Atlanta, U.S.A. – Steve Thomas, Emmy Award-winning television personality and former host of the home improvement shows This Old House and Renovation Nation, will join Habitat for Humanity and local home building professionals in cities across the U.S. to build or rehabilitate homes during the week of June 4 as part of Habitat for Humanity’s Home Builders Blitz 2012.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to join home builders who are helping to build more than 200 Habitat homes in 2012,” said Thomas. “With their help and support, Habitat will be able to make affordable housing a reality with even more families this year. The expertise and skill these home building professionals bring to the table is a welcome addition to Habitat’s efforts to build affordable housing.”

Thomas will visit Habitat affiliates in Memphis, Tenn.; Flint, Mich.; McKinney, Texas; Omaha, Neb.;Raleigh, N.C.; and Lawrence, Mass.; to help raise awareness on how building professionals can take an active role in addressing the affordable housing needs of their communities.

Over the course of his career, Thomas is recognized as the “ultimate home enthusiast” and an “expert-on-demand” on the home renovation process. A much-in-demand speaker as well as a home renovator, Thomas advocates for greener building and renovation techniques.

Thomas first worked with Habitat for Humanity during a 1990 trip to Charlotte to cover the launching of a new Habitat affiliate. He subsequently showcased the 1993 Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project inWinnipeg, Canada, and thereafter continued to integrate coverage of Habitat’s activities into his professional projects.

Habitat’s Home Builders Blitz is a partnership between Habitat and the building community to build and renovate homes across the United States. Builders and Habitat affiliates work closely to organize all aspects of building, including securing subcontractors and suppliers, fundraising and seeking donations of materials.

During this year’s event, the nationwide project seeks to build and renovate more than 200 homes, thanks to the skilled labor provided by local professional homebuilders and construction firms.

“Steve’s expertise in home renovation and long history with Habitat make him the perfect spokesperson for this year’s Home Builder’s Blitz,” said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. “We sincerely thank Steve, the local builders and our generous sponsors for their support in helping families nationwide who are in need of affordable housing.”

Habitat for Humanity would like to thank the building professionals and the following sponsors for their help in making this year’s Home Builders Blitz possible: Cree; The Dow Chemical Company; The Elizabeth Anton Habitat for Humanity Fund; GAF Materials Corporation; Hunter Douglas; Larson; Lowe’s; Masco; Royal Building Products; Schneider Electric; the Tapco Group; Toto; Valspar; the Whirlpool Corporation; and Yale Locks & Hardware. The National Association of Home Builders supports the voluntary participation of its members in this year’s Home Builders Blitz.

About Habitat for Humanity International

Habitat for Humanity International is a global nonprofit Christian housing organization that seeks to put God’s love into action by bringing people together to build homes, communities and hope. Since 1976, Habitat has served more than 500,000 families by welcoming people of all races, religions and nationalities to construct, rehabilitate or preserve homes; by advocating for fair and just housing policies; and by providing training and access to resources to help families improve their shelter conditions.

For more information, to donate or to volunteer, please visit www.habitat.org, or follow at www.facebook.com/habitat or at www.twitter.com/habitat_org or join Habitat’s blog community a twww.habitat.org/blog.

Image Courtesy of   eschipul

The article Steve Thomas Joins Habitat for Humanity’s Home Builders Blitz 2012 appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

New York, U.S.A. – Carnegie Mellon, Hult International Business School and NYU Abu Dhabi were honored for their commitment to eradicating poverty at the Hult Global Case Challenge in New York City, hosted by Hult International Business and the Clinton Global Initiative.

The three winning teams beat thousands of students from the world’s best business schools for a US$1 millioncash grant and
were honored by President Bill Clinton.

Started three years ago by Hult graduate Ahmad Ashkar, the Hult Global Case Challenge is the largest and most respected initiative of its kind. Harnessing the power of crowd sourcing, the Hult Global Case Challenge attracted students from 350 colleges and universities to provide solutions to the real challenges facing three NGOs. These are Habitat for Humanity, which builds affordable housing; SolarAid, which brings renewable energy to impoverished communities; and One Laptop Per Child, which provides low-cost computers to children.

A panel of high-profile judges including: Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, Unilever Chairman Michael Treschow, social entrepreneur Darell Hammond, and the CEOs of the three NGOs, selected the winners in education, housing and energy.

Education               

Winner: Carnegie Mellon

To help One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) put 10 million laptops in the hands of children worldwide in the nextfive years, the Carnegie
Mellon team presented an innovative approach to ensure streamlined laptopdeployment and to create a global brand for the
NGO ’ s open-source software.

“The Hult Global Case Challenge has provided us with many ideas to address the challenge of scaling OLPC to enable learning for the world’s poorest children,” said Rodrigo Arboleda, Chairman and CEO of the One Laptop per Child Association. “We appreciate the creativity, passion and effort of all the student teams around the world who participated in the competition.”

Housing

Winner: Hult International Business School

Habitat for Humanity has a mission to provide homes for 50 million people within the next 10 years.
Hult ’s winning solution focuses on harnessing the intelligence of those at the bottom of the pyramid andequipping them to
solve their own problems.

