Journalism today is like bad parenting, says author and journalist David Bornstein. “What journalists do is get up every morning and tell people what’s wrong," he said. 

"If a parent tells a child every morning what is wrong with him, the kid will likely end up in an institution. Journalism today is like bad parenting – it is not based on how change happens.”

As a social studies teacher at a Bronx public high school, Charles Best discovered that teachers who needed learning materials for their students were having to dig into their own pockets to buy them for their classrooms. So he founded DonorsChoose.org, a website that for online, citizen philanthropy where teachers can list what the materials they need, and anyone can chose to donate the requested materials.

Majora Carter is a MacArthur “genius” award recipient for her work as “a relentless and charismatic urban strategist,” pioneering green-collar job training and placement systems through her organization, Sustainable South Bronx (SSB) in one of the most environmentally and economically challenged inner cities of the United States. She recently served as a judge in Changemakers and Community Matters' Strong Communities challenge, which used anonline competition to find innovative solutions from citizens who are collaborating to make their communities vital, enduring places.

Changemakers: You calling for a reassessment of whether philanthropy and the citizen sector is working. Why?

Carter: It worked out pretty well for a good portion of the 20th century in terms of scholarship funds, libraries, hospitals, orchestras, and museums . . . (but) the social gains that men and women died for in the labor, suffrage, civil rights, and environmental movements of the past, have been largely circumvented by outsourcing production to many countries that don’t recognize human rights, environmental protection, or democracy. Philanthropy would do more to achieve its social-justice goals by supporting jobs here in communities that need them.

Video blog featuring Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., President and CEO

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Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity and one of the world's great social entrepreneurs, cultivated the idea of building affordable housing through the Christian ministries and watched it grow to astronomical proportions. Today, the world-renowned organization has built over 300,000 houses across the globe, giving more than 1.5 million people a safe place to call home. Here, the celebrated humanitarian speaks candidly about working to eliminate poverty housing throughout the world.