Awesome Foundation - Projecten

Gloucester, MA – "Bling Fling" Free Prom Dress Give-Away

2019-11-22T00:00:00Z

The Bling Fling is an event where we offer free formal dresses to any girl in need. My church, Cape Ann Bible Church in West Gloucester, has hosted the event for three years now, and this year we are hosting it twice; once in the fall and once in the spring. We also reach out the community for dress donations. Not only does it bless the young ladies with a free dress, it provides an opportunity for our community to participate. It also allows us to be more resourceful by reusing dresses that have only been worn once, sometimes never!

Gloucester, MA – Magnolia Community Farmers Market

2019-11-22T00:00:00Z

We are the Magnolia Community Farmers Market. After a successful 1st season we are planning for 2020. Located on Lexington Ave in Magnolia, our market runs from June-Sept on Sunday mornings. We have a diverse market thriving with local farms, food purveyors, artisans and crafters. Our vendors served the communities of Gloucester & Manchester providing locally sourced meat, cheeses, honey, fresh produce, GF/Non-GMO products, seafood, locally roasted coffee & a variety of locally prepared foods. Our goal is to serve as many community members as possible by offering as many vendors as we can, with fresh and local options at affordable prices. We aim to apply for WIC and SNAP/EBT accreditation before next season, and to do so we will need the swipe machine and software to accept the benefits, as well as pay fees to the state for the application process. We project that we will need about a 6 months headstart for planning and paperwork to get the legalities in place before our June opening.

South Bend, IN – 1st Annual Special Needs/Abilities Prom

2019-11-22T00:00:00Z

We recently discovered a need for providing a safe socialization event for our growing teens/young adults. What a better event than their own beautiful prom, as A Place To Be Me by Children's Dispensary as the host. Right now, there is no such event in the South Bend area. We want to bring the experience and beauty of a prom to our special needs community! We will secure a beautiful venue, such as the Brick or Palais Royale to make the night extra special. We will hold gown/tuxedo donation drop off events, along with providing some wonderful professionals to do hair and make up. We will cater in some delicious appetizers, have an awesome DJ/band and a professional photographer to capture the most memorable moments for our special friends. We want this event to expand far beyond our clients. We want to invite the entire teen/young adult special needs community in our area. We want to show everyone how wonderful our friends are, how important these moments are for them, and we want to share the excitement with everyone! Our goal is to get more people, more companies involved with organizations like ours to help support these individuals, help them develop these important communication/socialization skills to be able to live and thrive in our surrounding communities.

South Bend, IN – Permit Pending: Hibberd for the Holidays

2019-11-22T00:00:00Z

Permit Pending is a new project from Jacob Titus, Helen Cramer, Dustin Mix, and Maria Gibbs attempting to present under-utilized spaces as proving grounds for new projects focused on art, business, food, and gathering. In the past two months, we've hosted two gatherings of South Bend Burger Society, a new venture from Kevin Lawler of Baker & Rose, in which members of the society will gather weekly inside the former Dainty Maid Bake Shop to enjoy locally-sourced burgers, beer, and more. These gatherings took place at Vested Interest, the former Ziker dry-cleaning facility and over 500 people registered to attend. Registration is free and we work to offset costs by selling the food and drinks. This month we plan to host Hibberd for the Holidays in collaboration with Abigail Gillan, whose Ragamuffin Bakery will soon be moving into the first-floor retail space at The Hibberd. We will design a tasteful and cozy holiday environment in which Abigail will host a pop-up bakery and we will host a bar. We are exploring an option to collaborate with a well-loved local bar to allow cocktails as well as beer and wine. This event will take place over two nights in mid-December.

Portland, OR – Mississippi Street Farm Stand Market

2019-11-22T00:00:00Z

The Mississippi Street Farm Stand Market is a food, health and economic justice project. Each week throughout spring and summer, we bring fresh produce, organically farmed along with tips for healthy living, plus exercise demonstrations, recipe sampling and so much more. We support local farmers of color who have too long been left out of the business of agriculture. I will use the money to buy 10 x 10 pop up tents, fold up tables and equipment that will allow vendors who are just starting up to participate. Thus far, it has been a labor of love. Although I have encouraged vendors to pay to participate and to bring a tent and table, new farmers often do not have the means to do so. Each week, for the last 6 weeks, I have trucked borrowed equipment over and expended a lot of time and energy.

South Bend, IN – Social Media and Internet Marketing

2019-11-22T00:00:00Z

As local businesses tend to have bad digital marketing plans, such as not having ads, not having a good website, and not having good content on the web. I want to create a service/agency that can help them with this issue. By managing their digital marketing plan, which implies fixing and making better their website, creating good content to create more traffic, making email campaigns to gain and re-target customers. This is different because I would focus and many aspects and not just one like Facebook or Instagram, I will really help them in all possible ways so the businesses can gain more traffic to their business or website, depending on their way of making sales. It's a way so that businesses can catch up with their competitors that are already doing them and really get them out their. This has a big market too, well there are about 30.2 million small businesses in the U.S. and of those 30.2 million, 5.5 million are family owned, which tend to have these ideas of having billboards or newspaper are still a thing. They need to update to grow, and that's when I come In.

