We don’t just talk about change. We live, teach and breathe it.

SOCIAL IMPACT

We believe in building culture that changes lives. Our founder, Dr. Yewande Austin, doesn’t just teach leaders how to foster socially responsible organizations, she lives it! Since 2006, she has produced socio-economic empowerment initiatives across 34 countries through our humanitarian arm, Change International. A portion of every dollar that you invest into your organization, helps us empower vulnerable people around the world with critical life skills that build healthier, safer, thriving communities. Meet some of the inspiring members of our global community.

Dr. Austin’s TED Talk, “Running Into the Dark” (2015)

2025 HIMALAYAN WORLD PEACE TOUR
February 1 - 15, 2025:
Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia

In 2023, One Change founder and honorary U. S. Cultural Ambassador, Dr. Yewande Austin, was summoned to India to meet with His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama to share her global impact work. That meeting lead to the birth of a national tour that will promote His message of peace, unity and equality across America. Coordinated by Dr. Austin, the 2025 Himalayan World Peace Tour will host a delegation of Buddhist monks and artists for a 4-city tour to engage American leaders in meaningful dialogue about solving socio-economic challenges from discrimination to global poverty.

The Himalayan World Peace Tour will consist of high level meetings with government officials, international development executives and faith leaders, musical performances, yoga training, spiritual  healing sessions    and    culminating    Peace   Symposiums in select cities.  The  esteemed  delegation  from  Nepal  and  India will also explore the rich

culture of each American city on this inaugural tour. Our greatest hope is to develop economic and cultural partnerships with American stakeholders who are committed to promoting a message of solidarity that is foundational to Buddhist principles.  Funds from this tour will also support the monks’ efforts to provide food, housing and healthcare to vulnerable women and children.

2025 ONE CHANGE ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMIT Los Angeles, CA

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, as many as 65% of the individuals released from state or federal prison are unemployed. More than 50% of formerly incarcerated individuals will re-enter the prison system in less than 3 years, because many leave more broken than they were before entering the prison system.  In partnership with California State University - Los Angeles and East Los Angeles College, the 2025 One Change Entrepreneurship Summit will teach system-impacted individuals how to build business models that solve many of the social, economic, environmental and cultural challenges that fuel the womb-to-prison pipeline.

This 1-day event will position formerly incarcerated people to contribute to a growing economy that recognizes the needs of "invisible” members of our society. Participants will learn business plan development, socio-emotional skills, leadership strategies, and how to become socially and economically independent. Up to 10 participants with the strongest Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) business model will receive start-up funding and consultation services to successfully launch their businesses. We shouldn’t judge people by the worst moments in their lives, because society is part of the problem.  Social entrepreneurship can help us be part of the solution.

The World Bank’s State of Economic Inclusion Report 2020 reports that leadership and economic inclusion programs like ours are quickly becoming an important part of international anti-poverty strategies. Since we started this project 7 years ago, Change International has funded four (4) start-up businesses run by IDP women including Freedom Pads – the first reusable sanitary napkins manufactured by IDP women in Nigeria.  Now seasoned social entrepreneurs, the women have built six (6) more businesses and launched a nationally-recognized organization that has taught over 100 more IDP women how to disrupt poverty through business. Social entrepreneurship doesn’t just restore peace and stability to families. It transforms communities! 

ALHERI VILLAGE Abuja, Nigeria

In 2015, Change International, was the first humanitarian organization in the world to provide emergency child education to Boko Haram conflict survivors in the Durumi IDP Camp in Abuja, Nigeria. Within days of teaching the children lessons from reading to conflict resolution, Dr. Austin realized that their mothers started to attend her classes, too. Many of them had been forced to sacrifice their education when they became child brides  as young as 8 years old. That experience inspired the birth of Alheri Village - a sustainable rehabilitation community that will give conflict survivors a second chance for a better life. Boko Haram Islamic terrorists have been held responsible for killing more than 30,000 people, trafficking thousands of women and girls, and displacing nearly 4 million Nigerians also known as IPD’s (Internally Displaced People). In 2014, when Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 school girls from Chibok, Nigeria in 2014, they also massacred the families of IDP’s who will one day live in Alheri Village.

In the Hausa language, Alheri means “grace” and that’s just what these survivors need. Without secure housing, IDP’s are more vulnerable to sexual assault, social conflict and human trafficking. Our transformational rehabilitation model is anchored by an economic inclusion program called Nawo (which means “invest”). Through a combination of leadership, social entrepreneurship and academic education, participants are learning how to build businesses that solve social, economic and cultural challenges that affect their community.