BTSNE focuses on their core values, the five “E” High Fives: Engage, Enrich, Evolve, Educate and Empower. Their mantra states it all: to give kids a fighting chance by using wrestling as a tool and motivator to overcome socio-economic injustices.

EmpowHer is the only gender-responsive organization in Los Angeles County that provides a social-emotional learning course during the school day in middle and high schools. Their programs serve to support girls in developing the necessary skills to boldly break ceilings, embrace their voices, engage in social justice, and end generational cycles of poverty.  

Skill-building and an Entrepreneurial Spirit Supports Recovery Having been an early and successful eBay user, Bill Tymoszczuk, AKA Bill T, discovered that eBay could be a great mechanism for making money and wanted to transfer that knowledge to support the men and women in recovery - he soon learned that technology skill-building along with an entrepreneurial spirit was essential in order to greatly reduce the risk that often threatens recovery.

Breadrev is committed to helping people bake beautiful, healthy bread and supporting commercializing it as a way of bringing balance to the baking industry in South Africa. Their tagline is Bake it, Build it, Learn it and their 3 Bread Revs are Bread Reverence, Bread Revolution, Bread Revival. Bread Rev is the answer to socially changing the South African community by literally and figuratively baking bread together!

David Richman's incredible journey across the U.S and much more   Our focus is on Cycle of Lives, a nonprofit started in 2013, and its inspiring project that resulted in a recently published book that David authored as a result of his 5,000-mile solo 6-week bike journey across the country, from Los Angeles to Florida to New York, linking 15 people, all impacted by cancer in different ways: patient, survivor, loved-one, researcher or caregiver. His book focuses on the emotional experience of cancer for each of the folks he interviewed - his gift is to give the rest of us not just a bird’s eye view into his interviewees’ lives impacted by cancer but lessons in resilience, fortitude, and being present as reflections of our own emotional vulnerability. 

Promoting Dance that Happens in the Public Realm   Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival is devoted to the international genre of screen dance. They are committed to promoting dance that happens in the public realm & alternative sites outside of studios and off traditional stages… dance that explores place and space engages an unsuspecting public and intersects with film. You can listen to the podcast below or wherever you listen to podcasts. Enjoy!

Video as a medium to share authentic stories of doing good Impact Video Group, a social impact video production company that ideates, creates, and films social impact campaigns that have a positive impact on people, the planet, and the community is Boston Tweet's Tom O'Keefe and his business partner and long-time friend, Jorgy Cruz’s latest endeavor. Using video as a medium to share authentic stories of doing good!

Two Incredible Nonprofits Founded by One Incredible Tom O'Keefe, AKA Boston Tweet   Tom O’Keefe, not realizing that he is a nonprofit, social impact entrepreneur, began Boston Tweet, an independent Twitter account that highlighted businesses and organizations in the Boston area that needed a boost to rejuvenate them and raise their visibility to keep them in business. So Tom has a history of seeing gaps and jumping in to close them and staying focused on making a difference in the lives of others. You can listen to the podcast at the bottom of the page or wherever you listen to podcasts. Enjoy!      

Fulfilling the Needs of Children in Boyle Heights Since 1949, the Variety Boys & Girls Club has responded to the needs of children in the Boyle Heights/East Los Angeles community by offering academic and leadership development programs that encompass a myriad of intellectual, social, and physical arenas. You can listen to the podcast at the bottom of this page or wherever you listen to podcasts. Enjoy!

Creating a World where Children's Choices are not made by Corporate Profits Fairplay, formerly known as Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood works to create a world where children’s lives are shaped by what’s best for them, not by corporate profits. One of their key projects, The Children’s Screen Time Action Network is a global membership organization, born out of the needs of educators, pediatricians, and other professionals working with children and the families they serve who are concerned about childhood tech use. You can listen to this episode at the bottom of the page or wherever you listen to podcasts. Enjoy!

Providing Opportunities for Underprivileged Youth through the Discipline of Sport (Tennis) Pablo Arraya recognized the need to serve others and 26 years ago, he opened the Arraya Tennis Academy, training many national champions and international players while providing over 120 tennis scholarships. From this effort, more recently, Tennis For a Purpose was born - its mission is to provide underprivileged youth with an athletic community and a positive environment encouraging responsibility, discipline, healthy habits and supports with college opportunities.  You can listen to the podcast at the bottom of the page or wherever you listen to podcast. Enjoy!

