I used the Voting Challenge’s Inspiration Interview Kit to interview my grandfather in California about his voting experiences. Here’s what I learned.

I've always been curious about 3D printing - how it works, what it's used for, and in terms of this challenge, how it might inspire some 'out of the box' thinking.

On my way to work today, I watched an interesting exchange on the train platform across from me.

I've become a new fan of the radio podcast Radiolab. A recent episode hit very close to home, with an empathy lesson focused on disability.

I was incredibly inspired by this TED talk from Caroline Casey called "Looking Past Limits."

My husband and I live in a suburb of San Francisco, CA. To me, when I think what makes our area vibrant, one of the first things that comes to mind is our local food community.

Falling Whistles is a social enterprise that raises awareness and inspires action to end the world's deadliest war since WWII, happening right now in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Amber Alert program is a partnership between law enforcement, transportation officials, and broadcasters to share urgent information relating to child abductions. It's an interesting example of using technology to spread news + updates.

David Brooks wrote a thought-provoking piece in the New York Times last week that explores the limits of empathy as a tool for action.

I think this story – about the effect a new immigration law is having on students in one American elementary school – offers a lot of learning for our Amnesty International Challenge.

I recently came across the organization Not for Sale and their website www.slaverymap.org. I was impressed by the work they're doing and found it relevant for this challenge in a couple of ways.

Thinking about a time I felt powerless, I thought I'd share a personal story of a vacation I took as a teenager.

I took a self-defense class a few years ago, and in between all the training rounds, one idea really stuck with me.

I recorded a quick video of what social impact means to me. Enjoy!

During the Bone Marrow Donation Challenge, I was inspired to go through the process of registering to become a bone marrow donor. Here's what I learned.

Building on Sarah's mention of OpenIDEO Tweet-ups, another favorite memory of mine was the Grameen Social Business Challenge live webcast we did with the Grameen Creative Lab.

Through my participation in the Local Food Challenge, I realized how excited I felt about the idea that every food has personality, imperfections and a story.

I am always impressed by our community's optimism and positivity, especially when it comes to helping each other.

I recently came across an organization called Hello Health, a web-based health care delivery organization in the U.S.

This video is a favorite of mine - an inspiring story about entrepreneurs who believe in their ideas and change the world.

This morning I was researching health in South America, and stumbled across an exciting announcement by an organization called GAVI Alliance.

Check out this video that shows a bone marrow transplant recipient and his matched donor - one year after the transplant.

Any campaign that’s going to encourage people to act and sign up to donate bone marrow needs to connect with the audience on a personal level. For me, cancer became very real when my good friend passed away at 21 after battling Ewing’s Sarcoma.

Building on Janice's mention of Carrotmob, I thought I'd point out the incredible network that Carrotmob has created to activate consumers to spend their money for good.

When talking about this Challenge with friends and family, I've been interested to see that the first question many people ask about bone marrow donation is, "Does it hurt"?

I didn't donate blood for the first time until I actually worked for a hospital. That work experience completely re-shaped my perspective on the importance and value of donating blood.

A new way of looking at the bags used to collect donations of blood.

PopTech is a social innovation network whose mission is to accelerate the positive impact of world changing people, projects and ideas. In 2006, PopTech and its partners launched Project Masiluleke, an initiative based on leveraging mobile technology, and texting specifically, to raise awareness, increase STD testing, and promote healthier sexual activity among South Africans.

What I love about Ashoka Fellow and social entrepreneur Albina Ruiz and her Ciudad Saludable (Healthy City) initiative is that she refuses to accept that anyone should live surrounded by garbage, filth and potential disease. Albina has made it her mission to help communities clean up their own neighborhoods in Peru, especially in the poorest areas where people rummage through the trash and try to resell items to support their families. Interestingly, Albina doesn't just work to clean up the trash. She recognized that taking away the trash, while it would improve living conditions, also meant taking away vital income that these communities needed to survive. So, she worked directly with people in the community and gave them jobs going door to door to collect trash. Instead of just taking away the garbage, she gave people access to income and dignified work that bettered their communities and their families.

When I think about global challenges that require innovative thinking and solutions, I immediately turn to the need for entrepreneurship education for children. In the United States, there are a couple of great nonprofits teaching kids the basics of business, entrepreneurship and financial literacy (Junior Achievement, NFTE, and The BizWorld Foundation to name a few). Interestingly, what you see outside of the US (especially in developing countries like Brazil, for instance), are instances of young people who are essentially forced to be innovative and entrepreneurial in order to support their families, go to school, etc (as an example, check out this TechCrunch article about entrepreneurs in the slums of Brazil http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/12/coming-up-from-the-favelas-brazils-slumdog-entrepreneurs/).

I was first introduced to Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) back in 2009 at The Feast Conference in New York. Elizabeth Scharpf, founder of SHE, presented to the audience the innovative work her organization is doing to help women and girls in developing countries obtain access to low-cost sanitary pads. SHE calculated that women and girls miss up to 50 days per year of work or school because they cannot afford the sanitary pads they need. Not only do they miss school or work, but these women who can't afford pads also end up turning to unhygienic and ineffective solutions like rags or tree bark to use instead.