Aviano (Inactief) – Aviano Bicycle Association

2019-11-21T00:00:00Z

Plano, TX (Inactief) – Down Syndrome Children's Book

2019-11-21T00:00:00Z

I’ve written and illustrated a children’s book titled “Kelly and the Great Pinewood Derby.” It was inspired by my Uncle Kelly who had Down syndrome. My goal is to teach children how to show love and compassion to those who may look or act differently. And this book is doing very well. I’m in the process of writing my second book in the Kelly series “Kelly and the Space Cadets” where Kelly meets an employed man with Down syndrome who works at the local planetarium as a curator. Giving Kelly hope that he can one day have a successful job. At the back of every Kelly book is a free downloadable song that helps kids relate to the topic of Down syndrome. I’m a public speaker and go into elementary schools and schools for those with special needs.

Plano, TX (Inactief) – To Be Like Me

2019-11-21T00:00:00Z

To Be Like Me is a disability awareness program to break down barriers and foster compassion. Through our program, we want to foster a community of inclusion and demonstrate how the simple act of asking questions allows our participants to move from seeing a disability to seeing a person. Our Leaders are individuals who are living with a disability or difference. Nine different areas are addressed: Autism/Sensory Processing, Anxiety, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Dietary Differences, Speech/Communication Challenges, Chromosome Differences, Mobility Impairments, Vision Impairments, and Learning Differences. The two hour program involves 4 real life, interactive experiences that will be led by our Leaders: a classroom, an airline, a restaurant, and a bedroom. There is also an area for participants to see and use some of the technology that is currently available to those with a disability or difference. The interactions between participants and Leaders, combined with the experiences in our program will focus on awareness of different abilities. Participants will leave our program with a better understanding and appreciation for the unique abilities of others. For students, To Be Like Me also incorporates disability awareness curriculum before, during, and after the program to increase the impact of our message. We will measure our impact with pre- and post- empathy scores. Our program currently focuses on children aged 9-12 and launches to our local school district in Dallas this year. Plans are to extend our reach and spread our Leaders' voices into multiple school districts, including Plano area schools, for the 2020-21 Academic Calendar Year.

Boston, MA – Faxina Podcast: Stories Swept Under the Rug

2019-11-21T00:00:00Z

FAXINA Podcast, a Portuguese-language audio documentary focusing on the immigrants stories that get swept under the rug. Faxina {fah-shee-na} is a Portuguese word meaning deep cleaning; the kind of cleaning done when one raises the rug to examine what lies underneath. FAXINA will enter the world of Brazilian house cleaners in America; individuals cleaning other people’s houses while trying to create a home of their own. This podcast will bring their ignored stories to a wider world. FAXINA’s episodes will center around themes emerged from the interviews with house cleaners from the greater Boston area. Through personal stories that open our hearts and minds, FAXINA podcast intends to broaden the knowledge and to elevate the voice of this underrepresented Latinx community, and create connections among listeners. We deeply expect FAXINA to open up conversations within the Brazilian and the large Latinx community; bringing us closer together. We, creators of FAXINA, also expect to enhance visibility of Latinx audio producers and podcast creators. From November 2019 to August of 2020, FAXINA Podcast will create and produce eight 30-35 minute episodes within the series “Brazilian Cleaners in America.” Each episode of FAXINA will begin with a brief introduction from the host followed by two story segments by our guests. Stories will be edited and composed from interviews conducted by the producers of FAXINA. Music and audio archival materials selected from our research will be layered in to deepen the listener’s experience and provide transition between segments. Brazilian music, like Brazil’s population, is incredibly diverse, so each individual portrayed in FAXINA will evoke specific music that reflects their persona and journey; the music will be incorporated to create sound as varied as the narratives of our guests. -FAXINA’s interactive website. -Two free public exhibitions to discuss the process of making FAXINA, and the topics presented in season one.

