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By Jenny Wise

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, just 17.1 percent of people with disabilities were employed in 2014. Compared to the employment-population ratio of people without disabilities, 64.6 percent, this statistic paints an unfortunate picture of employment prospects for people with physical or mental disabilities.

The outlook isn’t entirely grim, however. The unemployment rate for those with disabilities dropped to 12.5 percent in 2014, and legislation that requires certain employers to include individuals with disabilities as part of their workforce was bolstered that same year.

Forbes explains: “The ‘Final Rule’ of Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires all government agencies, all companies with federal contracts and any company that has a business relationship with a company that gets money from the federal government, to strive for a workforce which is at least 7 percent made up of people with disabilities.”

Great job opportunities for people with disabilities

Beyond statistics, there are many job opportunities that are well-suited for individuals with disabilities. One of the biggest benefits of the Internet is the fact that it makes it possible for almost anyone to work from home or earn a living by running an online business. For people with disabilities, this is a welcome opportunity as various disabilities make it challenging to travel to an office or work in chaotic, fast-paced environments.

But working online isn’t the only job opportunity for people with disabilities. Here are just a few of the best job opportunities.

Call center agent: Millions of companies rely on call centers to support customers both before and after they make a purchase. Thanks to the availability of affordable VoIP (Voice-over-IP) systems and phone-routing technology, many call center agents today actually work from home, making it an ideal position for people with physical disabilities. Many call center operations provide detailed documentation to help agents effectively solve customer issues.

Writing articles, books, blogs and more: If you have a way with words, writing is another job you can do from the comfort of your home, without worrying about navigating offices and unfamiliar areas. Writing is even a suitable job for people with vision impairment, thanks to technology tools that make these typically visual tasks possible for anyone with visual impairment.

Dog-walking or dog-boarding: If your disability isn’t physical, dog-walking could be the perfect job for you. Offer your services to friends and neighbors, or place an ad to let pet owners know that you’re available to walk their four-legged friends when they’re at work or too busy. Plus, you get the added benefit of spending time with lovable pups, which is good for the soul. If you have a suitable space, dog-boarding is another option.

Software, game or app development: If you have an affinity for tinkering with code and enjoy working with computers, honing your skills as a software, game or app developer could turn into a lucrative career opportunity. Because you’ll spend most of your time working with computers and code, you can develop games and software programs from anywhere.

There are many job opportunities for people with disabilities. No matter what limitations you have as a result of your disability, there’s a suitable job out there for you.

Image via Pixabay

Jenny Wise is a stay-at-home mom and home educator. She and her husband decided to homeschool when their oldest was four years old. During their journey, they’ve expanded their family and have faced many challenges. But they’re happy to have overcome each one. Jenny writes about her family’s experiences and homeschool, in general, on her new blog, SpecialHomeEducator.com.

Daisy (last name withheld) didn’t learn she and her family were in the country illegally until she was 14 years old. By that time, she’d been living in the United States for over 10 years since her family immigrated from Accra, Ghana, to Connecticut. Her parents were in the middle of a divorce when her father broke the news. Not knowing how her revealed status would affect her life, Daisy continued to cross many hurdles as a non-citizen, being ineligible for financial aid for college, facing difficulties to renew her driver's license, and walking in a silent shame of being unable to reveal her truth. 

Despite notable setbacks in her life, Daisy was able to land a full scholarship to college and made it halfway through law school before her inability to renew her driver's license meant that private loans were now off limits. Her story, however, is a rarity. Nearly 1 in 4 undocumented immigrants in this country live in poverty with limited access to education and high-paying jobs.

Code the Dream is hoping to turn things around for low income and immigrant communities through tech.

Based in Durham, North Carolina, Code the Dream offers a free, six-week introductory coding course in the heart of the downtown district at local startup co-working hub American Underground.  

The program was uniquely designed to increase economic opportunities for children of immigrants by providing in-demand skills training to help them launch better-paying careers in the city’s growing technology ecosystem. Students learn ground-level software development and, by the end of the course, have the skills to create their first mobile app.

“Our goal is to make NC a welcoming place for immigrants and refugees to give them the [same] possibilities and opportunities as everyone else,” said Dan Rearick, executive director of United NC, the nonprofit behind Code the Dream. “Most of the students we work with come from immigrant families with low-income backgrounds. Many of them have not been able to afford to go to college.”

An estimated 11.4 million undocumented immigrant peoples live in the United States, according to Pew Research Center statistics. In North Carolina, over 260,000 people live illegally in the state. This population is twice as likely to live in abject poverty without options for Medicare, food stamps, subsidized housing or advanced education. Many are forced to work low-wage, highly-laborious jobs in order to provide for themselves and their families.

