Awesome Foundation - Проекти

Baltimore, MD – Bridging the Gap

2017-10-17T00:00:00Z

Baltimore's elders are arguably our second most endangered species and our most under utilized natural resource, topped only by our young people of color. In our LGBTQIA communities, the problem is multiplied exponentially. Young transgender and queer-identified people suffer from higher levels of homelessness, discrimination, abuse, violence, and death on our streets than their non-trans or queer counterparts. Transgender and queer elders suffer silently with unreported abuses, stigmatization, and discrimination. Many live in fear of reprisal or loss of housing security if they report the perpetrators. We believe that Bridging the Gap provides a way to address some of the issues that face our youth while providing much needed help for our elders. In July of this year our organization received a grant that allowed us to begin hiring young transgender and queer-identified people as paid interns who in turn work with trans and queer elders in our community whom we've located through community centers, social media, word-of-mouth, whatever means possible to make our service known. The interns provide services such as: escorting elders to appointments, shopping, providing companionship, grooming, and preparing meals if asked. So far, we have provided services for 6 elders and have hired 4 transgender women as interns. Our goal for 2017 is is to employ interns at every level of employment, starting with 12 this year and expanding the number each year. We believe that Bridging the gap will provide the opportunity for our youth to develop marketable skills while under the tutelage of our organization, while providing needed services to our elderly. We also believe that Bridging the Gap is a project that be replicated across all demographics, not just trans and queer communities, but all communities, and not just in Baltimore, but everywhere.

Gloucester, MA – When the Lee Rail Was a Stranger.

2017-10-17T00:00:00Z

I am a former Gloucester fishermen and I still work in the maritime industry under sail and in other areas. I have a collection of century old negatives of Gloucester vessels from tugs to eastern rig draggers and photos and letters from the men who captained and crewed them. My goal is to publish a coffee table book of these images to share with the public. These funds would be used to scan all negatives digitally and to preserve them in archival sleeves for future generations.

Pittsburgh, PA – Search and Rescue K9 Scent Kits

2017-10-16T00:00:00Z

The White Oak EMS Search and Rescue K9 Team (“WOSAR”) is an all-volunteer, non-profit division of the White Oak EMS Dept. Our mission is quite simple, SERVICE BEFORE SELF. As volunteer emergency responders, we each put the needs of the public above our own desires and wants. Per the 2016 US census, Allegheny County had an estimated population of 1,225,365. We have always had an older population. For the last two decades, there was a downward trend and our population was getting younger; however, recent reports show the numbers climbing again. Of the total US population, the average number of persons over the age of 65 is 16.8%. Yet in Allegheny County, it is 19.3%, and by 2025, this will reach 21.1%. There are over 30 Dementia and Alzheimer specific care facilities in our region. Of the 16.8% seniors, 10% of them will suffer from some sort of Dementia or Alzheimer’s, that means that in our area, over 20,000 patients are in need of some sort of care. Obviously not all are in care facilities. Some live with family and friends. Nevertheless, we can be certain; all of them need to be safe. AND THREE OUT OF FIVE PATIENTS WILL WANDER... 12,000 people in our area that are at risk for wandering off; 12,000 people at risk of injury, or worse. WOSAR wants to keep this from happening. WOSAR would like to do start a Human Scent Preservation Kit program for the highest risk patients in our area. A Scent Preservation Kit is a specific scent article (a cotton pad) with the patient’s own scent on it. Once the patient’s scent is collected on the pad, the pad is placed in a jar, the jar sealed and safely stored. Then, should the time come that the patient goes missing and this scent is needed for a Search Dog, it is available. There are times that a person has gone missing, a scent article is not able to be located with only the missing person’s scent. Due to this person living in a group facility, no one can be sure that a piece of clothing or personal item isn't contaminated

Cass Clay – It Just Takes One

2017-10-15T00:00:00Z

This project is about how are country is dividing. This book shows that it only takes one person to stand up for what is right. Even though it is tough to do. Jimmy Fallon recently said, "ignoring it, is just as bad as supporting it". We hope this book will help all kids k-6th know that it is OK to stand up for what you think is right, and have the support of your classmates as you do it. We hope each classroom can use a copy of the book, and read the book on a specific day that is recognized as "It Just Takes One Day." We hope that this helps kids stand up for each other and themselves. I would like to create a fundraiser for this project because I would like more than just Hawley to be able to receive this book, and take part in this day. With the help of my parents I would like to share this through social media, using the hashtag #itjusttakesone. I am hoping that other people who are interested could support this by sharing and using this hashtag too. I want to start this day in the Hawley school district, because it is a smaller school district. If we have enough funding we would like to add DGF and Moorhead in the future. The theme of this fundraiser was inspired by the book, "One" by Kathryn Otashi. We would use the money to purchase the book "One" by Kathryn Otashi. We would like each k-4th classroom in the Hawley and surrounding districts to own a copy of this book, incorporate it in to their lesson plans, and have student led projects incorporating concepts from it. My name is Hali Dahl. I am 11 years old and going into 6th grade at Hawley Elementary.

Poughkeepsie, NY – Briggs Farm Multi-sensory walking trail

2017-10-14T00:00:00Z

NHR is creating an outdoor therapeutic walking trail for adults and children with autism. It will be built and maintained on our 65-acre Briggs Farm site in Poughkeepsie. The Dutchess County Land Conservancy holds an easement on the site that requires all future development be done for therapeutic services or programs. This will ensure the site remains a natural setting. The trail will be about 1/3-mile in length and four feet wide. It will have three sensory stations and will be wheel-chair accessible. These sensory stations can be used to rest and/or address any stress the individuals we serve get from the outdoors. We want to share the benefits of outdoor exercise with the community so we will extend the use of the trail to anyone in the community who enjoys walking outside and being on a working farm.

Birmingham, AL (Неактивен) – Programs at Ruffner Mountain

2017-10-12T00:00:00Z

In 1977, an intrepid grassroots community movement banded together to form the Ruffner Mountain Coalition in order to protect 20 acres of the Appalachian chain in the historic Eastlake Neighborhood from a land developer planning to build an apartment complex on the site. Their passion for conservation and the mountain itself, with it’s myriad of native species of flora and fauna, has proven to be an invaluable teaching resource for youth and adults in Birmingham, AL for four decades and counting. Today, at 1,038-acres, Ruffner Mountain is one of the largest privately held 501(c)(3) urban nature preserves in the southeast. We continue the legacy of the original Coalition through our mission of advancing the understanding of ecology in a rapidly changing world. One way that we fulfill that mission is by providing public programs that demonstrate not only the interconnectivity of the ecosystems on the mountain, but how humanity fits into the ecosystems large and small in our communities. Our programs are organized into four categories: Citizen Science--Training on the identification and observation of native species, for the purpose of collecting data from Ruffner Mountain and our own backyards that will help real, national scientific efforts. Community Work Days--Opportunities to connect with the greater community, through a hands-on project that improves Ruffner and the neighborhoods that surround the Mountain. A long-time staple of Ruffner’s programming. EcoArts--Because the Arts are a powerful teaching tool in any subject, Ruffner collaborates with the art, writing, and music communities of Birmingham to host creatively-driven classes and workshops that convey ecological concepts. Guided Hikes--Another popular, long-standing aspect of Ruffner’s programming, guided hikes are opportunities to explore the Mountain with an expert in Alabama ecology, conservation, biology, geology, or history.

