Awesome Foundation - Проекти

Melbourne (Неактивен) – Do it on the Roof

2012-08-27T00:00:00Z

In my vision for the future the rooftops of Melbournes’s CBD are transformed from the current grey, concrete landscape into a quilt of fully vegetated, natural parks & gardens that are some of our city’s best-loved, most used features. I am working right now to implement this vision. In February 2012, with Olivia Laskowski, I founded Do it on the Roof, a campaign which aimed to persuade building owners and facility managers in Melbourne’s CBD to create public, natural green roofs. Green roof technology is proven. Most of Melbourne’s rooftops are unutilized spaces. But the research demonstrating the financial benefits of green roofs in Australia has not been translated into commercial terms. Nor is anyone in Melbourne designing vegetated roofs which are natural in style, even though only natural green roofs realize the full benefits. Do it on the Roof translates research into green roof benefits into business cases tailored to the owners and facility managers of the buildings we identify as placed best to benefit from housing public green roofs. Secondly, Do it on the Roof provides conceptual designs for natural green roofs. Thirdly, we increase the financial benefits in creating natural green roofs by promoting green roofs to the public & running publicity campaigns. In February, we ran a workshop at the Sustainable Living Festival. In March, I posed a question about how to catalyse the creation of green roofs on the online forum, Our Say. My question received the most votes, which meant I discussed it with Cnr Cathy Oke. In May, City of Melbourne invited Do it on the Roof to the Growing Green Guide launch & introduced us as the sector's leading community organization. In June CoM asked my question of leaders at Rio+20. Today, Do it on the Roof has a team of 15. We are becoming a consultancy partnership. The Victorian Government dept of Sustainability is writing a study of Do it on the Roof as an exemplar of economic opportunities in climate change adaptation.

Calgary, AB (Неактивен) – CLOUD

2012-08-24T00:00:00Z

A large-scale interactive sculpture created from 5,000 re-appropriated domestic light bulbs, CLOUD invites the viewer to wander through a rain of pull strings, switching on and off lights to create the illusion of lightning on the cloud’s surface. (Nuit Blanche Calgary, September 15, 2012). On September 15th, Calgary will be hosting its first Nuit Blanche – an all-night public showcase of contemporary art on the streets of downtown Calgary. As part of Nuit Blanche, local multidisciplinary artist Caitlind r.c. Brown is building an 18-foot interactive electrical CLOUD – out of 5000+ light bulbs. Viewers will be invited to wander beneath the structure through a rain of pull strings, switching on and off lights to create the illusion of lightning on the cloud’s surface. Visiting CLOUD will be free, open to the public, and kid-friendly. Here’s the thing – only one in every ten light bulbs actually needs to glow. The rest are purely ornamental. Why waste fresh light bulbs when there are tons and tons of burnt out bulbs being discarded every day? In pursuit of inexpensive and waste-free materials, CLOUD is experimenting with community collaboration, asking the public to contribute materials by donating their burnt out incandescent light bulbs. Intended to create an awareness of usage and a reminder of the potential of items post-function, this experiment explores the ability of art to re-imagine the possibilities of functionless domestic objects (in this case, burnt out light bulbs). As you can imagine, while there are indeed thousands of burnt out incandescent light bulbs waiting in store for this project somewhere, it’s incredibly hard to get the word out to the broader public – especially to the restaurants, lighting stores, schools, etc. who go through handfuls of incandescent bulbs weekly. This is how the Awesome Foundation can help: with $1000, we can lend legitimacy to our experiment, and spread the Call for Burnt Out Light Bulbs all over the city.

Washington, DC – Connecting Communities Through Wireless Networks

2012-08-20T00:00:00Z

The community wireless networks in Mt. Pleasant and Columbia Heights are organized by neighborhood residents. These networks can help people communicate with neighbors, use local services like community TV and radio stations, and share the cost of an Internet connection. The infrastructure consists of Wi-Fi routers on rooftops that form a network supported by social relationships in the neighborhood. The network’s infrastructure is owned and shared by residents as a resource for the community. Residents participate in these networks as Neighborlinks through a variety of roles, such as hosting a router on their rooftop, sharing Internet bandwidth, creating local content for the network. The vision for the network is to use existing resources, including skills in the neighborhood, to leverage our social relationships into improving everyone’s access to modern communications. The networks are organized according to the principles of digital justice - access, participation, common ownership, and healthy communities.The rooftop wireless devices are routers with a “mesh” feature that allows every device to send and receive its own messages while also passing along data for others. If you attach one to a chimney or other structure on the roof, it can connect with other routers blocks away, as long as they’re mounted high enough. Then, any Wi-Fi enabled device, like a laptop or cell phone, can access the network just like in a public building or coffee shop. Websites coming soon!

Newmarket – Food for Thought

2012-08-20T00:00:00Z

At my school, my friend Kalina and I have been attending a group called "Food for Thought" which occurs once a week after school. Each week the members of the group get together and make lunches for roughly 30 students around the area who do not have lunches. This year, the leaders of the group graduated and needed someone to run the group or next year, so my friend Kalina and I stepped up and eventually were chosen to be the new group leaders.

Ottawa – Citizens Academy Ottawa

2012-08-19T00:00:00Z

August’s Awesome Ottawa award goes to Caroline Andrew, Manjit Basi, Davis Carr, Mitchell Kutney, Judith Maxwell, Maureen Molot, and Ken Victor to support the establishment of a Citizens Academy in Ottawa. The Citizens Academy, they explain, will be a learning program for citizens, designed not only to teach municipal literacy but also to develop skills on how to engage, facilitate, ask questions, and present ideas. The participants will represent Ottawa’s age, gender, geographic, and ethno-cultural mix, and involve community groups, businesses and city officials. “By bridging the gaps between citizens and organizations, and educating both groups, we will catalyze civic vitality,” says Judith. “We live in an amazing city with talented people, a stunning environmental setting, and many economic opportunities,” explains Manjit. “Ottawa is a city with a lot of passionate people doing many amazing things. But we are also a city that is growing, complex, diverse, and changing. Some of the changes are cause for concern: the gap between rich and poor is growing, many people lack a sense of belonging, affordable housing is not plentiful, the divide between rural and urban communities is unsettling, and neighbourhoods are not equal for all our citizens. That future lies in the collaborative economy. To create synergies and intersections between government, non-government organizations, and business, we need to share perspectives, learn from each other, understand challenges, connect across silos, and collaborate on actions. The Citizens Academy will create the space, the tools, and the connections that will re-energize civil society and deepen democracy.” Judith, Manjit, and their fellow volunteers plan to hold a three-session pilot this fall — two sessions in English, one in French — to prove the design concept, get input from citizens on the experiential learning, test the on-line learning component, and evaluate design and resources. The award from Awesome Ottawa will help support that pilot, which will be focused on recreation and healthy active living. Next year, following the pilot, they plan to run series of eight sessions, with sessions focusing on the nitty-gritty of city decision-making such as planning, budgeting, and land use, as well as on strategic issues such as food security and affordable housing. They also envision holding reunions for participants to nurture new skills and enable engagement on issues of participants’ choosing. Caroline Andrew is Director of the Centre on Governance at the University of Ottawa, Manjit Basi is former owner of Ottawa’s The Body Shop, Davis Carr is a recent graduate from Dalhousie and King’s College, Mitchell Kutney is an associate at Knowledge Mobilization Works, Judith Maxwell is former founding president of the Canadian Policy Research Network, Maureen Molot is a retired professor at Carleton University, and Ken Victor is from the Edgework Leadership Group. To learn more, visit the Citizens Academy website at http://www.citizensacademy.ca.

