Finding new ways to look at the same old things.
September 14, 2010

Wash, rinse, make art, repeat

by Kai Hsing

Can social change start at your local laundromat? We take a look at how one nonprofit is looking to rebuild communities by putting art into your laundry basket.

In finding innovative ways to create change, sometimes it’s not about what you’re doing but rather how you do it that makes a difference. Many of us know about programs or organizations that sponsor public art, and there are perhaps even more groups out there trying to bring arts education to the masses – though it seems that we can never have enough of either in a time where drastic cuts in school systems across the country means the complete elimination of many arts programs in public schools.

That this is happening in one of world’s true arts capitals should only serve to illustrate the gravity of the situation. Within the last couple of years, the New York City Department of Education found that 32 percent of students in the system received absolutely no arts education, only 29 percent of middle schoolers are provided the minimum arts education as required by the state of New York, and only 4 percent of New York City elementary schools were even equipped to provide the minimum arts requirements.

The Laundromat Project is one of many organizations who try to fill this gap in arts education, while thinking outside of the box in a simple way to achieve their goals. The nonprofit brings arts programming to where people already gather on a regular basis and which serves as a real community hub in many low-income city neighborhoods – the laundromat. Read the rest of this entry »

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August 26, 2010

How much is youth literacy worth?

by Kai Hsing

Today is Youth Literacy Day, and as I’m writing this post I’m thinking about my own experiences with language arts from my childhood. From my sixth-grade English teacher Mrs. Goldstein who told me to keep writing because my stuff was ‘hilarious but nobody even knows it yet’ to my high-school teacher Mr. Boone, who could hardly believe that a 16-year-old could write so ‘provocatively about a rustic guitar’ that I knew ‘nothing about,’ I gained a real sense of why stories are important and why they need to be told.

While I may have not yet become the great American storyteller every writing teacher hopes will emerge from under their tutelage, creative writing taught me how to think creatively in everything that I do, a skill that’s relevant whether you’re developing medical breakthroughs or finding new ways to do business later in life.

Today, schools are often encouraged to teach more ‘practical’ skills, even though more creativity is what we really need in the 21st century to succeed. With schools being shuttered and education budgets slashed dramatically throughout the country, we are now offering less and less opportunities to do so, and the services that independent nonprofit education programs such as 826 National provide become increasingly essential to continue the growth and development that used to be the exclusive domain of our traditional day schools.

Started in San Francisco by the author Dave Eggers, the 826 writing centers across the country offer invaluable services to bridge the gap for students and families by providing one-on-one tutoring, writing workshops and language arts programs for young people – and all at no cost. Read the rest of this entry »

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April 16, 2010

Turn $1 million into $10 million for small businesses worldwide

by The Quotidian

Chances are that if you’re reading this, you might not be a Sam’s Club member – even though the Wal-Mart-owned, Costco-like membership-only retail stores boast 47 million members worldwide and are in 48 states (with the Socialist Republics of Oregon and Vermont being the only holdouts).

However, you probably at least know someone who is a member of Sam’s Club, somewhere out there in the universe. The reason why this is important is because the company is giving away $1 million to charities as part of their Giving Made Simple campaign, and our good friends at Kiva are in the running.

While we’d like to think that the above promo video that we made for them exclusively for this contest might have something to do with their current top ranking, the truth of the matter is that they’re an exceptional organization that has enabled anyone to help working people start businesses and have an opportunity to succeed around the world. They bring the empowering idea of microfinance – small, low-cost loans made to those who don’t quite qualify for traditional business loans – with the crowdsourcing power of the internet to create real, lasting change. Anyone can contribute to loan for as little as $25 through Kiva, and you’re not just giving a handout to someone you don’t know, but rather making an investment in a business that would have few other options – and 98 percent of businesses funded through Kiva pay back their lenders on time and in full. Teach a man to fish and so on and so forth. Read the rest of this entry »

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April 6, 2010

Changing the world ‘One Party at a Time’

by The Quotidian

How do you throw must-go-to parties and generate awareness for social causes at the same time? We see how Party Corps makes it all happen.

Part of the impetus for starting The Quotidian was the idea that perhaps the so-called Millennial Generation had more to offer than high rates of unemployment and arrested development into adulthood. Many of our stories have highlighted 20 and 30-somethings who are finding their own ways to contribute to their communities by starting actions that are local in immediate effect but much larger in overall scope.

The story of Party Corps is another such example. The organization is young, well-connected and bold in its efforts to raise awareness and funds for startup nonprofits. As founder Leila Monroe explained to me in conversations we had over the course of the roughly two months that we worked on this production, the idea of throwing parties to benefit charities is nothing new – but it’s about how you do it. And the way Party Corps is doing it is by putting on next-level benefits and fundraisers that move beyond hotel ballrooms and into nightclubs with great effect, as we see in this documentary. Read the rest of this entry »

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December 11, 2009

Foodies on a mission

by The Quotidian

Are charitable food businesses the wave of the future? We see how San Francisco’s Mission Street Food went from taco truck to charitable benefactor in almost no time.

When former Bar Tartine cook Anthony Myint and his wife Karen Leibowitz set out to create a foodie distraction with which to occupy their spare time, they didn’t expect their taco truck sublet to turn into a local phenomenon with national attention. But thanks to their impeccable taste and timing (street food is in!) as well as with the help of the San Francisco Bay Area’s Internet savvy and food-obsessed denizens, their Mission Street Food experiment has since grown into a twice-weekly food event that amasses crowds outside of an otherwise lackluster Chinese restaurant in San Francisco’s Mission District.