Oahu, HI – The STEM World from Above

2017-10-11T00:00:00Z

Students in the Waialua Robotics STEM Learning Center in grades 7-8 will participate in a relevant, rigorous, and highly technical STEM Research Digital Media Project that will allow them to 1) engage in the scientific inquiry/engineering design process 2) work with adult volunteers, providing expert mentorship from interested organizations, community members, and higher education institutions 3) and create documentation videos utilizing drone technology to better capture perspective and allow new accessible vantage points to make digital media themes and messages much more powerful. The VEX IQ STEM Research Project utilizing Digital Media will be offered as a competitive elective and afterschool program platform, during the weekdays and select weekends, including vacation time for middle school students. The project period will be from the beginning of the 1st Quarter of the 2017-18 School Year until the 2018 Hawaii VEX IQ State Championships to be held at the Hawaii Convention Center in January 2018. Should the team qualify for the World Championships, they will continue to work on their projects until April 2018 where the event will be held in Louisville, Kentucky. Our team plans on participating in local tournaments. At each event, our teams will compete with other local VEX IQ Robotic teams across the State including neighbor islands. At each participating tournament, students will be able to enter their STEM research digital media projects for judge’s review. Student participants will be assigned specific roles on the team, based on student interest and strengths. Student roles may change depending on their demonstrated performances as the season moves along. In May 2018 at the conclusion of the project and season, the Waialua STEM Learning Center will report the degree to which individual/team project objectives were met using a STEM Research Investigative Report and Presentation Board, and/or Engineering Design Notebook, and/or Video Documentation.

Sydney – Good to Go

2017-10-11T00:00:00Z

Myself and three friends got inspired after watching the War on Waste series to try to experiment with an intervention that would reduce single-use plastic waste; specifically, single-use takeaway containers. Our project is the implementation of a reusable food container system, similar to the systems that currently operate in Portland and San Francisco in the United States (by the organisation GoBox), and at colleges all around US (e.g. Harvard, Berkeley), but in an Australian context. The way the scheme practically operates is that a participating restaurant serves takeaway food in one of our reusable containers, the customer eats it there, or takes it up to their office, and when they're done eating they drop the box in a designated drop box (placed next to ordinary bins). The boxes are collecting by a third party, returned to the restaurants who wash the containers, and then reuse them. They can be used up to 500 times. Once they break, they can be placed in the regular recycling - closing the loop of materials. We've done extensive research and the existing overseas schemes have been shown to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and overall greenhouse gas emissions, compared to any single-use alternative, including compostable containers. We're currently in the process of running a Life Cycle Analysis to analyse the environmental footprint of using the boxes in Australia, but based on our preliminary research we expect them to still be radically more environmentally friendly than any single-use alternative! We have been speaking to a number of local restaurants to partner and a run a pilot, including Cornersmith, Sumo Salad, Rose Bay Farmers Markets, Will & Co, Tokyo Tina (in Melbourne) and more. We have found that prospective partners are very keen to participate, but initial costs are a concern (since the model is yet to have been used in Australia).

San Antonio, TX – Farm to Table Initiative

2017-10-11T00:00:00Z

Rolling Hills Catholic School started the 2017 -2018 school year providing their students from PK3-8th grade with nutritious lunches and afterschool snacks. This was made possible through a partnership with Redbird Farmacy Restaurant, who is dedicated to educate and inspire others on how diet and proper nutrition can heal your body from the inside out. The previous lunches the students were offered were your typical school lunches that children all over America are provided on a daily basis with highly processed foods with many preservatives. We are at the first phase of our farm to table initiative to provide our students with nutritious meals and to teach them about nutrition. The foods that are prepared for them, mainly come from local farms. The students are learning to enjoy fruits and vegetables as well as learning healthy alternatives to chicken burgers, lasagna, and hotdogs. The next phase to our initiative is to start our school garden on our school acreage. We need funding to get this next phase started.

Chicago, IL – The East Side Project

2017-10-11T00:00:00Z

I love Chicago! I am a Chicago Public School librarian at George Washington Elementary School on the East Side. Why does this matter? I'm glad that you asked. While many of my students have grown up on the East Side, they may not be aware of its rich history. I hope to change that! I was lucky enough to earn a grant from the Chicago Architecture Foundation this summer. It centered around the book No Small Plans -a graphic novel centered around urban planning and Chicago's past, present and future. The grant provided a class set of books and great curriculum materials to start this journey. I like practical lessons. Therefore, I want my students to think like urban planners and create their own plans for the site of the former US Steel Plant on Lake Michigan. I have already enlisted the help of our Alderwoman Suzanne Garza who has offered to tour the site with my students. The Chicago Architecture Foundation's Vice President of Education Gabrielle Lyon is also going to join our tour and share her expertise with the kids. Author Rod Sellers is willing to meet with students at the East Side Museum located in the Calumet Park Field House. So my project lets students READ and LEARN and PLAN in the library and go to the site to see the practical application of their knowledge. All we need is money to pay for buses!

Adelaide – Nature's Playground by Naturally Gathered

2017-10-10T00:00:00Z

Our mission is to to inspire, empower, support and inform families to make changes that will lead to a world of healthy, confident, connected and resilient children, through time in nature and the occupation of play . We are an Adelaide-based business that has been created by an occupational therapist to support positive health, development and well-being in children and the community. We have noticed a gap in families spending time in their local, natural environments as well as the limited time and value place on free play. As a result are concerned about the long term implications of this and have decided to do something about it. We offer experiences in natural, local, public spaces that are filled with opportunities for free play and exploration, with the goal to ensure parents and families can continue to get the most out of these spaces (for free!) after the experiences that we host are finished. We are advocates for free play in a world full of obsession for structured activities. We aim to provide information and support that will lead to happier, healthier and more confident and connected families. Our approach is experience (or occupational) based and we use informal opportunities to provide information and curiosity to prompt families to think reflectively about how these ideas might fit into their own life. We currently are putting out an expression of interest with Adelaide City council with our first session planned for mid October.

Louisville, KY (Неактивен) – Scoring Goals in the South End

2017-10-09T00:00:00Z

Scoring goals in the South End is a plan to bring youth soccer to the South End. Starting with free clinics to educate, build interest and generate community commitment. Clinics will run once week for 6 consecutive weeks in the Spring and Fall of each year until there is a time when there is enough community involvement to establish a league or to partner with an existing league. The mains goals of the project are to make soccer accessible to youth in the community who may not have the finances to pay league dues or whose family may have a hard time transporting them across the city to participate in en exiting league. We will do this by offering the clinic for free and keeping the location within the 40214/40215 zip codes. Currently, there are no organizations offering youth soccer to the public in the area. We want to change that. We have been selected as the recipient of the Center For Neighborhoods, Neighborhood Institute Micro Grant that has funded the cost of initial soccer equipment and we have access to multiple fields in the area. The South End is the most diverse area in the city and soccer is the most played sport in the world. It only makes sense to have soccer where the world comes together in Louisville.