Plano, TX (Inactief) – The Breakfast Club

2019-11-21T00:00:00Z

I am a teacher at Plano Senior High School. We are the high school that the El Paso shooter attended and graduated from in 2017. As a teacher, I come in contact with many students on a daily basis that are struggling and feel alone. I want to share a story that really hit home to me this past year. There was a girl in my class who was really struggling. She was about to drop out of high school and complete it online at home. This news prompted me to talk to her and find out more of what was going on in her life. She didn’t like attending school at Plano Senior and did not have lunch with her friends. She had not connected with any new relationships and felt alone. As I have gotten to know more and more students at my school, I have learned that those feelings of loneliness and disconnection are shared by many students. My student decided to give it a chance after we spoke. She is now a thriving student at Plano Senior and is happy she chose to stay. I have helped her begin to make those connections that are so vital to a teenager and find commonalities with her classmates. I know that I would have benefited from someone reaching out to me in high school- whether it be another student or a teacher. Plano Senior may have 2,700 students and 7 different buildings, but it only takes one person to change the trajectory of a student This incident with my student prompted me to come up with the idea of a “Breakfast Club” that would meet weekly on Friday mornings before school. I felt that students needed a place to feel safe, share honest struggles and feelings, and meet kids they would not normally meet in a school of 2,700 juniors and seniors. Teenagers need someone to teach them how to connect face to face and have deep conversations. Teenagers need a place to share, be heard, and listen. I feel deep in my soul that had we been doing this in previous years we maybe could have reached the El Paso shooter and who knows how many other kids who are lost and lonely.

San Francisco, CA – Dirty Kid Prom

2019-11-20T00:00:00Z

Homeless Youth Alliance has been working with both runaway youth and youth experiencing homelessness for over a decade in San Francisco. We believe in radical love, harm reduction, and accepting folks as they are! We work in both housing, on the street, and run the Haight Ashbury Exchange. Our youth often experience more hardships and barriers than many can imagine on a daily basis. We want to create an event that provides respite from life on the streets and allows people to let go, get creative,and have fun. We previously created "Project Runaway" with youth in which youth had various materials to create a runway outfit. People were so passionate with what they put into making their outfits and it was super inspiring. We have a video we can share somewhere:) Youth recently requested having a "Dirty Kid Prom" where they could create their outfits from various materials we provided and we would host an even for them with music and food

Lake Mac – Hope In A Suitcase

2019-11-20T00:00:00Z

As a child I grew up with my parents being Foster Carers, and now ive followed in their footsteps becoming a Foster Carer myself. Fostering is one of the most challenging yet rewarding things you will ever do. And my goodness have I had my exhausted overwhelmed Mumma days, but along side these days are days of pure joy. Seeing a glisten of hope in a little scared childs eyes, recieving a huge cuddle from a child that would otherwise not be affectionate at all, and just knowing you are providing them with the safety and sense of security they may never have known before. One thing that has stood out to me over the 19years of seeing children come in and out of foster care, is the familiar 'plastic bags' and 'stripe bags' these kids are known to carrying their belongings around in. A child will often enter foster care with only a plastic bag of belongings or less, or they will have their room packed up into the stripe storage bags we all know. These bags are then dragged around with them to each placement, sadly for many kids they will move multiple times. After thinking about this continuously, I thought to myself surely something can be done. These children matter, these children are loved, and these children are just as worthy as any of us. And 100% themselves, their belongings, and lives are worth more than a plastic bag. These kids should be able to pack their lives into their very own suitcase with pride and a sense of hope. Hence the creation of 'hope in a suitcase'. My vision is to have a suitcase for all kids in the Hunter living in Foster Care. Lets break the so called typical image of a foster child. Lets make them feel worthy, loved, and hopeful. Lets move from a plastic bag of embarrasment, hurt, shame, fear, and insecurity, To a suitcase of HOPE.

Chicago, IL – Douglass 18

2019-11-19T00:00:00Z

Douglas 18 project is an effort to redesign and redevelop a dilapidated miniature golf course located in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood with a theme of bird conservation. In 2018 the Douglass 18 Partners brought together the Conservation Architect Team (CATs); a cohort of young adults from Chicago’s west side. Inspired by the park’s bird population, CATs studied and worked with naturalists, artists, designers and architects to design mini-golf obstacles based on their observations. Working out of a basement room of the Douglas Park Field House, the CATs prototyped, tested, and designed concepts for the miniature golf course which will be professionally fabricated and installed in the spring of 2020. Ultimately, the CATs will create a sustainable business model for the course that serves as both a public amenity and a pipeline of career opportunities. Now that the construction of this project is underway, the CATs would looking to raise awareness about all they have accomplished. They would like to show the creativity and transformation that occurs in a dark park basement on Chicago's west side. The Conservation Architecture Team will be exhibiting in the p11 Gallery located in the Pedway in the Chicago Loop. During this exhibition, The CATs will display the sculptures, models, and playable miniature golf course holes that they have produced over the past year. Three planned Activation Days will open opportunities for the public to "play through" the prototype holes in the Chicago Pedway.

