A tale of two island cities… Kingston, Jamaica and San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Both are home to dynamic community leaders who are taking action to ensure that they and their neighbors have better lives.

Barbara Pyle travels to Kingston, where two women are tackling the issues of population growth and poverty in different ways.  Angela Stultz-Crawlle is the Director of “S-Corner”… an organization that provides women with education and job training.  According to Angela, the training is critical to raising the self-esteem of Jamaican women, many of whom link their value directly to the number of children they have.  Verna Foster is a successful “S-Corner” graduate, who is now a construction site supervisor.  Verna comes back to the “S-Corner” school to talk to the current students. She tells them “We don’t want to make babies… we want to make money… we want to produce, not reproduce”.

In San Juan, Pyle chronicles the struggle of a teacher who’s truly a living example of the lessons  he teaches to his students.  Jose Chago Santiago heads up a project to clean up one of the most polluted crime-ridden neighborhoods in San Juan, the Cantera Peninsula.  He’s getting help from a former student and one-time gang member,  Joselyn Rolone.  Joselyn counsels kids to stay away from gangs, drugs and violence… and he takes an active role in cleaning up Cantera’s pollution problem.  Joselyn credits Chago with helping him clean up his own personal life… and says “It’s the greatest thing… now people don’t fear me… they see me as a catalyst for change.”