Pittsburgh, PA – The Caldwell Project

2012-08-16T00:00:00Z

I do so many awesome projects. Recently I put out a book called "the Haus of Haunt: Watch Children" about underground Pittsburgh drag queens (one of whom, Sharon Needles, isn't so underground any more, June 12th was official Sharon Needles day in Pittsburgh). I do lots of other really awesome stuff as well. I photograph tons of performers and their performances, and let them use the images for their own publicity for free (most can't afford to pay for photos yet). I photograph queer weddings for free as a political statement. I document protests and marches and let folks use whatever images they want. I take pictures at parties and benefits and let people use whatever they want for future promotion. I take pictures of people with life altering disabilities and surgeries that they then use to inspire others to overcome similar setbacks and disabilities. I take pictures of people who think they are ugly that show them that they aren't and make them feel better about themselves. I photograph the artwork of struggling artists to help them promote their work. I do almost all this for free because I think people deserve good photos, and many of the artists and folks I work with, don't have the success they are striving for just yet, and can't afford a photographer. I do lots of other things as well. Right now most all of this is on hold because my camera broke, and the camera I am using now is very inadequate, and does not produce images of great quality. Sorry I won't have any images to upload, that wasn't on the last application, and I don't have time to prepare something because of work and a zillion other things I have deadlines for today. Refer to last months application and you can see some photos from my book

Seattle, WA – Community Paint by Number Mural

2012-08-14T00:00:00Z

I don't really know my neighbors and that's a problem. I don't mean the people that live across the hall or in the building next door, but rather neighbors in the greater Capitol Hill neighborhood. I think that this is a problem for most of the people that live in cities and I want to help fix it. I want to paint a community paint-by-number mural in Capitol Hill to encourage people to get outside, meet strangers, and each contribute to a cool art project. Myself and an artist would paint the white/black outline of a paint by number mural and then later that day we will invite strangers in the community to help paint in the colors. Each volunteer would be handed a brush and a cup of paint that corresponds to a specific number on the wall. At the end of the day, everyone who participates will have met some cool new people and contributed to a mural in their community with their community. I have been working with Urban Artworks (http://www.urbanartworks.org) to help coordinate painting the mural and as well obtaining any permits and finalizing any insurance issues. The Capitol Club at 414 East Pine Street has agreed to allow me to paint the mural on the side of their building. They have also offered to pay the costs to have an artist design and paint the outline of the mural.

New York City, NY – Concrete Safaris: Afterschool in East Harlem

2012-08-13T00:00:00Z

The Concrete Safaris Afterschool program serves forty 7-11-year-old children who will mobilize 1,200 children in East Harlem to exercise outdoors in 2012. Concrete Safaris’ 7-11-year-old Afterschool participants will: 1. Become healthy leaders as neighborhood change makers and outdoor fitness lovers during 5-day/week programming from 2:20 – 6 p.m. between September and June throughout the school year. Children will garden, run, cycle, swim, fish, hike local and regional parks, make nature or recycled art, eat snack, and finish their homework. 2. Design, install, maintain, and harvest organic produce as well as butterfly-attracting shrubs at the largest children’s gardens on public housing property, located in Washington Houses and called Mad Fun Farm, Paradise Garden, and Sunshine Slope. They will learn and teach gardening techniques as well as leadership skills to 1,200 peers from local schools and agencies. Children will beautify these formerly underutilized spaces into safe, healthy, living “classrooms” and exercise outdoors in them, teaching basic fitness techniques and gaining confidence. 3. Embark on weekly, local, outdoor field trips, which they will suggest and help plan. Examples are hiking the Brooklyn Bridge, cycling on the East River Esplanade, or visiting Central Park for bouldering and outdoor education. Concrete Safaris will work with our current participants as they move to the 3rd - 6th grades and add a class of twenty 4th and 5th graders. Concrete Safaris has a 1:10 (or smaller) ratio of staff:child for all activities. In 2011, just 7% of African American and 8% of Latino children in the United States participated in regular outdoor physical activities. It is our goal to arm the children who have created Concrete Safaris with the skills and knowledge to lead healthy lives and break the cycle of obesity in East Harlem.

Melbourne (Неактивен) – Handmade Dog Coats & Vests for Pounds and Rescues.

2012-08-12T00:00:00Z

My project is concerned with making some poor dogs waiting in cold pounds warm. I sew and make fleece coats to donate to pounds and rescues all around Australia. The pounds are so cold and the coats help comfort them. And I also make cotton 'adopt me' vests for rescues, which I have screen printed. These vests are great for people who have a dog they want to get adopted as it starts a conversation when they are out walking or at adoption days. I work full time, so all my spare time I use to sit and sew and try an make a difference to a pound dogs everywhere. I make up and design my own patterns too.

Los Angeles, CA – Ageless Art

2012-08-09T00:00:00Z

Greetings! I was lead to start an art therapy program for seniors living in assisted living facilities and having physical or memory challenges. Without having a background in teaching art, I was led to develop a unique program, using acrylics for our senior art students, that gives each of them to complete a wonderful composition in a one hour session. We launched Ageless Art three years ago, with our first student challenged wih neorological challenges affecting some of her motor skills but not her mind. We had great success with our first student Jerri and now have expanded Ageless Art to reach 200 senior artists each month and now serve senior centers and include all interested seniors 50+.

Los Angeles, CA – Sonic Trace and Stories about Immigration in L.A.

2012-08-09T00:00:00Z

KCRW is a public radio station and media organization whose mission is to create and disseminate news and cultural programming that informs, inspires, and stimulates. A community service of Santa Monica College, KCRW provides NPR broadcasts as well as a weekly schedule of more than 100 hours of original, locally-produced audio content through our broadcast signal, as well as online. KCRW is committed to embracing new forms of digital media that help build community and interactive connectivity with audiences. One of KCRW’s newest projects is Sonic Trace, a hybrid public radio, digital documentary, and social media project that will engage Latin American immigrants in Los Angeles to share and record their stories about immigration and community. Stories will be gathered in three spots/puntos de encuentro in L.A.: a church in South Central, Koreatown/Korexico, and a mobile recording booth installed in a local food truck. The project will develop a social media platform where participants can share stories, photographs, and experiences. Selected stories will also be featured in a public radio series on KCRW. What will ultimately be created will be a multi-platform oral history mosaic about immigrants and their lives in Los Angeles today. Sonic Trace will partner with community associations, local schools, parks, and restaurants to conduct outreach and gather stories. The Sonic Trace project team consists of seasoned radio producers, led by Anayansi Diaz-Cortes and Eric Pearse Chavez, along with KCRW staff, consultants/producers from NPR, Radio Diaries, and Radio Ambulante. Technical partners include Zeega, Voces Mobiles, and AudioBoo. Los Angeles has deep roots in America’s immigration debate. While migration from Latin America to the U.S. is not new, the cultural make-up of recent immigrants and their relationship with their home countries is changing in this age of mobile communications. Sonic Trace seeks to uncover the unheard voices of immigrants in L.A. and record their stories of arrival, survival, and struggle. This project will provide a platform for immigrants’ experiences and perspectives, and engage and empower them to document their own lives in their own words. By recording and broadcasting their stories, Sonic Trace hopes to broaden and amplify the voices involved in the immigration debate and expand knowledge and understanding about immigration in our community.

Sydney – Guerilla Dinner - know your food, know your farmer

2012-08-09T00:00:00Z

We’ve had some really great success with our past events such as pulping 300kg of tomatoes for Passatta Day (http://www.youthfoodmovement.org.au/events/passata-day/) and nailing the sold out inaugural Reel Food Nights (http://www.youthfoodmovement.org.au/reel-food-nights-highlights-reel-released/). But perhaps our most enduring and proudest project to date is the sell-out annual Ride On Lunch (http://www.youthfoodmovement.org.au/events/ride-on-lunch/). The project: On August the 26th the Youth Food Movement will host its inaugural Guerilla Dinner. The dinner will bring food issues to table by gathering friends and strangers with curious minds together in a secret space. With the National Food Plan just released by the Australian Government, we hope to get a range of views and opinions on what this means for Australia’s and Sydney’s food system – while being in a space where the only spin going around the table is that of the lazy susan! Guests will be treated to an artfully crafted degustation menu AND a specially-designed conversation menu, as well as a musical-chair-esque seating plan that will let them dip in and out of stimulating conversation and delightful sensory experiences. One thing you can be sure of: this is no exclusive ‘foodie’ event and there will no Masterchef-style ‘plating up’. This is a down and dirty, all-consuming food experience, cooked by people not chefs, the kind mama used to make. Rest assured it will be REAL FOOD at it’s best. True to YFM’s style and values, at the Guerilla Dinner you will get to know your food, know your farmer and we’ll put on an amazing spread of both food and food for thought. By documenting the night on paper and on film we will be able to give a collective voice to this influential group, while feeding this knowledge back to our local community to make them more aware active citizens. And we see the Awesome Foundation as a crucial part of this – creating a more socially aware society, empowered to act to create tangible and enduring change.