Chicago, IL – Reflections on Fire: Abandoning Old Ideas

2019-11-19T00:00:00Z

Cabinet of Curiosity is seeking funding to produce the next iteration of its new ritual event, Reflections on Fire. We have been invited by the Chicago Parks District to share this unique production on December 15 at the Damen Arts Plaza along the 606 Trail in Chicago for a new audience. Reflections on Fire brought together 1000 guests over three nights in July 2019 for a modern-day ritual outdoors, where diverse communities of people gathered together to abandon an old idea. The event included sophisticated puppetry, masks, original music, and audience interaction. That project was a successful partnership with the Chicago Park District, the 606 Trail, the Blu Collective, and a group of funders. In December we will take what we learned over the summer, carve out what was most effective and impactful, and add new exploratory, experiential elements. These include a number of moving scrolls (cantastoria) of illustrated myths lit by fire. In addition to the artists participating in this production, our Ritual Apprentices are a crucial element of the piece’s success. The apprentices are college students selected to participate in a program, creating dialogue around public celebration, the power of ceremony, and world ritual. One of the summer’s Ritual Apprentices, Rebecca Husk, said of the summer experience: “Cabinet of Curiosity doesn’t just foster community in people witnessing their events--creating the ritual is in and of itself an act of love and fellowship.” The goal of our work is to create unlikely collaborations which breed difficult dialogues that manifest into relevant conversations, meaningful exchanges, hopeful participation, greater self-awareness, and modern ritual and ceremony. Ultimately, we aspire to teach empathy to team members, collaborators, and audience.

Awesome Without Borders (Inactief) – Jungle Project Social Justice Scale Up

2019-11-18T00:00:00Z

Jungle Project is a regenerative enterprise dedicated to trees, training, and trade. Through the promotion of its tropical agroforestry model, Jungle Project is researching and establishing underutilized crops like breadfruit, a tree native to the Pacific Islands, with smallholder farmers to create value-added supply webs. Jungle Project supports farming communities, helps diversify farmer production and income by seeking market opportunities for their harvests, and fosters the investigation and development of innovative products sourced from farmers edible forest gardens. Breadfruit is a highly nutritious source of complex carbohydrates, fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals that researchers believe could be key to alleviating hunger and poverty in the tropics. The Jungle Project’s Breadfruit Flour is sourced from tropical regenerative agroforestry ‘Jungles’ of Costa Rica, and is 100% gluten free. Breadfruit jungles are the perfect food source for areas hit by natural disasters in tropical nations. After Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico it took weeks for promised aid to reach people in need. During that time parts of the island survived for weeks living off breadfruit. For millennia, nutrient-packed breadfruit was a staple for Pacific Islanders.

Sydney – Refugee Driving program

2019-11-18T00:00:00Z

Like all of us would, when refugees and asylum seekers arrive in Australia, they simply want to stop running, to support their families and contribute to their community. Here at Upskill Driving School, we recognise that many newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers face multiple barriers as they seek to settle here in Australia, including reliable transport. Not being able to drive adds to the challenge of finding employment, and unlike most Australians, they lack the contacts who are fully licensed or have access to a vehicle and who could help them learn or practise. Our mission is to provide affordable, professional driving lessons for refugees and asylum seekers. We also have driving instructors who are culturally sensitive, and offer lessons in community languages or with volunteer interpreters. Upskill Driving School is a social enterprise business of a broader community called SUMMIT - Serving, Understanding, Mentoring Migrants In Transition. SUMMIT also offers free English classes, trauma healing therapy programs and youth programs. Driving students can also hear about and access these services through the Driving School.

Rochester, NY (Inactief) – Skystone Robot

2019-11-18T00:00:00Z

We are a team of 5th-8th graders working to design,build, and program a robot to compete in the First Tech Challenge. We all love this team and love robotics. We love telling other students about what we do from the building of the robots to the programming! This years challenge is to create a robot that is able drive under a bridge, pick up blocks bring them to a work site and stack them on top of each other building a structure or tower. Last year was first year as a team and we hope to make an amazing robot capable of solving many of this years challenges! We work really hard on our projects and this year we hope to make it to the FTC championship. Despite all of the hard work we all put in buying parts for the robots costs money and we make our own parts where we can.

Pittsburgh, PA – Awesome Community Baby Shower!

2019-11-18T00:00:00Z

Since 2009 MAYA Organization has been serving pregnant people and their families by offering prenatal and parenting classes, counseling, and baby items. We strive to break the cycle of generational trauma, creating positive social change for women and their communities. MAYA is the only organization in Allegheny County that provides no-cost prenatal education, childbirth preparation, birth doula services, postpartum visits, and mental health counseling, with no eligibility restrictions. MAYA Organization values the power of community. We not only provide doula services, counseling, and education to clients but also offer a community for them to belong to. We eagerly accept walk-ins to our Swissvale location. Whether it’s a pregnant person or new mom who is looking for some advice, MAYA staff will welcome you in, sit you down, give you snacks and water, hold your baby, and just provide a listening ear, as well as advice when asked. Our culture is one where mothers are supporting mothers, the strength of our programming comes from the fact that many of our doulas and instructors are community leaders and/or have gone through the MAYA program themselves. Because of our emphasis on building community, MAYA will put the Awesome Pittsburgh funds towards hosting an Awesome Community Baby Shower. The goals are to: 1) bring together soon-to-be parents to socialize and make connections 2) check in with parents who we may not have seen in a while and see what type of continuing support they need from MAYA 3) give away critically needed baby items to ensure the safety of the babies 4) sign up new clients for MAYA’s prenatal class series. The partners MAYA will collaborate with on this event are the organizations in our surrounding communities who serve similar populations and offer complementary services; these include Beverly’s Birthdays, Jeremiah’s Place, Hosanna House and Sojourner House. We will also reach out to Family Support Centers in Braddock, Penn Hills.

