Felice Gordoro is a young tech entrepreneur with big plans. When he was in college at Georgetown, he started the non-profit Roots of Hope to foster meaningful connections between American and Cuban youths. He worked as a White House fellow, and helped organize Colombian rock star Juanes’ “Peace Without Borders” concert in Cuba in 2009. Now Gordoro is working for Clearpath Inc., a company whose software aims to speed and simplify the visa application process for immigrants. “We are trying to be the TurboTax for immigration,” he told Kristina Puga of NBC Latino.
Former U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Chief Michael Petrucelli started Clearpath Inc. in 2009, providing a website that guides people through the application process. The forms cost between $70 and $200, which offers a significant savings compared to getting help from an immigration lawyer. While Gordoro and Petrucelli stress that people with more complicated immigration situations should seek help from a lawyer, they believe their software can help make the process easier and less costly for many.
In fact, “The wizard-based system has more than 5,000 rules that check along the way to ensure that the user who is applying for the benefit is eligible for the benefit,” Gorordo told Laura Wides-Munoz of the Associated Press.
MORE: Meet the Undocumented Immigrants Who Created an App to Press for Immigration Reform
Tag: Florida
He’s Only 16, but His Generosity Is Already Worthy of a Movie
Some seven-year-olds’ biggest project is learning to kick a soccer ball, but Zach Bonner was more ambitious at that age. In 2004, after Hurricane Charley struck his home town of Tampa, Fla., Bonner was determined to help people by pulling his red wagon down the street to collect disaster relief supplies. He ended up gathering 27 truckloads of goods, and distributed them to needy families. He then started a non-profit organization, the Little Red Wagon Foundation. Since then, Bonner has been taking epic walks to raise awareness about homeless children in America.
MORE: This Teacher’s Selfless Act Saved a Student’s Life
He started in 2007 by walking from Tampa to Tallahassee. He kept increasing the distances, and in 2010 completed a six-month walk from Tampa to Los Angeles. In March 2013, Bonner lived in a plexiglass box to raise awareness for the living conditions of homeless people and collect food donations—6000 cans worth, which he donated to a local shelter. Bonner’s life and contributions strike so many as remarkable that he’s already inspired a movie, 2012’s “Little Red Wagon.” What’s his secret? Bonner, now 16, told Rich Polt of Talking Good, “Just get out and do it. If you think about it too much you will think of a million reasons why you can’t do it. Realize that you have incredible power as an individual … you really can change the world.”
A Big Break in the Mystery That’s Terrorizing Florida’s Citrus Crops
For nearly a decade, the citrus industry has been crippled by a deadly and incurable disease known as citrus greening. The bacteria — also called Huanglongbing or “yellow dragon disease” — causes fruit to remain green and useless for consumption or sale. The only way that growers can manage the disease is by removing an infected tree before it wipes out the whole grove. According to the Gainsville Sun, the blight has spread to all 32 counties in Florida, affecting 75 percent of the state’s citrus crop. Another startling stat: Since 2006, citrus greening has reportedly cost the Sunshine State 8,000 jobs and $4.5 billion in crop damage.
But government officials and scientists are fighting back. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently received $20 million to take on the disease. And the Gainsville Sun reports that University of Florida scientists have cracked the DNA of the nasty bacterium, Candidatus liberibacter asiaticus, that’s believed to be the culprit behind citrus greening. “We are able to look at the genome and tell what it has no defenses against,” plant pathologist Dean Gabriel told the publication.
MORE: What Do You Get When You Combine Wheat, Woody Harrelson and Environmental Awareness?
One reason this bug has been stumping hundreds of scientists for years (even with $80 million in prior funding) is that the bacteria won’t grow in a petri dish, making it difficult to test in labs. It’s also super elusive — as Gabriel said, “We have no idea where it is in an infected tree.” However, he remains optimistic, adding that a cure could be five years away. For Florida citrus farmers, the solution can’t come soon enough.
How a Fishing Trip Can Change a Disabled Veteran’s Life
The saying goes that if you teach a man to fish, it can feed him for a lifetime. As the organizers behind the non-profit Heroes on the Water know, it can do even more than that.
Founded in Texas in 2007, Heroes on the Water aims to help rehabilitate disabled veterans by giving them relaxing opportunities to kayak and fish. The group now has 40 chapters throughout the country, and specializes in working with veterans suffering from PTSD and brain injuries.
Tom Welgos, who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, founded a chapter of HOW in Osceola, Fla., and runs regular monthly fishing and kayaking excursions for his fellow vets. “By meeting once a month it gives them something to look forward to and plan ahead for, which is something guys with PTSD need,” Welgos told Ken Jackson of Around Osceola. “In the kayak, you propel yourself, and then you fish, and the physical action of that is better for rehab than just standing on a boat or a dock and fishing.”
MORE: 9 Surprising Infrastructure Innovations in America
9 Surprising Infrastructure Innovations Happening Right Here in America
Try to imagine “activity” in the context of American infrastructure. You’ll probably see images of freight trains derailing and bridges crumpling into rivers. But world-class innovation is happening here in America. Here’s how:
1. The 10-Day Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge took 14 years to build. Advanced Infrastructure Technologies (AIT), an engineering firm based in Maine, has designed a bridge that can be built in 10 days. Granted, AIT doesn’t expect its constructions to inspire awe in poets as did the original East River-crosser. But the bridge’s cost-effective, lightweight design is an especially important achievement in America, where austere budgeting is one of the main things holding infrastructure back. AIT’s lightweight bridges aren’t flimsy, either: simulations have shown the bridges can withstand about 50 years of heavy truck traffic.
