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Community Stories

Holistic Health and Wellness Expo

The National Office of Drug Control Policy has identified a growing national concern regarding the increase use, misuse and abuse of prescription medications in the past five years. In 2013, the Royal Oak Community Coalition developed an innovative, out-of-the-box program to address this public health crisis. The Holistic Health and Wellness Expo is designed to connect local youth and families with complimentary and alternative healthcare approaches which help manage physical, mental, and emotional pain without having to rely on potentially addictive or harmful prescription drugs.

Stand and Serve

Stand & Serve works with schools, families, and the community of Maricopa County, Arizona, to cultivate safety, equality and respect as norms for all.  Their goal is to prevent homelessness, child abuse, violence, substance use, oppression, depression, suicide, and more - BEFORE they begin.

Charter Tool Box

The Charter for Compassion seeks to make compassionate action “go viral” in the hearts and minds of communities globally by working with them to address their most pressing needs. We view compassion as a verb, moving beyond empathy to identify problems and act on solutions. November 2014, we launched the Charter Tool Box after a 9‐month process engaging 150 of our grass roots community organizers to learn what they needed in order to create viable action plans that would bring about pronounced change in their locales.

Grandmothers Growing Mushrooms for Income and Nutrition – Uganda, Africa

St. Francis Health Care Services, located in Njeru Town Council near the Source of the Nile in Uganda, is an HIV/AIDS non-government organization established in 1998. St. Francis Health Care Services recognized that many HIV positive children in the Buikwe District of Kampala were suffering from nutrition-related illnesses. So, they set out to establish a child rehabilitation centre for extremely ill children with HIV. Following the treatment and nutritional support, many of them were able to recover in a month or two, but still faced the challenge of proper feeding back home.

Downtown Dollars

The Downtown Dollars program was created to support "buying local” in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.  The program provided Downtown Dollars at a discount of 50% of their face value to shoppers in the Ardmore community, and the Downtown Dollars could be spent at local Ardmore businesses.  $15,000 Downtown Dollars were released in the community in May 2010, generating, in five months, total sales of $19,000+ at 47 local businesses.

Supporting Seniors in Rural British Columbia

Aging With Ease in Rural Communities is a non-profit organization aimed at improving access to important primary health services for senior citizens in isolated areas of British Columbia. They help seniors maintain an active lifestyle within their community by reaching out to vulnerable seniors and those with disabilities, empowering them and including them.

Providing Access to Fitness Facilities

The YMCA of Greater Cleveland began their go!FIT initiative with a large scale community outreach in December 2009. The goal of this program was to provide adults in Cuyahoga County with the tools necessary to improve their overall health through exercise, weight loss, and increased healthy lifestyle habits.

Providing Sustainable Affordable Housing in Montana

homeWORD created a process for affordable housing development that incorporates several core values: serves working families, community-designed, models new strategies for green building, and demonstrates sustainable methods. The charrette process is a public design meeting where interested community members come together to brainstorm ideas for the design, site plan, development and management of homeWORD’s proposed housing.

Farm Initiative for At-Risk Youth in California

In 2008, Conservation Corps North Bay launched the Indian Valley Organic Farm & Garden, a 5.8 acre teaching farm that provides unprecedented learning experiences, fosters environmental stewardship and provides solutions to California’s most pressing environmental problems.

Solar Energy Initiative for Homeless Shelter

In 2010, Green Las Cruces installed the first two (of a planned twelve) solar panels on housing for the chronically homeless. Their efforts serve as a symbol, showing community support for green energy and helping to leverage city-wide implementation of renewable energy.

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