Philadelphia, PA – WRAP Facilitation and Hunger Relief

2019-11-17T00:00:00Z

I have been working with Veterans for over three years. The top three concerns in the Veteran population are mental health resources that work, hunger relief that relieves hunger for the future not just the present, and suitable permanent housing. While working with the Veteran’s population, I have earned their trust, inducted as an honorary Veteran, invited to private events, and they supported me through the recent loss of my husband. Veteran rarely offer support outside of their comfort zone. This is what brought me to teach the WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) Program to my Veterans and others in need of the services. The Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP®) is a personalized wellness and recovery system born out of and rooted in the principle of self-determination. WRAP® is a wellness and recovery approach that helps people to: 1) decrease and prevent intrusive or troubling feelings and behaviors; 2) increase personal empowerment; 3) improve quality of life; and 4) achieve their own life goals and dreams. Working with a WRAP® can help individuals to monitor uncomfortable and distressing feelings and behaviors and, through planned responses, reduce, modify, or eliminate those feelings. A WRAP® also includes plans for responses from others when an individual cannot make decisions, take care of him/herself, and/or keep him/herself safe. The program was created by Mary Ellen Copland, PhD to help individuals with a variety of mental health issues monitor uncomfortable and distressing feelings and behaviors through a plan developed by the participants. Discover your own simple, safe wellness tool by developing the key points and following the steps below: *Daily Maintenance Plan *Triggers *Early Warning Signs Situation has gotten worse, but you are still in control *Crisis Plan *Post Crisis Plan Without the tools and training I learned from WRAP, I may have gone back to the streets & not come out of my that state of depression.

Orlando, FL – @peace

2019-11-15T00:00:00Z

We all carry heavy thoughts - mistakes, regrets, desires, fears. Ease your mind by anonymously confiding in a stranger. @peace is a judgment-free experience dedicated to art and human connection. @peace is a 2 day installation which will be built for FusionFest. We will need a large tent or similar with a generator or main source of power to create a space filled with digital art. Trained individuals will be sitting inside a “Releasing Booth” behind a curtain. Participants will sit on the other side talking to the Listener. Each will be able to see the outline of the other person, but they will not be able to see each other to help maintain anonymity. Outside the tent will be a Reflection Space where participants can play with crafts and pickup resources for mental health.

Rockport, MA – Rockport Ambulance - Community Service

2019-11-15T00:00:00Z

The town of Rockport’s Ambulance Department is made up of all dedicated volunteers. The department functions as a strictly 911 emergency ambulance service that serves Rockport (one of the communities with the oldest average age in the Commonwealth), as well as providing mutual aid coverage to neighboring communities, including the City of Gloucester. Averaging almost 1000 EMS calls per year, we respond to all types of medical emergencies such as cardiac arrests, traumas, opioid overdoses, behavioral health evaluations, and much more. In many ways Rockport is a community that is underserved medically as there is no hospital, clinic or physician in town, making the need for a dedicated ambulance service crucial. Since our founding, the department’s primary objective has been to serve the community. Aside from responding to emergency medical calls, we contribute to a host of community service projects throughout the year in town. These include visiting children at local preschools and the town's elementary school, providing donations of warm winter clothing to families to help them brave the weather, as well as making discrete cash contributions to help families after floods and fires so they can restart their lives. The department generates revenue primarily by billing the insurance companies for patient care, treatment and transport to Addison Gilbert Hospital and Beverly Hospital. Recently we have had issues with our billing service and were unable to generate as much revenue as we did in the past. Insurance reimbursements, as well as generous donations from community members, were redirected to help maintain our trucks in addition to participating in these community service events. Unfortunately, given our financial predicament we have not been able to be as generous as we have in the past. Our objective in applying for this micro-grant is to allow us to continue contributing to these worthy community service events and unplanned immediate needs of our residents.

