This Week’s Social Media Power Rankings: The Return of Swatch

The social media sphere is an increasingly noisy place, especially for brands. But hiding somewhere in the static are strong signals from companies reaching their customers in innovative ways. The Social Business Index from the Dachis Group provides a (free) real-time ranking of more than 30,000 global brands based on their social performance. Every week we’re taking a tally of who’s getting heard, what they’re saying, and why it matters.

RELATED: This Week’s Social Media Power Rankings: Cisco Has a Warrior

As you can see, there wasn’t much movement in the top 10. But if you look at number 17, you’ll see Diageo had the biggest jump this week. If that name doesn’t sound familiar, it’s the company that owns more familiar brands like Guiness, Johnnie Walker and Ketel One. So props to them and our livers—now let’s look at what happened outside the top 20:

RELATED: This Week’s Social Media Power Rankings: Cheers to Heineken

“Cisco’s rise in the Social Business Index this week was supported by the social efforts behind ‘the world’s largest classroom.’” Lizzie Steen of the Dachis Group told us. What she’s referring to is the  The Cisco Networking Academy— a public/private program that provides technology and career education to more than four million students across 10,000 academies in 165 countries.  And that sounds serious, but as Steen points out, part of its success is there’s an emphasis on fun. Steen writes: 

Two engineers, Ian and Dan, set up two servers and decorated them with flower lights while studying for their certification from Cisco. The photo received more than 1,200 likes and 186 shares from the the site’s 460 thousand fans.  Overall, the CNA page has balanced a dense subject matter with a collaborative and fun posts, making the learning process more global and human.

Swatch proved that it’s never too early to start prepping for Valentine’s Day.  As the Dachis Group’s Joe Pinaire points out, their very popular True Love (has nothing to hide) campaign and its new A la Folie watch contributed to Swatch’s boost this week. “From Taiwan to Chile, the brand has leveraged countless regional Facebook presences to let their fans know the clock is ticking on the seasonal special,” Pinaire told us. “And fans have taken to this messaging, as the brand’s bevy of original and creative photo content has garnered love from around the globe,” he added. That photo content was specified and regionalized for their fans,  featuring pictures of a Spanish store floor redesign promoting the watch and the watch thriving in the hustle of Vienna city-life and the new O’Hare airport store. “Swatch also launched a Twitter contest using their global handle (@swatch), encouraging Belgian, Dutch, English, Spanish, and Swiss fans to declare their #TrueLove (because it has nothing to hide–right?) in exchange for a chance to win the seasonal watch and a travel voucher.” And if there’s something people love more than Valentine’s Day, it’s a free contest.

So, no cheating, but do you know how many Facebook fans Intel and its Ultrabooks have? Over 16.5 million. That also means a lot of social media juice. “Last week, the Ultrabook took in the sights in New York City and Paris. In New York, an Ultrabook posed within view of the inimitable Empire State Building with the caption, ‘Empire State of Mind’, showing off its amazing form factor and the Intel i7 chip that powers it,” the Dachis Group’s Charles Lim told us.  The photo generated more than 130 thousand likes, 1,600 comments and six thousand shares—it’s a photo of a computer people.  Lim explains:

Like car lovers, electronics enthusiasts react positively to photos of gear that they already own or would like to own. This is because electronics, like cars, are aspirational and functional and inspire lust and passion.  It also helped that the photo was a shout-out to the cultural hub of America.  …

These posts are well tuned to a global brand campaign that appeals the traveler, gets local voices involved, inspires contests and instills the notion that the Ultrabook can go anywhere you go.

Methodology: A project of the Dachis Group, a social business professional services group, the Social Business Index analyzes the conversations on social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and others. The index, which currently covers approximately 25,0000 companies and 27,000 brands, detects behaviors and activities exhibited by these companies and analyzes their execution and effectiveness at driving outcomes such as brand awareness, brand love, mind share, and advocacy. The Atlantic Wire takes a snapshot of the rankings at the end of the day on Sundays.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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TVs Most Social Shows

For years, TV networks have asserted that Nielsen ratings are an inaccurate way to determine a show's popularity. Their case hold more water now that a significant percent of audiences time-shift their viewing (via DVR or online streaming services like iTunes or Hulu). As a side-effect of that, many networks have combated dwindling ratings by trumpeting their social metrics and declaring themselves The Most Social Show of a given night.

