Henry Rock II

Henry Rock II

My background is in media sales and advertising, and I’ve had the opportunity to work with some great black media entrepreneurs. But too often, this country’s young black men are marginalized, vilified and demonized. I wanted to reimagine them as...
Doug DeFrees

Doug DeFrees

I had a long career in technology at IBM Research and, after leaving IBM, I wanted to turn my passion for community service into a new career. Discovering Encore.org and its programs led to my applying for an Encore Fellowship, a program that matches skilled, seasoned...
Karen Kalish

Karen Kalish

When I was 60, in 2005, I was at a community-organizing meeting in Los Angeles with organizers from all over the country. Sister Pearl Ceasar, an organizer from Texas, was telling us how teachers there were doing home visits with extraordinary results. Reading scores,...
Dorris & Michael Fortson

Dorris & Michael Fortson

On a family vacation to Tanzania, we were shocked to discover that, in some villages, newborn babies were being thrown into open latrines and gravel pits, left in empty houses, and buried alive by the roadside. My husband and I were moved to do something about it for...