While many people in the population Code the Dream serves are undocumented, they are still able to work legally. Rearick explains:

It is confusing mainly because of all the dozens of different immigration statuses and what people can do with each. We do have many students who were at some point undocumented when they were younger, and for that reason their options were severely limited. Some of those who benefit most from our program have still only been able to qualify for a status called DACA ("Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals"), under which they have work authorization but no path toward citizenship and no eligibility for financial aid or in-state tuition (at least in NC).

Still in its infancy, Code the Dream has graduated its first cohort of 12 students who have gone on to intensive studies at advanced coding camps. Daisy completed the program last spring and earned a scholarship to the Iron Yard. She now works as a software developer at a local major university.

 

“Coding is inherently difficult. I wouldn’t have been able to handle the fast-paced environment if I hadn’t had my instructors from Code the Dream at my side," she recalled. "It was intimidating. But tech is collaborative, and during the program we all worked together on assignments. It was a supportive environment that let you know anything is possible."

Despite its best intentions, the program appears to still face barriers in truly engaging the vulnerable communities it intends to support. For instance, all programming is taught in English, requiring that students are already fluent in speech and writing. Marketing to draw students into the class is also limited to locally-known networks and youth who are already relatively tech savvy.

Perhaps addressing basic tech skills among this population in connection with language skills can provide a poverty-alleviation tool while simultaneously adding diversity to the tech industry as a whole.

But first, solving for basic issues in this community could warrant much deeper, long-term outcomes.

For instance, a host of hack-a-thons to solve issues for undocumented and refugee immigrants have begun to pop up in cities that beg the question: What other challenges can be hacked to help solve issues immigrants face when they do not have access to full citizenship? Issues like employer exploitation, domestic violence, access to supportive benefits and not being able to bank traditionally are particular opportunities for innovation and advancement.

“It’s only been a year and a half, but we’re developing the possibility for our students to have a totally life-changing opportunity that will allow them to support their families and go from working low-income jobs to become a software developer," Rearick explained. "Our partners include Cisco, IBM and other local startups. The goal is to get more diverse communities represented in tech so that we can come up with the best solutions possible to problems experienced by these diverse groups."

Image courtesy of Code the Dream

Ed note: This piece was updated after it was published to reflect the fact that some adults who came to the U.S. as children (undocumented immigrants) can work legally without having a pathway to citizenship. 

On April 4 H&M, along with Conscious Commerce co-founders Olivia Wilde and Barbara Burchfield, hosted a preview at the company’s gorgeous Fifth Avenue showroom to introduce the new Conscious Exclusive collection. The event was intended to not only highlight H&M’s ongoing sustainability efforts, but also shed light on the retailer’s global garment-collecting initiative with the launch of its first World Recycle Week campaign.

The Conscious Exclusive collection

H&M’s Conscious Exclusive collection features clothing and accessories made entirely from sustainable materials. The ultra-luxe collection -- which takes inspiration from the archives of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, located in the Palais du Louvre in Paris -- is probably H&M’s greenest and most glamorous collection yet. It’s also the most innovative.

From cat-eye sunglasses made from plastic bags, to a pair of high-fashion flats made of eucalyptus bark, the products are chic, beautiful and revolutionary in terms of construction. “H&M is really investing in sustainability through their Conscious Exclusive line,” actress and Conscious Commerce co-founder Olivia Wilde said. “They’re proving that sustainability doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re sacrificing style.”

New to this year’s collection are three wedding dresses, one of which was lit with fiber optics to showcase the craftsmanship and design specially created by Paris-based Korean artist Tae Gong Kim. Approximately 750 pounds of recycled clothing from H&M’s global Garment Collecting initiative was repurposed and on display as art installations.

World Recycle Week

The purpose of the #WorldRecycleWeek campaign is to urge consumers to join the movement to close the loop in fashion, by encouraging them to recycle unwanted garments at their nearest H&M retail store. The first company to launch a global garment-collecting initiative, the fashion juggernaut is on a mission to reduce textile waste and give old products a new life.

“This campaign is encouraging people to change the way they think about disposing their clothes,” Wilde explained. “This is significant because when we think of fast fashion and big companies like H&M, we don't think of them putting the emphasis on thoughtfulness when it comes to disposing garments. We think of them as being wasteful. H&M is tackling this issue head on by saying, we want to change the way we manufacture, change the way you shop, change the way you care for your items and change the way you dispose of them.”

The brand has set the ambitious goal to collect 1,000 tons of clothing from customers between April 18 and April 24 and even brought on pop star, M.I.A. to lead the cause. The British/Sri-Lankan rapper dropped a track and video called “Rewear It” to fuel the effort.

“World Recycle Week is about embracing important environmental issues such as the landfills, and highlighting a global movement,” M.I.A. said. The video features an eclectic cast of interesting influencers and inspirational people from all over the world who have a strong personal style and passion for sustainability.

The backlash

H&M has launched five consecutive eco-fashion collections and has unveiled a series of innovative sustainability efforts over the years. And yet, despite doing everything in its power to build a greener brand, the company still gets hit hard with negative feedback from the sustainability community.

