ShiftHappens: Our Blog:
The stories behind the grants
Community Gardening: Bringing Sanctuary to Refugees in Tijuana
On Sunday, June 20, we celebrate World Refugee Day; an opportunity to honor those fighting for safer lives. Millions of forcibly displaced people face treacherous conditions daily, many of whom are stuck at the Mexico-United States border. Over the past several years,...
Fresh Minds Radio Program – Bringing Awareness to Mental Health
When mental health advocate Mercy Mkandawire was invited to discuss mental disorders on a radio show last year, she received overwhelming feedback that people wanted to know more. This hunger for information inspired Mercy to create her own show, dedicated solely to...
Unadilla Community Farm – A new generation of farmers
Our Changemakers of the week are the farmers of Unadilla Community Farm in Edmeston, New York. The Unadilla River, which runs alongside the farm, gets its name from the Oneidan word for “a meeting place.” And at its very core, Unadilla Community Farm is just that - a...
A Truer Picture
Suppose two people are on opposite ends of a vast and lush forest that stretches for many thousands of acres. One stands beside a rushing stream, watching the light play on the water. The other is in a heavily wooded thicket, so dense that very little light filters...
Now You Hear Us – The voices of our youth
“From the highway all I can see is the road, but I know that beyond this lies camps with tents and portable boxes and people who still live in limbo, waiting to know their futures. And that’s the thing about someone who witnesses that reality: once you know, you have...
Listening is Revolutionary
There is a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln that inspires me: "I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better. " So much of our social discourse has dissolved into stalemates. Now more than ever, listening may be the most revolutionary heartivist act that any...
Sanjoh Rose Egbe – The Survivors Project
Rose is from Cameroon, has a university degree in history, and is a survivor of human trafficking. She was sold as a slave by her cousin with a promise of a teaching job in Kuwait that turned into a nightmare of human exploitation. When she finally was able to return...
Banyan Grove: A Space for Heartivists
Inner transformation has been a foundational principle of our theory of change since our inception. We firmly believe that in order to change the world, we also have to change ourselves. We are excited to announce that Banyan Grove, the retreat space in West Marin,...
Engage Globally: planting trees to save a community
Northern Ghana is a region that faces many intersecting challenges: severe poverty, illiteracy, resource scarcity, a growing population, and job loss due to deforestation, just to name a few. In the face of all these circumstances, of what value is the simple act of...
Make it your problem
“Let me drop everything and work on YOUR problem.” I recently saw this written on a tin sign in a novelty store. It was on a wall next to another that read “I may be old but at least I got to see all the good bands,” flanked by one reading “I’m sorry for what I said...
Smitha Daniel: Protector of the Forest Babies
Smitha Daniel was working in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation when she found an animal she had never seen before. The adorable palm-sized ball of fur was the elusive slender loris, found only in a few places in the world. These nocturnal creatures, whose Indian...
Becoming Justice
Over the last year, much of America and the world waited with heavy hearts for the outcome of the case against Derek Chauvin. This wasn’t just a fight for George Floyd. This wasn’t just a fight against Derek Chauvin. This was a fight for the soul of a nation, a fight...
Hear Your Song: empowering kids through songwriting
Daniel Rubins is a musician and heartivist. He founded Hear Your Song, a non-profit organization that empowers children and teens with serious illnesses to make their voices heard through collaborative songwriting. It all started with a special school experience and a...
The Entire Ocean in a Drop
One person can’t make a difference. - 7.8 billion people At The Pollination Project, we often say that the greatest untapped resource for social change is the potential for goodness within each human heart. I’ve lived long enough to know that one person can not only...
Human rights, dignity, & menstrual health: 3 women changing the world.
Millions of women and girls in the world have little or no sanitary protection. Lack of affordability or access to period products, together with cultural taboos, cause extreme distress leaving women with no choice but to use unhealthy, unhygienic, and potentially...
Activism, Identity & Service
The scholar Juana Rodriguez defines activism as “an engagement with hauntings of history, a dialogue between memories of the past and the imaginings of the future manifested through the acts of our own present yearning.” Her work examines the relationship between...
Polifacética: the Spanish voice of conscious activism
Poli Sotomayor is a Mexican activist, social media influencer, singer, writer and member of our global family of grassroots volunteer leaders. We first met Poli and learned of her project, Polifacética, in 2017. When Tessa Graham, then our Animal Advocacy Coordinator...
Never Waste A Good Crisis
The New York winter was beginning and I had just made a decision that was going to change life as I knew it. After a deep and prolonged time of contemplation, I came to a realisation - I had grown as much as I was going to grow as a monk. The time had come to hang up...
Ngọc-Trân Vũ: bringing a healing narrative in the Vietnamese-American community
My mind is PonderingMy heart is VietnameseMy soul is an ArtistMy conscience is a Healer - Ngọc-Trân Vũ Born in Vietnam, Ngọc-Trân Vũ came to the United States with her family as a political refugee and grew up in Dorchester and South Boston’s working-class...
Activism Takes Both Hands
Growing up in a working class town to immigrant parents, I found myself in the same kinds of mischief common to young boys the world over. And like many children, I was adept at justifying my actions whenever I was caught. Particularly in cases where I felt I was the...
Statement of Solidarity with Asian American Communities
Our country has faced multiple crises in the past year as the world grapples with a global pandemic, economic uncertainty and racial injustice. For our Asian community, particularly Asian women here in America, the challenges have been far greater with an...
Rodolfo Alvarez: Building ‘Eden’ in Guatemala
When Rodolfo was fifteen, he began volunteering at a summer camp called Viamistad. For the first time in his life, he was surrounded by people with disabilities, beginning to make many new friends and learning about their experiences. One of these new friends was...
Seek and ye shall find
I have a dear friend who is a gifted biologist. Hiking with her, she always manages to notice a ring snake among the leaves, the curved tail of a salamander just below a river rock, or the fluttering wings of some reclusive bird species high up in the canopy. I...
Seeds of responsible citizenship
Active citizenship, community empowerment and volunteer experiences: how three Italian women are seeding the change and making responsible tourism bloom!The Pollination Project community is made of volunteer grassroots leaders who put their time and energy in service...
Seeds to Trees
Here in California, the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada range are the only natural habitat of the Giant Sequoia, the largest trees on earth. The majesty of these living giants is truly something to behold; some have even been measured to be more than 300 feet...
Women’s Day: Honoring our Changemakers
March 8th is International Women’s Day, and this week we are celebrating all our female changemakers. In the last seven years, 1,800 women and girls have joined the global community of Pollination Project changemakers. Coming from different countries and cultures,...