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Community-first car-sharing options, usually run by cooperatives and nonprofits, are making electric vehicles accessible and affordable for all. They offer cars that anyone can rent for a membership or hourly fee, sometimes partnering with community groups and organizations to lower the rate.

Tat Sat Kasasa Secondary School (TaSKA) is making education more accessible, affordable and inclusive for youth in rural communities, particularly young girls. As of March, TaSKA serves 120 students, 64 of which are girls. Along with education, the school also provides meals, medical care, extracurriculars and access to financial services to create a holistic educational experience.

Los Angeles County’s Homeless Outreach & Mobile Engagement (HOME) program uses street psychiatry to get psychiatric medication to people experiencing homelessness in an effort to get them a step closer to housing. The HOME team has 223 full-time staff members and served 1,919 people last year, 22% of whom ended the year housed.

Cities in Minnesota are using utility franchise fees to fund sustainability projects. The fees, which are usually passed on to customers via a small monthly charge, are collected from utility companies in return for allowing their infrastructure in public rights-of-way.

European cities like Oulu and Turin are adopting the housing-first model to reduce homelessness and extreme poverty. They focus on providing people experiencing homelessness with a permanent place to live first and then address other needs they may have.

The nonprofit Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Projects is installing advanced, three-stage wastewater filtration systems at homes in Lowndes County, Alabama, where effective wastewater treatment options are urgently needed. The nonprofit installs and maintains the systems for $20 per month, using two major federal grants to cover the upfront costs.

The shareholder activism nonprofit The Accountability Board is holding fast food companies accountable to making progress toward their climate commitments by filing proposals asking for action, which all shareholders who own a certain percentage of companies are able to do.

The Pious Muslim Women group helps widowed women navigate tough times with its various programs, such as providing access to food, monthly allowances, child care and other necessary resources. So far, the group has helped more than 3,500 women.

In North Carolina, the Recidivism Reduction Call Center connects people who were formerly incarcerated with resources that will help them reenter their communities, like housing options and second chance employers.

At a 10,000-square-foot warehouse in Bell, California, Food Forward employees race to take in and redistribute 265,000 pounds of fresh produce every day. The organization receives excess fresh fruits and vegetables from wholesale businesses for free and delivers them to 300 nonprofits working to address food insecurity.

Native Renewables, a Native- and women-led nonprofit, is bringing free, off-grid solar energy systems to homes in the Navajo and Hopi reservations that don’t have access to power. And it’s doing so by training local Indigenous peoples to work in the industry so they can reap the economic benefits of these careers instead of hiring out the work.

The volunteer-run Brave New Life Project is helping slaughterhouse workers in Colorado find less-grueling jobs that are meaningful and pay as well as the slaughterhouse. The nonprofit helps them create resumes, get transportation to new jobs, and access translation services.

The PhiferCares Clinic and pharmacy offers its employees and their families free healthcare and prescriptions. Phifer, a global manufacturing company, opened the clinic five years ago as a way to prevent medical bills from driving coworkers into debt and keeping them from retirement. This no-cost access to healthcare has helped 90% of Phifer employees hit their retirement goals, up from about 75% five years ago.

Getting to public transportation can be difficult for commuters. Microtransit is easing that burden and reducing emissions by replacing individual car trips. Partnerships between cities and companies ensure shared, on-demand scooters, bikes, or vehicles are available to help people reach public transportation.

After a clean air zone was created in London, where vehicles have to pay a daily fee to enter unless they meet strict pollution standards, more young students in the area began walking and biking to school.

Local communities in Bhutan are developing ecotourism sites to create jobs, generate income, and protect endangered species and ecosystems. They’ve created ecolodges and campsites, host traditional dining experiences with food from local farmers, and host nature-based activities, all while leading conservation efforts on the land they use.

Concrete mixed with shellfish waste is more porous than traditional concrete, allowing water to drain through rather than running off the surface of the pavement. The material has helped prevent flooding in places such as a community garden in Blackpool, England, which is in an area with many fish processors who can provide the needed shells for the concrete mix.

Three startups in Houston are using a technique similar to fracking, a practice used in the oil and gas industry, to store renewable energy without batteries. They use excess renewable energy to pump pressurized water into manmade caverns underground. When energy is needed, they open the caverns, sending the water back to the surface to turn a turbine and generate power.

Brick-making businesses in Uttar Pradesh, India, are switching from coal to solar panels to power their kilns. The swap allows them to meet more than their electricity needs, also supplying energy to their employees’ huts, while reducing emissions.

Over 300 SolarCorps fellows in the inaugural class of the United States Climate Corps, a workforce-training program, are engaging with communities and installing solar panels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Fellows work with different organizations across several states, such as the nonprofit GRID Alternatives, which is focused on bringing no-cost solar installations to underserved communities.

Women fisherfolk in Kenya are starting fish farms in Lake Victoria, aided by smartphones and technology that help them track the health and needs of the fish. Owning farms gives them financial freedom and prevents the sexual exploitation women often face when bargaining for fish.

The 548 Foundation partnered with the Illinois government to create 1,000 solar jobs in the South and West side neighborhoods of Chicago through its 13-week training course. The training starts with life skills and works up to technical knowledge and panel installation. Then, the foundation connects graduates to employers with open jobs and continues to provide them with wraparound support.

Facing sky-high utility costs and accessibility challenges, the community of Molokaʻi, Hawaii, took their energy security into their own hands and developed an energy-resilience-focused action plan. Backed by the primary state utility, the community is installing solar arrays and batteries, some of which are collectively owned and subscription-based. At the same time, the solar cooperative is cultivating a local workforce specialized in solar infrastructure.

“Opportunity Villages," a collaborative initiative between the Niger government and the UNHCR, help refugees from Nigeria become economically self-sufficient by living and working alongside their host communities, developing a more sustainable alternative to traditional refugee settlements. In the five years since their founding, these Villages have supported tens of thousands of refugees.

To help settle and integrate Nigerian refugees, Niger's government and the UNHCR have collaborated on "Opportunity Villages," which provide not only security and survival resources for refugees, but also long-term economic independence through farming opportunities, marketplaces for trading goods, and other business initiatives. To date, these Villages have supported thousands of refugees while benefiting the local communities alike.