Good Idea!

LA SHARES

2004-09-03T10:08:00.000-07:00

I like this. Companies can donate office furniture, supplies, computers, etc to be used by non profits and schools. LA schools can use all the help they can get these days.

NON PROFIT INNOVATION: PROFIT

2004-08-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

From Entrepreneur Magazine's Sept issue, there's an article on non profits creating for profit ventures to enhance their income and expand their scope. For instance, a branch of Habitat for Humanity in the Baltimore area has started a "for profit venture called TeamBuilds, where corporate teams pay $7,500 for an all-day team-building session with an organizational development consultant while they work together to rebuild an old house." This, in turn, generates revenue to be used for their non-profit operating budget.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

2004-08-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

Well, sheesh, who knew? There's actually a whole movement that's based on the idea of this website, and it has a name (see above), and there are programs of study at at least 20 major business schools, including Duke, Harvard, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. Not surprising, but definitely encouraging.

Also, there's an organization with a website for "social entrepreneur" students and professionals, called NET IMPACT. They have regular news listings, job postings, community discussion, volunteer consulting opportunities, and conferences.

On top of that, there's an online discussion/community site for social entrepreneurs, SOCIAL EDGE.

I'm all for it!

Non Profit Drug Company

2004-07-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

Via King of Zembla, here's
a story about a woman who started a non profit drug company that focuses on drugs for "diseases of the poor." Outstanding.

APOLLO ALLIANCE

2004-07-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

The New Apollo Alliance for the 21st Century, not for the race to space, but for energy independence policy and innovation. I hope it becomes as robust and full of optimism and innovation and creativity as the first Apollo project, a gathering point for the best and brightest, and that it doesn't just remain a liberal coalition for talking about it.

Smackdown Your Vote!

2004-06-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

How much do I love this? Their goal is to get 20 million more 18 to 30 year olds to vote in 2004. (Did you know that the biggest audience for World Wrestling Entertainment is women aged 16 to 25? I'll bet you didn't!

Good Gear: CLOTHING OF THE AMERICAN MIND

2004-06-13T16:25:00.000-07:00

"Bush is raising $600,000 a day. What are you doing? Fight back. GO SHOPPING!"

A Really Open Election

2004-06-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

The NY Times had an article on Sunday about open source code for voting machines, which was done in Australia.
These guys are working on it in San Jose. If only it would be adopted in the US.

AMERICAN APPAREL

2004-05-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

Sweatshop-Free is becoming more hip. American Apparel, a sweatshop-free LA clothing company (clothes manufactured in Downtown LA), has been gaining popularity over the past year with political and fashionable t-shirt mongers. Now they are hip enough to be opening a store on the swanky Robertson Blvd near Beverly in LA.

CITIZEN JOE

2004-05-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

Seems like a good idea. They are new, not much info up yet.

SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, AMBITIOUS, COURAGEOUS RESULTS

2004-05-13T08:33:00.000-07:00

If I had to pick one organization that I admire over all others, it wouldbe the organization started by President Jimmy Carter. The Carter Center'sacheivements are ambitious and very specific, and they accomplish them, andas a result, improve lives for millions. This place is not about sittingaround with experts and coming up with policy initiatives that someone elseshould implement. It's a let's-get-this-sh*t-DONE-don't-tell-me-I-can't place.Like, when I say let's eradicate Guinea Worm Disease, I mean, like REALLYeradicate Guinea Worm Disease. By 2006. And not, like, try, and oh well,we did our best, but like REALLY. We mean ERADICATE. And they DO IT. GuineaWorm Disease has been reduced 99% since 1986.

Another organization that seems to have the same attitude is the Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative. Founded in part and spearheaded by former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, it has similarly ambitious and laudable goals:

"WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO ACHIEVE…
We are working to achieve perfect patient care in more than a dozen countiesin the Pittsburgh area using the following, patient-centered goals:
* Zero medication errors.
* Zero healthcare-acquired (nosocomial) infections.
* Perfect clinical outcomes, as measured by complications, readmissions and other patient outcomes, in:
-- Coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
-- Chronic conditions: depression and diabetes.
-- Obstetrics: maternal and child outcome.
-- Orthopedics: hip and knee replacement surgery. "

I firstgot curious about Paul O'Neill after reading an article about him (long ago)in the New York Times Magazine that mentioned that he turned around profitsand productivity for Alcoa largely by focusing on radically improving workersafety. Now that's what I'm talking about.

GAP SWEATS

2004-05-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

Oh this is good news. Gap Inc. is cleaning up their sweatshop act after pressure from labor and other organizations.

The San Francisco-based owner of the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic stores made the comments in its first ever "social responsibility" report — a 40-page document that mixed contrition about the past with promises to do better in the future.

Let's hope this is the new hip trend. Thankfully, this report was followed by a rise in Gap shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

COMMUNITY DISASTER RESPONSE TEAMS

2004-05-11T09:02:00.000-07:00

I have been spending my last few monday nights with representatives from the Los Angeles Fire Department being trained in disaster preparedness and emergency response as a part of an LA-originated program called CERT - Community Emergency Response Team. Started in Los Angeles in 1987, the program trains interested members of the public in basic safety, fire and medical response. These teams can be activated in different communities when public services are overtaxed in response to fires, earthquakes, terrorist attacks or, not kidding, tsunamis. This training program is now being used across the country and around the world, including in Turkey where it was recently credited with saving many lives after the latest large quake.
Check it out. And here are the links to programs in other areas.