Louisville, KY (Неактивен) – STEMY Academy

2017-10-09T00:00:00Z

We are STEM + Youth, a recently established student-run nonprofit on a mission to foster curiosity, learning, and innovation by engaging students of all genders and backgrounds in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). This year, we’re launching a new program called STEMY Academy. STEMY Academy will be a two-pronged educational initiative that aims to cultivate scientific curiosity in 60 to 90 local middle school students—particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds. By engaging these students in exciting and educational activities, the program will challenge participants to think critically, add a deeper layer to their scientific understanding, and reveal the numerous real-world applications of the information they’re learning. As a result, this unique exposure can spark an interest in STEM and encourage students to pursue STEM throughout school and into a career. The first part of STEMY Academy will be an afterschool science workshop specifically aiming to demonstrate that STEM can be exciting. For example, participants will explore fluid dynamics and physics through an egg drop challenge and learn about the biology of life by building edible DNA strands. By engaging students who may have had little previous exposure to STEM in a series of fun challenges, we can show them how fascinating STEM can be and recruit students for the second, more education-focused part of STEMY Academy. The second part of this initiative will educate students about real-world issues that can be solved through STEM. Participants will learn about major problems currently affecting our global society and our environment (such as the overuse of natural resources), work in groups to discuss these problems, and explore different ways to address them through hands-on activities. For example, students will learn about sustainable technology while building solar ovens. This part of the program will challenge students to apply what we teach them to solving real problems.

Youngstown, OH (Неактивен) – Craft for Humanity: Creativity with a Mission

2017-10-07T00:00:00Z

Craft for Humanity, crochet a plarn sleeping mat for the homeless. Have you heard of plarn? Plarn is the ‘yarn’ that is used to crochet the plastic mats. It’s constructed from plastic bags. The concept is pretty simple but simply AWESOME. Using upcycled crocheted plastic shopping bags and turning them into functional items. For this specific project sleeping mats would be made. The sleeping mats are intended for people who are less fortunate. These crochet mats are remarkable comfortable and offer just enough to create a barrier between the ground and the body, to help retain body heat while sleeping. It’s no problem if the mats get wet as they can easily be dried. The mats are also a cleaner way of sleeping. Bugs don’t like them. And when dirty, they can be easily hosed off, shaken out and be good to go again. They are portable as well, the crochet plastic makes for a very lightweight mat. Each mat will keep 500-700 plastic bags out of the landfill. Humanitarian and eco-friendly, what is not to love?! This AWESOME project allows children and adults of all ages to get access to the art form of crocheting while also using creativity to provide sleeping mats to individuals and organizations that need help. This project would focus on involving city of Youngstown church groups, knitting and/or crochet groups, youth groups, nursing homes, Youngstown City School children, etc. Sleeping Mat Materials Needed: • Plastic Bags (500-700 per mat) • Bamboo Crochet Needles (size: O or P) • Scissors The goal is a 3’x6’ size plastic yarn mat. How to make plarn: 1. Lay out and smooth plastic bags. 2. Fold in bottom and side pleats of bags. 3. Cut off horizontally the top and bottom of the bag. 4. Fold bag into accordion. 5. Snip ends off each “roll” of bags you will then have many loops of plastic aka plarn. 6. With a simple slip knot, each loop is tied together. 7. Roll attached loops into a ball of plarn.

San Francisco, CA – Force of Nature: Women's Work Visualized

2017-10-07T00:00:00Z

Every year, women are doing hundreds of hours of work-- behind the scenes and for no pay. Men work hard too (of course they do!), but no one ever forgets to give a gold star to a man who works very hard. It’s visible, it brings home a paycheck, it’s the social norm. So many women, though, are working just as hard for a paycheck AND at the same time doing the domestic labor in their homes and volunteering in their communities-- work which tends to be invisible. It's what what sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild has called the “second shift.” The Force of Nature sculptures are data visualizations that transform the work hours of women of various ages, ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds into weight-bearing sculptures, photographic portraiture, and social practice interactive events. Real-life data is collected using a custom-built app that enables participants to record their unpaid and paid labor, hour by hour. These labor hours are translated into large-scale sculptures that give voice and space to the women’s histories. A photographic portrait of each of these powerhouse women wearing or carrying her sculpture hangs next to each sculpture—in a real, physical way “shouldering her load.” Every woman and every different demographic group experiences work inequity differently, so each sculpture, in material and composition, reflects the personality of the person it was built for. The solid forms are typically representative of the women’s paid labor, because that’s more seen in society, and the ones that are more transparent represent the unseen labor-- invisible, but it’s still there. And the spaces in between represent when the women were not working, so if you look at them you see very few spaces for any of these women.

Singapore – The Sweet Keeper

2017-10-07T00:00:00Z

An Original Graphic Novel that examines Capitalism through the lens of a semi-fictionalised 1980s Hong Kong. The story will attempt to use some of the form and tropes of traditional adventure and manga stories to take a serious look at the issues of modern economies and societies. While the book is still in it's early conceptual stages, my previous book "The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye" (www.artofcharliechan.com) may serve as an indication of the form of the book - mixing styles and genres to tell a story in an engaging and unique way.

Oakland, CA (Неактивен) – All That I Aspire To Be

2017-10-05T00:00:00Z

I am a fixer, and I see a problem. Many students, in the hood that I come from, do not have realistic visions of what they can do in life. Some have never really been out of Oakland and may not know anyone who has gone to college. Most will say they want to be an athlete, a rapper, doctor or firefighter. But there are so many options! And it is so important to understand one’s interests, talents, strengths and goals before entering high school. As a native of East Oakland, an artist/educator, and mother of three children in the public school system, I strive to bridge the gap in this area with my own family. Now, I want to start the conversation with some of the young children I encounter daily. My sister wrote a children’s book, called “All That I Aspire To Be”. I am the illustrator. The book features 13 illustrations of an African-American girl dreamily imagining her future career options. The next step is to self-publish this book through IngramSpark. This will produce hard copies as well as an electronic version. We can then take this book into classrooms at REACH Academy (at the intersection of Bancroft and 98th Avenues) where my son attends kindergarten. The aim is to use the book educate students about aspirations, career options, and to model a thinking process: • Print 100 copies of the book for first run • Bring book into 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms (2 classes total, approximately 50 students, each student gets a free copy) • I will volunteer my services as coordinator and facilitator • Coordinate one parent volunteer per class to come read to the whole class (as students read along with own book) • The parents can provide a personal account about their own childhood aspirations • After reading, facilitate a group discussion of the book with guided questions • Work with teacher to provide students with a writing assignment: “What I Aspire to Be” • Donate additional book copies to all other classrooms at REACH

Annapolis, NS (Неактивен) – Annapolis County Climbing Club

2017-10-04T00:00:00Z

Awesome Annapolis decided tht ROCK CLIMBING is awesome. It is a growing adventure sport that can be enjoyed indoors and outdoors, all year round. The club is building a rock climbing gym for people of all ages and abilities to be able to challenge themselves in ways they never dreamed of. Rock Climbing tests your confidence, flexibility and endurance all while building self-esteem and resilience. The construction is nearing completion (which you can see on their Facebook page) and they are getting ready to paint, install the safety mats and most importantly, set the routes. This new climbing space is located in the loft space of The Annapolis Royal Community Recreation Center (formerly ARRA) and boasts just under 1000 sq/ft of climbing space. Western Nova Scotia has some of our Province's best outdoor bouldering. A lot of the outdoor climbing is located on the Digby Neck (Sandy Cove) and in the woods in and around Tupperville and Bridgetown. There is nothing quite as exhilarating as climbing a 15 foot high boulder overlooking the dark blue waters of the Bay of Fundy. This is good for the mind, body and soul.

