CNN's Hero Of The Year award went to Efren Peñaflorida, a social worker and teacher in the Philippines. When he's not working, he operates out of a pushcart, educating children on the streets of the Philippines, encouraging them to learn and stay out of gangs. Peñaflorida himself escaped a life of poverty in Cavite City and has spent the last decade working to ensure that other children growing up under less-than-ideal circumstances have the same opportunities he did.

Efren Peñaflorida was bullied by gangs in high school in the Philippines Now his Dynamic Teen Company offers an alternative to gangs through education Since 1997, some 10,000 members have taught more than 1,500 children in slums

Efren Peñaflorida, who started a "pushcart classroom" in the Philippines to bring education to poor children as an alternative to gang membership, has been named the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year.