Some H&M skeptics question the timing of the campaign, accusing the brand of “stealing the thunder” from the Fashion Revolution,  a grassroots movement which promotes transparency within the fashion industry. Although the campaigns, which each run during Earth Week from April 18 to April 24, are pushing for a more sustainable fashion future, their missions could not be more different.

The Fashion Revolution, which was founded by Derbyshire hat designer Cary Somers and ethical clothing maker Orsola de Castro, was born off the heels of the Rana Plaza disaster that claimed the lives of over 1,100 garment workers. The campaign focuses on issues like living wages and worker’s rights by spotlighting some of the most exploited workers on the planet. It invites supporters to wear their clothes inside-out and ask brands, “Who made your clothes?”

World Recycle Week is geared more toward the environment. It offers consumers the opportunity to turn textile waste into new products. As much as 95 percent of clothes that are thrown away can be used again. H&M has partnered with I:CO to close the loop, and is actively working to alleviate one of the biggest threats to our planet and its resources.

De Castro considers the fact that the two campaigns will take place during the same week “disrespectful,” the Guardian reported . “We’re remembering the carnage, not staging a carnival where people go around dressed in fashion waste,” he said.

But my question is: Why must we conflate the two issues? Can’t we all just get along and build a more sustainable future that is kind to people and the planet? While it’s true that H&M might have a ways to go when it comes to fulfilling its promises to promote fair living wages, the company is committed to increasing wages for at least 60 percent of the garment workers in its supply chain by 2018.

In large companies, big changes take time. However, H&M seems to be taking the necessary steps toward creating a more sustainable brand. When asked if fast fashion can ever be truly sustainable, an H&M representative told TriplePundit, “We’re trying to figure out the same thing.”

Photo Credit: Photos by Brian Ach/Getty Images for H&M (used with permission) / Fashion Revolution

It has become even more obvious that water scarcity poses one of the largest overall risks to the planet, and therefore, to businesses worldwide. Despite successes in boosting water access to more people across the globe, the United Nations made water and sanitation one of its foremost sustainability goals.

The U.N. estimates that by 2050, when 9 billion people are expected to live on Earth, one in four citizens will be affected by chronic water shortages. The World Economic Forum identified water crises as the world’s largest economic risks over the next decade. Furthermore, Ceres, an NGO that advocates for sustainability leadership within the private sector, has long pushed for more proactive water stewardship, from more action at the corporate board level to pushing insurance companies to take water scarcity more seriously. More companies are paying attention to water-related challenges, but the road ahead is still a very long one.

But as Paul Reig of the World Resources Institute (WRI) points out, while companies and governments have found consistency in how they approach carbon emissions and climate change, a standardized approach toward economic risks related to water is seriously lacking. According to Reig, three main challenges stand in the way of businesses tackling challenges related to water scarcity.

First, a one-size-fits-all approach toward water stewardship is not tenable as water risks vary greatly depending on location. Reig reminds us that in the case of emissions, the impact of greenhouse gases is the same everywhere. But with water, the risks and solutions are far more complex. Water is a local source, not one that is global. What is the source of water across a company’s value chain? Where is that water discharged? Are there ways in which water use can not only be more optimized, but even reused so that companies score an economic benefit?

Campbell Soup Co., for example, is one large food manufacturer that has taken water risks seriously for years. The company has worked within its supply chain to instruct farmers and produce brokers on how they can minimize water waste. Depending on the type of water efficiency project in which Campbell’s has invested, the ROI of such an initiative has been as high as 20 percent — which scores points with all shareholders and stakeholders.

In addition, from region to region, water scarcity risks can stem from a variety of reasons, from aquifer depletion to polluted waterways to, of course, drought. One way in which companies can navigate around this problem is by partnering with NGOs to get a better feel for what is needed on the ground, especially in emerging economies. PepsiCo, for example, has long worked with Water.org to find ways in which to address water risks and access in nations including India. The textile industry, heavily dependent on water in manufacturing its products, has also become more proactive on water issues. Ikea says its close relationship with WWF has helped the company ameliorate its water impact across its supply chain.

Finally, while science has driven action toward the development of a broad framework to address climate change, there is no unified voice when it comes to water. Thanks to the long road to COP21, we have heard the relentless call to limit the increase in Earth’s atmospheric temperature to 2 degrees Celsius this century. There is no analogous clarion call when it comes to water. We can debate whether this is actually necessary, but the high-level goal of the world’s nations to halt climate change has not only made it easier to derive a common goal, but also makes this case an easier one to argue before the globe’s citizens.