Newcastle – From us to You

2017-10-03T00:00:00Z

From us to You collects donated men's and women's formal wear and accessories to give to high school students FOR FREE so that they may attend their high school formal without financial stress and pressure. We hold an annual event called 'Browse, try and take' where high school students can come to pick out an entire outfit for their formal at absolutely no charge, no strings attached. I started From us to You in July this year by putting up a post on my Facebook page asking my friends and family for donations of their formal wear and it literally blew up! Within hours I had total strangers dropping off donations to my home. So I set up 6 different donation drop off points between Sydney and Newcastle and within a month had close to five hundred dresses, shoes, bags, jewellery, suits, shirts and ties. I was interviewed on the Em Rusciano and Harley Breen Today FM breakfast radio show, ABC Newcastle and The Newcastle Herald also wrote two articles about From us to You. The Facebook page has close to 1000 'likes' and has been very well received. The community has been very supportive of this initiative. We had close to 100 kids through the doors at our Browse, try and take event at Alesco Senior College in Newcastle West on 26 August and are looking forward to making 2018 bigger and better!

Awesome Without Borders (Неактивен) – Earth Caravan Quebec 2017

2017-10-02T00:00:00Z

In August 2017, a group of shiatsu practitioners and interdisciplinary artists from Montreal (fifteen people in total) will be travelling to the North of Quebec province in Canada to visit Innu communities in Natashkuan and Mingan. This 10-days self-funded trip is organised with the intention to establish the links with remote Innu communities and to initiate the dialogue with their culture that predominantly remains marginal and unacknowledged in the context of contemporary Canada. During the trip, we offer free Shiatsu treatments, thematic workshops (art therapy and mindfulness workshops for children and adults centered around sharing, positive thinking, and cooperation) and give therapeutic art sessions to parents and children to help each other heal from the effects of cultural and social disenfranchisement. First Nation’s communities in Québec continue to endure inter-generational trauma as a result of resident schools in the mid-twentieth century. This neglected situation has resulted in a myriad of negative social, emotional and psychological effects, which continue to hamper the positive development of the community as a whole. Cultural segregation and underrepresentation in mainstream Canadian cultures reinforces the sense of alienation that profoundly affects Innu communities Through participatory art workshops, deep listening circles, and play we will initiate the dialogue with Innu communities vital to restore damaged relationships between First Nations and mainstream cultures in Canada. Instead of seeing Innu community as one having a problem and ourselves as helpers, we propose collective engagement, co-creation and sharing as a form of mutual healing process. The results of this encounter will be documented in a short video focusing on dialogic relationships between Indigenous communities and volunteers and the process of cultural exchange.The video will be presented during the indigenous awareness week at McGill university in September 2017.

Northampton, MA (Неактивен) – Food Tour publicity and logo development

2017-10-02T00:00:00Z

This project promotes walking food tours in downtown Northampton, with the goal of making the city a food destination. Many tourists and visitors pass through the Valley in their travels or while dropping off students. Food tours are a way for visitors to learn about our incredible local food producers and purveyors. In a 2.5 hour guided walking tour around downtown Northampton, each tour stops at 7-8 destinations to learn about the businesses and sample foods that they make or sell. Food tours prompt return visits to participating businesses and encourage visitors to spend time downtown. They also return home with stories to share about Northampton's vibrant food community. The idea is not new [http://www.growfoodtourism.com/how-food-tours-support-destination-growth/], but it is the first in the Pioneer Valley. As such, it will need to be promoted both online (through tourism websites, social media) and in print (regional print supplements, rack cards at hospitality locations, tourism organizations and institutions); and it will require a well designed logo. The local food tour of Northampton had a successful trial run and is ready to begin, once the website is live (early September). I expect to add additional tours (Vegetarian, Dessert, Apple Harvest) in the future. With extensive publicity in the first year, I expect attendance at the Food Tours to increase from Fall 2017 through Spring /Summer 2018 and beyond.

Liverpool (Неактивен) – Wheel Meet Again - Christmas Grotto

2017-10-02T00:00:00Z

I've recently started working as an Outreach Worker for L8 Charity, Wheel Meet Again. We're an over 50s project that tackles social isolation for Liverpool residents by providing subsidised classes, trips and transport for Liverpool residents. One of the first projects I have been tasked with is getting our members together to transform our building into a Christmas Grotto for the L8 community. This project will be cross-generational as we are inviting local children to write letters to Father Christmas and post them in our special Christmas post box (made by one of our members!) which we will then reply to and they'll receive their replies when they meet Father Christmas (or one of his helpers!) at our Christmas Fair on 11th November. Last Friday we had a taster session for our Christmas Crafts class, which is going to run every Friday leading up to the fair. This session will be free for our members and we're not paying any tutors. Basically, we're all putting our heads together to use our own expertise and experience to peer teach each other different crafts which we can use to create things to Christmas-i-fy the building. So far I am providing sessions in giant snowflake making, felt baubles and gift box making (this is for one of our members who makes angel charms - she will be selling them to raise money for our charity at the fair so we're going to make boxes to put them in). Some of our members have said they will do sessions on crafts such as card making, sign writing and mini Christmas trees. We're also going to be writing 'Merry Christmas' in as many different languages as we can think of. Many of our members are from culturally diverse backgrounds so we think this is a great way to bring the community together and raise awareness of different backgrounds and different languages.

Ann Arbor, MI – Michigan Prison Doula Initiative

2017-10-02T00:00:00Z

The Michigan Prison Doula Initiative is a start-up nonprofit which seeks to support incarcerated mothers during their prenatal, labor, and postpartum process through doula support, childbirth education, and postpartum visitation coordination. Women who are pregnant and incarcerated represent one of the most vulnerable factions of our community. The portrait of the incarcerated mother is one often effected by poverty, racism, domestic violence and drug addiction. Therefore, pregnancies are often high-risk to mother and child, and marred by lack of adequate prenatal care. We are seeking to mitigate some of these effects by providing an experienced doula (birth partner) for each eligible mother, as well as full-spectrum childbirth and nutritional education classes. After the birth, MPDI seeks to work with MDOC and Catholic Social Services (the current placement coordinator), to allow for more visitation between mother and infant, creating opportunities for bonding and breastfeeding when available. Elsewhere, these efforts have been shown to reduce recidivism rates, strengthen the mother-child bond, and help reintegrate mothers back into their community upon release. It is our ultimate goal to train mothers post-release to work within our program in some capacity, offering no or low-cost doula and childbirth educator training as a means to widen employment opportunities for interested mothers. So far, we have developed our program and our board, and are in the process of finalizing our by-laws and applying for 501c3 status. We are working with the current childbirth educator to facilitate an education program with a wider scope, and are in discussions with Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility to launch a pilot program. It appears we are moving full steam ahead, and, as always, need funding and supporting partners to make this dream a reality!

Milano (Неактивен) – Kaddis,recup.e val. cimitero monum ebraico milano

2017-10-02T00:00:00Z

Kaddish, recupero e valorizzazione del cimitero monumentale ebraico di Milano. Verrà effettuato il censimento delle lapidi, la loro catalogazione, il restauro specifico, la cura delle aree verdi, la creazione di un sito internet e l’allestimento di uno spazio espositivo ed informativo localizzato formato da pannelli permanenti, immagini e didascalie che potranno integrare le informazioni delle visite guidate.