“Hult’s Global Case Challenge is good news for everyone involved,” said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity. “Students have the opportunity to solve real-world challenges, and organizations like Habitat benefit — not only from the prize money used to implement the winning proposal, but also from the ideas that emerge from crowdsourcing and the relationships that we develop with tomorrow’s business leaders.”

Energy

Winner: NYU Abu Dhabi

Many Africans still rely on kerosene lamps. NYU Abu Dhabi ’ s solution focuses on creating a network ofentrepreneurs and
technicians who will sell and fix solar lamps in a sustainable way.

Speaking in support of the winning team’s solution, SolarAid CEO Steve Andrews said: “Our goal is to eradicate the kerosene lamp from Africa by the end of this decade. That’s simply a huge challenge, which will only be possible with massive innovation. Having the top students from around the world competing to come up with great ideas for how we will do this is an extraordinary boost. It’s already changing the way we think and work.”

Ahmad Ashkar, the founder and CEO of the Hult Global Case Challenge, said: “This initiative aims to revolutionize how we think about the world’s most pressing social challenges. With US$1 million in seed capital, students from all over the world have a chance to establish social enterprises that achieve real results.”

Congratulating the winning teams, Hult President Dr Stephen Hodges added: “The Hult Global Case Challenge is an important part of Hult’s push to encourage social entrepreneurship among talented students, whichever country they come from. Through this visionary kind of crowd sourcing we’re giving NGOs access to a wealth of new ideas and perspectives that help them grow stronger.”

Image Courtesy of  Jose Gil / Shutterstock.com

The article President Bill Clinton Honors Hult Global Case Challenge WInners appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, announced the awardees of 15 new grants on March 5.

Selected following a nationwide call for proposals, the grantees will conduct health impact assessments (HIAs), a type of study that looks at potential health impacts of policies and projects in other sectors. HIAs help policy makers and communities take a broad look at the impacts of a decision, which can help avoid unintended consequences, maximize benefits, and balance trade-offs.

“The conditions in the places where we live and work affect our health even more than access to health care,” said Aaron Wernham, M.D., director of the Health Impact Project. “Decisions in housing, agriculture, transportation, or energy policy, for example, may raise or lower our risks for heart disease, asthma, diabetes, traumatic injuries, and some cancers.

These new grantees will be using health impact assessments to inform important decisions for which the health implications might otherwise be missed. Capitalizing on investments in other sectors to prevent disease is one of the most important opportunities to improve Americans’ health.”

Three additional foundations—The Kresge Foundation, The California Endowment, and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation—contributed funding toward these HIAs. The grant recipients and their respective projects are listed below:

The article Health Impact Project Grants for Health Impact Assessments in Several Sectors appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Two years after the Haiti earthquake, the American Red Cross is helping people rebuild their homes and their lives and improving communities with health, water and sanitation projects.

In a two-year update, the American Red Cross highlighted its emergency work after the 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti on January 12, 2010, as well as its recovery efforts over the past year. Recovery activities have included building homes, giving people opportunities to earn money, providing access to clean water and sanitation systems, supporting the delivery of health care, and teaching communities how to prevent the spread of diseases and be better prepared for future disasters.

“The money donated to the American Red Cross provided life-saving relief to millions of Haitians after the earthquake and is now being used for longer-term solutions such as helping people move from camps to permanent homes and communities,” said Gail McGovern, president and CEO of the American Red Cross.

“Although progress is not as fast as we would like, recovery is well underway,” McGovern said, adding “for example, the pace of home construction has increased rapidly, with the American Red Cross and the rest of the global Red Cross network providing housing to more than 100,000 people at the two-year mark.”

Other highlights of the past year include:

• Providing clean water and sanitation services to more than 369,000 people
• Providing health services and hygiene education to more than 2.4 million people
• Reaching more than 3 million people with cholera treatment and prevention
• Teaching more than 436,000 people how to better prepare for disasters
• Providing livelihoods assistance – grants, jobs and other help – to 114,000 people

The American Red Cross received about $486 million in donations following the earthquake, and has spent and signed agreements to spent $330 million on Haiti earthquake relief and recovery efforts in the first two years. The largest portion of spending has gone to food and emergency services, followed by housing, water and sanitation, health, livelihoods, disaster preparedness, and response to the cholera outbreak.

“In the coming year, the American Red Cross will focus on programs to renew communities, which include constructing and repairing homes, providing clean water and sanitation, health education, livelihood support and disaster preparedness programming,” McGovern said. “We also continue to support hospitals and clinics that are critical to providing access to needed medical treatment in Haiti, and we will maintain our efforts to combat cholera and teach people how to prevent diseases.”

Housing is a priority, and the American Red Cross is shifting its focus from providing transitional homes to building permanent homes and repairing damaged homes so people can return to their former neighborhoods.

Further information on Red Cross work in Haiti, including a copy of the two-year report, can be found at www.redcross.org/Haiti

Image Courtesy of    http://www.flickr.com/photos/expertinfantry/

The article Haiti Earthquake Anniversary: American Red Cross Helps for Recovery appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.