Inspired by a community service trips to post-Katrina New Orleans, Alex Epstein co-founded New York 2 New Orleans Coalition, an network of New York City high school students mobilizing around the parallel struggles of New Orleans and their own communities. When he moved to Philadelphia for college, Alex helped co-found The Philadelphia Urban Creators (PUC) — an outfit of young community organizers trying to build relationships with Philadelphia communities to help them develop sustainably, and equitably, from the ground up.