Toronto – Toronto Bicycle Music Festival

2012-08-08T00:00:00Z

This is the third year I've run the Bicycle Music Festival, a pedal-powered, mobile music festival. It's a free community event involving a series of outdoor concerts and performances on Sept. 15, all powered by bicycles! The P.A. for the event runs off of bike generators pedaled by the audience and all gear and instruments are moved between our park venues on cargo bikes and bike trailers by an awesome team of volunteer roadies. We ride as a group from one venue to the next and even have live performances along the way! The festival features independent musicians from a variety of genres performing in beautiful park settings to diverse audiences. Families make up a big part of the crowd and you can usually find at least half a dozen kids dancing in front of the stage. One of the best parts of the event is that it brings together people who you wouldn't normally find at a music festival. Our accessible and innovative format draws in almost as many passers-by as folks who had planned to attend. What could be more quintessentially Toronto than a taxi driver parking his cab to listen to electro-pop in a park? The festival has grown each year and we're determined to make it even bigger and better this year. I recently attended the San Francisco Bicycle Music Festival, which is powered by 20 bikes and features a 4' by 8' mobile stage, and I've returned with the inspiration to take our festival to the next level. There's a huge buzz in this city about all things bike-related and ever-growing interest in powering events by bike. Our festival has captured many imaginations and is poised to be the catalyst for a bike-powered revolution in Toronto. Here are some other things we're dreaming of: Imagine a group of bankers stumbling upon a bike-powered square dance on Bay Street, or politicians leaving Queens' Park and encountering a pedal-powered burlesque show! Bike-powered events allow access to unconventional venues and hold the promise of shaking things up all over the city!

Toronto – The Complete Street Band

2012-08-08T00:00:00Z

As this is the third, hopefully charmed time that I am applying to the Awesome Foundation, you may be tired of hearing about The Complete Street Band, the community street band open to musicians of all ages and musical abilities, dedicated to making Toronto’s public spaces more exciting and inviting places to be. So let me rather tell you what we’ve been up to and why I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to even resubmit an application to you for the last couple of months. 1. Playing for the Bells on Bloor mass ride to Queen’s park for the safer streets rally in June. The Complete Street Band gathered outside of Honest Ed’s at Bloor and Bathurst and played for the stream of cyclists riding by as well as those on the street, much to everyone's delight. 2. "A street band in search of a street piano". On the second Saturday in July, The Complete Street Band marched through Trinity-Bellwoods park, playing contemplative, park-like music, before setting up at the piano that was placed in the park as part of the fantastic “Play me, I’m yours” exhibit. At least that was the plan except there was no piano to be found when we arrived! We found out too late that the piano had been moved but that didn’t stop us from playing a set for a very appreciative crowd right there in the park. 3. Playing in the courtyard outside of St. Stephen in the Fields church in the north end of Kensington market many Saturday afternoons. The band rehearses every Saturday at the church but we often find ourselves lured outside to play for the folks on College St. The band is currently composed of 8-12 musicians though we continue to actively seek out more. Recently, I have been focusing on reaching out to younger musicians who may be looking for new opportunities to play.

Ann Arbor, MI – Ypsi-Arbor Unsung Musical Hereos

2012-08-05T00:00:00Z

I would love to evocatvely photograph as many musical artists and personalities, both young and old, as I can that have a local connection to the Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor (MI) area (minimum of 40) . I would interview them and tell the story of their musical lives combined with the image(s) I have captured to create a commemorative photographic biography. With the shrinking educational budgets and the reduction in funding to the creative arts, I see this as a way preserve a peice of our current events that will someday become our history. Please find a sample image of a local artist as a precusur to the type of images that will embody this project.

Ann Arbor, MI – Spontaneous Art Washtenaw County tour

2012-08-05T00:00:00Z

Life is a temporary event. As the quality of our lives is based on the quality of our slipping moments, Spontaneous Art aims to bring strangers together for moments of authentic social connectivity and flashes of creativity. We create interactive performances in which bystanders become part of the act and strive to offer opportunities for spectators to shape the direction of our pieces. To reach its full potential, Spontaneous Art’s performances both investigate and depend upon the inventiveness of strangers. With the assistance of the Totally Awesome Foundation we would like to create 2 in five towns (Chelsea, Dexter, Saline, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti) for a total of 10 performances in two months. We would make a surprise visits to downtown areas and infuse the crowds with joy, laughter, strangeness and sincere interpersonal connections using a variety of performances and costumes. The key here is variety. We would not want to do the exact same performances for all the towns in case any of the performances got media coverage- we would rather keep the locals guessing what costumes and skits would be appearing. *How do I upload more than one image to this application? All our projects can be seen at spontaneousart.org.

Seattle, WA – Auto Repair DIY Space

2012-08-03T00:00:00Z

My awesome project is teaching automotive repair and maintenance workshops to people who generally feel taken advantage of in the automotive industry. I hope to teach beginer to intermediate level clases on topics from Safety, basic maintenance, and beyond. Our mission at Repair Revolution to is to "revolutionize your automotive repair experience" by empowering people around their car care.

Melbourne (Неактивен) – The World's First Comfort Zone Calculator

2012-08-03T00:00:00Z

I have build the world's first comfort zone calculator, to heighten people's awareness of their professional, lifestyle, and adrenaline comfort zone. The tool has been psychologically approved by professors in psychology at Deakin University, and has been used by over 10,000 people via its web application.

San Francisco, CA – OuterBody Games

2012-07-31T00:00:00Z

How much does the location of our eyesight influence the location of our sense of self? Can we relocate our sense of self, our consciousness, out of our bodies simply by moving our sense of sight (in a fully immersive way) into an external device? 17 years ago I built the first prototype of this system using video goggles and a surveillance camera to see myself from a third person perspective. In this visually disembodied state I lived in a gallery space for a week without removing the goggles, learning to function normally while only being able to observe myself and my actions through the camera. The sensation is like watching a live sitcom starring yourself, or like starring in a video game, or like having a remote controlled human being puppet that'll do whatever you make it do. The relocation of the sense of self does happen, and it's mind altering! In the past few months I've rebuilt the gear and redesigned the interaction so that it is a participatory activity instead of a spectator activity: I want other people to experience this in a strong, memorable, efficient and mind blowing way. I've been fortunate enough to present and set up the activity at the Lost Horizon Night Market, a Black Rock Arts Foundation fundraiser, 2 local augmented reality conferences as well as opening my studio/lab to the public. So far I've been focusing on the 'fun' aspect, designing very specific games that accentuate the out of body feeling by offering activities requiring so much visual concentration that the other sensory cortices go temporarily dormant, leaving the mind with a disembodied point of primary reference for the location of self. There is a lot of recurring interest in designing activities for educational environments, therapeutic practices, wellness applications, and collaboration oriented group games. 2 videos showing how much fun the games are, how it bonds people together, and another about the development and history. http://outerbody.org/video

Boulder, CO (Неактивен) – Ellis Youth Garden Club

2012-07-31T00:00:00Z

Two years ago our school had a garden donated. It is a beautiful space with a tiled area for gathering and several beds. The teachers at our school were very excited the first year and very quickly lost interest when our drip system was vandalized and summer break came. The next year the garden sat virtually empty. Many of the beds were given to community gardens. I have managed to hang on to 4 garden spaces: 18x30 space and 3 3x30 spaces. Through a couple of local gardening programs, a single volunteer, and myself we have managed to design a beautiful and educational garden. Since much of this has happened during the summer months our students are not very involved, though they would like to be. During the 2012-2013 school year I will be starting an after-school gardening club. This will serve two purposes: getting students involved in the garden and providing after-school enrichment programs necessary for our population. Through the gardening club students will be engaged in science, the natural world, art, and literacy. I have included a link to the Wordpress Site we will be using to share our garden with the world. I hope this site will become a place where not only pictures and descriptions will exist, but students' writing and art work can be displayed. Food grown in our garden will be used not only in our school cafeteria, but will also be donated to a local food pantry.

Austin, TX – Urban Nature. Urban Kids.

