FMYI launches 'Change Agents Unite' problem-solving platform

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FMYI CEO Justin Yuen, flanked by Cylvia Hayes, last week announced a new web-platform for solving social and environmental problems. (Photo by Garrett Downen Photography.)

Seizing the opportunity to gather a who's-who list of notable sustainable business professionals at its offices for a party last week, FMYI announced a new online platform for solving pressing environmental, social and business problems through collaboration.

Portland-based FMYI is building on its "Change Agents Unite" project, launched earlier this year as a way to recognize individuals in the world of sustainable business for their achievements. Now, using FMYI's web-based collaboration software, the Change Agents program will include a platform for posting thorny problems and contributing ideas to solve them.

"We’re a big believer that software can be leveraged to create a better world,” said Justin Yuen, FMYI's CEO.

Speaking along with Yuen at the FMYI party last Thursday evening at the Left Bank Building in Northeast Portland, Jeannette Pai-Espinoza, president of the Crtittendon Foundation, hushed revelers with the striking statistic that one in three girls in the U.S. is a victim of sexual abuse. The foundation is one of the initial organizations using Change Agents Unite to gather ideas of how best to use social media to shine a light on the pervasive problem of violence against women.

Each problem posted on the site, is paired with a prize sponsor, which offers incentives for the best ideas. MercyCorps, for example, is offering the prize of a down jacket designed by Portland-based Nau for ideas about how to garner support for global disasters that go largely ignored by the media.

FMYI's launch party which — along with sustainability execs from The Walt Disney Company, Starbucks, WalMart and others — drew the likes of Oregon's first lady Cylvia Hayes, longtime sustainable business journalist Marc Gunther, and Nau co-founder and current Recyclebank CEO Ian Yolles among many others, illustrated the small company's national credibility on the sustainability scene. Last week's NetImpact conference drew many national sustainable business stars to Portland.

The party was, appropriately, catered by Bamboo Sushi. Gunther was impressed enough to write about the restaurant Tuesday on GreenBiz.com.