There is a lot of research and evidence-based sources about Cannabis out there we don’t know. This episode’s guest is the Founder and CEO of Leaf411, a nonprofit organization that established the first Cannabis-trained nurse hotline in the United States. They are working hard to provide free education about the medical and responsible use of Cannabis. Katherine’s mission is to advocate for the safe and effective use of this plant in different treatments. Their ultimate goal is to reduce harm...

Brave New Mind exists to make mindfulness training easy, effective, and memorable. Under the leadership of the founder, Usha Siva, the organization aims to spread the importance of mindfulness in people’s lives, and especially, a company’s employees. Usha explains how Brave New Mind helps enterprises increase productivity by providing educational programs accustomed to everyone’s needs and uniqueness. Throughout this talk, she refers to partnerships with other institutions and advocates the...

Serving the underserved and fighting for equity is the mission of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers. With the help of Janice Brathwaite, their Director of Workforce Programs, the League serves anyone that needs health care. Organizational culture is a big deal for the League and Janice; she launched a program called The Way Forward Comes from Within to reevaluate the foundation of employee engagement and retention. Even before the pandemic, work was hard for the community...

Andaman7 is the solution to one of the most common problems patients face in their health care journey. The organization, founded by Vincent Keunen, creates solutions that contribute to the development of medical research. Vincent wholeheartedly talks about his and his son's struggle with cancer and how this inspired him to create Andaman7. This software’s purpose is to help patients have their whole healthcare data on their phones. He emphasizes the importance of Andaman7’s software and how...

Can you imagine the number of resources available for communities that are not being used? Creating a resource map was one of the immediate goals for Dina Johnson and the Monroe County Family Coalition in Greece, New York. After the tragic assassination of George Floyd and having a successful forum in which the community gathered, some inquiries came up about this topic, among others. Focused on black and brown individuals in the community, the Monroe County Family Coalition works to improve...

The Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc., (ChicagoMSDC) is an organization that certifies, develops, connects, and advocates for minority-owned businesses, helping create business opportunities with major buying organizations. It is one of the 23 affiliates of the National Minority Supplier Development Council. The ChicagoMSDC partners with hundreds of private and public buying sectors and minority businesses, acting as a hub for supplier diversity and business alliances. Since...

Many large companies are now moving faster towards diversity, equity, and inclusion. Athena, a San Diego-based organization, focused on women’s defense in the STEM field. Through mentoring, leadership development, and advocacy, their goal is to bring one million women into Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Their CEO, Holly Smithson, is our guest in this episode, and she explains how the Athena team aims to enlarge the representation of women, as they believe they have a lot...

United Way is a global organization with a local affiliate structure dedicated to social impact towards education, health, and financial stability.  Their branch in Great Susquehanna works specifically in rural and central Pennsylvania. Joanne explains why in this community, as in many rural communities in the country, the lack of transportation and healthcare services are major challenges. The organization has also been deploying internet access programs by distributing hotspots that can be...

Grief expresses itself in different shapes, forms, and times for everybody. Most of the time, widowed people don’t know where to ask for help, company, or someone that understands the changes they are going through. Michele Neff Hernandez has developed research-based programs and created a community for individuals experiencing the loss of their partner through Soaring Spirits International. As a widow herself, Michele knows firsthand the grieving process. With the current pandemic going on,...

We believe every child’s right to clean water.” With 2.1 billion people lacking access to safe drinking water*, Clean Water International’s mission is to empower disadvantaged communities by providing access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene projects. Led by Darrel Nelson, this nonprofit organization has provided access to clean water in many different parts of the Philippines. In this episode, let’s hear from Darrel how he could introduce clean water to communities, contribute to the...

How do you make a true transformation within communities? In this episode, we catch up with the co-founder and CEO of Brilliant Detroit, Cindy Eggleton. Cindy shares how Brilliant Detroit is making a massive difference in people’s lives in poor kid success neighborhoods. By repurposing an actual house in the middle of the neighborhood into an early childhood and family hub, this organization sees grade-level growth of two grades and health and family support outcomes. Brilliant Detroit is...

Charlie Pearmund and the company he’s working with will change the VR game. Based on the concept of embodiment, they want to make a change in behaviors towards diversity and inclusion. With different experiments, Virtual Bodyworks is advancing the use of VR. They work with tactile and motor synchronization and place and plausibility illusion to get to the embodiment finally. Their goal is to change people profoundly after their experience with virtual reality. Charlie shares his point of...