But what does being "a social show" really mean and how is that data collected?

One way is through a service like Trendrr.tv -- a 6-year-old company that pulls from Twitter, Facebook, Get Glue and Viggle to deduce which shows are generating the most online conversation.

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Topping Trendrr.tv's list of 2012's Most Social Shows is SpongeBob Squarepants, a program I assumed skewed too young to rank so high socially, but as Trendrr spokesperson Meghann Elrhoul explained to me, "A lot of it has to do with the fact it's running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are so many more opportunities to see the show since it airs at least three or four times a day, versus The X Factor, which airs once a week."

Interestingly Simon Cowell's competition show came in second on Trendrr.tv's 2012 list, ranking above The Voice and American Idol, despite drawing significantly lower Nielsen ratings.

RELATED - Keegan Allen Previews PLL Problems

But finding a spin-able silver lining isn't the only reason networks have begun boasting about their Social status; there are countless examples of a show's online endeavors actually helping to goose ratings.

"Younger skewing shows do well on social, but Hawaii 5-0, which has an older median age, recently did a really good job with their Choose Your Own Ending contest," Elrhoul says. "They increased their ratings and their social by about 35 percent from the premiere."

On the flipside, you have ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars, which roughly averages 2.5 million viewers a week, mostly in the coveted 18-34 demo, and ranked #4 on Trendrr.tv's list of 2012's Most Social Shows. It consistently dominates Tuesday night traffic (a recent episode accounted for over 25 percent of all TV-related conversation online) with much of the credit being attributed to the fact every PLL star maintains a highly visible Twitter presence. Lucy Hale, Shay Mitchell, Ashley Benson, Keegan Allen and Troian Bellisario can often be found live Tweet episodes and constantly engaging with the very vocal fanbase.

RELATED - What's Next For The Vampire Diaries?

That clear correlation is leading other networks to ask their stars increase their social media presence and periodically participate in online "chat parties." In advance of the January 24 episode of The Vampire Diaries, The CW threw a weeklong #TVDParty that culminated in show stars Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder, Kat Graham, Zach Roerig and Claire Holt joining EP Julie Plec in live tweeting during the episode. This turned #TVD into TV's Most Social Series of the Week, with 865,000 social interactions across the monitored platforms; knocking American Idol, The Simpsons, Family Guy and Glee down Trendrr.tv's list.

Elrhoul adds that The Vampire Diaries has long been one of the most inventive and successful when it comes to using social media, saying they're not just generating traffic spikes, but creating week-long engagement. "We did a study on [TVD] and found that a lot of their conversation is happening in between episodes. They're not dropping off after the episode airs. You see [The CW] sharing pictures and sneak peeks on Facebook, which builds anticipation and keeps their fans engaged throughout the whole season."

And The Vampire Diaries isn't TV's only social climber, according to Elrhoul, MTV's Catfish is making a serious online impact in its freshman season. But will it crack the Top 10 in 2013? Check out 2012's current leaderboard:

1. SpongeBob Squarepants, *Total Activity: 21,746,338

2. The X Factor, Total Activity: 16,614,869

3. The Voice, Total Activity: 11,135,041

4. Pretty Little Liars, Total Activity: 10,375,944

5. The Bad Girls Club, Total Activity: 9,424,279

6. American Idol, Total Activity: 9,040,514

7. Love & Hip Hop Atlanta, Total Activity: 6,875,221

8. The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Total Activity: 6,200,381

9. Today, Total Activity: 6,171,158

10. The Walking Dead, Total Activity: 6,164,030

*Total Activity is based on all social activity for each program across Twitter, Facebook, GetGlue and Viggle data sources on days of telecast.

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Clinton formally resigns as secretary of state

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton waves goodbye after delivering her farewell address to the staff with Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Tomas Nides, left, and Deputy Secretary of State William Burns in the C Street lobby of the State Department today.

WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton formally resigned Friday as America's 67th secretary of state, capping a 4-year tenure in the office that saw her shatter previous records for the number of countries visited.