Miami, FL – Hip Hop Therapy

2019-11-15T00:00:00Z

Hip Hop Therapy (In schools) Hip Hop Therapy is an avenue which we use hip-hop music as a platform to discuss and educate youth on the various aspects of mental health and mental health awareness. The topics include anxiety, depression, suicide, etc. Through the use of Hip-Hop lyrics and content, the stage is set to provide valuable material which creates a dialogue with the children. This exchange yields a deeper understanding of the importance of mental wellness and how to appropriately address mental issues when they arise. Our purpose was to create a platform to open up the dialogue with youth at the middle school and high school level. Our dialogue explores such questions as: • What does depression feel like? • What does it look like? • How does one positively deal with depression? • Have you ever experienced depression? • What are the challenges associated with depression and anxiety? Hip Hop Therapy uses the hip-hop industry as a platform to open up discussion with children about mental illness/ wellness issues that are often in media. By using these songs that have coded messages, we provide clarity and understanding to identify mental health issues through songs. This dialogue has a two-fold impact: 1. Our youth will have a better understanding how to identify and deal with issues relative to maintaining a healthy mental posture. 2. Assist our youth with increasing their empathy, identifying and understanding mental health issues in others, and the direct or indirect impacts of untreated mental health issues. The Goal is to provide some Mental Health Education along with discussion about the various mental health issues that are impacting their age group. During this time, we will be addressing: 1) How to identify issues like anxiety, depression and self-esteem issues (how to deal with them in a healthy manner);

Key West, FL – Stock Island Walls

2019-11-15T00:00:00Z

Washed Up Key West has recently moved to a larger location and added three other artists to create a unique artist collective on Stock Island. Together, we are going to use the Awesome grant money to continue the objective of beautifying Stock Island by creating stunning murals and urban art. Our team of makers and muralists will use the grant to purchase necessary paint and supplies needed to create beautiful works of art that will attract locals and tourists as a destination.

Miami, FL – Urban Threads

2019-11-15T00:00:00Z

URBAN THREADS is the next big civic project of PLY-Miami. We are creating a large scale mural installation for an exterior wall in downtown Miami to honor the legacy of Julia Tuttle. She is the only woman in the US who has ever founded a city: The year was 1896. Her influence brought Henry Flagler's railroad to South Florida which brought visitors, lots of visitors, to a place where it never freezes. And so our city was born and continues to grow. 2021 will mark the 125th birthday of the City of Miami. What better way to celebrate than with a mega mural created in Julia Tuttle's likeness, created entirely by Miami residents! The underlying purpose of Urban Threads is to bring together the many divergent subsets of Miami’s vast ethnic population, using crochet, the űber-trendy and universally familiar art form that utilizes yarn. The mural project encourages cross cultural connectivity in a creative grass-roots activity. PLY-Miami, directed by Pamela Palma, is a collective of talented fiber artisans who will oversee the logistics of Urban Threads. We are reaching out to community groups and centers, scout troops, students ‒ for volunteers of all ages and genders. No experience necessary. We will coordinate crochet events; each person will receive yarn, a crochet hook, and instructions to crochet a 2’ square section. The sections will be joined to form the crochet mural. We estimate about 100 squares are needed for a 60’ x 100’ mural. Actual size and location TBD.All participants will be acknowledged and invited to the public unveiling of Urban Threads. The completed project will cover the side of a building in downtown Miami in early 2021 as the City celebrates its birthday.

Kitchener-Waterloo – A-Team Waterloo Region - The Next Step

2019-11-14T00:00:00Z

Navigating life when you have atypical neurological wiring can be a challenging journey. It is hard to know how and where you fit into the world, a world that can be very confusing, and one in which you are often misunderstood. Sometimes it can feel like you are a square peg in a world of round holes - but what if there was an opportunity to meet other square pegs? The A-Team Waterloo Region is a monthly peer support group for adult individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) - Level 1. The group is run by individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome, for individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome, with assistance from our volunteer facilitator. Our primary goal has always been to create a safe and welcoming environment to meet fellow adults with Asperger’s Syndrome (or ASD – level 1), discuss topics of interest, share experiences, and embrace our neurological diversity. A formal diagnosis is not required to participate, and the group is open to individuals 18+ years. The group was co-founded by two local “Aspies” who both desired to connect with other individuals who had neurology similar to their own. With some encouragement and direction from local expert, Carol McMullen, we began in July of 2014. Our beginnings were modest, running out of a church basement, with a handful of attendees, and facilitating the meetings ourselves. We now hold our monthly meetings in a room at KW Habilitation (space donated by the facility); we have meetings with 18 plus people (nearing max capacity), and have incorporated a facilitator (volunteer position). We have a monthly newsletter and have ~ 90 subscribers. As a grassroots organization, we are powered by volunteerism and donations of space/materials from community partners. Our five-year track record and continued growth speaks to the quality of the service we provide along with the need in our community. To continue to offer this important program, we need more resources to effectively improve and expand.

