Ordinary Heroes: Urban Volunteers To The Rescue

LIFT, founded in 1988 by college students, employs an approach to poverty alleviation grounded in building relationships with communities. LIFT finds volunteers who have demonstrated empathy and then employs them to meet with local families in need, helping them set goals, monitor their progress, and access services.

In war zones, people have a difficult time finding clean water and safe areas to inhabit. Social media, smart phones, and technology applications are aiding in people’s survival. In Aleppo, Syria, the International Committee of the Red Cross posted a map on Facebook to show alternative sources of clean drinking water that reached approximately 140,000 people.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, necessity has bred an interesting kind of financial invention for the New York MTA: the world’s first “catastrophe” bond - a reinsurance for the insurer - designed to protect public transportation infrastructure, specifically against storm surge. These bonds privatize risk for public gain, creating a kind of tool that may protect economic development against all kinds of natural and man-made disasters around the world.

A cholera epidemic can kill many people or few people—it all depends on the expertise of the doctors and their access to the right equipment. A program in Dhaka rushes both to countries when an epidemic is just breaking out.

In a country of limited resources — and perhaps for that very reason — preparing for natural disasters is top of the agenda in Bangladesh. Various grassroots, collaborative programs have been put in place over the years to help address many facets of the calamities caused by cyclones, from improved emergency shelters to long-term support for those who lose their livelihoods in the storms.

Global social and economic problems are difficult to change. However, fan-activism fuels the interests of fans of popular young adult fiction. Books such as Harry Potter and the Hunger Games have inspired activist groups that raise awareness of global hunger, reading, and relief supplies to impoverished nations, among others. Being a fan has served as a bridge to become politically active and solve the world’s problems.

Cabarrus County’s Project Re-entry gives those experiencing incarceration a chance at an education and self-reflection. The program has shown such success that it is being expanded to other detention centers in the county. Those who take part are able to take classes – all taught by volunteers – like literacy and religious studies, or choose to enroll in programs like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.

Summer in the Northwest presents a great risk of wildfires. A pile burning operation, just one facet of the strategy that Oregon has enacted to conserve its forests, clears undergrowth to lessen the risk of mega-fire. The work stimulates the local economy and provides employment, but it's also a very small part of what needs to be done.

In India, videos made about the many social problems are secretly broadcasted in different villages to make people aware of the real problem and also aware of what they can do to fix it. Video Volunteers, an organization that coordinates these video productions, catalyzes community change through transparency and accountability.

After the drought hit Australia in the early 2000s, city officials had to start thinking seriously about ways to conserve and creatively store their water. External tanks became the solution, storing rain runoff to create an available source of water for Melbourne residents. This solution may not fit every location, but there are other teachable lessons such as taking radically shorter showers.