In a letter sent to President Obama shortly before she was to leave the State Department for the last time in her official capacity, Clinton thanked her former foe for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination for the opportunity to serve in his administration. Clinton said it had been an honor to be part of his Cabinet and that she remained convinced of the "strength and staying power" of American global leadership.

"I am more convinced than ever in the strength and staying power of America's global leadership and our capacity to be a force for good in the world," she said in the letter.

Her resignation will be effective on the swearing-in of her successor, John Kerry, who was to take the oath of office in a private ceremony later Friday.

Clinton left office with a slap at critics of the Obama administration's handling of the September attack on a US diplomatic mission in Libya. She told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that critics of the administration's handling of the attack don't live in an "evidence-based world," and their refusal to "accept the facts" is unfortunate and regrettable for the political system.

Clinton told the AP that the attack in Benghazi was the low point of her time as America's top diplomat. But she suggested that the furor over the assault would not affect whether she runs for president in 2016.

Although she insisted that she has not decided what her future holds, she said she "absolutely" still plans to make a difference on issues she cares about in speeches and in a sequel to her 2003 memoir, "Living History," that will focus largely on her years as secretary of state.

Clinton spoke to the AP Thursday in her outer office on the seventh floor of the State Department less than 24 hours before she walks out for a final time as boss. She was relaxed but clearly perturbed by allegations from Republican lawmakers and commentators that the administration had intentionally misled the public about whether the attack was a protest gone awry or a terrorist attack, or intentionally withheld additional security for diplomatic personnel in Libya knowing that an attack could happen.

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Mompreneur jumps into the ‘Shark Tank’

It all started with a 4 a.m. email nearly a year ago: “Do you think a baby bib could change the world? I do...”

Then Susie Taylor included a link to her website, bibbitec.com, and off it went to Shark Tank, the popular ABC television show where entrepreneurs pitch their companies to investors on the show — and by extension, 7 million viewers.

Four months later, as the “mompreneur” was leaving her Biscayne Park home to pick up her kids from school, she got a call from the show asking her to pitch on the spot. Driving with her phone on her shoulder, she told the Bibbitec story.

Shark Tank bit. After a few more back and forths, her segment was filmed last summer.

Friday night, Taylor is scheduled to be on the show pitching Bibbitec’s main product, “The Ultimate Bib,” a patented generously sized, stain-resistant and fast-drying child’s bib made in the USA — Hialeah, to be exact. Bibbitec’s $30 bib can be a burp cloth, changing pad, breast feeding shield, full body bib, place mat, art smock and more, Taylor says.

We won’t be getting any details on what happens Friday night when she and her husband, Stephen Taylor, get into the tank with Daymond John, Mark Cuban and the other celebrity sharks; Taylor has been contractually sworn to secrecy. But whatever the outcome, she believes it will be worth it for the marketing pop.

Taylor was inspired to create her bib after a long and very messy plane ride with her two young sons and started Bibbitec in 2008. She and her team — her husband is CFO, her sister, Heather McCabe, handles sales and marketing, her uncle, Richard Page, is in charge of production, and her aunt, Marcia Kreitman, advises on design — have expanded the line to include The Ultimate Smock for older children and the Ultimate Mini for babies. Coming soon: a smock for adults.

Taylor already got a taste of what a national TV show appearance can do for sales. In September, Bibbitec’s sales jumped 40 percent after she was on an ABC World News "Made in America" segment. “Within 30 seconds, we started getting sales from all over the country and they didn’t even mention our name on the air,” Taylor says. She said that confirmed her belief that a Shark Tank appearance would be worth it.

Plus, Taylor has been hooked on Shark Tank since the first time she watched it in 2008 as she was developing her product. Trained in theater, she admits she didn’t know much about business and learned from the show. She would practice how she would answer the questions.

“I’m all about empowering women who are sitting on the couch watching, because that’s what I was four years ago,” says Taylor. “All I wanted to do was to be on Shark Tank because I believed if I got on Shark Tank the world will see what I am trying to do and that’s all I need. I know it’s a great product.”

Will that theater training come in handy Friday night? Stay tuned. Shark Tank airs at 9 p.m. on ABC and Taylor hopes viewers will join in on Twitter using the hashtag #sharkbib.