To that end, WRI is working with companies, including Mars Inc., to create a more uniformed approach for setting water targets within the private sector. The goal is to create a platform by which targets can be set across a company’s value chain, from the earliest sourcing of materials until consumer end use. The group seeks to deploy a range of indicators that cover water quantity, quality, ecosystems and social impact and broad-based goals based on science -- and, in fairness to many companies, such information in many parts of the world is still sparse. Considering the current plight water scarcity has on the world’s poor (mostly women), and the fact that diminished water means diminished business returns, the exact time to build on this momentum was, as always . . . yesterday.

Image credit: Leon Kaye

The world’s newest country, South Sudan, is also one of the most volatile nations on the planet. After years of civil war within Sudan, a referendum held in 2011 scored a 99 percent “yes” vote for independence. But any glee over separation from Sudan was short-lived. Two years later, fighting within the country sparked a civil war during which at least 300,000 people died and approximately 2 million people, or one in six South Sudanese citizens, fled their homes.

Meanwhile, South Sudan is an economic basket case. Many citizens are still dependent on subsistence agriculture. Despite abundant mineral wealth, including oil, opportunities for work in the country are few and far between, and the country has had difficulty securing revenues. The landlocked nation was forced to pay Sudan’s government as much as $34 a barrel in oil pipeline fees, which were only recently renegotiated between the two countries.

Despite the constant hassles with its northern neighbor, South Sudan’s only real export is oil, with annual revenues peaking over $2 billion annually. Its next biggest export, scrap vessels, is valued at .0001 percent of its oil revenues. No other product in South Sudan has been exported at a value of over $1 million annually. Oil’s collapse in price has only created more economic hardship in a nation where per-capita GDP is within the bottom 15 percent of the world’s countries.

But, as is the case with neighbors Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia, South Sudan’s terrain and climate are ideal for growing coffee. South Sudan has a larger land mass than France, but only 4 percent of the country’s land is cultivated. The country’s government, along with USAID, see farming as a way to boost economic opportunities while reducing South Sudan’s dependence on expensive food imports.

To that end, last week the American government’s foreign aid agency, USAID, announced a partnership with coffee pod giant Nespresso and TechnoServe, an NGO that seeks business-oriented poverty solutions. The three organizations will invest over $3 million in USAID funds to revitalize South Sudan’s coffee industry and help farmers become more economically secure.

Nespresso has worked in South Sudan since 2011 to revive the country’s coffee sector, which was once vibrant but has long suffered after years of wars and economic decline. Last fall, Nespresso announced what it claimed was the first coffee to be exported from the new independent South Sudan. The varietal, which Nespresso insists is a “rare and unique coffee,” was available only to Nespresso Club members in France. Up to the first export of that coffee, Nespresso’s program had invested approximately $2.5 million in rehabilitating coffee production and training up to 700 coffee farmers in South Sudan; that number, says the company, will increase to $3.4 million by the end of 2016. By 2020 it will include the participation of several thousand farmers.

Working with USAID will help Nespresso build upon its goals for the country. The company’s program covers many facets of coffee production, from establishing the first wet mills (in which coffee cherries are processed into coffee beans) in South Sudan to sharing best practices on how to best cultivate and maintain coffee trees. Although there is no official fair trade certification associated with this project, Nespresso says it adheres to Sustainable Action Network (SAN) standards, ensuring South Sudanese coffee production is sustainable, both environmentally and socially. While issues such as water management and biodiversity are part of Nespresso’s program, SAN’s guidelines also ensure labor and human rights are respected. Some farmers in South Sudan who work with Nespresso reported that they can now afford to send their children to school.

Nespresso and its balancing act of imparting responsibility and sustainability in partnership with brand ambassador George Clooney, while being partly responsible for the oft-criticized coffee pod boom, has earned the company more than a few eye-rolls.

Some observers wonder why the effort to develop a company's coffee pod business is not directed to help farmers raise food for a hungry country instead. Nevertheless, when considering the unspeakable violence that has roiled South Sudan constantly since its newfound independence, this is one effort that could earn Nespresso some new fans, even those leery of coffee pods’ environmental impact.

Image credit: Nespresso

By Whitney Dailey

Earth Day has come a long way from its humble roots in 1970 as the brainchild of peace activist John McConnell and Sen. Gaylord Nelson. Today, honoring the earth is a month-long affair, with citizens from 192 countries partaking in activities. And this Earth Day promises to be the biggest yet – as world leaders convene to officially sign the Paris Climate Agreement and 1 billion citizens of the globe come together to celebrate the one and only planet we have.

Brand marketing campaigns during Earth Month have dramatically evolved over the years as well. When Cone Communications began tracking Earth Month campaigns back in 2008, companies were hyper-focused on infusing the color green into their efforts, and activations tended to revolve around how many trees could be planted.

Over the last decade, marketers have learned from missteps of greenwashing, and campaigns during the month of April have undergone a transformation. The early landmark campaigns like GE’s “Project Plant a Bulb” and Office Depot’s “Growing Greener” have come and gone, replaced by newer efforts that reflect the growing consumer sophistication around social and environmental issues – and their expectations of companies.

