🌱🐰💰 One For All

The Good, the Bunny and the Money is our monthly take on the latest impactful success stories from across the U.S. and around the World.

'🌱 The Good' looks at nonprofits leading the way in impactful change;

'💰 The Money' takes a dive into the private-sector champions driving financial inclusion & economic development; and

'🐰 The Bunny' showcases the most promising collaborations between nonprofits and businesses working hand in hand for the People and the Planet.

🌱 The Good: All Home ensuring homes for all

The Crisis: According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in 2019 more than 35,000 residents in the Bay Area lived outdoors in conditions unfit for living - inequality exacerbated by the pandemic.

Enter All Home: a nonprofit advancing solutions to disrupt cycles of homelessness. Last Tuesday, they announced the ‘Regional Impact Council’ a new coalition of mayors, housing experts and business leaders (incl. Facebook). Their goal is to house 75% of the region’s unsheltered by 2024, using their 1-2-4 strategy to allocate funds:

• 1 unit of interim housing: to house and stabilise people currently living outdoors
• 2 units of permanent housing: such as rental subsidies for the formerly homeless
• 4 units of Homelessness prevention: measures like financial assistance and legal services for at-risk families facing eviction

The importance: All home have triggered much needed cross-sector cohesion to support the Bay area’s most vulnerable throughout the homelessness journey (from housing insecure, to homeless, to housed). With collaboration comes the power to advocate change at the state and national level.

Reunited ... check out bunny.money's nonprofit partner Miracle Messages who help reconnect homeless people with their social support systems - an incredibly effective way to help get people off the streets. Their new "Miracle Money" program is a Universal Basic Income (UBI) pilot that provides recipients with a $500/month stipend to help with housing, transportation and other essentials.

💰 The Money: Equifax promote financial inclusion for all

According to the Federal Reserve, 63 million Americans are either unbanked or underbanked, often due to lower or volatile income making minimum balances or account fees unaffordable. To boost financial inclusion, Equifax has released Payment Insight, a tool that shares utility payment data (such as water, gas and electricity bills) with lenders. The solution was designed as 90% of US adults have at least 1 household utility service - a powerful source of data when traditional credit scores aren’t available. Payment Insight integrates utility payments into loan reviews, connecting lenders directly with customer utility accounts to provide payment and account information. Payment Insight gives applicants a more complete financial portrait to access mainstream financial services, while enabling lenders to reach underserved markets.

🐰 The Bunny: Microsoft & i.c.stars support Black American communities to get jobs in IT

The Challenge: According to a recent survey, Black Americans are the most likely to face job losses, shift reduction and lost income during the COVID-19 pandemic - exacerbating longstanding inequities in the US.

The Opportunity: Through the Community Skills Programme, Microsoft is investing $15million in community-based nonprofits supporting Black and African American communities to gain digital skills needed for in-demand jobs.

Partnership in Action: Microsoft has collaborated with Chicago nonprofit i.c.stars, to support people from non-tech backgrounds to get jobs in IT. The partnership is having a big impact, with 90% of i.c.stars graduates employed after completing the program.

🥕 What else we’re munching:

• Nonprofit, Directions for Living, created TRACE a system to provide Law Enforcement with real-time access to mental health counselors when responding to crises.
• Seattle nonprofit called City Forest Credits, is using urban forestry to fight for environmental justice
• A New Jersey moving company has sparked an initiative capitalizing on the amount of food left behind in clients’ fridges to supply 22 million pounds of food to local food banks
• The Telehealth Equity Coalition was recently launched to unite nonprofit organizations with industry partners to promote equal access of remote medical care, Uber, in collaboration with the Local Initiative Support Corporation, have launched the Vaccine Access Fund to connect people (from underserved communities without transportation) to COVID-19 vaccination centres.

Credits: All Home ; Behance - who is the underbanked?  McKinsey - How Covid-19 has impacted financial inequality - Cover Photo: Jon Tyson via Unsplash