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Another Miami police officer criminally charged with extortion

A Miami police officer who recently resigned while under investigation surrendered to authorities Thursday on criminal charges stemming from an FBI investigation. He became the second officer charged with involvement in an alleged protection racket for a sports-betting ring operating out of a Liberty City barbershop.

Harold James, an eight-year veteran, is charged with two counts of extortion involving providing protection for “the cashing of fraudulent checks’’ in exchange for cash payments, according to court records.

He is scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court Thursday afternoon. Prosecutors are seeking to seize $800 from James that they say he pocketed from the alleged protection racket in 2012.

James became the second Miami officer criminally charged in as many days. In an unrelated case, authorities arrested Officer Luis Hernandez, 27, Wednesday and charged him with armed kidnapping and sexual battery by a law enforcement officer. Also Wednesday, the department fired an officer, Reynaldo Goyos, for shooting and killing an unarmed motorist two years ago.

In federal court, James is charged by criminal “information,’’ a sign that he is cooperating with authorities and will eventually plead guilty to limit any prison sentence.

James last worked in the Model City neighborhood before he resigned in November, city records show. He generally received above-average performance evaluations, and he received nine commendations over his career. James was reprimanded seven times, mostly for traffic accidents or failing to appear for court hearings, records show.

Earlier this month, fellow Miami Officer Nathaniel Dauphin became the first of several cops swept up in the broad anti-corruption dragnet of the city’s embattled police department.

Dauphin, 41, allegedly helped organize the protection racket for the Liberty City sports-betting operation. He pleaded not guilty to a single charge of extortion conspiracy, alleging that he “protected and facilitated illegal activity — gambling — in exchange for receipts of cash payments.’’

Dauphin, a police officer since 1996, was allegedly paid $5,000, according to the charge. The government filed papers to seize that money from him. Dauphin also was charged by “criminal information.’’ He was released from custody on a $100,000 bond.

James and Dauphin are among at least 10 Miami police officers expected to soon face federal criminal charges or internal discipline related to the protection scheme and other criminal activity, The Miami Herald has learned.

Seven of the officers under scrutiny, including James, have already resigned or been relieved of duty in recent weeks, according to sources close to the probe.

The FBI, which has been working with Miami internal affairs investigators since the gambling operation was shut down in March 2012, is expected to make more arrests.

The targeted officers, who worked in the Model City substation, are suspected of providing off-the-books protection and frequenting the Player’s Choice Barber Shop, 6301 NW Sixth Ave.

Also relieved of duty are officers Malinsky Bazile, 27, Vital Frederick, 26, and Angel Mercado, 29, who are suspected of other criminal activity unrelated to the alleged protection racket. All continue to receive pay while the investigation continues.

In December, The Herald reported that 31-year-old officer Lashunda Hodge was relieved of duty with pay as part of the protection-detail probe.

At least three other Miami officers are facing scrutiny in connection with the protection scheme: Hodge’s roommate, Kenya Crocker, 39; Dauphin’s girlfriend, Carol Vargas, 39, and Darryl Bryant, 51, according to sources familiar with the case.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

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Apple loses a U.S. appeals bid in Samsung patent fight

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Thursday rejected Apple Inc‘s request to revive its bid for a sales ban on Samsung‘s Galaxy Nexus smartphone, dashing the iPhone maker’s attempt to recover crucial leverage in the global patent wars.

Apple had asked the full Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., to revisit a decision in October by a three-judge panel of the same court. The panel rejected Apple’s request to impose a sales ban on Samsung’s Nexus smartphone ahead of a trial set for March 2014.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment. A Samsung representative could not immediately be reached.

The fight in appeals court comes after Apple won a $ 1.05 billion verdict last year against Samsung in a U.S. District Court in California. The same trial judge will preside over the legal battle surrounding the Nexus phone, which involves a patent not included in the earlier trial.

The fight has been widely viewed as a proxy war between Apple and Google Inc. Samsung’s hot-selling Galaxy smartphones and tablets run on Google’s Android operating system, which Apple’s late co-founder, Steve Jobs, once denounced as a “stolen product.”