Provocative Theatre Encourages Great Conversations Make-believe enhances our creativity and often builds the bridge between what we experience and how we feel and offers the opportunity to express those feelings and our curiosity about our world through play. Provocative theatre and arts education are mediums that provide the underpinnings of learning more about people and the world. Our featured organization sets the stage, literally, for young people and their families to have meaningful conversations about important issues that build character by actively engaging in and teaching many of life’s lessons. You can listen to the podcast at the bottom of the page or wherever you listen to podcasts. Enjoy!

Enabling the Future Imagine what can happen when a group of very caring and very technically savvy individuals gets together to make others’ lives better? Real Magic happens. e-NABLE is an online global community of “Digital Humanitarian” volunteers who use their 3D printers to make their magic (free and low-cost prosthetic upper limb devices) for those in need.    You can listen to this podcast at the bottom of the page or wherever you listen to podcasts.  

Live4LALI is a Legacy for Support and Resources Many of us have lost friends and relatives to addiction, but few of us have been brave enough to build a program that fosters healing. The organization featured today was started, because a family was suffering and wanted to prevent another family from experiencing that same loss and sadness. LIVE4LALI is a legacy for harm reduction, resources, and ending the stigma associated with substance use. You can listen to the podcast at the bottom of the page or wherever you listen to podcasts. Enjoy!

Change the World with One Random Act at a Time It takes vision, optimism, deep belief and many, many volunteers with truly big hearts to put into practice all that is kind which results in the betterment of humanity. Over 10 years ago, one man had a vision that the world could really change with single acts of kindness and, in a moment, you’ll hear about how that concept has changed the way we collectively think about giving of ourselves, our resources, and our hearts.

Building the Bonds Between Cops and Kids Through a partnership of community and law enforcement, Hollenbeck PAL’S mission is to nurture young people to become responsible, productive, and law-abiding citizens by offering character-building, education, sports, financial literacy, and life-enhancing programs to low and moderate-income families. Some of those programs this podcast features are Pal-Up, Get it Straight, Sports 4 Kids, and Life Camera Action. You can listen to the podcast at the bottom of the page or wherever you listen to podcasts. Enjoy!

Leadership Can Be a Calling Cyclical LA is a collective of leaders is an ecumenical community of innovators that share a common culture and set of practices created to thoughtfully start new churches across Los Angeles. Cyclical Los Angeles has 12 core values that drive their offerings for Discerners, Starters, and established Churches to support sustainability.    You can listen to the podcast at the bottom of the page or wherever you listen to podcasts. Enjoy!

After Hollywood legend, Spencer Tracy, and his wife, Louise Tracy's infant son was diagnosed with a profound hearing loss in 1925, Louise Treadwell Tracy devoted her time and energy to studying how deaf children could be taught to communicate with the hearing and speaking world. She patiently guided her son, John, into an understanding of language and lip-reading.  With her encouragement, he learned to speak.  John Tracy Center was established in 1943 and offers so many children an opportunity to be engaged in the speaking world. #andradaymusic; #lakeshow

Most of us never have to consider our car as our home, but some of us do….and as the featured organization will soon share: nobody plans to be homeless...Founded in 2016, Safe Parking LA is a coordinating organization for the community which assists homeless families and individuals living in their vehicles. They support the implementation of "Safe Parking Lots", by providing individuals a safe place to park each night, restroom access, a security guard, and social service resources.

 Music can relax the mind, energize the body, and even help people better manage pain. Music is also known to evoke memories. In his article, How Opera Makes Brain Sense, Dr. Norman N. Holland discusses the complexity of opera and our response to both the music and the specific situational story that evokes emotion, tying the emotion and situation together as compared to other mediums where a story is unfolding over time. It’s what he calls music drama; with opera, our emotions shift from situation to situation as the music and specific moments are intertwined.

Can you look in the mirror and see the hero or heroine that may be inside you? Why shouldn’t all children be exposed to heroic figures from history who look like them? How can they feel not just a sense of pride, but a sense of true belonging as folks who look like them have contributed and continue to contribute to our world in significant ways? That genuine pride of being connected to a fundamental part of history gives any marginalized individual not just a sense of pride, but a sense of belonging in a world where being marginalized feels literally and figuratively like a second skin.

What if an entire community got together and recognized how powerful it would be to collaborate on projects and opportunities using the concepts of geoscience and geospatial technologies? What if these projects propelled young students into envisioning new ways of understanding STEAM, the acronym for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics? And what if, by building their capacity, they contributed to the development of our collective future workforce?  

