Training Women Entrepreneurs in NYC, Transforming a Chicago Neighborhood with Art, and More in Social Impact Across the U.S.

This week in social impact across the U.S.:

• Fast Company reports on how New York City’s new initiative, Women Entrepreneurs NYC, dubbed WE NYC, will provide free training and business services—including loan negotiation workshops, connections to capital, pro-bono legal assistance, and navigating government resources—for aspiring entrepreneurs.

• Artist Theaster Gates spoke at TED2015 about how he went from shaper of clay to shaper of cities. Gates has transformed several abandoned homes in the crumbling neighborhood of Grand Crossing on Chicago’s South Side. This includes his creation of the Archive House, a place to preserve the history of the neighborhood and inspire conversations with artists and community members.
• Last week, the Brookings Institution released a new study of declining job density called, “The growing distance between people and jobs in metropolitan America,” Next City reports. The report paints a grim picture of how suburban poverty is growing increasingly isolated from jobs and services as well the transportation needed to access those jobs and services.

• Passive buildings not only maintain a comfortable interior climate without active heating and cooling systems, but they also use less than a quarter of the energy of a traditionally powered home, according to the Passive House Institute. The New York Times reports on how large projects delivering hundreds of new passive units to market are in the works in the city and how city officials are watching closely.

What do you think about what’s happening in Social Impact Across the U.S.? How could Philly learn from other cities and states? Please leave a comment to help us bring the national and local conversations together.

Image via Flickr user Kate Ter Haar