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Is a pandemic a good time to start a business? For some, the answer's yes.

Stan Finger

January 08, 2021 |

The Kansas Leadership Center Journal (KLC Journal) |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Wichita, Kansas

A handful of entrepreneurial individuals in Kansas have found success in starting businesses during the pandemic by leveraging customer needs and pandemic relief funding. Although this business plan isn't "foolproof," in Kansas and nationwide, the number of entrepreneurs who filed applications increased significantly compared to previous periods.

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'The largest classroom in Africa': How text messages mean millions of children can stay connected to education during Covid-19 school closures

Laura Joffre

January 04, 2021 |

Pioneers Post |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Kenya

In Sub-Saharan Africa, “almost half of schoolchildren, or a total of 121 million pupils, are unable to access remote learning,” according to a 2020 UNICEF report, an even bigger problem during a pandemic when students can’t access virtual classes. Eneza Education is using texts messages to deliver classes. Their bite-size lessons delivered via text and “Ask a Teacher” feature are providing education to millions of subscribers.

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Colombia's sustainable forestry drive boosts biodiversity and business

Dimitri Selibas

December 30, 2020 |

Mongabay |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Colombia, Tarapacá

The Colombian government has been working with regional regulatory agencies, the World Wildlife Fund, and local forest communities to encourage sustainable timber production and the implementation of forest management plans. They launched the Legal Wood Pact — a commitment with 69 entities to exclusively use wood from legal sources. While it can be difficult to convince people to purchase sustainable timber that’s more expensive, the sales of legal timber in the country increased from $500,000 in 2011 to $13 million in 2018.

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New York's Real Climate Challenge: Fixing Its Aging Buildings

Patrick Sisson

December 29, 2020 |

The New York Times |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

A housing project in Brooklyn is taking nine apartment buildings and retrofitting them to be more sustainable and cut carbon emissions. Casa Pasiva is a $20 million project that aims to reduce heating and cooling costs because of updated machinery and thick exteriors that will improve air quality. Funding for these types of initiatives is not always certain, but a collaboration between a developer and a nonprofit, with some city financing, made this first-of-a-kind green building renovation in New York possible.

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Local initiative helps folks with cannabis-related charges find jobs—while pushing to decriminalize pot

Courtney Duchene

December 22, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

When Pennsylvania's largest medical-marijuana dispensary, TerraVida Holistic Centers, struggled to find enough employees, given the state's ban on the industry's employment of people with marijuana convictions, TerraVida joined with the Urban League of Philadelphia to expand aid to the formerly incarcerated. Through Urban League's Out4Good program, the partnership helps people expunge their drug convictions. It also counsels and financially helps groups of 10 trainees at a time, dozens of whom have started careers and stayed out of trouble. The group also seeks a longer-term fix: marijuana legalization.

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Could Seaweed Help Save Us From Climate Catastrophe?

Nadra Nittle

December 21, 2020 |

The Huffington Post |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Marshall, California

Seaweed aquaculture is a growing field that scientists are investigating for a number of climate-related uses, from reducing methane emissions in livestock to replacing plastic in packaging. Governments, startups, and researchers around the world are getting into the algae business that is also helping to create new jobs. There are challenges with scaling many of these products, but recent research for many of these initiatives have shown signs of early success.

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New Generation of Black-Led Co-ops Want to End Food Insecurity

Nigel Roberts

December 19, 2020 |

The Root |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, West Oakland, California

Black-led coops are providing crucial access to grocery stores in food deserts like West Oakland, California. The Mandela Grocery Cooperative has used the worker co-op business model to create a connection with the community. The grocery store workers own a part of the company and function, not solely to earn a profit but to address the needs of the community.

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The rise of the land salmon

Sarah Cox

December 19, 2020 |

The Narwhal |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Miami, Florida

In Florida, a land-based salmon farming operation has optimized the ideal conditions for fish to be raised sustainably on land. “There is no winter here, there are no diseases, there are no sea lice. We optimize everything the fish needs," explains the company's chief sales and marketing officer. Although the practice is still "in its infancy" and struggles to return a profit, it has caught on elsewhere and land-based salmon are now sold in a variety of grocery stores.

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How a refugee-run factory is helping the Netherlands meet its need for face masks

Michal van der Toorn

December 11, 2020 |

The Local |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Netherlands, Arnhem

Rather than import masks from elsewhere, an organization in the Netherlands set up a face-mask factory, and then hired "people with a refugee background to make surgical face masks." According to the project spokesperson, "The project not only responded to the deficit of masks in Dutch healthcare, but also provides people with a refugee background with work experience and knowledge about the labour market in the Netherlands."

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Breaking Buildings' Addiction to Fossil Fuels

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson Alex Blumberg

December 10, 2020 |

Gimlet Media |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

BlocPower retrofits buildings with energy-efficient equipment in financially underserved communities by offering loans to building owners for no money down. The company has completed about 1,000 projects by bundling the financing for many projects and finding investors willing to provide capital for the larger sum, which reduces investor risk. The group also created technology to reduce the costs of building inspections and energy usage monitoring. The new equipment increases building values and reduces energy costs so that owners pay less in monthly loan repayments than they would with the old equipment.

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