The effect that Harlem’s limited healthy food options has on its young residents first became evident to Hillery in 2011, when he was serving lunch at a public school cafeteria on 129th Street as a volunteer. There, he met a student who told him that he thought tomatoes grew in supermarkets.

After finishing college, recent graduates often move to new cities, explore different career paths, start their own projects, or travel the world. But Sam Bencheghib has different plans: running. The 22-year-old — who graduated from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, this spring — is embarking on a six-month journey that spans 3,100 miles in an effort to raise awareness about plastic pollution. Bencheghib plans to run from New York City’s Battery Park area to Santa Monica, California, stopping at city halls along the way where he will ask mayors to sign a no-plastic pledge.

Sikh groups around the world have united to fight against climate change by planning to plant 1 million trees in 1,820 different locations by November.

The group behind the movement, EcoSikh, was founded in 2009 to connect Sikh values with solutions to environmental issues — and its latest endeavor, the “Million Tree Project,” is its biggest ever. The initiative aims to tackle environmental issues like deforestation and air pollution while also helping people reconnect with nature.

On either side of the store, shelves with handcrafted jars, notebooks, vases, bowls, and clothes made by female artisans in Pakistan’s rural communities line the walls — all of which are for sale and benefit girls and women in these communities.

Low-lying divans and colorful curtains offer people a welcoming place to play board games, read books, and chat while sipping from colorful jars of chai.