Atlanta, GA (Неактивен) – College Toiletry Drive

2017-10-01T00:00:00Z

Our project began when we discovered that they were actually college students attending schools and are homeless. We reached out to a few schools to get some information on this growing issue and was informed that there are actually students that stay in their cars or even on friends couches in order to get a college education. So far we have distributed six boxes contains over 725 items fully stocked with toiletries and have donated them to Kennesaw State University, Georgia State University and Georgia Highlands Coolege Rome campus. It is our goal to fill the needs of the other four Georgia Highlands College within the next month. Our goal is also continue to connect with schools whether it's colleges, high schools, middle or elementary school. We would love to have students going to school without being concerned about having the basic necessities. Items we stocked in our boxes for the pantries are soao,washcloths, toothbrush, toothpaste, lotion, deodorant, razors, shaving cream and wet wipes.

Disability – NOS Magazine

2017-09-30T00:00:00Z

NOS Magazine is the first professional news and commentary site by and for the neurodiversity community. Expect long form journalism, reviews of pop culture, and more. NOS stands for ‘Not Otherwise Specified,’ a tongue-in-cheek reference to when a condition does not strictly fit the diagnostic criteria, or is in some way out of the ordinary. Opinions: Not Otherwise Specified Stories: Not Otherwise Specified Perspectives: Not Otherwise Specified What our grantee is saying: "Recently, I left my full time job to follow my dream and make NOS Magazine a self-sustaining community institution. This grant from the Awesome Foundation will help me take one of my first steps: Establishing a home office. It may seem small, but it will go a long way towards making NOS Magazine everything I know it can be."

North Minneapolis, MN – Young Vision Arts

2017-09-30T00:00:00Z

Well, I threw a few art shows in collaboration with Win Back the Community, LLC and New Rules this summer. While those were great successes, I'm a person who's always striving for better. I plan to have a fashion show, an art show and concert ALL IN ONE (the caps are aggressive I know, but I'm trying to get my point across). The project is titled "Turtleneck Szn" and will be in the north side at New Rules and the goal of it is to: bring the community together through art, and give local creatives a platform to showcase their creativity. There's so much talent in our community that goes unseen due to lack of resources. I may just be an 18 year old kid, but I strive to be that resource. The exact date isn't set just yet, but I'm shooting for late November. I know that this alone isn't even a fraction of the work that our community needs, but it's something. Although this grant would be super helpful, even if I don't get it, I'll find a way to make sure this still happens. (Ya'll invited too. It'll be a good time I swear).

Washington, DC – dc1968 project

2017-09-29T00:00:00Z

When most people think of Washington, DC in 1968 they think of "the riots" which occurred after the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on 4 April. The popular conception is that "the riots" destroyed the city and that it wasn't until the expansion of Metro and the infusion of new development in the 1980s that the city flourished. This popular conception is historically inaccurate and does a grave disservice to all Washingtonians because it ignores the city's rich history of art and activism that was created and nourished in 1968. dc1968, a curated and crowdsourced digital project commemorating the upcoming 50th anniversary of 1968, will transform the public's perception of that extraordinary year by creating a digital 365 Days of History calendar for 2018. dc1968 will have rich daily content covering art, activism, architecture and more across race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, ability and ward. Each daily story will include a photograph, 200-word descriptive text, audio and video clips, and a geolocation. For example, on 21 October 2018, the public will learn about Roberta Flack's concert fundraiser, held on 21 October 1968, for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (which organized the Poor People's Campaign and Resurrection City) at Arena Stage. They will see a photograph of Flack; read an immersive description of the concert, the theater and the weather; watch a YouTube clip of her singing one of the concert songs; and listen to a clip of an audience member sharing memories of the concert. These daily stories will be featured on the dc1968 project website and will be shared via Twitter, FB, Instagram and Medium. Wouldn't it be awesome for Washingtonians to start each day in 2018 learning something new and informative about their city? Wouldn't it be awesome to have daily opportunities for meaningful and impactful conversations? That's what the dc1968 project will do!

Miami, FL – STEAM Saturdays

2017-09-28T00:00:00Z

The Program Objective: The purpose of the program is to foster youth interest in the arts and technology with a focus on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math). After being exposed to STEAM-related activities, we seek to examine whether there is an increased desire within youth to learn and seek higher education in these areas and to discover their many applications. Science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) are often the basis for new product innovation and improvement. Therefore, we believe that it is important that the next generation of scientists, engineers, artists and mathematicians are exposed to these areas of study at an early age. It is our perspective that is important to understand how to get students interested in STEAM as today’s students are tomorrow’s innovators. To this end DEAM has designed an interactive program to increase interest in these areas. Studies have shown that Generation NeXt learns differently than previous generations. The Program: A half day of interactive, fun, and educational activities. Beginning at 9AM the students will follow interactive, hands-on modules each lasting 30 to 40 minutes. Participants will be assigned to either the Art track or the Tech track. The day will end with lunch and fun activities. Students will leave inspired and with a bag filled with program-related goodies. Breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Antigonish, NS (Неактивен) – Lending Library Proposal

2017-09-27T00:00:00Z

I love reading and I got this idea when I was travelling in PEI last summer, I saw that they had small lending libraries where you could take a book to read and drop a book to share. I like this idea because I don't have a lot of options to share or exchange the books I own. My idea is to set up a lending library in the Keppoch Lodge as a pilot project so I can share my reading passion and provide a community service. Who wouldn't love curling up in front of the fire and reading a book in front of the fire at Keppoch?? Target audience: Books of all ages, I have already gathered up some of my books I am willing to donate to start with. I can also volunteer to keep an eye on the books as I live close enough to check in and act as project steward. I can add and replace books as necessary. The project would be checked on every 3 months to make sure the lending library is working well and to gauge the success of the project.

Buffalo, NY (Неактивен) – Please DO Touch the Art

2017-09-27T00:00:00Z

Please DO Touch the Art, coming soon to the Niagara Library, is project created by teacher, child care giver, and artist Jess Widmer. Please explain your project.

Please DO Touch the Art is an invitation and a wish for the community to interact with something whimsical, handmade, and unique. I chose a library for several reasons. Libraries are accessible to everyone; they lack the classiest connotation that an art gallery can often have. I want people to come to the library and be inspired by the work to create their own narratives of the piece, to spark imagination. (Books are also great for that, it turns out!) Moreover I want something specifically for children to be engaged by. There are not many free indoor things for children to do when the weather is harsh and having touchable work in a library creates a sense of magic in a space that is made for learning and dreaming. Sitting on a creature while you read, or having another draped near your head as you work would be something delightfully new. It is rare and valuable to have art that is touchable and interactive. Developmentally, children learn through touch, and many adults need touch to better connect with the world, as well as with their imaginations. Both benefit from the tactile experience and break from the immersion in the digital world.

How did you come up with idea?

As a tactile person myself, I recognize the lack of interactive art in Buffalo as well as the need for children and adults to engage more fully with their imagination and their senses. I love mythology, creatures, and things that feel like dreams. I'm often inspired by dreams, stories, emotion, and the natural world. By combining these things I'm creating work that can reach a wide range of people.

What are the next steps?

The next steps are figuring out how to engage the community around the Niagara Library and gathering supplies. I would like to tap into folklore or mythology of the Burmese, African, and Latin community there in a way that includes them and starts a conversation. I don’t want the art to appear from nothing in the space. I want it to be engaging and connected to the people going to use the library. There will be a hanging creature, hanging clouds with iridescent crystal rain drops to refract light into the library, and some climbable rock pillows. Then I can lead a workshop and start making the creature for the space. You can see updates on my Facebook page, @JessWidmerart or my Instagram, @jwbunny4.