MORE: What’s the Country’s Best Smart-Growth Project? You’ll Be Surprised
2. The Parking-Space Finder
San Francisco’s SFpark pilot project is app-ifying parking, making the frustrating chore instantly doable with your phone. The centralized parking guidance system uses “dynamic real-time message signs and web information” to tell drivers where open spots are, Parking.org reports. And as you stop endlessly circling in search of a space, you’ve also reducing congestion. It’s federally funded and self-improving: the app integrates live user feedback into its automation.
3. Port Reform in Florida
Ports: they’re just about as unsexy as parking lots, but they can be a thousand times more important, economically speaking. The Port of Miami, for example, accounts for 5% of all U.S. imports (a huge number for one city). And Florida’s other 14 ports are becoming more important as the U.S. increases its trade with Latin America. That’s why Florida has created the new Office of Freight Logistics and Passenger Operations (FLP), a statewide command center for all 15 sites. Incoming shipments will be assigned according to the interests of each port, meaning import decisions will reflect local supply and demand relative to that of other cities—advancing the interests of the state as a whole.
MORE: What If Your Hometown Became Rich Overnight
4. Free, Superfast Internet
We love the fact that Google Fiber’s free Internet first touched down in Kansas City, Mo., and Provo, Utah. (It’d be kind of boring if they launched in the Bay Area.) Google now offers select residents of these cities (not small businesses yet) Internet and TV packages starting at $0 a month. For $70/month, you can get 1 gigabit Internet, whose blinding speed you can witness in this “race” simulation. For $50 more per month, they’ll throw in a TV feed that supports DVRs and HD and lets you use your tablet as a remote. Instead of building its own obtrusive poles to make all this happen, Google worked with local governments to make use of existing electrical infrastructure and expanded where necessary. Next stop: Austin, Texas.
5. West Coast Infrastructure Exchange
One of the biggest impediments to better American infrastructure is lack of funding. Another is noncooperation among state and federal governments. West Coast states, defying this trend, have partnered up with one another and invited Canada, too. California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia have formed the West Coast Infrastructure Exchange (WCX), coordinating funds and expertise for infra- and inter-state projects. The hope is that this will cut down on the number of earmarks these states seek—since it creates public and private alternatives to the federal coffers—and it’s a step forward in infrastructural cooperation with Canada, which is a nice change from the scuffles surrounding the Peace Bridge. By 2040, the WCX aims to coordinate infrastructure projects totaling $1 trillion in value.
MORE: Cities Passed Over for Google Fiber Take Fiber Quest Into Their Own Hands
6. 760 MPH Speed Limits
You probably know Elon Musk from PayPal, or Tesla, or SolarCity. Now let’s talk about Hyperloop, the super-fast, air hockey-like transport line Musk wants to build in California. In SpaceX’s rosy blueprints, the line will cost roughly $6 billion to build and will get you from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes. Whereas California’s proposed high-speed rail would max out at just above 200 miles per hour, the Hyperloop is designed to zip travelers along at 760 mph. Independent analysts have taken all kinds of issue with SpaceX’s ambition. Even if the company never lays the keel, Musk has set the new standard in American commuting.
7. Minneapolis Bike Trails
Minneapolis is notorious for its unforgiving temperatures and snowfall, yet it’s consistently ranked among the top five U.S. cities for biking. This is in part because of its robust biking culture, from benign local biker gangs to “America’s first bike freeway.” The government has also been a big help. Since 2010, Minneapolis’s municipal Nice Ride bike-sharing program has facilitated 700,000 rides. Urban planners have contributed, too: Whenever roads are repaved or buildings introduced, the impact on bike lanes is always a concern. The City of Minneapolis claims to have 177 miles of on- and off-street bikeways. New York and Houston, among others in bike-friendlier climes, are trying to catch up.
MORE: OneC1TY Transforms Nashville with an ‘Education-Civic-Business Ecosystem’
8. NYC: Where It’s Easier to Find Free WiFi Than Parking
The coolest idea for WiFi in New York City we’ve heard is to turn the old, now-neglected pay-phones throughout the city into public wireless routers. That act of infrastructural recycling may not be happening, but free public WiFi is. In October 2013, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the imminent WiFying of 10 New York neighborhoods across the five boroughs. Behind five of the projects is GOWEX, a company that’s already created 2,000 “Smart Zones” throughout the city. Public WiFi will assist local entrepreneurs and keep New York an attractive location for young professionals. Whereas Google Fiber offers its subscription packages only to private residents, WiredNYC’s networks are accessible to sidewalk iPhone-holders and Bloomberg Terminal users alike.
9. A Sprawled Little Suburb Gets a Massive, Urban Makeover
Tysons Corner, Va., a Washington suburb where residents always drive and never walk, is making itself navigable by foot. For most of its sprawled existence, it’s been a loose-knit office and retail city of about 17,000 people. That is, until its city planners transformed Tysons Corner into a green city with “revived neighborhoods, sidewalk culture, local employment and local arts,” according to analysis by KPMG International. The extension of this former suburb has been reversed by well-placed public transportation and smarter land use. The makeover will help the city host up to 100,000 residents by 2050, city officials say. It was and is one of the most ambitious and successful city redesigns in recent history.
MORE: 6 Steps for Building Better Bike Infrastructure