2012-07-30T00:00:00Z

It started with a theft. Bernadette Noll had several bikes stolen from her yard. She recovered one of them right down the street when she spotted the 12 year old thief at the Boys And Girls Club. “Of course my first reaction was incredible anger," she said. “How dare they! This same pack of kids were wrecking havoc on our neighborhood vandalizing, tipping over motorcycles, stealing and more. The whole neighborhood was pissed.” Nolls turned the director of the neighborhood Boys and Girls Club for help. He admitted their open campus policy for adolescents was somewhat difficult but he was sure they could do something to engage the kids. She decided anger wasn’t fair - it wasn't these kids’ fault. Nor was it their parents. It was what they were born into and with the neighborhood changing they were feeling more and more segregated and seeing more and more wealth that was out of their reach. So the idea was born! “Let’s bring in people from the neighborhood to form a nature club – to get the kids exploring and tending to the natural parts of the neighborhood – the creeks, the waterways, the wildlife. Let’s get binoculars in their hands and field guides and let’s give them a feeling of connection both to the natural world around them and to the people. Let’s work hard with the kids, not against the, to clean things up and make them feel that they are an integral part of the solution, rather than just a part of the problem. Says Bernadette: “We want them to feel connected, to feel ownership of this place, this town, this world and feel a responsibility to help protect it.” To do this, Bernadette plans to start an urban nature club for teens. She’ll be building a program to explore the city's creeks and waterways exposing the neighborhood kids to birds, reptiles, plants and clean water. “We'll do creek clean ups and we'll work hard to make these kids feel that they are an integral part of the solution rather than just a burden. I am hoping to meet with them bi-monthly for a segment of time and to bring in naturalists from Austin to walk with us.” She’ll be using the $1000 grant to purchase equipment such as high powered magnifying glasses, field guides, binoculars and also to provide snacks for the outings. “We are finding more and more that when kids are engaged to nature they are smarter, healthier and happier. I am excited about bringing this urban nature which surrounds us in Austin to the eyes of these kids. I have led other nature clubs but always to kids who came from places where exploring nature was a given. For these kids it could be a whole new world!”

Houston (Неактивен) – East Side Social Center

2012-07-30T00:00:00Z

East Side Social Center is a community social center that is a library, bookstore and soon to be internet lounge. We also host a variety of events that range from discussion groups, workshops/presentations, film screenings, letter writing nights to prisoners and performances from local and touring musicians and many more types of events. More importantly… we believe that, by relying on and caring for one another, we can resist and create alternatives to the consumer-driven, alienating culture that engulfs us. We are committed to opening our space not only to the neighborhood in which our building is located, but to anyone and everyone who feels strongly about strengthening and empowering community. As far as logistics about the space, it is volunteer run, organized horizontally and operated based on consensus. This means that everyone most heavily involved makes decisions together in a meeting setting and therefore, all concerns are addressed. These decisions are mostly centered around finance, book orders, promotion, and other logistical topics involved with maintaining the space.

Calgary, AB (Неактивен) – Urban Stationary

2012-07-30T00:00:00Z

"Urban Stationary" is a project where we put out a city-wide call for proposals targeted at local artists to create semi-permanent art installations for a Calgary Transit station in early August. These could be murals, installations and so on.

WHY IT'S AWESOME:

We expose the work of local artists, and make them want to keep creating art in a city where they feel appreciated. We have a very open application process.
The idea will bring life to public spaces. Public transit is an everyday part of life for many Calgarians - we want to bring an unexpected and exciting experience to an otherwise ordinary experience.
Make Calgarians feel proud of their city and the talent that exists in it.

WHY WE ARE THE RIGHT TEAM TO DO IT:

We love our city! And we know so many talented artists here - we want to see them succeed and help them substantiate Calgary as the Culture Capital of Canada in 2012.
We are also super committed - we meet once a week with lots of work in between.

Detroit, MI – Belle Isle to 8 Mile

2012-07-30T00:00:00Z

As the first comprehensive, printed guide to the city in more than a generation, Belle Isle to 8 Mile: An Insider’s Guide to Detroit will feature positive reviews of a carefully curated selection of more than 700 of our favorite Detroit attractions, sites, institutions, events, restaurants, bars, and curiosities from the essential to the obscure. Our vision is for the book to showcase well-known establishments and organizations for first-time visitors while bringing much-needed attention to their more obscure counterparts for everyone, from first-time visitors to long-time residents. In this vein, the book will offer reviews of a wide array of cultural attractions, from beloved institutions like the Detroit Institute of Arts and off-the-beaten-path destinations like the African Bead Museum, to obscure curiosities such as the Curtis Museum, a storefront museum dedicated to George Washington Carver’s assistant. Currently being researched and written, the guide is edited by siblings Andy and Emily Linn (of City Bird and Nest) and Rob Linn (of Mapping the Strait), lifelong, seventh-generation Detroiters, with written contributions from more than 30 of their favorite authorities on the city and incorporating suggestions and ideas from more than 300 local residents. In addition to reviews, the book will feature intricate hand-drawn illustrations, detailed maps, insightful categorical lists, and rich narrative neighborhood descriptions. With a combined 1,000 years of diverse experience in Detroit, the book’s large and growing team of authors will put contemporary Detroit in a rich context by painting portraits of the city’s historic neighborhoods, sharing stories of its history and traditions, and detailing the people and culture that have made – and continue to make – the city great. We are proud that our contributors represent every corner of the city, from Jefferson Chalmers to Berg Lahser, and from Warrendale to Osborne. Along the same lines, our current group of wr

Pittsburgh, PA – Happy Smiles for Hilltop

2012-07-26T00:00:00Z

The children of our community have a problem - cavities! Our awesome kids are sometimes spending the night at the Children’s Hospital for intravenous antibiotics and mouth surgery to fight the infections these cavities have caused. Some kids stop growing because it hurts too much to chew with teeth destroyed by cavities. Thankfully, there is a simple solution - Fluoride! Pediatricians across the country are starting to apply fluoride varnish to young children’s teeth. Simply put, kids have a hard time getting to the dentist. But nearly all kids come to the pediatrician’s office for their check ups. For pediatricians, this is an incredible opportunity to do more to improve the lives of our amazing children. We want to be the catalyst for change for the teeth of Hilltop. Not only will we apply fluoride varnish to teeth, we will take this opportunity to educate parents and children about the benefits of fluoride toothpaste, floss and the dentist. We will teach about the devastation caused by pop, candy and cavities. We want our kids to succeed in every way - keeping them in school, healthy and out of the hospital. With only a modest amount of funding, we can launch a major Dental Health initiative for truly desperate kids. We believe that with data collected from a pilot study proving that fluoride varnish is cost-effective, we can convince health insurers to step up and fund this preventative health measure permanently. The pediatric literature already confirms the benefits of fluoride varnish. We would like to demonstrate that with this simple intervention, patients will be more likely to schedule a dentist appointment and less likely to be admitted to the hospital for dental procedures. These are outcomes that would save insurers the costs of hospital admission, intravenous antibiotics and pediatric anesthesia. But without the funding to get started, this initiative will never launch.

Halifax, NS (Неактивен) – Demetreous Beals Project

2012-07-26T00:00:00Z

In 2007 this small community endured a huge loss as a 14-year-old boy named Demetreous Beals passed away from a drowning accident. By the age of 14 Demetreous was already a leader within his community as he secured funding to repair the community basketball court. Using Demetreous as inspiration the Demetreous Beals Project seeks to explore the theme of leadership with the children within the community and put together a mural entitled “What leadership means to me,” to be displayed at the basketball court that Demetreous cared so much for. Children will have the opportunity to come to the community centre and design what leadership means to them on a 12X12 piece of card stock, they can do this by drawing, painting, poetry or any other artistic means, there will be no limitations. There will also be discussion on what leadership is. In partnership with First Baptist Church, the HRM Police Community Constables and the Demetreous Lane Tenants Association we will reflect on Demetreous as a community leader, and how we can all be a good example for our community. We will have all the art pieces designed into a plaque to be placed at the basketball court. Demetreous Beals is such a positive role model, one that this community cared so much for. It was a tragedy what happened to Demetreous, but now we have the opportunity to use Demetreous’ life to empower the children of the community, that’s what makes this project so awesome. It has been five years since Demetreous lost his life, The Awesome Foundation could give us the opportunity to celebrate Demetreous’ life, and his legacy. We can empower the children of Demetreous Lane, and prove that no age is too young to make a difference and be a leader within your community!

Newmarket – Spinal Cord Injury Youth Awareness Project

2012-07-23T00:00:00Z

Walk It Off Spinal Cord Wellness Centre provides an exercise-based recovery program and supportive environment for those who have sustained a SCI. We would like to expand our focus to educate the community on accident prevention. One of our goals is to develop a prevention program for our youth, who are unfortunately most at risk of SCIs (approx. 80% of all SCIs). Recently, 3 grade nine high school students took an interest in our organization and completed a school project on SCIs. They presented at their school assembly, with guest speakers from our organization. I was amazed by the effort they put in and genuine interest in this subject. I brought up the idea of applying to the Awesome Foundation to expand on their project and create a presentation for youth in the community. They were very excited to take on this project. Who better to educate our youth but their peers. These students would be able set up displays at community events and visit various youth groups: lifeguards, camp councilors, Scouts/Guides etc. and eventually deliver the program in schools during the school year. The presentation would include 1) information on SCIs: What SCIs are and statistics, how they are attained and what life is like with a SCI. 2) Basic dos and don'ts in an traumatic emergency 3) Prevention: Playing safe.

