Champions for Change

CNN shines a spotlight on the innovators, changemakers and pioneers who are challenging the status quo to improve the lives of others.

Show Description

Physically, but not socially distant: How to reach out in the time of Covid
By Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Amanda Sealy, CNN
"Social distance." It's a phrase that's become a mantra of the pandemic. We see the signs everywhere telling us to stay six feet apart, emphasizing the need for physical separation. While this is an important message to help keep us all safe, the phrase has it all wrong. We don't need to be socially distant. Physically apart, yes, but that social connection is exactly what we all need during this pandemic.

Activist creates new narrative to counter negative media portrayals of young Black people
by Tamara Wilson, CNN
"The thing that makes you weird is the thing that makes you powerful."

A Dutch inventor is cleaning the world's most polluted rivers in an effort to save the oceans
By Christopher Dawson, CNN
Boyan Slat has made it his mission to remove plastic from the oceans. His organization, The Ocean Cleanup, has successfully started to clean the pollution that has been circling in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

How this man is using video games to help refugees
By Ryan Bergeron, CNN
Lual Mayen's home work station is something akin to what you might see in a TV control room or a NASA command center. Surrounded by computer monitors, laptops and tablets, Mayen is putting the finishing touches on a video game that he's been thinking about for years.

Architect's innovative shipping container homes could help solve Puerto Rico's housing crisis
By Mayra Cuevas, CNN
Puerto Rican architect Carla Gautier Castro stands overlooking the remains of a home after a string of earthquakes hammered the town of Yauco, on the southwest of the island.