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Ashesi University, is a secular, private, non-profit liberal arts college located in Ghana, West Africa. Our vision is an African Renaissance driven by a new generation of ethical entrepreneurial leaders. Ashesi's mission is to train a new generation of ethical and entrepreneurial leaders in Africa; to cultivate within our students the critical thinking skills, concern for others and courage it will take to transform their continent. The Ashesi University Foundation, based in Seattle, Washington, USA, is a 501 (c)(3) organization designed to help US and international donors support the University. The foundation was instrumental in helping Patrick Awuah establish Ashesi, and continues to inspire a global community.

CID's mission is to support the production and distribution of high quality independently produced documentaries and the filmmakers who create them. The cooperative arrangement between CID and independent film and video producers is unique. Once involved in a project, CID becomes totally committed to its successful completion by working with producers at all phases including helping to raise and manage project funds and offer creative, technical, and distribution support. We promote our films through our website (396,000 visitors this year) and social media (7000 friends and followers). CID also provides professional development programs and collaborates with other organizations on initiatives that strengthen the production environment for independent filmmakers including offering monthly workshops, a weeklong retreat seminar for 10 filmmakers held each summer in Vermont, and the pride of the ocean film festival and seminars which provide a unique resource for LGBT filmmakers. CID works with filmmakers from all regions of the country. A total of 142 films are currently in the development and production phases. The demographics of the filmmakers and the subject matter of their films are equally diverse. CID films have been seen on PBS as part of American Masters, American Experience, Independent Lens and POV, received national cablecasts from HBO, Sundance, Discovery and Logo channels, and have appeared at every major film festival receiving awards from Emmy’s to the Peabody.

The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law is a nonpartisan law and policy institute that seeks to improve our systems of democracy and justice. We work to hold our political institutions and laws accountable to the twin American ideals of democracy and equal justice for all. The Center's work ranges from voting rights to campaign finance reform, from ending mass incarceration to preserving Constitutional protection in the fight against terrorism. Part think tank, part advocacy group, part cutting-edge communications hub, we start with rigorous research. We craft innovative policies. And we fight for them — in Congress and the states, the courts, and in the court of public opinion.

UnidosUS (formerly NCLR)—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. Through its network of nearly 300 affiliated community-based organizations, UnidosUS reaches millions of Hispanics each year in 41 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. To achieve its mission, UnidosUS conducts applied research, policy analysis, and advocacy, providing a Latino perspective in five key areas—assets/investments, civil rights/immigration, education, employment and economic status, and health. In addition, it provides capacity-building assistance to its Affiliates who work at the state and local level to advance opportunities for individuals and families.

We are a non-partisan non-profit using the law to build collective power and advance a bold, vibrant democracy for all people. We are committed to an overarching philosophy of inclusion: we believe that achieving the promise of democracy requires all of us and we seek to empower the broad and diverse range of people who make up the very fabric of our democracy with tools to ensure that their voices are heard and their needs are met. We ensure that unlawful policies that harm people and that undermine the very foundational values of American democracy are met with effective legal opposition and that the public is educated and informed about these issues. We take the long view, identifying opportunities even in challenging landscapes to propel progress toward a just and inclusive society.

Our mission is to provide opportunities for higher education without regard to race, religion, or nation of birth. We currently have 47 ECE Scholars enrolled in 6 partner universities in Nashville, TN. Criteria for our scholarships include a B average, a documented financial need, a definite career goal, and a legal status of undocumented or DACA as these students are not eligible for student loans, federal aid, and cannot attend any state colleges as an in state resident. We provide each scholar with two mentors, one an older student at their university and the other an established individual in their career goal to offer guidance, support, and guaranteed professional success post college. We believe that we are granting our scholars an equal chance to achieve their American Dream and become productive members of society through a college degree.

