--- description: Collaborative courts for troubled veterans, PayPal's microlending service, making voters care about election coverage and more. title: These Are Today's Best Ideas image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Innovation](/tag/innovation/) ## Innovation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Five Best Ideas of the Day: March 11 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 11, 2015 4:01 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 11, 2015 4:01 PM CUT **1\.** [**Special collaborative courts focus on rehabilitating troubled veterans. They’re working.**](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/special-courts-take-criminal-cases-veterans-struggling-trauma/ "undefined") By Spencer Michels at PBS Newshour **2\.** [**PayPal runs a dead-simple microlending program that helps small businesses grow.**](http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242516 "undefined") By Michelle Goodman in Entrepreneur **3\.** [**To make voters care, a radio station in L.A. picked a prototype non-voter and built their election coverage around him.**](http://www.poynter.org/news/media-innovation/324863/how-did-kpcc-get-voters-to-care-they-picked-one-and-made-him-care/ "undefined") By Melody Kramer at Poynter.org **4\.** [**Can the mining industry become a responsible, reliable partner for local communities and the environment?**](http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/transforming-mining-into-a-development-industry/ "undefined") By Andrea Mustain in Kellogg Insight **5\.** [**Robert Mugabe is 91 years old. The world should prepare for a succession crisis in Zimbabwe.**](http://blogs.cfr.org/zenko/2015/03/09/guest-post-looming-succession-crisis-in-zimbabwe/ "undefined") By Helia Ighani at the Council on Foreign Relations  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/ "undefined") _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3740554/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-march-11/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3740554/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-march-11/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: March 11","datePublished":"2015-03-11T16:01:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:07.470Z","description":"Collaborative courts for troubled veterans, PayPal's microlending service, making voters care about election coverage and more.","url":"https://time.com/3740554/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-march-11/","keywords":["Innovation","Veterans","Environment","Africa","Crime","coal","Small Business","elections","News","Courts","Zimbabwe","paypal","Mining","VA","Sustainability","voters","Robert Mugabe"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3740554/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-march-11/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: March 11"}}]}] ```