Now, marketers are leveraging Earth Month as a moment in time to communicate commitments and broader efforts in environmental stewardship. Companies are replacing nonaligned tree plantings and community clean-up efforts with a more thoughtful  approach: sharing progress and efforts related to specific environmental commitments – whether that’s reducing waste in a supply chain, conserving water or showcasing a company’s role in protecting bees.

Earth Month is reaching maturity – and here are the key learnings we see from tracking the space for nearly a decade:

• Break through with issue-specific efforts: Companies are abandoning broad-sweeping green messaging and breaking through with a clear focus on issues that are material to their business. For Virgin America, this meant prioritizing carbon reductions with its Earth Month campaign. Last year, for each passenger who offset his or her flight using the airline’s onboard seat-back entertainment system, Virgin made a matching donation to the CarbonFund.org Foundation and NatureBridge.

• Prioritize tailored engagement and impact: Earth Month campaigns of the past were all about aspirational environmental messages and one-way communications. Now, new efforts focus on motivating specific audiences to action and impact. American Eagle Outfitters achieved this last year with an Earth Month campaign in partnership with nonprofit Make It Right. The retailer encouraged consumers to bring in old denim in exchange for a 20 percent discount toward a new pair of jeans. The old denim was then shredded and used for insulation in Make It Right’s affordable homes across the country, creating both positive social and environmental impacts.

• Reinforce commitment to current efforts: Although Earth Month can be a crowded time for new announcements or programs, it’s the perfect occasion to reinforce or bolster environmental campaigns or initiatives that are already in place. Aveda is leveraging Earth Month as a way to celebrate its 10-year-strong commitment to protecting clean water and the $38 million it has raised for the issue since 2007. This year, the beauty brand is encouraging consumers to attend a Catwalk for Water fashion show or purchase a Light the Way candle to trigger a 100 percent donation to Global Greengrants Fund.

• Get employees on board: Earth Month is a natural touch-point to rally employees around your company’s environmental commitments and also encourage sustainable behavior in their own lives. 21st Century Fox celebrated Earth Month in 2015 with a range of activities to get employees involved. The company created an easy photo-sharing contest called The Sustainable Life, inviting individuals to share their earth-friendly actions, whether cycling to work or visiting a local park. Fox employees were also invited to participate in the company’s seventh annual Earth Day Fair at its studio lot in Los Angeles where vendors and nonprofits educated attendees about the environment and what individuals could do to make a difference. And employees around the country could participate in locally hosted events like a sustainable food cooking class at Rustico Cooking in Manhattan.

• Don’t shy away: Although there is a lot of noise during Earth Month, don’t shy away from joining the conversation when the topic is so top-of-mind for consumers and employees. H&M is giving new life to its 3-year-old Garment Collecting program with a partnership with musical artist M.I.A. during the month of April. The brand will reinforce its recycling initiative through World Recycle Week (April 18-April 24) and a video featuring M.I.A., highlighting the environmental impact of clothes going to landfills around the world.

Earth Month campaigns have certainly seen their share of growing pains – from lackluster “greening” efforts to disconnected programs that don’t ladder up to a company’s broader environmental programs. Today brands have matured in their communications efforts and are focusing on how to tell stories of their current commitments, amplify impact of efforts, and bring consumers and employees along the journey in an authentic way. Earth Month has moved from a commercial opportunity to a time to honor and celebrate our planet – just as John McConnell and Gaylord Nelson intended.

Image credit: Flickr/Alex Indigo

Whitney Dailey is a senior supervisor at Cone Communications on the CR Insights & Intel team, where she leads the development and distribution of industry-leading research studies, including the 2015 Cone Communications/Ebquity Global CSR Study and 2015 Cone Communications Millennial CSR Study. Her expertise in corporate responsibility, sustainability and social media helps to guide thought leadership at the agency. Whitney is a guest lecturer at Harvard University, Boston College, Boston University and Simmons College and tweets at @WhitneyDailey.

Former professional basketball player Seth Sundberg tried to trick the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) out of $5 million in 2008, and the results did not pan out too well for him. After his arrest and trial, during which Sundberg refused to return about $2.4 million of that refund check to the IRS, he was convicted of mail fraud and sentenced to almost seven years in prison. He was released from federal prison after five years, and as is the case with most released felons, employment opportunities were scarce.

Sundberg’s new venture is an attempt toward offering the formerly incarcerated a chance at work and redemption. The lack of jobs for ex-convicts is a large part of why over two-thirds of released prisoners find their way back into a correctional facility within three years; that figure surges to 75 percent within five years of release from a correctional facility.

According to U.S. government statistics, approximately one in 36 American adults, or 2.8 percent of citizens 18 years of age or older, are currently incarcerated across the country. An additional 4.7 million are either on parole or probation. The U.S. justice system is especially punishing toward minority communities: While one in 106 whites are in prison, for Hispanics that rate is one in 36 and the incarceration rate increases to about one in 15 for African Americans. One in three black men, in fact, can expect to spend time behind bars at some point in their lifetime.