In its October ruling against Apple, the appeals court raised the bar for potentially market-crippling injunctions on product sales based on narrow patents for phone features. The legal precedent puts Samsung in a much stronger position by allowing its products to remain on store shelves while it fights a global patent battle against Apple over smartphone technology.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, in San Jose, California, who has presided over much of the Apple/Samsung litigation in the United States, cited the appeals’ court decision in a December order rejecting Apple’s request for permanent sales bans on several Samsung phones. Apple has appealed Koh’s ruling.

Apple wanted the full Federal Circuit of Appeals, made up of nine active judges, to reverse the earlier ruling. But in a brief order on Thursday, the court rejected Apple’s request without detailed explanation or any published dissents.

Several experts had believed that Apple faced long odds, as the legal issues in play were not considered controversial enough to spur full court review.

Apple could still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, the high court has made it more difficult for patent plaintiffs to secure sales injunctions in recent years.

The case in the Federal Circuit is Apple Inc. vs Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 12-1507.

(Reporting By Dan Levine; Editing by John Wallace, Grant McCool and Leslie Adler)

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Seth Rogen & Paul Rudd Get Creative Juices Stiffled in Samsung Super Bowl Ad

Some advertisers are trotting out teasers this week for commercials they'll pay millions to air during this Sunday's Super Bowl. We've got a sneak peek of a Samsung ad that attempts to tap into the creative talents of Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd, but the two actors get censored due to rules that prohibit the use of "Super Bowl" and the team names!

Mr. Show's Bob Odenkirk also appears in the ad -- which features the company's Galaxy family of products -- as the one soliciting the actors' creative ideas for the perfect Super Bowl spot. But when the creative juices get flowing, Rogen and Rudd are stopped dead in their tracks before they can utter the forbidden terms.

PICS: Star Sightings

"You can't say the name of the game," Odenkirk snaps, citing rules limited the use of copyrighted terms in a Super Bowl commercial. So how do they refer to one of the biggest sporting events ever held? "The Big Game," Odenkirk suggests, or perhaps with Spanish flair, "El Plato Supremo."

Watch the teaser to also her Rogen creatively suggest how to reference the San Francisco 49ers by inventing the title "the 50 minus 1ers."

VIDEO: First Look: Iron Man 3 Super Bowl Teaser

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Authorities: Teen wounded in Ga. school shooting

ATLANTA — An Atlanta fire official says a 14-year-old has been shot in the head at a middle school and has been taken to a hospital.

Atlanta Fire Cpt. Marian McDaniel also says a teacher suffered minor cuts and bruises but was treated on the scene at Price Middle School. Earlier, a police spokesman said he was headed to the school about 2 miles south of downtown following reports of a shooting.

TV news helicopters show a swarm of Atlanta police officers at the school.

McDaniel says the shooting victim was taken to Grady Hospital but information on the teen's condition was not immediately

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Mompreneur jumps into the ‘Shark Tank’

It all started with a 4 a.m. email nearly a year ago: “Do you think a baby bib could change the world? I do...”

Then Susie Taylor included a link to her website, bibbitec.com, and off it went to Shark Tank, the popular ABC television show where entrepreneurs pitch their companies to investors on the show — and by extension, 7 million viewers.

Four months later, as the “mompreneur” was leaving her Biscayne Park home to pick up her kids from school, she got a call from the show asking her to pitch on the spot. Driving with her phone on her shoulder, she told the Bibbitec story.

Shark Tank bit. After a few more back and forths, her segment was filmed last summer.

Friday night, Taylor is scheduled to be on the show pitching Bibbitec’s main product, “The Ultimate Bib,” a patented generously sized, stain-resistant and fast-drying child’s bib made in the USA — Hialeah, to be exact. Bibbitec’s $30 bib can be a burp cloth, changing pad, breast feeding shield, full body bib, place mat, art smock and more, Taylor says.

We won’t be getting any details on what happens Friday night when she and her husband, Stephen Taylor, get into the tank with Daymond John, Mark Cuban and the other celebrity sharks; Taylor has been contractually sworn to secrecy. But whatever the outcome, she believes it will be worth it for the marketing pop.

Taylor was inspired to create her bib after a long and very messy plane ride with her two young sons and started Bibbitec in 2008. She and her team — her husband is CFO, her sister, Heather McCabe, handles sales and marketing, her uncle, Richard Page, is in charge of production, and her aunt, Marcia Kreitman, advises on design — have expanded the line to include The Ultimate Smock for older children and the Ultimate Mini for babies. Coming soon: a smock for adults.