We constantly exercise our body, but do we exercise our minds? Virtuleap is the gym for the mind. This digital therapeutics company offers a library of VR cognitive games designed by neuroscientists to test and rain a range of cognitive functions like memory skills, processing, and problem-solving skills, and more.  Diving deep into research, development, and collaboration has successfully created its app, which you can download from all the major VR stores. Start your daily cognitive...

What art forms do you use to cope with what is going on in the world right now? With music as the first line of defense, Yael Swerdlow and Maestro Games help people through mental, spiritual, and physical challenges. They created a game platform called The Last Maestro. This platform combines music and Virtual Reality to tackle this challenge. Yael took this path after being a life-long photojournalist. She took her experience seeing how music worked with orphans and her father and...

The future lies in VR and how we can use it in our favor! In this episode, we have the honor of having  Aaron Gani and Rory Channer as guests. Together, they work on BehaVR, LLC. They are a company that creates digital therapeutics for behavioral health through the power of Virtual Reality. They believe that digital solutions democratize and improve access to care. With different types of content, they aim to engage the patient into knowing more about themselves and their condition. Also,...

Bob Fine is here to talk to us about the techy parts of VR. But don't worry, you will be able to keep up because this episode is meant for non-techy listeners!  Bob’s work with IVRHA always starts with the members and getting to know their needs; This may be difficult, but they do their best to anticipate the outcomes. Bob walks us through the journey with the association and its challenges, the stakeholders, and how finally they instaurated the Virtual Reality day. He also talks about the...

Our guest today is Dr. Tatiana Warren. She started her organization in 2015 after the sad death of Freddie Gray. Since then, she has been helìng communities and organizations find funding and resources to deliver community outcomes. Dr. Tati likes to concentrate on the assets that communities already have and build on that.  Dr. Tati Warren joins us on an amazing episode about social and community engagement. Be sure to tune in and learn from this great woman! For the full transcript and...

The Global Center for Medical Innovation wants to shorten the processes for many stakeholders in the industry. Sherry Farrugia is their CEO, and she leads all the strategic initiatives to make this successful. Their job is to simplify the processes from conceptualization to commercialization. . Sherry reflects and goes deep into how the pandemic has helped different actors in the industry collaborate at a never-seen-before rate. Innovation and partnership in the health care system have been...

Would you join a platform that tells the story of hundreds of homeless individuals? This is what the Homeless Network does. To create empathy, they share short stories and experiences of individuals that have been and still are on the streets of London. Sharing their stories makes them feel human; this is where empathy arises.  In the future, they want to set up an I.D. system and other services with the government to expand the network and get more people off the streets. Created by a group...

Going back into society after spending some years away can be a really tough challenge. Based on his own life experience, Gary started this social enterprise to help people with barriers to employment. Recovery Park is working with the prison system to help inmates get the basic credentials to get a job. Their programs build different kinds of skills. Recovery Park is now working with several state and government entities. This episode is a masterclass on entrepreneurship and pivoting. For...

Breaking Ground is working for the homeless of New York. Managing over four thousand apartments, they want to support them with affordable and permanent housing. Their programs are varied, yet they concentrate on housing and outreach for the homeless around Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. They work with around 9,000 individuals per year, pairing them also with the nearest social services provider. Andrea Jordan has studied how the system has been working, and with the rest of the Breaking...

To offer kids a safe place to be and grow up is absolutely rewarding. This is Star House’s mission, led by Ann Bischoff. The organization has transformed itself since it started in 2006. Now, they work with children ages 14 to 24 to provide a fallback plan for them. Immediate access is essential for Star House, the reason why they help kids as soon as they get to their center. Ann is helping these young adults and teenagers get opportunities through mentoring, housing, and job search...

If you had to leave your home immediately, would you know where to go and ask for help? BlueDoor’s mission has been to work with people that are homeless. They have been around for around 40 years working in the York region of Canada. Even though there are not many people working in the social services sector, this has created partnerships between organizations. With the approach of putting the person first instead of their homelessness experience, BlueDoor is on the right track to help the...

Finding a community and a support system is always necessary for life. The idea of doing this came unexpectedly to Suzanne and her friends. They were together one day and discussed how the media was misrepresenting women in their 50s and 60s. So this is how Advantages of Age came to be. In the five years, they have been active, they have grown into a community of 4 thousand people worldwide. Beyond the UK, AoA helps older people become entrepreneurs and get a stable housing place. The...

Thurman Brown’s work is all about helping people dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues. Thurman is creating a way to provide services not only for clients but to staff and supervisors. His counseling covers many topics: from 12-core functions and 8 domains to relapse, trauma, and other substance-related issues. Join this episode and discover how Thurman wants to close the gap and be the bridge between clients and staff members. For the full transcript and show notes, visit...