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According to a 2019 point-in-time count, there are more than 612 unsheltered homeless individuals in the Coachella Valley. A Southern California company, Renova Energy, has handed out a few dozen cell phone solar chargers to homeless individuals living in Sunrise Park in downtown Palm Springs to power their phones while living unsheltered so they can reach public safety, caseworkers, family members, doctors and friends.
Renova Energy CEO Vincent Battaglia believes that any business no matter how large or small has the responsibility to give back. And he's not alone.
Companies around the country are doing more to tackle homelessness. Some companies, like Microsoft, are providing loans for affordable housing in Seattle. Others are small start-ups like The Giving Keys, an L.A. jewelry company that hires homeless individuals, or Detroit's Empowerment Plan, which hires homeless women to sew jackets for people on the streets.
According to experts, there are several ways businesses can work toward being socially responsible: philanthropy, volunteering, using company skills to create human-centered products or services, or providing innovative opportunities for community members.
For any business wanting to be sustainable and mission-based, it needs to be innovative. Abby Fifer Mandell, a University of Southern California business professor and the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab director, requires the need for business models that are "financially sustainable, which means they have to be clever, creative and innovative, and are also digging deep on pressing problems by addressing long-term solutions."
Selected Grant News Headlines
A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.
"When I came to Harare from Zaka, I had nobody and knew nobody, but I had to define my career path and carve my own niche, hence the confidence that all these important people here now have in...more
The Greater Hermiston Community Foundation is accepting applications for its 2024 grant cycle. Local organizations serving Hermiston, Umatilla, Stanfield, Echo, and Irrigon are eligible to...more
Foundation: Kellogg Foundation
For more than 30 years,Henrie Treadwell has been fighting for racial equity at the University of South Carolina, where she became the school's first black graduate since Reconstruction, the...more
If you're an artist trying to break into the music business, there's a good chance you've never heard of entertainment law. But if you're a law student at Mercer University in Georgia, you may...more
Amy Reese, a veteran and CEO of ARC Business Solutions, says she's "thrilled to see the impact" her organization's "Business Boots on the Ground" program will have on military veterans in...more
The University of Colorado at Boulder is in the news this week for an unusual reason: It's hosting a two-day "staff summit" next week that's open to all staff members, reports the Daily...more
Baltimore's Mitchell family is putting its money where its mouth is, awarding a $50,000 grant to Excellence & Ambition, a nonprofit that helps young people ages 14 to 21 launch and grow their own...more
South Dakota's Rapid City and Sioux Falls are two of 13 communities to receive a child care grant from the Governor's Office of Economic Development, and they're using it to do something about the...more
"Access to financial advice and banking services is essential for any community to thrive and our Community Center Branches are at the center of lifting up communities by creating opportunities for...more
When it comes to philanthropy, millennials and Gen Z are outpacing baby boomers in a big way, according to a new report from Instituto Beja and Oxygen. The report finds that 74% of millennials...more
Community Building News from...
Wells Fargo Foundation
New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
Community Foundation of Southeast Kansas
Dallas Foundation
Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation
Greater Washington Community Foundation
Rhode Island Foundation
Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta
California Community Foundation
Arizona Community Foundation
Social Entrepreneurship
Spotlight
Influencing Social Good Through Retail
When Hannah Davis traveled to China to teach English, she noticed how Chinese workers and farmers were often sporting olive green army-style shoes. Those shoes served as her inspiration to create her own social enterprise, Bangs Shoes.