Behold, a new type of group emerges to try to reduce the stigma of mental health, not a 12-step or a therapy group or a coalition, but an anime club with a passion and commitment to community, connection, and support. Anime characters have their own difficult journeys, but somehow most always make it through successfully, providing the foundation for club members to share their own challenging experiences and seek support when needed.

Untreated mental illness lies at the root of many barriers to adolescent success and is an underlying cause of suicide. The early detection and treatment of mental illness save young lives. LifeAct’s mission is to prevent suicide by teaching young people to recognize the warning signs of suicide in themselves and their peers and seek professional help. Life Act has a pro-active, positive approach to promoting life by preventing suicide.

What if the world were a big neighborhood, with potluck dinners, shared lawnmowers, and goods and services offered to those who needed them from those who had an abundance? It's not charity; it's reciprocity of kindness. We all have things we don’t need and things we need; iShared provides the opportunity to reduce our carbon footprint by offering what we have to others and requesting things we need, all in our local area.

Rocket is a Fantastic Teacher Rocket Rules, the adorable red Dalmatian, offers children the opportunity to learn about emergency preparedness along with other safety precautions to develop good instincts and build skills that ultimately can save their own and others' lives! You can listen to the episode at the bottom of the page or wherever you listen to podcasts!

Adaptivities has created a new way to play by adapting some of the best classic games for those with special needs; Adaptivities is a platform of adaptive resources to stimulate dialogue and to increase opportunities for fun, engaging and reciprocal interaction for anyone with special needs. Adaptivities offers Game Day promoting hours of stress- free play and entertainment by doing all the planning. You just get to show up, have fun and engage with others!

Social workers are the best kept secret, because no one seems to know how valuable they are in every industry, not just as therapists. Although, they are certainly talented there. Learn about this amazing network that brings together social workers to engage in business discussions, share resources and advance their skill sets across various organizational sectors, all to benefit industry!

Girls Are Loud is a powerhouse of female musicians and producers ready to support any artist interested in recording; Girls Are Loud is changing the face of the music industry!

What makes camp wonderful and magical? Community, safety and fun! Learn why Harbor Camps is so incredibly special to so many youth who might not otherwise experience the pure joy of camp! Come to the sing-along with me!

Listen to Dr. Jennifer Kaplan's journey through her own loss to healing and guiding others to heal as well. A beautiful tribute to life through loss. www.jeffsplace.org  

Learn about the amazing work of DCRC! DCRC works towards achieving a world where everyone’s voice and value is recognized, and there are no barriers to living a full life. DCRC is dedicated to: connecting people with disabilities to resources, training and advocacy tools; promoting disability pride; and building self-determined lives.    

Transforming Shame and stigma into hope and dignity is the mission and mantra of an incredible organization called POPS The Club. POPS the Club is based on the school club model and serves to support students whose parents or loved ones are in prison or jail. POPS The Club is designed to nourish and empower students through creative expression, emotional support, and the development of community. Tune in to learn about this amazing organization. https://popsclubs.org/

It Takes the Hood to Save the Hood United Playaz is a San Francisco-based violence prevention and youth development organization providing a comprehensive range of services to prepare vulnerable youth for higher education, employment, and healthy living within a safe, nurturing, and collaborative environment. United Playaz transforms the lives of students and staff while serving the community; they employ 80% formerly incarcerated individuals.  You can listen to this episode at the bottom of the page or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Community Farming Should be a Mainstay for Every Community The Natick Community Organic Farm is an essential part of the community by opening up space for everyone to learn about agriculture and the environment and for the next generation, stewardship, ecology, and personal responsibility. Their motto: “Open from sun-up to sundown every day of the year with no admission fee”  describes their dedication to the environment and the community! You can listen to this podcast at the bottom of the page or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Learn about how urban agriculture is changing Los Angeles for the better! CultivaLa is now a verb and you can CultivaLa too. Join this interview to learn how transforming food access through transforming urban agriculture is saving many and bringing back the legacy of farming as a sexy profession! www.cultivala.org  

World Librarians Makes Knowledge Accessible to Internet Devoid Areas Learn about increasing equity by making research and information accessible! World Librarians is a socio-technical system that bridges the digital divide by providing open access information through a process called Commons-Based Peer Production. They provide educational content to schools in Malawi, Kenya, and Ghana. The organization is a collaboration between teachers in Malawi and students at UMass Amherst. You can listen to the podcast at the bottom of this page, or you wherever you listen to podcasts