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POPSShipping Containers Converted into Homes for Urban Poor "Finally, a home of our own" - the foundation of PFNC, whose goal is to provide housing to those who most desperately need it around the globe. PFNC utilizes surplus shipping containers resulting from the United States' consistent trade deficit. The containers serve as the building block of PFNC housing, after an extensive conversion process to make them a home. They designed a galley-style kitchen with a stove, sink, refrigerator and dinette, and a 48 sq. ft. bathroom with a pedestal sink, shower and commode, a bunk area for children; separate sleeping quarters for the owners. A half million people could benefit from such homes in Juarez, Mexico alone. Affordable for the average worker at manufacturing plants in Mexico along the U.S. border...instead of a cardboard shack, a real home, offered as a employee benefit in "a work to own" housing program. PFNC doesn't intend just to build shelter: it wants to build communities.
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POPSItaly Works To Relieve Stress: 2008 Roman Pillow Fight Do you ever have one of those days where all you want to do is smack someone? Rome, Italy - April 27, 2008: Over 300 people met in Piazza Santa Maria, in the Trastevere neighborhood, to celebrate the 3rd annual Roman Pillow Fight. Of course, to make all things fair, this pillow fight started exactly when the piazza’s clock tower chimed 6 pm… and then BAM! Feathers everywhere! The purpose of the annual Pillow Fight is to relieve stress and anxiety…and have some fun! Pillow Fight Fever is spreading and becoming a worldwide phenomena so if you want to start your own pillow fight next year, International Pillow Fight Day is March 22! Or visit http://www.pillowfightday.com/index.php to see is your city already participates!
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POPS16 Of The World's Best Squares: Think About The Details From Mexico to Italy to Iran, these remarkable squares can inspire us all. What stands out most is that design is only a small fraction of what goes into making a great square: small details add up to great places. Historically, squares were the center of communities, and they traditionally helped shape the identity of entire cities. Like the tentacles of an octopus extending into the surrounding neighborhood, the influence of a good square (such as Union Square in New York) starts at least a block away. Any great square has a variety of smaller "places" within it to appeal to various people. The use of a square changes during the course of the day, week, and year. The streets and sidewalks around a square greatly affect its accessibility and use, as do the buildings that surround it. Any community where people want to discover the rewards of public life can make a square its centerpiece.
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POPSMake it Right: With Over 80 Homes Sponsored, It's Time to Build! Over 12 million dollars raised so far: "We hope to see a huge change here in the next six months" said Brad Pitt on Sunday, when hundreds of volunteers began wielding shovels and rakes, preparing the land for homes. For hours, they cleared overgrown grass and weeds that were covering street drains and sidewalks. "We're working to get the grounds ready so construction can begin." "Make it Right" is committed to: 1) Building 150 houses in the Lower 9th Ward, 2) Ensuring a green, affordable, sustainable, and replicable community to serve as a model for further rebuilding and 3) A finance plan that ensures that residents who wish to return to the Lower Ninth Ward can do so without further financial hardship. The Lower 9th Ward was one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in New Orleans when Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005.
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POPSNurse Turns Home into Lower 9th Ward Health Clinic After Katrina, the Charity Hospital, which for generations provided care to the poor and uninsured, did not re-open. There are plans for new hospitals, but no one expects a system as extensive as the one pre-Katrina. Neighborhood clinics like this one will be the future of health care in New Orleans.
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POPSBaltimore Suing Wells Fargo For Discrimination Against Minorities "This wave of foreclosures in minority neighborhoods really threatens to undermine the tremendous progress the city has made in developing distressed neighborhoods and moving the city ahead economically." "Foreclosures have a more profound effect in minority communities because they are closest to the line of distressed neighborhoods in many cities. That causes big problems for the cities, not just the lost income from taxes but also the long-term social costs. Programs are going to be needed to stabilize the communities to be rebuilt."
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