Melbourne (Неактивен) – Equal Access to Healthcare for Transgender People

2017-09-27T00:00:00Z

1 in 4 transgender people are denied healthcare by medical professionals - be it a GP, a specialist, hospital staff (and dinosaurs). This is all the more shocking given that 1 in 4 transgender people attempt to suicide in their lifetime - and lack of medical care has a horrific impact on mental health. The impact of being turned away at a time you are most vulnerable and in need of help is immeasurable. We want to change this. Doctors and clinical staff at all levels need education, guidance and support on how to best serve the transgender community. As there is very little good quality medical research in the field to guide clinical care, our research aims to provide essential, evidence-based information on the psychological, social and physiological impact, as well as effectiveness and safety, of cross-sex hormones in the transgender population. The Trans Medical Research Fund has recently been established to improve transgender health through medical research, education and advocacy. With the Awesome Foundation grant we want to draw attention to our advocacy work on social media, the platform that best allows us to reach out to the transgender community to tell everyone who has been experiencing healthcare neglect that they are not alone, and that we are fighting for improvement. The stock photography, iconography and graphics that are available online are shockingly cliched and inappropriate. We have creative volunteers and models at hand who are willing to help us create appropriate, engaging and helpful imagery to be used online that transgender and gender fluid people can identify with and that doesn't marginalise and alienate them (trans stock photos are horrific caricatures of trans lives). The Awesome Foundation grant can help us pay these willing and able contributors a small fee and most importantly help us push the new content out where it needs to go - trans people, on social media.

Tallahassee, FL (Неактивен) – 500 Miles of Freedom College & Civil Rights Tour

2017-09-26T00:00:00Z

The 500 Miles of Freedom College & Civil Rights Tour is a trip organized by the Omega Lamplighters, a young men's mentoring program for at risk youth. Every August we travel to visit Colleges and Universities as well as historical sites to the civil rights movement. We hear often you don't know where you're going if you don't know where you've been and this trip brings that to life. We visit historical sites in past years we visited New Orleans, historic Treme area and its lower 9th Ward that's still left damaged from Hurricane Katrina. We've also walked the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama the site of Bloody Sunday, Traveled to Baton Rouge to uplift Cameron Sterling, son of Alton Sterling who was killed in front of a Louisiana convenient store. This year we will travel to Nashville, TN, Atlanta, GA and Albany GA. With stops at the Tennessee Museum, Tennessee State University, Fisk University, MeHarry Medical College and Vanderbilt University. In Atlanta we will visit the Human and Civil Rights Museum, the Dr. Martin L. King Jr. national historic park, Georgia Tech University, Morehouse College, Clark Atalanta University, and the birth home of Dr. King.The trip is for males only, mentors, Dad's, Uncle's, male cousins etc. This is a important part because majority of the young men we service come from single family homes. So for them it's bigger than just going out of town it's an opportunity for them to bond with men and father figures. There are some Fathers who are active in their sons life and those Dad's who attend the trip get to share these moments with their son and get a chance to observe them in their natural environment and watch them mature before their eyes. Our kids need to see this beautiful country and see it's history. Sometimes youth can get isolated to their small communitie and think it's only Tallahassee but this trip let's them see there a whole world out there beyond here and that they must learn their history and share it with everyone.

New York City, NY – Emma's Torch Female Baking Collective

2017-09-26T00:00:00Z

The Female Baking Collective is a new initiative of Emma's Torch, an organization that provides culinary training to refugees including culinary and language training. While their main program aims to prepare its participants for work in restaurants, **The Baking Collective is envisioned as a female-only program that addresses the need of women with children for greater flexibility in their working lives. It seeks to address this need by preparing its students for roles as small-scale artisanal goods producers, creating products like granola bars, beverages, and snacks that they can sell to a larger market.** The artisanal goods market is a rapidly growing sector of the New York food scene, and many producers make their own hours, work from home, and collaborate with a tight-knit group of like-minded individuals. These start-ups offer female refugees more financial independence, while also fitting sustainably into their lives. Our grant will be used to develop the curriculum for this program and help support the initial class of participants. **You can support Emma's Torch by visiting their pop-up cafe on Saturdays and Sundays at Home/Made, 293 Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231.**

Utrecht – Zonnestelsel op schaal door Utrecht

2017-09-26T00:00:00Z

Iedereen denkt te weten hoe ons zonnestelsel met de 8 planeten er ongeveer uitziet, maar wanneer je deze daadwerkelijk op schaal namaakt, blijkt de ruimte een stuk groter, leger en adembenemender te zijn dan gedacht. En de aarde een stuk kleiner en eenzamer en daarmee belangrijker om te beschermen! Onderwijzer Louk ergerde zich aan de zogenaamd realistische tekeningen van ons zonnestelsel in schoolboeken. Om echt de schaal van het zonnestelsel na te bootsen, is er maar liefst 600 meter papier nodig en zou de aarde zo klein worden dat deze onzichtbaar werd. Maar wat als we nou de stad als schaalmodel gebruiken? Met de zon als startpunt, dat sculptuur ligt namelijk al sinds jaar en dag op het Domplein (Sol Iustitiae, schaal 1:1.000.000.000). De rest van de planeten wordt op schaal in metaal in kleine balletjes met een plaquette met de naam van de planeet over Utrecht verspreid en gehangen aan lantaarnpalen of huizen. Wie wilt, kan de route lopen of fietsen en zo een indruk krijgen van de grootte van ons heelal.

Portland, OR – Madison 34

2017-09-26T00:00:00Z

Madison 34 is a project created to have the 34 pillars of Southeast Madison (on ramp to the Hawthorne Bridge) painted by artists from the Portland area. This urban gallery will be created to inspire the community and to draw people to the Central Eastside Industrial Area. The Project will start at the first two pillars on Southeast Madison Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and end on Southeast Madison and Water Avenue. This project is to also include the set of stairs the lead up to the Hawthorne Bridge. This will be a perfect addition to East Creative’s First Friday Art Walk. Each pillar and set of stairs will be coated with an anti-graffiti coating.

Awesome Without Borders (Неактивен) – Strains (Strategic In-stream Systems)

2017-09-25T00:00:00Z

India’s established “megacities” are in the midst of a serious water crisis—rivers choked with solid waste, disappearing wetlands, and contaminated local food chains. These issues have reached a new level of urgency in the south Indian city of Bangalore. It’s urban watershed is comprised of hundreds of lakes, connected by a network of open stormwater channels (referred to locally as “Nallahs”). Amid explosive informal urban development, these Nallahs also double as vectors for untreated domestic wastewater, leading to a range of downstream impacts to human health, ecosystems, and economies. When expensive top-down approaches to this challenge simply can’t keep pace, our Strains project hopes to demonstrate the potential impact of simple in-stream urban wastewater remediation strategies that can be implemented inexpensively from the bottom-up. We have a design and approvals in place for a small pilot intervention in Bangalore, all we need is a bit of funding to purchase the raw materials to make it a reality! The intervention comprises of a designed structure which contains roughly 35 cubic meters of terracotta fragments. Terracotta is abundantly available and preliminary research shows that it promotes the growth of biofilm, settles sediments, and reduces harmful pathogen content from black and greywater. The intervention will employ these fragments as a passive filtration material and substrate for the growth of spontaneous wetland plants over time. Working together, these systems will help lower the concentrations of harmful contaminates flowing through the watershed. The Nallah we have chosen for the intervention is upstream of Doddabommasandra (DBS) Lake in Bangalore’s northwestern periphery. DBS is a perfect context as it is currently in the process of being revitalized and contains a series of preliminary filtration mechanisms (for solid waste and silt). Our Strains unit will work in tandem with these other efforts already underway.

