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Boston, Massachusetts
Rob Waldron, President and CEO
www.jstart.org
How do you solve a national teaching shortage and help disadvantaged preschoolers at the same time? Try a Jumpstart. Jumpstart pairs college students with 3- to 5-year-olds who need help with reading and social skills. Its strategy: Give tots one-on-one mentoring, encourage college students to become teachers, and involve families in their kids' education. Jumpstart's 1,600-plus student teachers now work with more than 6,000 children in 44 communities. And Jumpstart kids show an average 20% improvement in reading and social skills. President and CEO Rob Waldron aims to have 25,000 kids in the program by 2006. "I hope that in 20 years," he says, "people will look at Jumpstart as they look at Habitat for Humanity and the Girl Scouts today."
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Washington, DC
Darell Hammond, Founder
www.kaboom.org
When he was young, Darell Hammond lived in a Chicago orphanage with seven brothers and sisters. Now, he's giving kids in hundreds of "playground-poor" communities a place to play. KaBOOM! works in low-income neighborhoods to create common space for children and adults. Its projects start with a design day, when children map out their dream playground. A neighborhood group spends four months planning construction. Then in a single, explosive day, residents join with corporate volunteers to build the new facility. So far, KaBOOM! has completed 576 playgrounds, 6 skate parks, and 1,300 neighborhood-restoration and park clean-up projects in 43 states.
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Denver, Colorado
Kersten Hostetter, Executive Director
www.microbusiness.org
Soon after Kersten Hostetter became executive director of the MicroBusiness Development Corp., a teen named Lizard approached her. "I can make $1,200 a week selling drugs," he said. "What can you offer me?" A lot, as it turned out. Lizard joined MBD's staff and now mentors other teens. In addition to helping youths, MBD provides loans and training to minority and low-income Denver entrepreneurs. Since 1994, it has helped create 3,278 jobs and disbursed more than $2 million in loans to 550 entrepreneurs. It says 96% of its loans have been repaid, and 464 of its 550 borrowers are still in business. Most important, Hostetter says, MBD seeds self-sufficiency. "Our job is, the next time they need a loan, they don't need us," she says. "That's creating opportunity, not charity."
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New York, New York
Jon Schnur, Cofounder and CEO
www.nlns.org
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