Orlando, FL – FORDify the Arts

2019-11-14T00:00:00Z

The inaugural FORDify the Arts event will be held at CityArts in the Rogers-Kiene building on Saturday, 11/16/19. It is a fundraising gallery showing featuring 10 prominent Orlando artists, with musicians, artists from multidimensional scopes, entertainers, and catered with delightful food and beverages to create a truly unique artistic experience. The goal is to raise the funds to build an iconic courtyard, adjacent to the beautiful and historic Rogers-Kiene building. It is our vision to develop and host 4 yearly events that will grow to extend down the entire block of Magnolia and into commercial spaces, further promoting the event and participating artists.

Piqua, OH (Inactief) – Where are We Giving: A Non-Profit Expo

2019-11-13T00:00:00Z

New York Times Best-Selling author Kelsey Timmerman would like to speak to Piqua about his newest book, Where am I Giving. Timmerman, an Ohio native, has traveled the world to see how people give or donate to charities or organizations, and see their impacts first hand. To help spread the spirit of giving, Edison State Community College would like to invite Piqua-based non-profits to participate in a non-profit expo at the college, with Timmerman providing an entertaining and conversation igniting presentation on how become a more engaged giver. By working with the Edison Foundation to contact non-profits, we hope to show how Piqua can begin giving in our own community. The expo will allow residents to see ways they can help in their own community, allow non-profits to network, and provide greater awareness of the impact of non-profit organizations locally and globally. Edison would like to host this event in April, which should give everyone sufficient time to organize and advertise. I am unable to attach the promotional flier for Where Am I Giving? to this website, but I will be happy to send it to you as a PDF via email.

Adelaide – 'Floral Peroxide' - Audio book

2019-11-13T00:00:00Z

I am a Theatre Producer, Performance Poet, Disabled Artist, and 2016 South Australian Poetry Slam Champion. I explore the power of words beyond the traditional poetry formats, utilising performance, movement, and theatre in my work, creating performance art that addresses issues of accessibility and diversity, My work sparks debate on how we, as a society view physical, and mental disability. In 2019, I self-produced my own show, 'Floral Peroxide' for Adelaide Fringe. 'Floral Peroxide debuted to a sell-out season at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, earning five star reviews, and winning The Graham F. Smith Peace Foundation Award, 2019. Feedback from our show in 2019, was extremely positive, particularly from the disability community. We had attendance by a number of D/deaf/hearing impaired, and Blind/vision impaired audience members, who provided useful suggestions on what they would like to see for greater accessibility in both live performance works, and art, in general. One main suggestion that came up was the creation of an audio book. We have various chapbooks, and visual-based art available to purchase at our live performances, but until this point, had not considered that there were no pieces of work that Blind or vision-impaired members of the audience could take home with them as a memento. As we are a sound-based production, working around performance poetry, and electronic soundscape, creating an audio book only made perfect sense to us! We are bringing 'Floral Peroxide' back for Adelaide Fringe in 2020, with the addition of audio-description, and a scheduled tactile tour. We want to create an awesome audio book to be available at our show, and in future incarnations of the project!

Buffalo, NY (Inactief) – Birthday Buddies

2019-11-13T00:00:00Z

Birthday Buddies of Western New York, Inc. is a small new nonprofit organization which is dedicated to bringing joy and dignity to children who live in residential shelters by providing each child with a birthday celebration. Presently, we are working with one shelter (23 children). At year’s end we hope to branch out into other needy shelters serving children and families. Acknowledging that all our children deserve to participate in the typical rites of passage in childhood which bring happiness and joyful memories, Birthday Buddies of Western New York, Inc. throws a community birthday party. Parties are held once a month. All residents are invited to participate in the gleeful celebrations which include a decorated party space, appropriate games and activities, music and song, a personalized birthday cake, a celebrant’s birthday photograph, candid pictures throughout the event and presents selected to promote and encourage developing child interests. To date, we have held one September party for three children. Feedback from caseworkers, smiles on children’s faces and an overwhelmingly positive response from mothers tells us that our efforts are successful and important. A second party will be held in October and there is much talk about who will be next!

Liverpool (Inactief) – Merseyside Dementia Friendly Radio

2019-11-11T00:00:00Z

Merseyside Dementia Friendly Radio will be an online radio station, with a view to adding a DAB transmission in the near future. We are striving to make the company, the content we create and the way that it is experienced as dementia friendly and dementia inclusive as possible. We are doing this by working and consulting with service users, members and staff from various dementia organisations both local and national.

