Clutter Cleaners is a company that helps seniors and transitioning families de-clutter, pack, move, and deal with the motions of attachment to physical items.  The company is also known for techniques in dealing with extreme hoarding, and their unique approach has won them their own A&E show in 2011.  The say that their product is “service and personality – good service is no longer enough.”

Farm to Family has created a sustainable food distribution system that links local farmers directly with the community.  They provide locally produced, farm-fresh meats, dairy, and vegetables to inner-city residents via their “movable farmer’s market” – a converted bus.  They also travel to schools and corporate centers to educate constituents on being “locovores.”  They have been featured on BBC, World News, People Magazine, the Huffington Post, and others.

Green Modern Kits has assembled a group of entrepreneurial architects to develop attractive, green, prefab buildings with passive solar and high efficiency insulation.  They have also launched a line of multipurpose, practical, modern furniture for these compact homes.  The firm is answering the need for affordable, energy efficient, yet “cool, gorgeous architecture” in the 21st century.

The professionals at Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Inc. consider themselves partners with physicians, helping to educate physicians on the more sophisticated tests, tools, and evidence that can support diagnoses, prevent cardiovascular and chronic diseases, and personalize patient treatment and disease management. 

Helping Hands Affordable Veterinary Surgery and Dental Care provides high quality, affordable, outpatient pet care.  The have eliminated office visits and consultations in lieu of doing only surgery and dentistry.  A portion of each fee is contributed to those who can’t afford the cost of pet care, and the veterinarians donate a portion of their hours as well.  “The economy has been rough on pets,” they say, and this system is one way to help keep pets with their families.

La Flor De Mayo, “a piece of Paradise,” is a sustainable ecotourism resort in Nicaragua with company headquarters in Virginia.  The company is investing in social capital – employing the local community members, purchasing local materials, developing a desalinization plant on site that produces marketable salt – and using solar and wind power that has become a net energy producer for the community. 

The Pediatric Connection is an integrated, comprehensive health care company exclusively caring for children.  The company provide pediatric home medical equipment and supplies, clinical respiratory services, and private duty nursing.  The nature of their work has inspired them to make every day a little happier, and they employ an extraordinary array of life celebrations to maintain energy, positive attitudes, and quality of life – they call them “wows!” for the staff.

SnagAJob is the nation’s largest hourly human capital firm and American workers’ number one source for hourly employment.  They differ from most other companies in that their focus is less on structure and more on people.  They employ a “Chief People Officer,” for instance.  They stress collaboration, accountability, passion, laser-focused goals, community service, and fun.  Every day is “Casual Friday.”

Fountainhead Properties, LLC operates as a commercial and residential real estate company developing the old Manchester industrial region south of the James River.  Fountainhead’s deliberate focus has been an arts one, beginning with the conversion of Plant Zero, an old industrial property, to artists’ studios, art exhibition space, an arts supply store, and a thriving café.  The firm has also donated space to VCUarts for cutting-edge exhibitions on the South side of the James, drawing more of the Richmond community to the area.  Their idea has been to develop the area “from the arts up” -- to bring in the creative community first, then develop small commercial spaces for creating, exhibiting, and selling art, and finally to develop the area residentially.  The firm’s successful arts focus has completely changed the character of a once-abandoned industrial neighborhood into a thriving creative commercial and residential area.