What is a Changemaker?

• A person who sees the potential for the world to be a better place.
• A "social entrepreneur" who finds their way around problems in their quest for positive change.
• An innovator who shares their solutions with other communities and encourages others to make their own change.

Answer: All of the above!

In this new addition to the Ripple Effects series (When Children Play, Pay It Forward Kids), you'll meet sixteen changemakers--boys, girls, men, and women. All of them are part of Ashoka, an organization that offers networking, mentorship, and financial aid to social entrepreneurs of all ages around the world. Each member strives to make a difference in the world, from animal rights to environmentalism, preservation of Aboriginal culture to food conservation, and you'll learn about how they've made global changes, the challenges they faced, and how you can start your own initiative!

Named after a famous Indian king of long ago, the Ashoka network was created as an agency to help and offer support to people who have a dream -- people who want to build on their ideas, accomplish things and to make the world a better place one step at a time.

Ashoka is a network of social entrepreneurs who have all benefitted from the relationships they have had with other changemakers throughout the group -- receiving their encouragement, advice and assistance.

This book looks at sixteen individuals who have accomplished amazing work from lighting jungle villages to building the perfect playground. The network offers mentorship and financial help to people from around the world so they can accomplish even more with their ideas and plans. It has helped more than 3000 social entrepreneurs in more than 70 countries through its mentoring programs including:

• Amy Barzach of South Windsor, Connecticut whose "Jonathan's Dream" program creates accessible playgrounds;
• Chris Balme of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania whose "Spark" apprenticeship program helps high school students in danger of dropping out;
• Joaquin Leguia of Lima, Peru whose "Children's Forests" program teaches children about planting and becoming stewards of the land, and;
• Tomas Lang of Burnaby, British Columbia whose program encourages schools to change the way they handle waste with an emphasis on "reduce, reuse and recycle."

In addition to the inspirational features on the sixteen changemakers, Ashoka includes a section on how to get started being a changemaker along with a list of the things that can be done right now -- to make a difference in the world we all live in.