Organizations across the political spectrum, from the Wall Street Journal to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), agree that the legal system is tilted against people of color: A federal government survey found that blacks tend to receive prison sentences 20 percent longer than that of whites. Within the federal prison system and in 13 states, the percentages of blacks serving life sentences is over 60 percent; at schools, blacks were three times more likely and Hispanics twice as likely to be arrested compared to white kids.

So, once someone is released from prison, the prospects for rebuilding one’s life are overall bleak. To that end, Sundberg’s experience has led him to launch Prison Bars, which aims to market healthful snack bars while giving a chance for those recently released from prison to reintegrate into society.

Other companies with a similar social-enterprise mission exist across the U.S. Greyston Bakers, a supplier to Ben & Jerry’s, has long hired former prisoners at its Yonkers, New York, operation. Dave’s Killer Bread in Portland, Oregon, has a similar story about finding redemption in making healthful food products. Meanwhile, more consumers have become outraged at the thought of prison labor used to create consumer goods and food products. Whole Foods, for example, earned scorn last year when it was revealed that some of its tilapia was raised by prisoners in Colorado.

Nevertheless, while more Americans realize the ravenous U.S. prison system keeps incarcerating more people with dubious long-term results, many are not still thrilled with the idea of buying products made by ex-cons. When asked if the name Prison Bars was too jarring (the company started out with the name Inside-Out Bars), a company spokesperson replied: “Prison Bars is deliberately designed to invite the question ‘what is that about?’ and open conversation for those partners and customers interested in the mission and back-story of the brand.” Noting that millions of Americans have been touched in one way or another by the criminal justice system, Prison Bar’s spokesperson added, “We believe that those who are willing to work and embrace their responsibilities deserve a chance for redemption.”

So far the company is a small outfit. Prison Bars employs five people, has three interns and four other workers are employed on a contract basis. The long-term goal is to hire 100 formerly incarcerated men and women, “and hire the best and brightest regardless of their criminal record,” said Prison Bar’s spokesperson. According to the company, the bars contain organic ingredients and are gluten- and GMO-free. Roasted peanut cranberry coconut and goji cacao bars will be available for shipment this summer, and will soon be sold at some Bay Area retail locations, too.

The oft-repeated saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results applies to the American prison system. More companies with a mission like Prison Bars, as well as additional companies willing to take the risk to hire those released from prison, are needed, however, if our society is ever going to break free from this cycle. Instead of families and communities, the only mass incarceration winners so far have been politicians seeking to score easy points with voters and the nearly $5 billion privately-operated prison industry.

Image credit: Prison Bars

By Hillary Miller-Wise

Imagine you had to run a 10-kilometer race without running shoes. Certainly you would make do with what you had, but you would probably end up blistered and near the back of the pack. In a simplistic way, this is what smallholder farmers in Africa experience every day. But in their case, their lives depend on it.

Most smallholder farmers in Africa are farming without the tools and knowledge they need. They don’t have access to inputs like quality seed and fertilizer that would allow them to produce more. Some countries have tried to solve this problem by subsidizing inputs with the intention of making them more affordable. In the end, though, the result is like giving the runner one shoe to run the race.

Subsidies are fraught with problems. Often the administration is so poor that the inputs don’t arrive in time for the season. Those who benefit most tend to be less poor, more highly-educated, well-connected and men. Subsidies tend to “crowd out” private sector supply, and they often drive farmers to over-produce the subsidized crop, such as maize, which can lead to negative changes in diet and nutrition as production of other crops like legumes is reduced.

Even when smallholder farmers are able to procure subsidized inputs, the product is often still too expensive for them. In Ghana, for example, a bag of fertilizer on the open market costs 120 Ghanaian cedi, or about $30. The government subsidy reduces the price to 90 cedi, or about $23. While the lower price certainly helps, it is still out of reach for many smallholder farmers, who have little cash at the time that they need to purchase the inputs.

This is the main problem: It’s often not a question of overall income for farmers, but rather of cash flow. Farmers may well be able to afford inputs right after harvest, but they are often out of cash just prior to the planting season. And most of these farmers can’t borrow money to bridge the gap because, as we know, most banks won’t lend to them. One of the few options left is to borrow informally at very high interest rates, which eats into their profits at harvest time.

In order to break this cycle, farmers need to accumulate financial assets from production surpluses. In other words, they need to put some of the money they earn during harvest time into savings in order to purchase quality inputs for the next season.

Savings practices are already widespread among more commercially-oriented smallholder farmers, as documented by CGAP in its recently published Smallholder Diaries report. Many smallholders keep their savings in-kind or under the mattress, presenting a clear opportunity to offer them more avenues to store money.