We are a non-profit, non-partisan organization whose mission is to: (1) Reshape the attitudes of society so that people with disabilities can more fully participate in and contribute to society, and (2) Empower people with disabilities to achieve as much of the American Dream as their abilities and efforts permit. RespectAbility was founded to correct and prevent the current disparity of justice for people with disabilities. We are a stronger community when we live up to our values -- when we are welcoming, diverse, moral, and respect one another. People with disabilities and their families have the same hopes and dreams as everyone else, even if they face different challenges. Together we can build a more just and inclusive community where our children, parents, grandparents, and other family and friends with and without disabilities have an equal opportunity to succeed.

Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) was created in 2001 in response to the HIV crisis in western Kenya. It is built on a partnership between Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and the Moi University School of Medicine in Eldoret, Kenya, and a consortium of North American academic health centers, led by Indiana University. The partners joined forces to create one of Africa's largest, most comprehensive and effective HIV/AIDS management and control systems. AMPATH is a formal partner with the United States government through a $75 million grant from USAID and has continually expanded its successful HIV approach to into a more comprehensive primary health care system. With a tri-partite mission of care, education, and research, AMPATH provides healthcare services to a population of 3.5 million people in western Kenya and focuses on improving the health and wellbeing of the entire population-leaving no one behind.

Vaga Lume Association is a Brazilian non-profit organization founded in 2001 grounded in the belief that investing in people is the best way to transform a reality. Its mission is to create opportunities for cultural exchange by reading, writing and orality, valuing the empowerment of people and rural communities of the Brazilian Legal Amazon region. Vaga Lume works in 160 rural communities (indigenous, riverside, roadside, rural settlement people or quilombolas - Brazilian with African descent) of 23 municipalities in the Brazilian Legal Amazon region, which encompasses nine federal states (Acre, Amapa, Amazonas, Maranhao, Mato Grosso, Para, Rondonia, Roraima and Tocantins), occupies 59% of the Brazilian territory and has 20 million people (12% of the Brazilian population). Despite the fact that education and culture are basic social rights, protected by the Brazilian Constitution and under human rights international treaties ratified by Brazil, its access and implementation in the Amazon region are very limited. It is one of the poverty zones in Brazil - with a GDP per capita 30% lower than the national value - where 42% of the population survives with less than US$ 5.00 a day. Due to the outstanding impact of Vaga Lume's work in the region, the organization is recognized by many international and national awards such as the Juscelino Kubitschek Award of Merit for Regional Development in Latin America and the Caribbean given by the Inter-American Development Bank (2009); the Millennium Development Goals Award, conferred by the United Nations and the Brazilian government (2005); the Vivaleitura Award, from the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education (2008); and the Chico Mendes Environment Award, given by the Ministry of Environment (2006 and 2008). In 2011, Vaga Lume received its most important recognition: the 4th place at the Intercultural Innovation Award, conferred by United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and the BMW Group. As an awardee, in 2012, Vaga Lume was welcomed to the World Intercultural Facility for Innovation (WIFI), a network formed by the UNAOC, the BMW Group and the ten 2011 winners. Through this network, the UNAOC and the BMW Group challenged all winners to replicate and scale up their actions to promote intercultural dialogue and offered training, consultancy and institutional support to assist organizations to accomplish such results.

The Children's Radio Foundation (CRF) uses radio training and broadcast to create opportunities for youth dialogue, participation, leadership, and active citizenship. Through giving youth the tools and skills to produce radio, young people are mobilized to engage in productive dialogue about the issues they face, and work together to improve their lives and communities. With 74 youth radio projects across six African countries, CRF works with radio stations and CBOs to create local platforms for discussion, information sharing, social engagement, and action. Our reporters take on issues that resonate with youth in their community, including but not limited to children's rights, sexual reproductive health and rights, power dynamics in teenage relationships, gender norms and stereotypes, HIV and AIDS-related issues, climate change, and the environment. Speaking in local languages and in a youth-friendly style, they interview community members, host debates, and bring out local perspectives. Their reporting projects, broadcasts, and outreach activities are geared to generate discussion about issues facing youth.

