On Sneaker Impact News Episode 51, host Bryan interviews Danny Rodriguez, founder and CEO of Miami-based nonprofit BLUE Missions, about its mission to “connect communities to clean water and people to their purpose.” Danny shares how a high school trip to the Dominican Republic inspired him to co-found BLUE Missions in 2010, later scaling it from a passion project to full-time work, and growing from nine to 21 projects in a year. He explains their community-led model with local water committees and gravity-driven aqueducts, plus sanitation work building ventilated improved pit latrines, in-home filtration, and a developing sustainability pillar focused on composting, reforestation, and education. BLUE Missions has completed 100 water projects, connected 42,000 people to clean water, and built bathrooms in 200+ communities. They also run the 16-week Building Young Leaders program and invite volunteers, chaperones, and donors to get involved.

Stay Connected & Learn More

Website: https://www.bluemissions.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluemissions

Danny’s Recent Tedx ‘Find Your Drop’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPRy765oILo

Support/Donate: HERE

Urban Impact Lab’s People-First Approach to Building Better Cities | Miami Climate Week + Community-Led Design

Sneaker Impact News host sits down with Irvans Augustin, co-founder of Urban Impact Lab, after touring the Sneaker Impact facility to discuss people-first urban planning, creative placemaking, and moving cities from ideas to implementation. Augustin shares how he and his wife (with backgrounds in IT, marine biology, and urban planning) founded Urban Impact Lab 13 years ago with a non-traditional, community-centered approach, viewing cities as living networks shaped by residents’ needs. They discuss Miami challenges including affordability, transportation, waste, recycling, composting, design-driven behavior change, and the Doral incinerator disruption, plus examples like Southwest Ranches’ compost program and Miami’s recycling education efforts. Augustin highlights a North Miami flood-prone lot transformed into a community-designed “Good Neighbor Park” that absorbs water. He also promotes Miami Climate Week (March 14–21) led by Miami Climate 365, featuring countywide events and community activations.

Stay Connected/Learn More
https://www.urbanimpactlab.com/
https://www.instagram.com/urbanimpactlab

Sneaker Impact News interviews Samantha Choy, marketing and communications manager at Students Run Philly Style (SRPS), a Philadelphia youth mentorship nonprofit pairing grades 6–12 students with volunteer running mentors to train for major races like the Broad Street Run and Philadelphia Marathon Weekend. Choy describes her role managing social media, partnerships, and the Mentoring Milestones newsletter, plus promoting SRPS’s charity runner program, including new Berlin and Dublin Marathon bibs. SRPS, founded in 2004, serves over 1,500 students annually across nearly 60 teams with 400+ mentors and a nine-person staff, using running to build confidence, goal-setting, coping strategies, and active-lifestyle skills. The episode highlights SRPS’s Sneaker Impact partnership via Philadelphia Runner, which since May 2024 collected 442 boxes and recycled 11,247 pairs, diverting about 14,740 pounds and saving an estimated 113.63 tons of CO2. The script also features SRPS’s MUP diversion program with the District Attorney’s Office, where youth complete race milestones (5K, 10-mile qualifier, and a half marathon) to have fees paid, charges dropped, and records expunged, with reported ~95% completion and sustained success.

Please like and share to help educate and raise awareness!

Stay Connected/Learn More

https://studentsrunphilly.org

https://www.instagram.com/studentsrunphl

Support: https://studentsrunphilly.org/donate/

Run world major/international marathons with SRPS: https://studentsrunphilly.org/other-ways-to-help/