VROOOM VROOOM!

2004-05-07T14:54:00.000-07:00

cool hybrid!

Can Bush Country Become The Clean Energy Capital?

2004-05-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

WIRED Magazine's Bruce Sterling reports that Austin, TX is hoping to become the "clean energy capital of the world." ..."the challenge isn't about developing hardware; it's about creating a smart support system for tomorrow's utilities. Austin is betting there will be a profitable sweet spot at the intersection of energy grids, digital networks, chip fabs, and solar panels....Tech development is always hard to forecast, but any place that loudly calls itself the clean energy capital of the world is sure to attract inventive people who want to tackle environmental crises instead of merely moan about them in some remote global forum, Kyoto-style."

LA Prescription Drug Bulk Buy Idea

2004-05-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

In an editorial in the Los Angeles Times, LA Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa and Jerry Flanagan, healthcare director for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights proposed a plan that would "ease the prescription bite for residents."

Here's the text of the editorial (once again, apparently too late for a link. Editorial was April 27th):

"Hardly a day goes by that we don't hear from senior citizens and others who cannot afford prescription drugs. Faced with gridlock in Washington, a proposal being considered by the Los Angeles City Council offers a meaningful solution at the local level. Insured or not, from the Eastside to the Westside, in Hollywood or South LA, we are all paying too much for prescription drugs.

For those on Medicare, the new prescription drug law has several deficiencies. It bars Medicare from negotiating bulk discounts. That means a big chunk of the $400 billion earmarked for the program over the next 10 years will be spent on overpriced drugs. The plan requires seniors to pay $670 out of pocket before any benefit kicks in. Coverage stops when spending reaches $2,250 and does not resume until a patient has spent $5,100.

The uninsured, including seniors still searching for a real prescription drug benefit, can least afford to pay for medication but are forced to pay the most. And Los Angeles has one of the highest percentages of working uninsured in the nation.

The sticker shock also hits insured patients without prescription drug coverage and underinsured patients who may have drug coverage but are paying ever-higher co-payments.

A recent study found that uninsured patients in Los Angeles paid 69% more for common prescriptions than the federal government. That's because the government buys at bulk discounts. For the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor, for example, Angelenos without drug coverage pay $75.64, while the U.S. government spends only $41.14. Acid reflux sufferers in LA pay $151.58 for a month's supply of Prevacid, but the government spends only $72.11. Lanoxin, used in the treatment of chronic heart failure, costs the uncovered 65% more.

The city should be buying drugs through bulk purchasing too. Under the proposed plan Los Angeles would negotiate bulk discounts on prescription drugs from pharmaceutical companies by combinging the purchasing power of individual consumers, small businesses, hospitals, employees and others.

The city would set up a purchasing consortium to enroll members and collect a small yearly fee to cover administrative costs. Residents could sign up at city offices, by mail or over the Internet. The city would then use a benefits manager to provide pool members a pharmacy card, a pharmacy network and a mail-order option. Employers could join the purchasing program on behalf of their workers. Hospitals and even health insurers could join to save on behalf of members and patients.

L.A. could become a national model for bringing residents together to get the best prices for their medications and, ultimately, if the model works, for their other health coverage. Several small states have banded together to implement their own bulk purchasing pools. The city is exploring a partnership with LA County and other cities to join forces to negotiate on behalf of our residents, creating an even bigger purchasing pool.

The ban on negotiating bulk rate prices in the federal plan benefits only the powerful drug compaines, not the taxpayers. Los Angeles can take the lead by approving the proposed plan and showing the nation how to get a better deal for senions and others who need more affordable prescription drugs.

CONVERTING SUVs INTO CLEAN VEHICLES

2004-05-06T07:31:00.000-07:00

There was an article in the New York Times Business Section on April 11th (artcile now requires payment....so no link) about another perfect Los Angeles business started by two former entertainment biz execs. David Young and Seth Seaberg started Evo Transportation, which converts standard gasoline engine cars and SUVS and limos into natural gas-powered vehicles, for a substantial fee. Their converted limos served a good percentage of Oscar attendees. For personal vehicles they install refueling stations in their garages that use the natural gas hookups for your house, and charges appear on your monthly bill. Clients include Kevin Richardson of the Backstreet Boys, who converted his SUV into a Clean vehicle. After just 2 years they report $5 million in business.

RENT A PRIUS

2004-05-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here's another one:

EV RENTAL is a rental car company partnered with Budget Rentals to rent electric and hybrid cars to drivers in Los Angeles, Washington DC and Arizona, so far. I hope they are doing well and expanding soon. I know the hybrid market is largely in California so far.

HYDRATE FOR A BETTER WORLD

2004-05-05T16:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Good Idea! I created it to write about organizations, businesses, projects and policies that seem to be innovative ways to address environmental, health care, educational, and foreign policy issues facing our society today.

I have a bit of a backlog, so here's the first one just to get going:

Came across a very LA idea for a business called ETHOS WATER. They sell bottled water and put 50% of the proceeds into water development projects in the Third World. Perfect idea for all those LA water-drinking yoga liberals who would love their hydration to make a difference in the world.