For less commercially-oriented smallholders, improved agronomic practices and better agricultural risk management would also be important, according to CGAP. Off-takers interested in reaching smallholders, for example, would need to bundle agronomic support and financial tools, the report says.

While subsidized inputs have proven to increase production for the smallholder farmers who are able to access them, they tend to treat the symptom rather than the underlying disease -- which is, at least in part, a combination of the high cost of inputs, farmers’ inability to store money safely when they can, and poor knowledge of improved agricultural practices to increase the return on investment when they are able to procure the inputs.

To tackle these problems in a sustainable way, we need to improve the way that input and financial markets function for poor smallholders. One way to do this is by creating incentives for smallholders to save and invest in their farm. These incentives should include access to discounted inputs based on market principles such as bulk purchases, access to vital market and agronomic information, guaranteed yield increases and protection against crop failure, and access to markets.

An input subsidy is like giving a runner one running shoe. Creating market incentives for smallholders to save and invest in their farms is like giving the runner the complete pair and the motivation to cross the finish line.

Image courtesy of Esoko

Hillary Miller-Wise is the Chief Executive Officer of Esoko. Hillary has spent her career in social entrepreneurship in both the for-profit and NGO sectors. She spent five years at TechnoServe, where she led significant revenue growth of the Tanzania operations (CAGR of 68% over four years). While at TechnoServe, she forged partnerships with multi-nationals such as Vodafone, Tigo, General Mills and Olam. She also spent six years as a consultant with DAI, where she provided advisory services to financial institutions, small and medium enterprises, and government agencies. Earlier in her career, she ran FINCA Tanzania, a microfinance institution, where she tripled revenue in two years and reduced non-performing loans to below 5%. Hillary holds an MBA from INSEAD, where she received the Social Entrepreneurship Scholarship, and a Master’s degree in International Economics from Johns Hopkins University.

By Shannon Houde

As most of my clients will tell you, one of my first pieces of advice for job-seekers is that jobs boards are a waste of your time. Odds are that you will not find and land your dream role through a jobs board, especially since over 50 percent of open roles are never even posted publicly.

That being said, jobs boards can serve a useful purpose. They are a great way to scan the market and find out what types of roles are open in your sector as well as who is hiring. Learning about your options can spark ideas about which path you’re interested in pursuing as well as what skills/education you need to acquire along the way. Plus, since I know you cannot resist the urge to surf, you may as well get strategic about it.

For sustainability and impact job-seekers, there is an overwhelming amount of online resources and it’s easy to get lost. Targeting your search not only saves you time and energy, but allows you to key in on the criteria that matter to you most. A useful jobs board provides filters for location, experience level, sector, salary and more to help connect your with the most relevant opportunities.

Always remember to bookmark or save roles of interest so that you can reference them later and begin to customize your personal marketing materials (bio, LinkedIn profile, elevator pitch) to include relevant keywords. Once you find the jobs board that you like, follow them on social media or request personalized email updates to condense future searches.

To give you a head start I’ve put together this brief list of the top sustainability and impact sector jobs boards to help you land your dream role:

1. Acre Resources

Acre is the U.K.’s leading sustainability recruitment firm. They showcase a comprehensive range of jobs across corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability, energy, environment, and more. Search their job board by location and salary to find positions within corporates, nonprofits, and NGOs.

2. BSR (Business for Social Responsibility)

BSR is a global nonprofit that works with more than 250 member companies. Scroll through or search by topic for the latest CSR and sustainability positions.

3. Environmental Career

The site’s concise job descriptions complete with company logos allows you to easily scan through the list of roles, and you can search for positions according to location and industry.

4. Environment Jobs

This busy environmental and green jobs site sends user specific vacancies in their job alerts. Environment Jobs has a diverse international green jobs list that the job hunter can search and load their resume to, free of charge.

5. GreenBiz 

GreenBiz is a great source for news and resources on the greening of mainstream business. You can subscribe to job alerts or follow their job updates on Twitter.

6. Green Dream Jobs 

A leading green jobs service on sustainablebusiness.com, Green Dream Jobs allows for search criteria and posts jobs across the US on a daily basis.

7. Idealist 

In addition to being a wonderful job search engine, Idealist gives the curious an opportunity to find organizations, events, and blogs regarding all things sustainable.

8. Nonprofit Oyster 

Nonprofit Oyster is a mission-focused nonprofit career site that provides seekers the ability to search for jobs by industry, state, or job function.

9. Net Impact Global 

Create an account with Net Impact Global to apply for positions and “Explore Careers” for job search tools and tips.

Did I forget to include your favorite jobs board? Tweet it to us, we’d love to check it out.
Image credit: Flickr/Dean Meyers

Shannon Houde is founder of Walk of Life Consulting, the first international career and executive coaching advisory service focused solely on the impact, sustainability and corporate responsibility fields.