Portland, OR – Free the Billboards!

2012-07-20T00:00:00Z

What would the city look like if billboards weren't for profit? What would a city look like that used that space for public art, vertical gardens, or poetry? Free the Billboards is a project that facilitates a reimagination of public, visual space (currently dominated by corporate messaging), through two different types of interaction with the community: PART ONE: ONLINE COMPONENT I have created an online forum for people to submit pictures of what they would rather see in their communities instead of outdoor advertising (www.freethebillboards.tumblr.com). By using an old-fashioned optical illusion called forced perspective, (see http://www.thechobble.com/2011/02/angle-makes-perspective-pics.html for some awesome ones!) we can superimpose images we would rather see onto billboards, and then share them. PART TWO: STREET ART COMPONENT I will be attaching viewmasters to stands to create “viewing stations” that will be placed around Portland across the street from billboards. I am creating custom reels for the viewmasters—each with 7 different images. The images in the reel will be photographs of the billboard across the street, but I will replace the ad with the pictures people submitted on the website. Therefore, each viewing station will be a collective imagining of what could be in that billboard space- and will be a little portal into a different possible world! I have created a lo-fi version of the viewmaster out of a box and transparency (see picture of what it's like to look through)! If this project gains enough momentum, there will be sufficient support to take political action. I am writing a petition to the mayor of Portland to instate a ban on outdoor advertising, as has been done successfully in Maine, Vermont, Alaska, Hawaii, and most recently in Houston and Sao Paulo, Brazil! To dream even bigger, I would ask that the boards be turned over to the artists, writers, dreamers, in our communities. Let us decide what we want to look at!

San Francisco, CA – Cardboard Castle Building Workshop

2012-07-17T00:00:00Z

Hundreds of cardboard boxes have been painted to look like giant Lego pieces and strategically covered with velcro. At 12 PM in Dolores Park on September 29th, you can build anything you can possibly imagine with them. The event will be free and open to the public, and will last until people get bored (never) or the authorities intervene! We want to give a creative outlet to people who have outgrown their building blocks but still remember how awesome it is to create your own castle. Defy Euclidean geometry, construct an epic fortress and recapture your childhood love of buildin' stuff. Kids can play too! The boxes are sized so a child or an adult can easily work with them. As the boxes were made using a latex-based paint, we advise anyone with latex allergies to avoid coming into contact with the cardboard castles. We politely request that you refrain from damaging the building blocks or knocking over anyone else's castle. Please do not take too long a turn building; we want the largest number of people possible to play! Volunteers will start moving the boxes over at 11 AM, and we'll cordon off the construction zone so things don't get too crowded. Please get in touch with chedword@gmail.com if you are interested in getting involved!

Ottawa – Karen Community Farm Project

2012-07-16T00:00:00Z

July’s Awesome Ottawa award goes to Meaghan Kenny for the Karen Community Farm Project. “The Karen are one of the largest ethnic minority groups of Burma, and have been persecuted for decades,” explains Meaghan. In 2006, the Canadian government announced that it would accept 3000 Karen refugees, over a two-year period, for re-settlement in Canada. In September that year, the first group of Karen refugees arrived in Ottawa from a refugee camp in Thailand. About 200 refugees settled in Ottawa.” “Many of the Karen are highly skilled farmers,” Meaghan continues. “Farming has been their subsistence and their livelihood from their villages to the refugee camps. However, for the most part, these cultural assets and aspects of their identity lie dormant in Ottawa as the Karen now have no outlet for their extensive knowledge, skills, and culture.” Community volunteers have worked since the arrival of the first group of Karen in 2006 to establish a place for them to farm. In 2007, the Karen were given the use of a three-acre field in rural Kanata by a couple who heard the story and offered their idle land for no charge. They welcomed the Karen to their farm, bought tools, cleared fields, and offered advice and the use of their pool, trailer, and storage areas. The Karen were dedicated to their farm and took the bus to the limits of Stittsville (a 45-minute commute) and walked the remainder of the distance to the farm (about 30 minutes). They produced tomatoes, corn, coriander, lettuce, cabbage, and hot chile peppers. They sold surplus to three apartment buildings in Kanata, a restaurant, and at the Carp Farmers’ Market, and the Karen students had a one-day vegetable sale at their high school. They also donated produce to Bruce House, a local hospice. Unfortunately, in the spring of 2011 the Karen were advised by the owner of the land that the property had been sold. That summer, a few of the Karen grew food in their backyards – “if they were fortunate enough to have a backyard,” says Meaghan. So for this summer, the all-volunteer Karen Learning, Education, and Opportunities (KLEO) Support Group worked with Just Food to arrange for the Karen to farm on an acre of National Capital Commission land. “Since we have started our new farm project,” says Meaghan, “the Karen have worked tirelessly to make the soil soft and workable by rotatilling, and have been weeding by hand. They have planted many pumpkins (pumpkin flowers are a delicacy in their traditional cuisine), tomatoes, basil, eggplant, coriander, carrots, beets, cucumbers, watermelons, honeydew melons, parsley, and many varieties of lettuces and greens. We also recently, hosted a Karen summer school field trip. The students learned about the work of their elders and had an opportunity to engage with the sights and sounds of nature. Many of the students brought sketch books to express what nature and farming means to them.” The award from Awesome Ottawa will allow the purchase of much-needed supplies and tools for the farm, such as fencing (to keep the deer and groundhogs out), row covers (to keep the insects off), a wheelbarrow, and rain barrels. The award will also help to cover insurance costs, and some seeds for next season. “Having the support from Awesome Ottawa has renewed our inspiration, courage and efforts,” says Meaghan. “These people have spent a lifetime feeling placeless but now I am honoured to bear witness to the transformative power produced by creating a place to practice the Karen way – a place to call their own.” Meaghan is a master’s student at Carleton University.

Chicago, IL – The Great Fire: A Traveling Truck Show

2012-07-15T00:00:00Z

“The Great Fire: a Traveling Truck Show” is a community event that will tour Chicago this October! Reviving the form of early American traveling shows and referencing Chicago neighborhood histories after the Great Fire, we playfully spin a tale that engages audiences with storytelling, music, comedy, multimedia dioramas, and magic. Our overarching storyline is inspired by historical characters and memories from each neighborhood, including vignettes about Ignaz Schwinn, August Spies, Riverview Park, and the changing street-scape of West Town (our main character, Denim Dennis is a Union Stone Mason turned swamp thing that freezes in Humboldt Pond and comes back every 30 years or so)—just to name a few. In addition to the scripted parts, we have some local performers joining us: a rhythm and revival musical duo, a throat singer, a classical tenor, a wandering accordion clown, a bellydancer and her snakecharmer, a fire breather, and a magical mind bender. Sideshows will include fire poi, tarot readings from a custom deck of cards, an old-fashioned photo booth manned by the bee-bearded lady, and much more to come! We have a show scheduled for every Saturday in October: October 6—Logan Square: on the Illinois Centennial Monument October 13—Roscoe/North Center: Clark Park Playlots October 20—Ukrainian Village/West Town: TBA (potentially Esperanza Community Services) October 27—Pilsen: Growing Station Community Garden Before the tour, we are working with each site to connect with the area, spread the word about the project, and involve the community in-the-making. We are participating in the Milwaukee Ave Arts Fest in July with a “Make Your Own History” booth. In Pilsen, we have planned community days in the garden. For Roscoe/North Center, we are collecting memories of Riverview Amusement Park to use in an animation.

