WE NEED EXAMPLES! And we need your help in finding them. Do you know of any efforts that have successfully eradicated a social problem? (Or got close?)

As many of you know, Share Our Strength, our parent organization, is on a quest to end. childhood hunger in the United States. by 2015. That is right. Their goal is not to alleviate or reduce it but eradicate it once and for all. A number of other efforts have set similar goals: Malaria No More plans to end. malaria deaths in Africa. by 2015. Denver’s Road Home will end. homelessness in Denver. by 2015.

Seeing a number of initiatives set these compelling, ambitious goals has led us, at Community Wealth Ventures, to try to understand what it takes to achieve this kind of transformation. What is required to truly eradicate a social problem—or at least come close—in a community, a country, or our world?

We are committed to investigating past and present efforts so that we might help in building a future where eradicating a social problem is not a rare occurrence, but rather the norm.  How do we create more examples like the extinction of smallpox, which the World Health Organization confirmed in 1979?

But, WE NEED EXAMPLES! And we need your help in finding those that have set their sights high on creating sustainable, transformational impact. Do you know of any efforts that have successfully eradicated a social problem? (Or got close?)

Please share any and all examples you can think of in the comments section below. We encourage ideas across social issues, history and geography!