Piqua, OH (Неактивен) – PiquaPOP Art Walk

2017-09-25T00:00:00Z

I'd like to host PiquaPOP, a pop-up art walk in Piqua, very similar to the recent BoldPas event in Old Town Pasadena, California, which drew 15,000 guests. https://www.oldpasadena.org/visit/events/signature-events/boldpas/ This free, interactive, family art event would be held in Spring 2018, and involve a juried exhibit of large-scale artwork (probably 5-9 pieces). I'm envisioning this being held in the block of outdoor space behind Susie's Big Dipper, with the major pieces displayed along this back street, and artists working in plein air on easels on the brick patio throughout the day. I'd also love to see spin art or sidewalk chalking during the day for children. Non-traditional and funky art welcome! This pop-up event would start in the morning and be taken down by 8PM. Looking down this alleyway, attendees should also be able to get a long view of the new mural downtown. Artists would be permitted to sell their installations, as long as they remain in place through the entire event. I would like to invite several groups to have a representative on a committee for this event, including: Piqua Arts Council, Piqua Mainstreet, Edison State Community College, the Piqua Library, and others. We will seek submissions from artists throughout the region, with extra preference "points" given to local works.

Kingston – emmett's annual KGH NICU campaign

2017-09-25T00:00:00Z

every year we raise funds to help offset costs associated with a stay in the KGH nicu for parents as well as obtaining preemie baby clothes and supplies so parents can spend more time in the NICU with their babies instead of having to go shopping and missing precious moments inside the unit.

Alaska (Неактивен) – Bicycle Mechanic School

2017-09-25T00:00:00Z

We are a nonprofit bicycle education center. We educate kids and adults to obtain real life mechanical skills using bicycles as a medium. We educate foster kids, homeschool kids, adults and underrepresented youth to use mechanical ability to propel them through a new life journey. Our programs and classes give people agency, dignity, individuality and the tools to excel at real life applications. We have classes that range from fixing a flat to high end suspension and hydraulics. Our students can have no mechanical ability and leave with empowerment and the ability to take things apart and put them back together with confidence. We provide a clean and safe space for all people who walk through our doors. Empathy leads our way to teach goodness using bikes!

Newmarket – Healthy Youth Preventative Education (HYPE)

2017-09-22T00:00:00Z

The Healthy Youth Preventative Education (HYPE) Program is an after-school program that build strengths, resilience, and coping skills among youth as a way of enhancing interpersonal functioning. HYPE is an evidence-based program that equips youth with the social and emotional competencies they need to positively engage with others. Whether it be with dating partners, peers, friends, teachers or family members, youth will be better able to form meaningful, healthy connections in their lives. In weekly small groups, over the course of 14 weeks, co-facilitators present activities and generate discussion around issues that affect youth in their daily lives. In a safe space, youth talk about what contributes to stress, well-being, and healthy relationships at school, home and in their local community. The program is delivered in an interactive group-based format that includes discussion, audio, visual and tactile aids as well as the opportunity for interactive activities and peer support. HYPE also provides youth with one-on-one support as well as referrals to community services. This free after school program is available to youth ages 13-24 in two different settings – schools and youth drop-in centres. By offering the program in a group model, otherwise socially isolated youth, who may not have had a circle of friends of their own, have the opportunity to experience group engagement and connection.

Orlando, FL – Orlando Traveling Memorial

2017-09-21T00:00:00Z

The Orlando Traveling Memorial is a 100+ foot mural wall, to be built with donations, that will travel the country to "Remember the 49 and Those Left Behind." On June 12, 2016, the largest single massacre in U.S. history occurred in Orlando, Florida at the Pulse nightclub. Much like the 9/11 World Trade Towers terrorist attack, when Pule was hit our hearts were broken in Orlando and the U.S. This multi-faceted project begins with survivors and families painting portraits in a paint-by-numbers style of the loved ones they lost that night. It extends to the collection of thousands of hand prints of police, first responders, medical personnel, officials, local citizens and others who aided that night and beyond. Survivors are also recording audio stories, poems and songs. Using Near Field Communication (NFC) behind each painting we will amplify a lights display that will add another element of beauty at night. The project is an offering of healing, hope and understanding to the community, nation and world as a result of the horrendous events of that night. It will also bring together survivors who feel left behind and give them opportunities to reconnect and heal. The memorial will be in Orlando, near the site of the attack, for a year and will then travel to cities throughout the U.S. to serve as both a memorial to those lost and a reminder of the transformative power of love and forgiveness. Contributions to this project will insure that the 49 we lost will never by forgotten and the love that surged through the Orlando community after the tragedy will be held up as an example to cities around the globe about how to cope with the incomprehensible.

Poughkeepsie, NY – Picnic tables for the 9/11 memorial park

2017-09-19T00:00:00Z

The 9/11 Memorial park in the city of Poughkeepsie is beautiful but unfinished. The Kiwanis Club of Poughkeepsie would like to see two picnic tables at the park so local business people can eat lunch.

Gloucester, MA – What Can I Do? Young Voices for Positive Change!

2017-09-19T00:00:00Z

I am currently in the process of bringing a video journalism multimedia program to the students at O'Maley Innovation Middle School After School Program. The goal of this ongoing project is to teach students to use their voices for good on platforms that are relevant to their peers and community. One of the big idea projects the students brought to the table was to produce Public Service Announcements surrounding issues they face, specifically focused on an Anti Bullying Campaign they are designing. The project is student driven, with the goal of community awareness /involvement as part of the solution. We plan on working with Cape Ann TV to help get the message out to the community and to give the students the real experience within the field of video journalism. Other projects will include students live streaming current events, producing local news segments about issues or stories important to them for their peers and community, and focusing on how to use their voice, film, and the internet in a more positive and influential way...One to one we change the world,

Philadelphia, PA – High School Females Get Creative with Robotics

2017-09-19T00:00:00Z

The White House Initiative on Education Excellence For Hispanics released an update titled, "Hispanics and STEM Education". This update released the following data: "Hispanics made up 16% of the U.S. population in 2010, only earned 8 percent of all certificates and degrees awarded in the STEM fields between 2009 and 2010. Hispanics are underrepresented in undergraduate and graduate STEM programs and are not sufficiently exposed to STEM subjects at the K-12 Levels." My high school, Thomas Edison High School is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 80% of our student population is Latino. Over the past four years, the school robotics team has been all boys. The girls were not interested in joining. The goal of this project is to focus on the high school female students. I want to introduce and encourage all high school females into the world of robotics, so that they will be able to design, build and operate their own robot. The goal of having a girls only robotics team, will allow the girls to learn and explore, have a voice and develop their skills in decision making, analytical, writing and speaking skills. This will be a wonderful opportunity for the females to figure things out without the concern of the boys stepping in and taking charge. Girls can have fun and learn without trying to impress the boys. They can make mistakes without feeling embarrassed in front of the boys. We can change future future data of Hispanics and STEM Education by introducing the females in to this STEM project with hands on experience. This team will be open to all females yet, we will concentrate on the 9th grade girls. This will give the 9th grade ladies four years of experience before applying to college. https://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/list/hispanic-initiative/stem-factsheet.pdf

Awesome Without Borders (Неактивен) – The Adventure Project

2017-09-18T00:00:00Z

The Adventure Project (TAP) is an innovative non-profit movement dedicated to lifting people in developing countries out of poverty by creating transformative jobs. We “add venture” capital to help local organizations scale and thrive. TAP fills a critical role in alleviating poverty by leveraging the power of a grassroots movement toward smart, cost-effective solutions that empower the poor to become profitable entrepreneurs, so they can serve their own communities with improved health, decreased hunger, a safer environment and clean water. We provide funding, technology innovations, and marketing support to help the best local organizations with proven job creation programs innovate and scale. Rather than a handout, a job has the power to move a family out of poverty forever and give people the dignity they deserve. In six years, The Adventure Project has galvanized the support of over 8,000 donors to create jobs for 1,000 men and women in India, Kenya, Uganda and Haiti. These entrepreneurs now serve over one million people in their communities with lifesaving goods and services.