Kitchener-Waterloo – The Smile Epidemic

2012-07-12T00:00:00Z

The Smile Epidemic is a very simple concept with very complex scientific support. We have learned that the mind has a limited number of resources, attention is limited. The subconscious mind is trained through adaptive processes to scan the world for different, threatening or negative items; this process was intended to be a protective measure to assist us in the wild. Recent research is demonstrating that what we focus our attention on has an incredible impact on our moods and is a habit forming process. Result: if we learn to scan the world for negative things, then that is what we see first and because attention is a limited resource, we will often miss the more positive aspects of our environment. Separate scientific findings have shown that our memories are interconnected in a system of Nodes interconnected by all of our senses and emotions. The more recent, and the more interconnected a memory is, the more easily it is accessible and the closer it is to our attention, the more likely we will integrate it into our daily engagement with the world. Example, think of the last time you went to buy a car, you started to attend to the details of that vehicle, you built new sensory connections to its node and attached emotional responses to it as well. All of a sudden it seemed like everyone in town or on the highway was driving that car! The Smile epidemic is a simple, fun, quirky little social project that draws our attention to the present moment and helps us to scan the world for smile catalysts. The theory is that if we get present, pay attention to what is making us happy, lay down some emotion, and engage with that person, place or thing in unique ways, it will be elevated to a higher level of our conscious and subconscious mind. This reinforcement tells our brain to look for the things that make us smile, and limits the available resources for what doesn't make us happy. Simple concept. Wonderful goal. Complex scientific support.

Rio de Janeiro (Неактивен) – Dojo Social - Hackeando Telecentros.

2012-07-11T00:00:00Z

Hacking telecenters is awesome! Rio's new Awesome Foundation chapter has chosen its first project. Of 47 proposals, the winner was “Social Dojo - Hacking Telecenters”, sent in by Luiz Bruno Vianna, a volunteer at the NGO Fabricando Empresários. Luiz's idea is to use the NGO's computing spaces in Rio's low-income bedroom communities, for periodic meetings of programmers interested in solving real-life problems in the city and its neighborhoods. The focus is on open, low-cost solutions that use free hardware and software. He intends to stream the meetings live over the Internet to expand the project network. An incredible idea, don't you think? Diogo Biazus, a local Awesome Foundation trustee, traveled out to Campo Grande to see the project up close and deliver the prize (and will be posting the details of his adventure soon). To learn more about Luiz Vianna's project, in Portuguese: http://www.fabricandoempresarios.org.br/blog/?p=939 --- Selecionamos o primeiro projeto a receber o prêmio do recém-lançado capítulo da Awesome Foundation no Rio. Das 47 propostas inscritas, a vencedora foi “Dojo Social- Hackeando Telecentros”, enviada por Luiz Bruno Vianna, voluntário da ONG Fabricando Empresários. A ideia do Luiz é usar os espaços de telecentros da ONG, espalhados pela baixada fluminense, para fazer reuniões periódicas com programadores interessados em solucionar problemas reais da cidade ou do bairro. O foco está em soluções de baixo custo, abertas, que usem software e hardware livre. Ele pretende ainda transmitir ao vivo pela internet todos os encontros, para ampliar ainda mais a rede ligada ao projeto. É ou não é uma ideia incrível? O Diogo Biazus, trustee da Awesome Foundation, foi conferir de perto e entregar o prêmio (e logo deve postar logo mais um relato detalhando a aventura). Para saber mais sobre o projeto do Luiz Vianna: http://www.fabricandoempresarios.org.br/blog/?p=939

Sydney – Under new Management

2012-07-10T00:00:00Z

Under new Management (UNM) is a space for ideas. Located on the busy Oxford St, just down from Taylor Square, UNM is intended to be an evolving space whose function is only limited by my ideas, and the ideas of collaborators. Inspired by NY's Grand Opening, UNM aims to delight, surprise, educate and entertain. I'm taking a 6 month lease from Jul - Dec. The current planned uses are scheduled for a month at a time, though shorter periods will be considered, as will nightly activities not necessarily attached to daytime activities. A team of creatives, industrial designers and builders (cough-amateur DIYers ) will be able to completely transform the space each month, making it seem like its use is permanent and adding to the chameleon reputation of the space. July will be Le Tour Lounge - a relaxed, inclusive space for people to come and go, get updates on the previous day's racing, and watch selected live stages. Coffee, magazines and bikes will be the fare. The end of July will see an installation for the Camping Website, another project of mine. For one week, the space will be transformed into a camping ground, and there will be a launch event complete with tent, film and ofcourse, damper. We're even going to sleep overnight in the tent. August is currently free As is September October is planned to be The Share Market - a promotional month featuring examples of Collaborative Consumption. Car sharing, accommodation, tool sharing, skill sharing will each have a week of activities and displays designed to stimulate. November is free December is free I am confident of curating some great installations and events with collaborators and for generating significant media exposure for the space. Post December, there is also the chance of the lease continuing. If not, having built up a brand, relocating the space might also be plausible. ps. This should go below but we would also display The Awesome Foundation as a partner on the shop window.

New York City, NY – Silent Lights

2012-07-09T00:00:00Z

Silent Lights is an architectural series of gates that frames a pedestrian pathway by day showing constant movement through shadows. It transforms sound into patterns of light at night as it mimics movement with led lights, reflecting and interpreting movement and sound. There are no blind spots, the path is always lit and each gate responds to create a dynamic installation. Cars drive by, microphones pick up the sound from traffic, a computer processes the sound and triggers each gate to light up sequentially. As noise increases, the light from each gate intensifies. It is located on an isolated, pedestrian path under the Brooklyn Queens Expressway on the median of 9th Street and Hamilton Avenue. The path is one of few connecting Red Hook, Brooklyn to the nearest point of public transportation – the Smith and 9th Street stop of the G subway train. Our project offers members of the community both on and off the path the opportunity to share an experience of light and beauty originating from the loud noise. We want to create a reason to connect, provide a safer commute and give people the chance to slow down, interact with our project and smile. We are collaborating with the IT consulting firm Control Group and the local organization Red Hook Initiative to use our project as a platform to introduce design, technology and physical computing to local teens. They will learn how to create lighting systems, produce their own programs and test each one out on the actual installation.

Washington, DC – Outfit Our Kitchen Classroom

2012-07-04T00:00:00Z

Walker Jones Education Campus, a DC Public School serving a preschool through 8th grade community, turned over the soil and started planting on our new farm this past July. We have over a half acre for our awesome endeavor, and in just a few short months, we have grown over 3,000 pounds of food. We donated approximately 2,000 pounds of that to our neighbors at DC Central Kitchen, and the rest was prepared for school events and shared with our other neighbors. Our farm is our outdoor classroom, an avenue for community building and outreach, and our chance to fight the statistics that say that one fourth of our student population will have a form of diabetes before reaching adulthood. We are a 100% free meal campus, but we are committed to showing both students and families that tight budgets do not have to mean unhealthy food choices. The farm is getting a little cold right now so following the excellent example of Edible Schoolyards across the country, we are taking the good fight inside by establishing a kitchen classroom. The staff has been lending equipment. We have a full size refrigerator, a stove, two Viking induction burners, and a stand mixer but we need quite a few things more to make this a high functioning learning environment. And that's where you come in ... Please check out our progress on our blog at wjfarm.wordpress.com including the video of our CNN feature. Or drive by and check us out. We are on the highly visible corner of New Jersey and K NW.

Washington, DC – Make a low income farmers market awesome

2012-07-04T00:00:00Z

OK, look, I feed people. Looked at chef's training, but the school moved out of the state and there was a woman I wanted to feed more than I wanted the school. So, I work with farmers markets. I have been working with one in SE DC. Ward 8. Really bad food options in Ward 8. They call me the market master. I have never had the word "master" in a job title. It's pretty cool. We're doing something great. We bring fresh veggies and sweet-corn-picked-that-day and 4 different kinds of apples and jam and chemical-free meat and muffins and bread and cider and nutritionists and chefs and our SNAP-card reader to the middle of the city and give people better choices. It's educational. It's helpful. It's virtuous. It's fun. BUT IT IS NOT AWESOME. Awesome seems too much like an extra when you are just trying to get by. But awesome makes it a happening. Awesome makes it coherent. Awesome makes it belong to the whole neighborhood. We should be awesome.

Newmarket – Help-Portrait Day Newmarket

2012-07-03T00:00:00Z

Help-Portrait (www.help-portrait.com) is a worldwide movement. It is a collaboration of photographers, hair/makeup artists, and general volunteers that come together to provide the unique experience of a professional photo shoot for the less fortunate in the community. Help-Portrait is simply about 'giving' rather than 'taking' photographs of individuals and families who may not otherwise have the opportunity. This year the event will be held December 8. I have decided to organize the event in Newmarket. Currently in the planning stages, I have a core team in place to start pulling the details together. Already 7 photographers, 2 hair salons and 10 high school students have signed up to participate. Help-Portrait Day Newmarket will focus on youth - I want to help the youth in Newmarket feeling the dignity and self-worth that comes from the experience of having a professional photograph taken. This ties into missions of organizations that focus on empowering youth to reach their potential, supporting young mothers, and inspiring girls to be strong, smart, and bold. For that reason I have plans to partner with several local community benefit organizations, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, Rose of Sharon and Girls Inc., but also with schools located in the less fortunate neighbourhoods in Newmarket, i.e. Huron Heights S.S. and Maple Leaf P.S.

