What do recycling, farming, and voluntourism have in common? I’ll understand if you guess the obvious and logical answer, i.e. something relating to a community or the environment but unfortunately, you’re wrong. Well, technically, that’s correct, but more importantly they are all examples of non-profit and for-profit social ventures started by alumni of the Changemaker Institute. (Now, if you did answer my initial question correctly, you are either slightly psychic, which means you should go play the lotto NOW, or you know how to use context clues, so thumbs-up for reading way above that particular grade level. I, personally, would go with psychic.)
A feature of Taylor, the Changemaker Institute is an application only program that gives entrepreneurial minded students the opportunity to create a venture that, hopefully, results in a potential career. Sounds awesome, am I right? Obviously! But before you go running to the application with your business plan (I’m looking at you, business majors), you better make sure that plan inspires and initiates social change because, you know, that’s kind of the whole point of the “change” in Changemaker Institute. I’ve pulled three examples from the amazing 29 ventures made possible by the Changemaker Institute to show you what’s possible.
The first example is an on-campus venture that I have experienced firsthand, and believe me when I tell you that it is freaking awesome. Started by 2013-2014 Changemaker Alumni, Margot Habets, Anne Bevis, and Tracy Godbe, Trash to Treasure focuses on recycling and reselling every dorm necessity that a college student could ever need, and a lot of random stuff you’ve never even thought of, but if you don’t have it, you literally can’t even. You might be wondering where they get this stuff. At the end of the school year, tons of perfect items are thrown away during the move out process because students can’t take it with them. Trash to Treasure offers an alternative. They collect everything students don’t want, store it over the summer, and then organize a HUGE sale at the start of next school year at discounted prices. Profits are used to fund further sales and other student ventures. If you want to be involved on campus, help the environment, and score amazing deals, Trash to Treasure is the place to go.
The second example is VertiFarms, created by 2010-211 Changemaker alumni, Doug Jacobs. During my freshman year of college, I was able to visit a VertiFarms site on the roof of a Rouses (a grocery store that also showed us its very impressive alcohol selection and fed us shrimp pasta, #OnlyinNOLA?) as a class trip, and while I thought it was a cool idea, I didn’t understand how it worked. Imagine my surprise when I started on this blog and realized that VertiFarms was a Changemaker Institute venture. VertiFarms specializes in aquaponic, hydroponic, and aeroponic farming techniques that allow them to grow farms in vertical structures that fit in smaller spaces. VertiFarms is so important for the city of New Orleans that it’s kind of shocking that they aren’t on the rooftop of every grocery store in the city. New Orleans is desperate for more of these. New Orleans meets all the issues VertiFarms is competing with. Urban area? Check. Potential need for disaster relief? Check. Suffering from a food desert problem? Major check. Consider getting involved with VertiFarms if you love New Orleans and want to save it from itself, while also promoting an agriculture model that cities everywhere need to start using. 
New Orleans’ cemeteries are almost entirely above ground. One time, in the past, the city flooded. That’s not surprising considering the city is below sea level, but underground graves became an issue. When the city flooded, the graves flooded and then bodies were floating in the streets. Okay, so that’s probably an exaggeration, but that’s basically why the city has above ground cemeteries. Anyway, this picture is my introduction to the final example, Network Voluntours, created by 2012-2013 Changemaker Alumni, Teddy Nathan. Network Voluntours gives residents and businesses the opportunity to engage with their community by volunteering to do things like showing tourists around lesser known attractions, cleaning the environment, building houses, etc. The picture above is from a project designed to clean up a cemetery in order to make it more attractive for tourists. Network Voluntours is an amazing opportunity for students new to the city to explore outside the Tulane bubble and give back to the community as much as it will give to you.
If you’re interested in learning more about the other 26 ventures made possible by the Changemaker Institute, make sure to follow this link! Let me know in the comments which ones are your favorites!
By Bailey Wells