1. A few key impressions that I will take away from these stories include:

• How important it is to empower people, especially youth; how change can happen first in an individual, then in a community, then in a society 
• The importance of education as a means for people to rise up out of poverty or gang violence, especially in Latin America
• The limits of technology in certain part of the world, i.e. Africa, and how this might impact business strategy
• The value of innovative farming or agricultural methods, such as growing mushrooms in underground parking lots in Paris

2. The three stories I read/watched were “African food businesses get nurturing from well-known giants” by PBS NewsHour reporter Fred de Sam Lazaro, “In El Salvador, this program lays out a path to escape gang violence” by the same reporter, and “Turning Paris’s Underground car parks into mushroom farms” by BBC reporter Dougal Shaw. 

The African food story is primarily about a program run by food industry giants, including Hershey, General Mills and Cargill, called Partners in Food Solutions, which aims to help African nations become less dependent on foreign imported goods. Through the program, these companies allow their employees to volunteer on company time (paid) to advise partner African food companies and provide services such as helping to improve their business plan, providing waste reduction strategies, and suggesting better hygiene practices—essentially, to help improve the manufacturing process and come up with technology solutions to bridge the gap. 

The El Salvador story is about a program called YouthBuild in El Salvador which similarly seeks to empower locals, except more on a youth level. The program started in Harlem in the United States, and was then implemented in El Salvador to provide vocational skills, leadership training and academic coaching for youth ages 15-25. Given the incredibly high rate of homicide and gang-related violence in El Salvador, this program is designed to provide alternatives for youth and, basically, to keep kids off the streets. I think an interesting addition to this video would be the success rate or graduation rate of the teenagers within these programs. Another component of the video that I found interesting was how it noted that foreign investment to El Salvador could possibly increase with the implementation of these programs. 

The Paris story is entirely different in that it mostly focuses on innovative farming methods in Paris, France. The city does not have a lot of farming space due to its population and size, so recently the government has been searching for alternative farming methods. The video specifically was on the use of abandoned car parks (underground parking lots) as spaces for mushroom farming. The veggies are then sold to local markets. Although this video was interesting, I think a more in-depth look at how the mushrooms are grown/harvested would be a useful addition, and I also questioned what other innovative farming methods exist in Paris.

3. Of the three stories I chose to read/listen to, only one was in an area I had previous knowledge-- the story about the youth program in El Salvador (I've taken classes on Latin America so I've learned about the gang violence in many Latin American countries). This particular story reinforced my previous belief that youth education and empowerment is incredibly important, especially as an alternative to joining gangs. It also reinforced my belief that although there are projects to help alleviate this issue in Latin America, there is still a lot of work to be done. The other two concerned mushroom farming in Paris and farming in Africa, both of which I didn't know anything about previously. I learned about innovative mushroom farming methods in Paris, and how underground parking lots are being used as mushroom farms for local businesses. I also learned that six major food companies, including General Mills and Hershey, donate the skills and knowledge of their employees to advise African agriculture businesses through Partners In Food Solutions, which I found to be a creative solution to the knowledge and technology gap between Africa and the United States. I honestly had not necessarily considered how detrimental the knowledge/tech gap could be to African businesses in the food or agricultural sector, especially when trying to do something so small or detailed like separating flour types. 

4. "Honorable Mention": Some other stories that I enjoyed but were not my top choice include "Palawan's indigenous women lead sustainable upland farming, forest protection" by Keith Fabro; "America trashes 40% of its food. A Colorado startup is connecting the discards to dinner tables" by Tamara Chuang; and "A Park Over a Lake? Welcome to the Future of Asia's Public Spaces" by Justin Higginbottom. 

5. What else would you like to share?

Overall, I found all of these videos interesting and I like the SolutionsU platform. However, I did have a bit of trouble finding recent articles in the sections I searched in, as 2/3 were from 2018.