Toronto – StopGap

2012-07-02T00:00:00Z

There is nothing worse than showing up at a music venue for a concert with a bunch of friends super excited to see a show only to find out that there are 15 steps separating the street level from the ground floor concert hall. Over time I developed thick skin in order to overcome the immense frustration that encounters with physical barriers would cause. But just over a year ago my armor failed me and my frustration boiled over while looking for a good spot for a Friday afternoon refreshment with my good friend and coworker Michael Hopkins. Enough was enough and together we decided to do something about this huge problem that exists in every community across the country. Together we formed StopGap - an initiative with a goal to raise awareness about barriers in our built environment. Our first project that we have embarked upon is called The Ramp Project. With help from Home Depot businesses with single stepped storefronts are invited to participate and have a custom ramp made at no cost. The brightly coloured ramps do not present a perfect solution to the problem however they create curiosity and get people talking about this huge design issue. The project has introduced many to the human right to equal access and has broadened the conversation on this topic. The ramp project has been successful at highlighting how a simple ramp can make life easier for everyone. Participants have shared that a ramped storefront is more inviting. Parents pushing strollers, couriers using dollies to handle heavy packages and people using mobility aides all benefit from a barrier free storefront. The project has also proved that business owners are able to increase their customer base by providing an accessible storefront. The ramp project has been successful at highlighting how a simple ramp can make life easier for everyone.

Austin, TX – Astronomy for underserved populations

2012-06-30T00:00:00Z

For Amy Jackson of Starry Sky Austin, looking through a telescope is an eye-opening experience, and something she believes everyone deserves a chance to experience for themselves. Amy plans on using the Austin Awesome Foundation's $1,000 grant to fund free astronomy education programs at local recreation centers around Austin. "My intention is to bring people a new perspective through learning about the universe above," says Amy. "I hope that everyone walks away from our time together with a re-awakened sense of child-like wonder and appreciation for the magnificence and beauty our universe holds."

Ottawa – Dance Dance (Office) Revolution

2012-06-30T00:00:00Z

June’s Awesome Ottawa award goes to Natalie Fraser and Meena Rajulu to organize a giant outdoor lunchtime dance party. “Instead of sitting in the grey walls of your dark, depressing cubicle, who wouldn’t want to get out and dance at lunch,” says Natalie. “Dance Dance (Office) Revolution will break your solo lunchtime routine and get you out into the city for a dance party. This will be your most important business meeting of the week.” Lunchtime dance parties have taken off in Europe over the last few years, especially in Sweden. Natalie and Meena believe it’s time for Ottawa to be a leader in this trend and make Ottawa the first city in Canada to get on board. The pair describe themselves as lovers of travel, food, friends, life, and adventures. Meena left Edmonton to study in Ottawa, where she met Natalie, hailing from Cape Breton. In the past, they’ve embarked on such awesome adventures as organizing speed dating for charity, holding fundraising dinners for Haiti/Pakistan/Mongolian charities, and, as they put it, exploiting their friends to help raise money for worthy causes. We’ll be sure to put out the word when we learn when and where the dance party will take place. We’re told there will be free popsicles. UPDATE: The lunchtime dance party will take place from 12-1 PM on Thursday, August 23, at the corner of Sparks and O’Connor. In the event of rain, it will take place exactly one week later.

Houston (Неактивен) – Eagle Project

2012-06-30T00:00:00Z

My project is the renovation of a courtyard at the Star of Hope Transitional Living Center. This includes repairing and water sealing a gazebo, painting the fence surrounding the facility’s A/C units, painting 5 metal picnic tables, elevating low spots in the courtyard with sand and new sod, and making soccer goals and other sports equipment for the kids at the facility to use. This will provide the kids with a better, safer play area and the adults with a more enjoyable resting area.

Melbourne (Неактивен) – Freelove Magazine Melbourne

2012-06-29T00:00:00Z

Freelove is a magazine published from a house in Melbourne. People on creative pursuits contribute once a month, so that we can compile their work into a neat little printed package. Attached to a small piece of cardboard is a cd and a folded A2 sheet: the contents include four songs, a poster, photography and a short story. It's available to order online and in selected spots around Melbourne. The best thing about Freelove is that it is free. It costs $0.00 to pick up. The idea behind it is that we wanted to create something of tangible value, and distribute it for free. We don't have an office and we don't have any financial backing, or industry support. We have a bedroom, our parents' internet connection, and some unfinished uni degrees. We're 4 passionate guys who wanted to put together a unique little project and see if it would work. A few weeks ago, we launched edition 1. The response has been amazing, much better than we expected. Positive feedback is flying in from all directions, and people are genuinely excited to see it progress, none more so than us! We love working on Freelove. We've been working on it for almost 12 months now, and we finally decided last month, after too much procrastination and worrying about minor details, to pool some of our savings' and finance the first edition ourselves. Right now, we're ready to launch edition 2. We've got four bands who have submitted their music, a writer who has penned a fantastic piece, an awesome photographer and the most enthusiastic designer who has made a poster. We've even got content all organised for edition 3. All we need now is financing to send it to the printer. Each month we offer one space for printed advertising in the magazine, and that advertiser will help cover the costs of printing. So far, all the advertisers we've approached are keen on helping out, but they need more time and a better understanding of the magazine to fit it in with their respective marketing campaigns. We respect this decision and are happy to work on projects with them in the future. But we want to keep Freelove a monthly thing, because that is what it is meant to be. We are ready press play on edition 2, and if we can't get this edition out, there won't be a Freelove after this.

Calgary, AB (Неактивен) – Buying Local Project

2012-06-29T00:00:00Z

A series of "community awareness" videos featuring a variety of local sustainable businesses. Who: Our entire community!! How it's awesome: It will be social networking exposure via facebook, twitter, youtube, etc of green, local and sustainable projects in yyc to spread the message "Why buy local?" How I'll pull it off: By trading services with a variety of local vendors in exchange for business recognition (logo placement, etc); I"ll be conducting fun, fast (1-2 minutes) interviews with a variety of people involved in all levels of sustainibility projects, from Urban City Farms to retail. Photo Credit: Brett Gilmour

Grand Rapids, MI (Неактивен) – Rollobrary Book Club

2012-06-28T00:00:00Z

I'm a high school English teacher that will be operating a Summer Reading Camp for ages 2-12 at Davis Memorial Church. The children this camp will service attend Buchanan, Dickinson, and other GRPS schools. Children need to be encouraged to improve and expand their reading and writing skills during the summer months. My church is located in the GPNA area. Our goal is to encourage "Reading Around The Community" We are having a Scholastic Book Fair to help raise funds to support the camp. People are donating books for the camp, also. The Rollobrary Book Club will provide a Community library, reading circles, volunteers reading to children, ages 2-4, and tutorial for challenged readers. The Cyber Reading Club initiative is a project combining reading and technology. Club members will read stories on an Ebook. I have operated summer community programs at my church. I funded the programs with my personal funds and donations from church members, family and friends. Church members, family, friends, and colleagues have volunteered in the programs. We provided lunch and snacks for participants, also.

Halifax, NS (Неактивен) – Hope Blooms ...In Saladarity

2012-06-28T00:00:00Z

Project Lead Hope Blooms- youth driven (yes there are over 30 kids ages 6 to 14)inner city project where youth grow organic fruit and veggies, manage a greenhouse and make their own brand of salad dressings while contributing back to help their community. The kids want to bump it up a knotch in this North End halifax Community and have a Saladarity Party. The youth will host a street party on Gottinggen Street (in front of the library) and make delicious gourmet salads, using their dressings and give away these awesome salads to the community. We will walk up Gottingen Street with our 'In Saladarity' banner and bicycles with salads on the back (in the bike trailers the the youth will make)and loudspeaker inviting people on the street to gather at the library for an awesome party- coming together to enjoy fresh, delicious, nutritious, local food made by local youth. Youth will be spreading laughter, sharing their new love for fresh veggies, and feeling the awesome power of giving!! Hope Blooms/ North End Community Garden is in its 5th year and have won provincial awards for community development, featured on local and National news stations, and was featured in Canadian Living magazine last year for "Growing Seeds of Hope". This would be such an over the top way to boost the momentum and continue to energize the community at large.