Nourish is a NoN Profit organization registered with the Department of Social Development in South Africa. Started by a young South African woman in 2011, Nourish was created to be a platform that could link conservation needs, issues and ideals with community issues and ideals - and aims to find integrated sustainable solutions to conservation issues such as poverty, low education standards, lack if food security and unemployment. Finding solutions that break the poverty cycle and create healthy resilient communities are ultimately solutions that link these individuals and communities back to their wildlife heritage and the jobs/opportunities created in the wildlife and tourism economy. Especially in the area of Acornhoek, Mpumalanga, where we focus our projects, there is a huge amount of poaching which is a conservation issue, but also a huge amount of poverty, as this is a neglected and under served area/community in South Africa. Solutions aimed at linking and bridging the two are the only way for this area to have a sustainable future. This is where Nourish focuses it's projects; investing into sustainable livelihoods that will benefit communities and conservation, boosting their resilience.

The Center for Renewable Energy and Appropriate Technology for the Environment (CREATE!) was established in 2008 to help rural populations in the developing world prepare for water, food, and fuel shortages resulting from the impact of climate change on their communities. CREATE! operates on the principle that all people have a right to water, food, shelter, energy, and the means to earn a living. We work with village populations to meet these needs through a culturally respectful, participatory process grounded in our belief that people must have a stake in their development and contribute towards solving their own problems. The cooperative groups in our beneficiary villages have already demonstrated the validity of this approach. CREATE! currently operates in Senegal. Senegal is representative of many Sub-Saharan African countries that are hardest hit by the increasingly disastrous effects of global climate change. CREATE! responds to the inter-connected crises generated by climate change with strategies that decrease dependence on fossil fuels, conserve natural resources, and increase the use of appropriate technologies. Our programs produce sustainable, human needs-based development at the village level while forging resilient and vibrant communities across rural Senegal. CREATE! seeks to face these challenges and assist rural Senegalese residents with small-scale, accessible, and "appropriate" technologies - technologies that are adapted to, and fit, their local conditions - and with human needs-based strategies that can both better their lives and build their capacity to meet these inter-connected challenges. CREATE! works in six villages in two regions of Senegal. One region is in the rural north of Senegal, centered around Linguere in the Louga Region, where CREATE! implements programs in the village of Ouarkhokh. The other region is in the central-west of Senegal, centered around Gossas in the Fatick Region. CREATE! implements program activities in five villages in this region. The total beneficiary population of the six villages is approximately 12,000 people, comprised of both agricultural and pastoral peoples. The average per capita annual income of the population in these villages is approximately $350 a year. In each of these villages, CREATE! staff work closely with local and traditional authorities, including village chiefs and imams, in addition to other community leaders, families, and public schools. CREATE! values the expertise and input of community members and strives to incorporate their knowledge and participation into each stage of our programs. As a registered NGO in Senegal, CREATE! works with government officials from the regional office of the Department of Water and Forestry. CREATE! also respects the Senegalese government's strategic development goals for rural communities. Although CREATE!'s administrative office is located in the United States, CREATE! relies on local Senegalese staff and volunteers to plan and implement successful development interventions. Barry Wheeler, CREATE! Founder and Executive Director, has spent the past 27 years working to alleviate suffering and to provide basic human needs for rural villagers, displaced persons, and refugees in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. After serving in the Peace Corps for six years as an Improved Cook Stove and Appropriate Technology volunteer, trainer, and technical advisor in Togo, Barry earned a Master's degree in International Agriculture and Rural Development from Cornell University. Barry has served as Country Director for the American Refugee Committee's programs in Uganda, Sudan, and Rwanda; as a consultant for UNICEF and UNHCR; and as a team leader and training coordinator in local capacity building, renewable and appropriate technology, and sustainable rural development. CREATE! Chief Operations Officer Louise Ruhr has more than 30 years of private sector and nonprofit management experience and has spent the past eight years working with international NGOs, including the American Refugee Committee, to support women's cooperative groups in Rwanda and Senegal. CREATE! Country Director Omar Ndiaye Seck oversees program activities and conducts site visits in CREATE! communities. He also manages CREATE!'s finances and staff in Senegal. Omar closely collaborates with local and traditional authorities, community volunteers, and CREATE! staff to achieve both organizational and village goals.