Vantage Points
Solidarity in the Carpathian Region
Sándor Köles is a Hungarian-born sociologist, the President of the Carpathian Foundation, a founding member of the PASS Board of Advisors, and a member of the Berlin-based Robert Bosch Academy. He had been the Senior Vice-President of the International Center for Democratic Transition (ICDT), the main goal was to share and make applicable Central European experiences on democratic transition in a wider world. Previously, he had been the Carpathian Foundation's Executive Director, promoting cross-border and interethnic cooperation in the bordering areas of Hungary, ...
Empowerment for Change
Our goal at VantagePoints is to engage socially activated leaders to hear their ideas for solving some of the biggest global challenges. Many of the thought leaders we have interviewed name empowerment as a key part of their work. Click on the articles below to read more about how these leaders are empowering others to make a change across our globe.
We encourage you to share with us how you empower those around you! Leave a note in the "Comments" section or by sending us an email at vantagepoints@pass-usa.net.
Interview with Ho`ōla Nā Pua on their Mission to End ...
Interview with Ho`ōla Nā Pua on Their Mission to End Sex Trafficking
Jessica R. Munoz is a clinical emergency nurse practitioner, and president and founder of Hoʻōla Nā Pua Pua (HNP) which means "New life for our children", a nonprofit organization whose mission is the prevention of child sex trafficking and providing care for youth who have been exploited. Rooted on the “justice gene in her DNA”, her passion for shining the light in the dark places and watching new life come forth shapes her vision and life’s mission.
She provides executive leadership, innovation, and development of a growing social service agency. She has ...
Empowerment Through the Lens
Manca Juvan, photographer, curator, photography mentor, and director at APIS Institute, sits down with VantagePoints for a conversation about her work and her journey as an artist. Manca has travelled extensively and used photography as a tool for experiencing and learning about the places she has travelled to. Above all else, Manca is a storyteller. Her most well known projects, “Guardians of the Spoon” and “Unordinary Lives”, share a new perspective on the people who lived in the Italian Fascist Camps and Afghanistan, respectively.
Manca shares with us her ...
Addressing Food Insecurity: A Community Approach
Lauren Shweder Biel is Executive Director and co-founder of DC Greens. She has served as co-chair of DC Health's "Diabesity" Committee and on the Mayor's Commission for Healthy Youth and Schools. Lauren was named a 2014 Toyota "Mother of Invention," and received a 2019 David Bradt Nonprofit Leadership Award. She is currently an advisor to the Aspen Institute's Food & Society, Food is Medicine working group.
What drove you to create DC Greens, and has any of that vision changed since you started?
My co-founder and I first founded DC Greens in 2009. So, if ...
Addressing the Most Critical Factors Toward Eliminating Diseases of Poverty
Professor Bentwich, a physician, and world-renowned clinical immunologist and AIDS researcher. Since its onset, he became involved in AIDS and AIDS research and led the first AIDS center in Israel. Currently, he is Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheba, where he is also head of the Center for Tropical Diseases and AIDS (CEMTA) and its implementing arm in Africa -NALA Foundation, that is heavily involved in eradicating Neglected Tropical Diseases from Ethiopia and Africa. In the course of the last five years this activity has ...
Urban Farming for Social Impact
Josephine Chu is the Programs and Operations Manager at Common Good City Farm. She manages the distribution of the farm's produce through the Farm Stand and organizes the Seed-to-Table workshops and Community Events. As a graduate from American University's MA program in Global Environmental Politics, she became very involved in DC's food justice work. She co-founded Zenful Bites, a women-of-color owned social enterprise that provides plant-based eco-catering services and food education programming to foster a sustainable and fair food system in the DC metro region.
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Transitioning an Organization from its Local Origin to Support its International Focus: A Board Perspective
Richard A. Poppa (pronounced Poppy) is a Planning Facilitator and Governance Consultant and serves as Manager of RAPt Consulting, LLC. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York, Inc. for more than 20 years, retiring at the end of 2016 as President Emeritus.
Dick has been involved in numerous professional and civic activities, serving on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Association Executives. Dick was a founding member of the Trustedchoice.com Board of Managers, Past Chair of ...
Empowering the Future of Social Impact
Carrie Rich is the co-founder and CEO of The Global Good Fund, a nonprofit organization that supports high potential social entrepreneurs in more than 25 countries globally, collectively serving 339,000 beneficiaries.
Channeling Women’s Voices Through Digital Multimedia
If you gather people for an event and you show them a short film—you are able to more quickly convince them of your cause, rather than just relying on a speech or a lecture. Short films are a very effective tool to inform people about important topics. Of course, they can also go viral.
