STORIES OF

CHANGE
Making social change can feel overwhelming. The problems are so big,
and your impact can often feel small. But making concrete social change
on your campus is a great place to begin.

Watch this video

What does this story make

you think of in relation
to your work?
 GROUP ACTIVITY
Break into small groups and select a story that inspires. Discuss as a
group by using the discussion questions.
 The Greenbelt Movement
• Who: Wangari Maathai
• Location: Kenya
• SDG: SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
• UNAI Principle: Addressing Poverty - A commitment to addressing issues of poverty through
education

Project: The Greenbelt Movement

Description: Wangari was the first woman from East or Central Africa to receive a doctorate
degree. Her early academic success led her to receive a scholarship to study in the United
States in 1964. During that time, the environmental movement was budding in the United
States where Wangari first experienced environmental restoration, when local
environmentalists pushed to rid the city of air pollution.
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After completing her education, Wangari returned to Kenya and became active in Kenyan
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environmental, social, and political matters. She was appalled by the amount of deforestation
Full Documentary happening in her country. She developed the idea of planting trees as means to improve
communities. Wangari started by planting 7 trees in her own backyard on World Environmental
day in 1977. The project quickly expanded, where Wangari organized women to plant trees
with a common goal of improving the quality of life for locals, especially women, and to
conserve the ever decreasing forests, and in turn improve the environment. The project
became known as the Greenbelt Movement. Learn more here
 Swipe Out Hunger
• Who: Rachel Sumekh and peers at UCLA
• University: University of California, Los Angeles
• Location: California, USA
• SDG: SDG2: Zero Hunger
• UNAI Principle: Education for All - A commitment to educational opportunity for all
people regardless of class, gender, race, religion or ethnicity;

Project: Swipe Out Hunger

Description: Swipe Out Hunger was started in 2009 by Rachel and a group of her
Watch this video undergraduate peers at UCLA, when they realized that a community need: hunger,
Learn more: might intersect with a campus resource: extra cafeteria food. At first, the students
Vice would use points to buy extra sandwiches to distribute to homeless people in their
Hello Giggles city. Over time, they grew to partner with the university administration, allowing
Humanitarian Affairs Symposium
students to donate their unused meal points to hunger issues. By the Fall of 2014,
www.swipehunger.org /
the team collected over 15,000 donated meals in a single week. In 2015, the
[email protected]
swipehunger.org/newchapter
movement was named Swipe Out Hunger, with objectives to end hunger, raise
Photo source awareness about this issue, and foster student leadership. As they grew, the
objectives of Swipe shifted to include a particular focus on an issue very close to
home -- on-campus hunger. Learn more here.
 The National First-Generation Low-Income Partnership (FLIP National)

Who: MCN Alumni + Columbia Students

University: Columbia University
Location: New York, USA
SDG: SDG 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
UNAI Principle: 5 Access to Higher Education - A commitment to the opportunity for
every interested individual to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary for the
pursuit of higher education

Project: First-Generation Low-Income Partnership FLIP.

MCN Alumni – Amelia Colban Description: “FLIP is a non-profit organization that focuses on providing equal
MCN Alumnus – John Kotey opportunity for first-generation and/or low-income (FGLI) students in institutions of
higher learning. FLIP National aims to establish campus-based chapters and promote
Learn more: collaboration among institutions in addressing issues that first-generation and low-
E: [email protected] income students face. FLIP National has earmarked seven “Target Areas,” namely Food
Website Insecurity, Student Homelessness, Academic Development, Student Wellness &
Community Building, Financial Support, Professional Development, and Awareness &
Visibility. The goal is to raise awareness about the issues that hamper the academic
success and well-being of FGLI students while pursuing sustainable solutions through
the establishment of initiatives and policy change at the institutional, national, and
international level”.
 Clean Streets, Clean Sea!
Who: Pédrisson and Emmanuelson Bernard Brothers
University: Ecole Nationale Superieure de Technologie
Location: Carrefour, Haiti
SDG: SDG 14: Life below water
UNAI Principle: 9 Sustainability - A commitment to promoting sustainability through
education

Project: Clean Streets, Clean Sea!