Taylor already got a taste of what a national TV show appearance can do for sales. In September, Bibbitec’s sales jumped 40 percent after she was on an ABC World News "Made in America" segment. “Within 30 seconds, we started getting sales from all over the country and they didn’t even mention our name on the air,” Taylor says. She said that confirmed her belief that a Shark Tank appearance would be worth it.

Plus, Taylor has been hooked on Shark Tank since the first time she watched it in 2008 as she was developing her product. Trained in theater, she admits she didn’t know much about business and learned from the show. She would practice how she would answer the questions.

“I’m all about empowering women who are sitting on the couch watching, because that’s what I was four years ago,” says Taylor. “All I wanted to do was to be on Shark Tank because I believed if I got on Shark Tank the world will see what I am trying to do and that’s all I need. I know it’s a great product.”

Will that theater training come in handy Friday night? Stay tuned. Shark Tank airs at 9 p.m. on ABC and Taylor hopes viewers will join in on Twitter using the hashtag #sharkbib.

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Healing gardens: Horticulture therapy takes root in South Florida

Allspice and heirloom roses scent the garden where Robert Bornstein starts his work day at his home, tending plants meant not for show but for healing.

"We have 35 years of scientific documentation to tell us we were meant to be with nature,” says Bornstein, potting an Everglades tomato that his seniors with limited mobility can grow indoors. “I need at least ten minutes in the garden or I’m no good.”

Bornstein’s work, called horticultural therapy, uses gardens and gardening activities to improve memory,, physical coordination, rehabilitation and social skills. According to Elizabeth Diehl, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Therapeutic Horticulture, a growing body of research shows horticulture therapy’s benefits among older populations.

“Having access to natural spaces reduces violent behavior in Alzheimer’s patients,” Diehl says.

As hospitals and treatment centers become aware of the benefits, they are adding horticultural activities to their recreational therapy programs. Bornstein, who began his career working with patients who had been declared criminally insane, now has a busy practice serving 40 senior residence facilities across South Florida and charges roughly $90 an hour for his services.

Ten minutes slip to thirty.

“I’m late!” he realizes, and jumping into his Prius, guns it to Deerfield Beach.

"You see, ladies? He’s always running," Geraldine Markiewicz, a retired first-grade teacher, tells fellow Horizon Club residents as the therapist races into the assisted living facility bearing bags of materials for a flower arranging hour. Fifteen residents range around the common area, some in wheelchairs. Bornstein passes around thimble-sized plastic containers that look like champagne glasses, followed by sprigs of eucalyptus, cattails and dried flowers. Each person selects an element, decides its arrangement, and attaches it to a thumbnail of floral foam with all the hand-eye coordination he or she can muster.

Neuropathy, rheumatoid arthritis and the shaking hands of Parkinson’s disease can make such fine movements difficult. Yet as the arrangements take shape, no bigger than a salt shaker, they look as fine as if a caterer had created them for a wedding table.

Activities Assistant Gwenda Rodriguez stands by as a resident who can barely move wills her hands to place a purple flower in the cup. The woman’s face beams. She has made the most elegant arrangement of all.

* * *

Elena Naranjo used to be an assistant director at a mental health center, dealing with continual crisis management. Then she got a license in permaculture, the design of holistic living spaces based on sustainable agriculture. “I think there’s a very healing application working with nature. It’s where I wanted to end up,” Naranjo says.

Now she, a small staff, and the homeless and formerly homeless families of Verde Gardens, a 145-unit affordable housing community of Miami-Dade Homeless Trust and Carrfour Supportive Housing, are reaping their first full harvest on the Farm at Verde Gardens.

Modeled on the Homeless Garden Project in Santa Cruz, Calif., the 22-acre farm on former Homestead Air Reserve Base land offers skills and business opportunities to community members like Xavier Wright, as well as fresh food

“I’m an outdoor person. My grandparents grew cotton and peaches,” says 25-year-old Wright who arrived at the Chapman Partnership homeless shelter a single father with full custody of his autistic son. “I love this,” he says, setting pigeon pea seedlings in the soil.

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