Street Books: This Library on Wheels Brings Great Reads to People Living Outside

For the past five years, Laura Moulton has spent her days in underserved areas of Portland, Ore., lending books to people living on the fringes of society.
Those living outside or in temporary shelters are usually barred from borrowing books from regular libraries because they lack the required documentation (such as identification or a home address) to get a library card. Additionally, their everyday lives often make it hard for them to return books in good conditions and on time, triggering hefty fines and dissuading them from the practice, Moulton, an artist and writing professor, explains.
In 2011, she launched Street Books, a bike-powered, mobile library to ensure the homeless community has access to literature.  
“Being recognized and spoken to on the street and offered a book for someone who has really been struggling can be a really powerful thing,” Moulton says. “Books have the power to have us feel empathy and have us experience the thrill of a journey of someone else”.
So far, Street Books have served more than 5,000 patrons, many of which have become regulars.

Discover more about Street Books and its patrons by watching the video above.  

How a Few Legendary Rappers and 1 Cool Doctor are Creating Better Health Outcomes for Inner City Kids

Dr. Olajide Williams is a neurologist and a hip hop fan. Doug E. Fresh is an critically-acclaimed rapper and an avid health nut. When the two paired up to produce, “Stroke Ain’t No Joke,” a song aimed at educating young people about the warning signs of a stroke, in 2005, it was a match made in heaven. “I would be working all day here, then head to Doug’s studio and work all night until we came up with the song,” says Williams. “It’s still my favorite song to this day.”
The song’s release led to the founding of Hip Hop Public Health, a campaign that uses animation, songs and live performances to educate low-income children and families about healthy living. Since 2008, the group has performed in more than 150 schools, teaching an estimated 44,000 kids about strokes, obesity, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.
Hip Hop Public Health recently launched an ambassador program, placing their materials online and encouraging educators and artists from around the world to use its model.

Rebuilding New Orleans’s Lower 9th Ward, One Bag of Groceries at a Time

New Orleans native Burnell Cotlon has spent the last five years on a mission. He’s turning a two-story building that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (along with most of his Lower 9th Ward neighborhood), into a shopping plaza. Already, he’s opened a barber shop and a convenience store, and as of last November, is providing the neighborhood — identified as a food desert — with its first full-service grocery store in almost a decade.

The Lower Ninth Ward, which experienced catastrophic flooding during Hurricane Katrina, has had a much slower recovery than most New Orleans neighborhoods. Before Katrina, the area had a population of around 14,000 and boasted of the highest percentage of black homeownership in the country. According to the last census, however, only around 3,000 people live in the neighborhood. Many of its roads are still torn up, it lacks basic resources and the closest full-service grocery store is nearly 3 miles away in the neighboring city of Chalmette.

Burnell’s merchandise is still mostly limited to non-perishables and fresh produce, but he hopes to add poultry, bread and dairy this year.

 

Eat Lunch, Help the Mentally Ill

If you’re ever in Tucson, Ariz., you can dine on American comfort food with a side of social change at Café 54.
Since 2004, the downtown nonprofit bistro has won accolades from the local press for its cuisine, while also assisting more than 250 adults with behavioral health issues.
Founded by executive director Mindy Bernstein, whose previous work also focused on vocational rehabilitation, Café 54 trainees are paid for their work as they gain valuable vocational skills in food preparation, cooking, retail and service. Some of the common challenges among employees are depression, anxiety and the often-intertwined affliction of substance abuse. Trainees graduate from the program after as little as three or as many as nine months.
Of course, work is never served without stress and having a restaurant largely run by individuals recovering from behavioral health issues comes with challenges. Despite this, Café 54’s program manager, Orlando Montes, says that for most of the trainees, symptoms decrease as they acclimate to their positions.
“Jobs are stressful,” says Montes. “Jobs are demanding, jobs require us to get up in the morning and show up. And people are resilient, and they need that sense of purpose.”
Not everyone finishes the program, however. Some relapse with drugs or alcohol, others have complications with medications and symptoms, while some simply aren’t ready for a work environment. Of the 60 percent who see their vocational training through, about half obtain subsequent work in the private market. In the run-up to graduation, Café 54 job coaches assist them with job placement, should they want to continue working.
Café 54’s primary financial support comes from the Community Partnership of Southern Arizona. It also subsists on private donations and revenue generated by its lunchtime operation. This later source of funding has steadily grown, making expansion possible. Just this year, the first Café 54 food truck hit the streets of Tucson.
It’s not just patrons that reap the benefits of the eatery, as it improves society as a whole, as people with mental illnesses who are functional and stable are far less likely to incur medical expenses or put themselves and others in dangerous situations.
So on your travels in the Great Southwest, consider dining at Café 54. Your stomach — and your heart — will thank you.

When He Couldn’t Find A School for His Daughter, This Father Established His Own

Patrick Donohue’s life changed when his daughter Sarah Jane was born on June 5, 2005.
Five days later, his life changed again when he noticed Sarah Jane was noticeably lethargic and he decided to take her back to the pediatrician.  A number of tests were run and a few weeks later, they discovered that she had lost 60 percent of the rear cortex of her brain — the result of being violently shaken by her baby nurse.
“I’ll never forget, the first day we took her back to the hospital and they were trying to stick an IV in her,” says Donohue, who lead a successful career as a political consultant. “Tears were rolling down her face. Her mouth was wide open but because of the brain injury she couldn’t cry. From that moment on I knew I needed to be the voice of Sarah Jane.”
Ever since, Donahue has been advocating for children with brain injuries. In 2013, he founded the International Academy of Hope, which is the only school in New York City that specializes in kids with brain-based disorders. Currently, the school has 24 students and 50 full-time staff members, causing a year’s tuition to run $135,000. The cost is reimbursed by the New York City Department of Education, but only after parents sue, claiming that there is no public school to serve their child’s needs.

Allan Law Handed Out 520,000 Sandwiches on the Streets of Minneapolis Last Year

Allan Law is on a mission to feed hungry people in his city, one sandwich at a time. The retired schoolteacher has spent the last 14 years making and delivering sandwiches, along with other essential supplies, to the homeless and hungry on the streets of Minneapolis. Law works the night shift, leaving his home (a tiny apartment filled with refrigerators) around 8 p.m., returning at noon the following day.
“He is a rolling, problem-solving care center on wheels” says Steven Aase, who works with Law at his non-profit Minneapolis Recreation Development Inc.
Law estimates that he gave out 520,000 sandwiches last year.
Watch Law’s story here, and check out the feature film The Starfish Throwers, in which he is featured alongside two others whose individual efforts to feed the poor are igniting a movement in the fight against hunger.