Description:
Pédrisson and Emmanuelson Bernard, from Carrefour, Haiti identified that the lack of
waste management in their community was creating extreme pollution in their nearby
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ocean. The streets are filled with trash and waste and when it rains, it all flows into the
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sea. To solve this problem, they believe that they first must implement a proper waste
management system. They seek to inspire community youth to become engaged in
cleaning Carrefour, therefore, creating more job opportunities. They also aim to create
sustainable change by educating families on how to properly dispose of waste. By
tackling the root source of ocean pollution in their area, poor waste management, they
will create a domino effect of change. As they say, it doesn't matter where you are
from, "we share one sea!"
 Hot Chicken Takeover
• Who: Joe Deloss
• Location: Ohio, USA
• SDG: SDG 8: Decent Work & Economic Growth
• UNAI Principle: 1- Addressing Poverty - A commitment to addressing issues of
poverty through education

Project: Hot Chicken Takeover

Watch this Video Description: As a student, Joe DeLoss searched for ways to combine his passion for
social change and his business acumen. After learning about social
entrepreneurship, he started a few different small businesses, experimenting with
using a for-profit model to support community causes. In 2014, he launched a
Learn more: friend chicken restaurant called Hot Chicken Takeover (HCT). HCT provides
The Huffington Post supportive jobs to men and women who need a fair chance at work. Over 70% of
USA Today HCT employees faced homelessness, previous incarceration, or another barrier to
employment. In addition to providing them with a job opportunity, HCT supports
their financial stability, personal growth, and professional development with an
array of benefits.
 Embrace Innovations
• Who: Jane Chen, Linus Liang, and others.
• Location: Bangalore, India
• SDG: SDG 12: Responsible Consumption & Production
• UNAI Principle: 1- Addressing Poverty - A commitment to addressing issues of
poverty through education

Project:Embrace Innovations

Description: Embrace Innovations is a social enterprise that was founded with a lofty
goal: create well-designed baby products and in the process, give 1,000,000
Watch this Video premature and underweight babies in the developing world a better chance at
life.The history of Embrace started in 2008, in a class at Stanford University, where
the co-founders were challenged to come up with an incubator that costs less than
1% the cost of a traditional incubator. After extensive research, they developed the
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Embrace infant warmer and have spent the last 8 years distributing these around
Stanford University
the world. Finally, compared to the $20,000 price of a traditional incubator, the
Embrace incubator only costs $25.
 Legal Equalizer

• Who: Mbye Njie

• Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
• SDG: SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
• UNAI Principle: 10- A commitment to promoting intercultural dialogue and
understanding, and the unlearning of intolerance, through education.

Project: Legal Equalizer

Description: Mbye Njie is an activist and founder of Legal Equalizer, a mobile app that
Watch this Video allows users to capture police encounters after being pulled over, automatically
notify loved ones in real-time, provide information on legal rights involving that
encounter, and receive legal advice at the scene. Njie launched the first version of
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LE in 2015 after seeing the fallout from the Michael Brown case, and pulling from
Forbes
his own personal experiences with law enforcement. He is originally from Gambia,
News Article
West Africa and moved to the US in 1990 when he was just 9 years old.
Davidson’s School Article
 Moladi
• Who: Hennie Botes
• Location: Port Elizabeth, South Africa
• SDG: SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
• UNAI Principle: 9- A commitment to promoting sustainability through education

Project: Moladi

Description: Founded back in 1986, when Hennie first realised how difficult it was for
the poor to get good quality housing, his solution was the development of a whole
new building system, which he named Moladi. The company has been in existence
Watch this Video for more than three decades, and exports to 22 countries around the world.The
Moladi building system uses a removable, reusable, recyclable and lightweight
plastic formwork mould, which is filled with mortar to form the wall structure of a
house in only one day. Hennie describes it as the ‘Henry Ford’ of mass housing.A
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toolmaker by trade, the Port Elizabeth-based founder and designer of construction
Quarterly
system Moladi developed this innovative building technology as a means to
Entrepreneur
address many of the cumbersome and costly aspects of conventional construction
methods, without compromising on the quality or integrity of the structure. The
system replaces the bricklaying process with an approach similar to plastic injection
moulding.
 Discussion
Questions for reflection:

• What was the need that these people sought to address? How did
they know it was a need?
• What do you feel worked well? What resources and connections did
these people draw from?
• What challenges did they encounter? What problems do you identify
in their project? How would you resolve or approach them?
• How might this story inspire or relate to projects you are working
on? In what ways might it not work for your community?