The breezy lands of the Midwest lay claim to some of the best sites for wind farms in the U.S., and electricity consumers to the east are hungry for clean power. But connecting the two has proved challenging. In addition to the obstacles faced by any large infrastructure project, new clean-power transmission lines face opposition from competing interests in the energy sector.

However, as demonstrated by several recent developments, it looks like the opposition is set up for a giant game of whack-a-mole, and at least one of several proposed wind transmission lines will get off the drawing board. The question is: Which one?

The Midwest Transmission Line

That question is fairly easy to answer. Back in 2013, route selection was accomplished for the Midwest Transmission Line -- which will hook up eastern Nebraska, northwestern Missouri and points beyond with renewable energy. According to a transmission industry report, the line is scheduled to go live this year.

In addition to shuttling wind power to points east, the new line is intended to ease a transmission bottleneck and provide for emergency backup in the region.

Nebraska is also working to accelerate its slow-growing wind sector. Wind development in the state passed a legislative milestone last week when state senators approved a bill that would drop an onerous requirement from Nebraska's wind farm approval process, the Omaha World-Herald newspaper reported.

That's a huge step forward for a state that has been reluctant to tap into its wind resources, to say the least. The regional grid is already saturated with wind power, so wind developers in Nebraska are banking on the construction of new transmission lines that would give them access to out-of-state markets.

Here's the World-Herald on that topic:

"Nebraska ranks third nationally in winds ready to be tapped but behind all surrounding states except for Missouri when it comes to installed wind-generating capacity. For example, while Iowa had more than 6,200 megawatts of wind power capacity last year and Kansas had nearly 3,800 megawatts, Nebraska had 890."

One thing standing in Nebraska's way, at least until recently, was opposition from the leader of the state's rural electric co-operatives. However, it appears that competition from nearby Iowa and Kansas has lit a fire under state lawmakers.

A tale of two wind transmission projects

Two other Missouri wind transmission projects demonstrate how rocky the road can get.

As reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper last week, the transmission subsidiary of Ameren Corp. got approval for its new 100-mile Mark Twain line from the Missouri Public Service Commission. That clears the way to exercise eminent domain.

However, local opposition could land the Mark Twain project in legal limbo until the courts decide whether or not the commission can override county lawmakers.

The same commission, though, blocked another multi-state wind transmission line last summer. Dubbed the Grain Belt Express, the 780-mile project had already been greenlighted by Kansas, Illinois and Indiana.

The Grain Belt Express is one of several wind energy transmission lines planned by startup Clean Line Energy, but Missouri regulators decided against providing the company with utility status. No status means no eminent domain, effectively putting a halt to the project.

Clean Line plans to come back to the commission with a plan for establishing its service as a public benefit to state consumers, though that could take a while, the Post-Dispatch reported.

Iowa House is not feeling it ...

Another Clean Line wind transmission project called Rock Island is also feeling the heat. Last week, Iowa state lawmakers threw a roadblock at the 500-mile, Iowa-to-Illinois line in the form of a new bill, which would put a time limit on property negotiations. Transmission developers (namely, Clean Line) that fail to bring 75 percent of property owners on board within three years would lose their eminent domain option, effectively killing the project.

The bill passed the Iowa House of Representatives, but according to Radio Iowa, the state Senate doesn't seem too enthusiastic, so Rock Island may yet pass this hurdle.

... but the U.S. Energy Department is

Clean Line is working on another massive wind transmission project called the Plains and Eastern line, billed as the largest renewable energy project in U.S. history. To smooth the way past state-level obstacles, the Energy Department partnered with the project through its capacity as a regional power supply agency.

The 705-mile line is intended to connect wind farms in the Oklahoma panhandle with western Tennessee by way of Arkansas. Wind farms in Texas may also come into the mix.

The Energy Department seal of approval doesn't guarantee smooth sailing, and Arkansas lawmakers have already begun arguing that the state has final say in declaring what counts as a utility for the purposes of exercising eminent domain.

Upper Midwest in play

Meanwhile, a new complex of transmission lines totaling 800 miles is under development in the upper Midwest states of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The massive project, spearheaded by a group of 11 utilities, is already partially energized and is designed to accommodate more renewable energy in the region, among other purposes.

As for demand, the American Wind Energy Association is coming out with its much-anticipated annual report on April 12. The organization has been been teasing out some highlights over the past several weeks, one of which is the impact of non-utility buyers on the wind market.

According to the association, in 2015 almost 10 percent of total new wind capacity went to long-term contracts for individual corporations and other "emerging" buyers.

The Rocky Mountain Institute also notes that the non-utility sector is clamoring for more wind energy.

As demand for wind continues to percolate up through the U.S. business community, look for more states to follow Nebraska's lead and smooth the way for more wind farms and transmission lines, too.

Image (screenshot): Grain Belt Express via Clean Line Energy.