Oahu, HI – Kawananakoa MS Additional Seating Project

2012-06-28T00:00:00Z

Awesome Foundation Oahu is proud to announce that Andrew Chun is our June grant winner!! Andrew Chun is a Life Scout in the Boy Scouts of America and he is working on his Eagle Scout Project. How awesome is that! Andrew attended Kawananakoa Middle School and wanted the opportunity to give back to his community and school through his project. At Kawananakoa Middle School, which is in the Liliha neighborhood just above downtown Honolulu, 53% of students are under the poverty level and qualify for Federal breakfast and lunch assistance. According to Andrew, school lunch and breakfast are the most important meals; however, the cafeteria cannot accommodate all the students even though the school has instituted 2 lunch periods. Additionally, many of their parents start work early and end late, leaving their children at school as early as 6 Am and picking them up as late as 6 PM. For Andrew’s project, he plans to build the forms and pour a new concrete pad and fabricate 4 sets of concrete tables to be placed alongside the Kawananakoa Cafeteria. The goal is to provide seating and a place to work and eat before school, after school and during school. The project will positively impact the nearly 1,000 students at Kawananakoa Middle School. As a former student of the school, Andrew can affirm that the crowding in the cafeteria is very uncomfortable; despite Kawananakoa's best efforts, there are simply too many students. He hopes to make a significant impact on this with his project. The project has already been approved by the Principal, the School's Parent Teacher Student Association, as well as the Department of Education and Facilities Managers. Andrew has already poured two tables and 9 benches, but he still needed funds to pour the slab. That is where the Awesome Foundation Oahu stepped in! Congratulations Andrew Chun!!!!!!

Pittsburgh, PA – The First Bytes Society

2012-06-28T00:00:00Z

Computer science education, wait no let me rephrase that, the "art of hacking" has changed my life. Not only has it provided me with great career opportunities, but it has also shaped the way that I think and the way that I express my "creative side". I want to pass my enthusiasm for tech on to the next generation of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs/Wozniaks, and Mark Zuckerbergs in a refreshing way. For many people computers seem to have this mystical, magical aura about them, giving many people the misconception that only "nerds" or "straight A" grads can really harness their power. The First Bytes Society would work to break this myth by providing a learning place for students as young as middle schoolers to start to learn the art of hacking. The First Bytes Society (FBS) will take a new approach to computer science. Instead of starting off in math or programming theory, FBS would focus more on engaging the students and above all things, teaching them them how to *communicate* with computers. The curriculum will also focus on producing tangible results – real programs that can easily be shared with their peers in and outside of the classroom. What motivates good programmers-in-training is not the money or future career opportunities, instead, it is the pride that one has when seeing something they've created go out into the wild and be used by other people. This also has a domino effect – if a 6th grader sees a game that his/her peer just created, they will believe that programming is something they too can achieve. This "engage first" approach is something that organizations like Code Academy (http://codecademy.com) have already started to have success with. FBS would target students between 5th and 9th grade. It would encourage diversity, targeting groups that are typically underrepresented in Computer Science.

Boston, MA – FLOAT

2012-06-27T00:00:00Z

FLOAT is a collaborative, community-oriented project centred on mapping air quality in Beijing, China—the 10th most polluted city in the world. We will build simple but technologically advanced kites which sense pollutants in the air, recording air-quality data and also reflecting it visually with multi-colour LED lights. Through a series of workshops and mass kite-flights, FLOAT aims to spark discussion about air pollution in Beijing. We will first teach groups from three neighbourhood communities how to build kites for themselves and how to record air quality data to share online. During scheduled group flights in public parks, the spectacle of a small constellation of flashing kites in the night sky will encourage passersby to engage more closely with their environment. Our aim is to attract the attention of both young and old Beijing residents—all are affected by the city's air. Data will be recorded from the kites as well as at ground level. It will be used in conventional mapping projects as well as in multimedia installations in Beijing and Boston. Air pollution data recorded by the kites would not otherwise be accessible to Chinese citizens: the kites are able to monitor PM 2.5 particles—very fine airborne matter that present the greatest risk to health. The Chinese authorities do not release data on PM 2.5 particles. I (Joshua) will produce a short documentary (8-15 min) that chronicles the month-long project. I will also produce instructional videos for the project, to be used in educational presentations in Beijing and Boston, as well as other US cities. In sum, FLOAT touches upon a number of issues crucial to contemporary China: pollution, civic engagement, public space, and censorship…not to mention the fascinating reactions that veteran kite-flyers will have when they see hordes of luminescent kites take to the skies in their favourite parks. We are truly excited for the many complementary facets of this project to come to life!

Boston, MA – Social Colander: Dinner Party Meet Cooking Contest

2012-06-27T00:00:00Z

Social Colander is a culinary experiment: traditional dinner party meets raucous cooking contest. More and more folks are experimenting with cooking, but there are very few venues for showcasing those skills besides the informal potluck dinner. Social Colander is an event series and platform that provides foodies with a competitive yet friendly opportunity to fund their experimentations and share the experience with others. It all started from weekly roommate dinners in Cambridgeport that became venues for us to out-gourmet each other. The concept is based on 3 key philosophies: 1) We must democratize food experiences by celebrating the amateur chef, someone who is not often celebrated 2) We can utilize digital experiences to augment physical experiences, and 3) When we tap into our "inner Iron Chefs", we are able to gather good people around good food. We’ve hosted three successful pilot events already (in Mar/Apr/Jun 2012) with tickets selling out in less than 24 hours. Here’s how it works: 1. Each month, the Social Colander hosts (currently Mark+Tiffany) choose a theme and coordinate 3 chef teams to compete. A set number of Guest Judge tickets are sold through our website+Eventbrite, and all funds go towards chef ingredients, event materials, and winning prize. 2. At the dinner, each chef team serves a course based on the theme. Guest Judges are given a 3-course meal, wine, beer, foodie chit chat, and a digital voting ballot. 3. After the meal, each Guest Judge votes for the best dish by seamlessly filling out their digital ballot with the following criteria: Taste (50%), Presentation (25%), and Creativity (25%). The winning chef team receives a gift certificate to a top restaurant. Currently, we've sold out each event, and we'd really like to grow the experience to a larger audience. While we've proven that it's successful in small, one-off dinners, our vision is to expand Social Colander more events, larger venues, and more cities.

Boulder, CO (Неактивен) – Creative Arts Therapy Group

2012-06-26T00:00:00Z

Blue Sky Bridge serves child victims of crime (2-17) and their families in several ways: we provide forensic interviews, crisis counseling and referral support for the families and prevention education programs in Boulder County. I plan to start a Creative Arts Therapy Group to help those children heal from the trauma they have experienced. There currently are no therapy groups to help child sexual assault victims in Boulder County nor are there any creative arts therapy groups to help child witnesses to domestic violence. Children need a place where they can explore and heal from their trauma with a group who understands what they have experienced and to know they are not alone in their history. All trauma survivors need and deserve timely therapeutic help to address issues such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I want to provide this service to families and the school system free-of-charge.

Detroit, MI – HER Detroit

2012-06-25T00:00:00Z

Our goal is to, in the mist of so much negativity, shine a light on those that are triumphing and persevering in our area. In a one hour news segment, we ear about 40 minutes of robberies, deaths and scandals- then a small clip of something positive. Well, HER Detroit is well aware that there are women (and men) that are being innovative, helping others and improving our city. It's time to give them the recognition and kudos that they so well deserve. HER Detroit is here to help promote their awesomeness! Yes, we assist women with fashion trends and tell them which beauty products are best for the season- those are things that help women look and feel great on the outside. Throughout our pages, we're determined to also help women feel good on the inside as well. Our expert advice and touching stories resonate in hearts and minds of our readers. I can honestly say that we've touched the hearts of many and have allowed several to tell their story and begin a healing/cleansing process. If we are blessed with the grant, the money would be used to help brand the magazine. As with any media outlet, our organization depends on the support of advertisers. The funds would be used for marketing materials, developing a larger marketing team and improving our web presence in order to built better, long-term marketing relationships. Once we've actually went to print, there is little or nothing left to help build and prepare for the next issue or improve our team. The grant would be a tremendous help in insuring that HER Det can successfully compete with larger publications.