The success of these nights has also transformed Mission Street Food into a serious charitable business, as more than $17,000 was donated to local charities during the part-time restaurant’s first 10 months of operation. Mission Burger, a lunchtime burger stand that Myint started inside the Duc Loi Supermarket a couple doors down from Mission Street Food, has also generated more than $2,500 in donations during its first three months of operation. Read the rest of this entry »

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October 1, 2009

The locavore myth or why vegetarians will save the world

by Kai Hsing

As the real-world benefits of buying local and organic food prove to be negligible, is going veggie our only hope?

localvore-lgIf switching from incandescent to CFL light bulbs is a first step towards indoctrination into the modern environmental and progressive movement, then eating locally is surely a close second, with a dedication from Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma before every meal. But even amongst those who haven’t read Pollan’s ode to locally grown, traditionally prepared food that would make your grandmother salivate, there’s been an obvious renewed interest in farmer’s markets and organic produce with a pushback against the industrialization of the food industry in recent years.

On a certain level, this passion for foodie culture is a perfect example of DIY grassroots activism done right, with a populist message and tangible results that can be achieved quickly and cheaply. Nearly anyone can make a consumer choice to support local farmers, especially with the number of farmers markets in this country nearly doubling in the past decade. Or better yet, anyone can grow their own vegetables, a trend confirmed by the White House gardens started by first lady Michelle Obama earlier this year. There’s also the issues the modern food movement touches upon – ranging from health to poverty and consumerism – that are far from controversial no matter what side of the ideological seismic fault you happen to be on. Read the rest of this entry »

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September 9, 2009

Saving lives through outsourcing

by Kai Hsing

Is outsourcing medical services using digital technology the way to slash health care costs?

via Associated Press

via Associated Press

Lest we forget that the ongoing discussion debate firestorm about health care is not only about ideology – however real or falsified – but also about fundamental economic costs. No matter which reform camp you’re in – or even if you’re against any reform at all – most will agree that increasing health care costs by almost 10 percent yearly and having employees shoulder more of the costs is an unsustainable trend under any health care system.

So the question remains: just how are we going to reduce costs? Sure, there’s been lots of talk about increasing competition between plans, making generic drugs more available and eliminating many of the bureaucratic redundancies that siphon off more money than is necessary.

For example, one of Obama’s main strategies to reduce costs is by creating a digital medical record system, which by some estimates could save $200 to $300 billion a year – though implementation won’t be easy. Having a digital database is long overdue and a no-brainer – it’s simply prodding the health industry towards the 21st century and in line with the zeitgeist of the times.

But what about more radical approaches that infuse technology into the actual care itself? Read the rest of this entry »

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August 30, 2009

Why the ‘nonprofit’ option won’t save health care

by Kai Hsing

Government-sponsored nonprofit health care may seem like a worthy alternative to the public option – but it doesn’t really guarantee lower costs for anybody.

Much has been made in this raging cacophonic health care debate about how there is no need or desire to emulate the Canadian or British health care systems, that what we need is an American way – which presumably means a mixed public-private system with a heavy emphasis on the latter. With an almost perfect storm of partisanship, corporate money and fearmongering coming together in Congress, chances for a purely public-run health care provider to come to fruition were always going to be slim at best.

What is evident is that now there is little chance of blowing back against the zeitgeist of health care reform – things will never be the same and justifiably so, as thousands of the tired, poor, huddled masses line up for days just to receive basic health care as if Los Angeles had been under siege.

Even the skeptics acknowledge that the time for reform – no matter how trivial or revolutionary – has come, even with the question of the public option still left unanswered. Read the rest of this entry »

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August 24, 2009

Do we pay too much for our cheap goods?

by The Quotidian

A new book examines the real price we pay to have consumer goods at relatively low cost – but offers few ideas to get us out of the mess.

One of the joys of an undergraduate economics education is the feeling that comes over you during your first or second year of having been inducted into a secret society – a sort of Harry Potter world with its own language, its own subculture, and its own special selection of intellectual tools. These are almost like little magic spells that allow you to see the world in a different way: as a world of hidden relations and counterintuitive mechanisms, a world that the Muggles can’t see though it’s right there in front of them.

Of course, this feeling is illusory, and soon fades – not just because real economics is a bit messier than the introductory stuff, but also because just about anyone can learn these basic tools and easily apply them to journalistic effect.

For example, take the concept of externalities. Freshman economics students discover that only some small subset of the costs and benefits of a transaction are explicitly reflected in the price. Read the rest of this entry »

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August 13, 2009

The peanut butter and jelly solution

by Kai Hsing

Can a single individual make a dent into homelessness in America? Here’s how a growing movement is tackling the problem – with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in hand.

Homelessness is a major problem in America – it’s estimated that 3.5 million people in this country are without a home at some point during any given year. Here in San Francisco, there may be as many as 15,000 homeless people in the city at any point during the year – giving our fair city the distinction of having the highest rate of homelessness in the U.S., despite the fact that the City of San Francisco spends at least $108 million annually on direct services for homeless people.

But how can a single person make a difference within all of this? That’s where the Peanut Butter Plan comes in. Started by 826 Valencia programs director and all-around inspiration Jory John, the growing movement asks participants to gather all your friends to make peanut butter sandwiches – that cornerstone of any good American diet – at least once a month to hand out directly to those in need. A loaf of bread, peanut butter and jelly can feed a dozen people while costing you only about $10-20 and a bit of your time. Read the rest of this entry »

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