Pittsburgh, PA – YNGBLKPGH

2017-09-18T00:00:00Z

YNGBLKPGH is a social justice movement in a completely different mindset being built through our community to revamp the narrative about what it means and looks like to be young, black, and in the city of Pittsburgh. Not for the media's sake but for our next generations. YNGBLKPGH has first encapsulated into a coffee table book. So often within the city of Pittsburgh, when these three words are put together, a negative story often follows. YNGBLKPGH so vividly articulates the counter narrative to that far to often told story through telling the stories of over 140 of the city's young professional scene, for the sake and hope of our next generations of the city. Within the pages of this, you will find of every featured person has included their path, a first person narrative of their journey and how they got to where they are now, an amazingly shot photograph shot by Mecca Gamble and a hand written open letter to the next generation of the city of Pittsburgh. YNGBLKPGH is building a community focused on exposing the possibilities to the next generations of leaders to provide proof that they can accomplish amazing things, all the while being YNGBLKPGH, just like every person in this book. The book's success has been well documented and is still rising since its release on April 29th of this year. Our author and the premise of YNGBLKPGH has been featured on WPXI/NBC, KDKA/CBS, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Pittsburgh Courier and countless other national news outlets. As the book and movement continue to grow in popularity and influence our central goal and reason for breathing is still our children and their exposure to what a project like this can mean to them. I am more than a firm believer that exposure and imagery can change lives, and YNGBLKPGH plans to continue down this path, rewriting the future for our children, one letter at a time.

Cass Clay – Mobile Nature Center

2017-09-15T00:00:00Z

The purpose of the Mobile Nature Center is to teach environmental education to preschool and elementary age children in Fargo/Moorhead through drop in nature activities, guided walks, and informal "open house" events. It will be a mobile art installation, science laboratory, and children’s natural history museum on wheels. The projects mission is to engage, educate, and inspire children through art and environmental education in an effort to protect Fargo’s natural environment for future generations. The project is: Responsive: Mobility allows the center to move among communities where interest and outreach is most needed. It provides opportunities to collaborate with local organizations, support community events, and engage diverse and low income families. Exploratory: Outdoor green spaces are abundant in the FM area. This project will partner with urban parks, community gardens, farmers markets, schools, and or libraries to inspire curiosity about the natural world within our urban landscape. Creative: The interior and exterior of the mobile nature center will invoke a sense of curiosity, celebrate urban wildlife, and provide hands on child-centered displays. Local artists will help with the design process. Design ideas include: a living prairie roof, hands-on sensory stations, wheelchair accessibility, a mini library nook, and exhibits that focus on our two greatest urban natural resources-the Red River and the tall grass prairie.

Ann Arbor, MI – Seraphine Collective's Beat Match Brunch

2017-09-15T00:00:00Z

DJ Culture, in Detroit and elsewhere, is male-dominated: VICE Magazine reports that women make up under 10% of all DJs at music festivals. There is also a high barrier to entry — the cost of equipment can be prohibitive, and as beginners, women are less likely to have access to technical mentorship, practice space and booking opportunities. In April 2016, we rose to this challenge by launching our first workshop series: Beat Match Brunch, a month-long introduction to the fundamentals of the art form for aspiring female-identified DJs. The first workshop, facilitated by Detroit DJ Mother Cyborg, had to turn away about half of the applicants, which highlights the series’ potential to breathe fresh air into the city’s electronic music scene. In April 2016, we invited eight women with diverse musical tastes and cultural backgrounds to learn how to use turntables, handle, select and “read” vinyl records, isolate sounds, and use BPMs to beat-match, all in a supportive and collaborative environment. Following the end of the workshop, several of the DJs have continued to independently borrow equipment, organize practice sessions, and perform at dozens of events around town. We will be hosting the next round of workshops, for 12 people this time, in September 2017. Additionally, Seraphine Collective hopes that the Beat Match Brunch program will become self-sustaining, with graduates teaching later generations and performing at fundraising events. In short, it’s been awesome, and we are so excited to lay the groundwork for this workshop to become a permanent part of Seraphine Collective’s programming, and a fixture in the Detroit music scene.

San Jose, CA – San Jose Hoops!

2017-09-15T00:00:00Z

I teach middle school in a downtown San Jose school and I would like my design/maker class to make hula hoops to learn about physics. The students will make enough of them so that they can be used in the physical education classes and also have the middle school students visit the local elementary school and teach them about the physics of hooping. When students are able to teach others, the learning is made much stronger for the student and I really like the idea of middle school kids teaching kids younger than themselves. My hope is that we will be able to get them done in time for the Viva Calle 2018 so that they can create a pop-up where they will teach other kids how to hoop as well.

Ottawa – Tiny Street Art for the Keen Eye

2017-09-14T00:00:00Z

September’s Awesome Ottawa award goes to an anonymous recipient who has been hiding hundreds of realistic food miniatures in plain sight around Ottawa. “I am working hard,” she explains, “to make the streets of Ottawa a little more fun. I create clay miniatures of various popular foods and place them in the cracks of the city for people to find or stumble upon.” So far she has hidden more than 400 such miniatures around the city, posting pictures of many of them on Instagram and Facebook. Our anonymous winner – we don’t even know who she is – has big plans for this fall, and will use the Awesome Ottawa award to begin putting on scavenger hunts. “I will post a ‘menu’ on Instagram and Facebook,” she explains, “and every hour I will release a picture from the menu. The first person to take a picture with all five miniatures and post them on my Facebook page will earn a clue to the prize location. The prize will include a miniature and a gift certificate for a local business.” In an interview with Artsfile earlier this year, our winner explained: “My story and experience aren’t relevant to the joy of finding a piece of miniature food hidden in the cracks of the city. I love the simplicity of it, and the mystery of who I am protects that simplicity.” She has also been reported on by CBC Ottawa and the Kitchissippi Times.

Chicago, IL – SHE CAST : a for-youth by-youth podcast

2017-09-14T00:00:00Z

SHE CAST is an intersectional feminist podcast made for young people, by young people, ages twelve through fourteen. Every episode tackles an issue affecting youth. Past episodes have focused on bullying, racism, body image, the 2016 election, women in male-dominated industries, targeted advertising, gender identity and more. The young women and trans youth who host this podcast also answer listener-submitted questions each episode from teens like them. This peer mentorship via podcast empowers the girls giving the advice, and is a great resource for young people who may not feel comfortable reaching out to adults for their concerns about popularity, body image, gender presentation and more.