Awesome Without Borders (Inactief) – Desoto Arts Institute Film Program

2019-11-11T00:00:00Z

Desoto Arts Institute is a non-profit 501(c)3 located in Southaven, MS, with the mission to support, train, educate and mentor the next generation of youth in professional fields including filmmaking and technology. DAI teaches the craft of creative and positive storytelling by providing a professional working studio environment which actively demonstrates ethics, honesty, generosity, commitment, respect, and love for one another, right here in Desoto County, Mississippi. Our team of students and adults is energetic and excited about creating art which is beautiful, uplifting, and wholesome. The DAI Film Program is an ongoing project that we run year round. We produce 3-5 short films each year with our students who serve as crew, and are planning to shoot our first feature film next year. The DAI Film Program’s primary goal is to produce short films on a regular basis with each member rotating through various roles in a film’s life cycle i.e. story, writing, directing, location scouting, production, editing, graphics, color grading, advertising, and so on. Working in various roles, each member discovers their strengths while gaining real experience for future jobs in the film industry. Our students are typically aged 13 - 22.

Vegan (Inactief) – End horror for animals

2019-11-11T00:00:00Z

Africa has an obsession with meat but the world’s poorest animal welfare standards, the combination of which constitutes one of the biggest animal cruelty issues on earth. Every year animals are in horrific conditions to watch their fellows suffer unimaginable slaughter while they await their agonising turn. Death comes slowly, typically with blunt knives and axes. Stunning is a rarity and many are dismembered while they’re still conscious. . We’re a group of Africans passionate about making change for animals. We're ready, willing and well positioned to take on the grizzly challenge. We ashamed of the suffering our fellow Africans inflict on animals. It’s a problem which foreigners are unlikely to stomach, our group has the sympathetic ear of everyone key to making real change. What Will We Do? .Education on plant diet at both community and school level will be our major function so that people stop the love of meat. We will persue the green garden with a variety of plants so that people can turn to Vegetable diets with ease and affordable rates. The garden will be for local women with a variety of vegetables including carrots, spinach, lettuce and many more Herbs that can be used as spices to add aroma and flavor. In groups of 10s the women will have gardens in their locality. We will have a day to teach on vegan menus in the community so that they enjoy the meals. We will use solar cooks so that we save on environment as we end animal suffering. This will be taken to schools to encourage them to have gardens. We will use some of our money to fundraise so that we might get boreholes drilled as this is the challenge they will face with the gardens, Plant education will be our chorus. Thanks to Sibanye Animal Welfare and Conservancy Trust (SAWC) loud screams of billions of animals may finally be heard. Videos and pictures will be shot for this proje so that it's used to further our objectives and fund raise for more projects of similar nature.

Newburgh, NY – NFA Students retrofits DPW Speedometers

2019-11-10T00:00:00Z

City of Newburgh's Department of Public Works has two speedometers that use a 12v battery to operate. The life of these batteries are roughly 1 day before they need to be recharged at headquarters. It is too much work for the DPW workers to set-up and breakdown the speedometers each day to ensure the safety of its residents. I am a teacher at Newburgh Free Academy-Main, teaching courses such as Design and Drawing for Production, Architectural Drafting, and Engineering Design. My engineering class designs, builds, and test various prototypes throughout the year. My proposal is for students to use this real-world problem and retrofit these speedometer units with solar panels so that these devices can be used for extended periods of time. Starting in April 2020, I plan to introduce this design problem to my Engineering class as their final project. They will have 2 months to come up with the design, drawings, testing the solar panels, and build working prototypes for the mounting system. This project will benefit the Newburgh Dept of Public Works, Police Department, and the people residing within Newburgh. Monitoring speed has the potential to make neighborhood more safe by reducing speeding.

Austin, TX – Let's Make our Mariachi Awesome

2019-11-08T00:00:00Z

Our project consists of supporting a new program at our school. Our school is a Title I school; at least 95 % receive free or reduced lunch, because the family income is below the poverty level. We have a great number of students who are new to our country. Our school serves one of the highest number of refugee students that come from all over the world. In addition to refugees we have a large population from Latin America. Our school started a Mariachi program last year, but the school is not able to fund the program due to lack of funds. Last year the Mariachi band participated in UIL competition for the first time. Unlike other groups, who were dressed in beautiful professional Mariachi outfits, our students were wearing makeshift outfits. We would love to to be able to provide the same presentation to our students as they perform. It would greatly enhance our student's commitment to the program by showing our pride and ability to improve our overal appearance.

Oakland, CA (Inactief) – Bay Area Queer Zine Fest

2019-11-07T00:00:00Z

Brumadinho (Inactief) – Oficina de vídeo e postais: Olhares(Im)possíveis.

2019-11-07T00:00:00Z

A olhares (im)possíveis é uma metodologia de trabalho aplicada em cidades mineiras desde 2017. É experiência de escuta do indizível a qual, por meio da linguagem audiovisual, potencializa vozes e discursos que muitas vezes passam despercebidos. A oficina é uma possibilidade de trabalhar com a dinamicidade que se apresenta na produção artística de Brumadinho. Olhar e refletir, registrar e ler os movimentos sob outras perspectivas. Experimentar a cidade com a sensibilidade que a arte exige e que o vídeo e sua vivência podem trazer à tona. Trata-se, ainda, de uma motivação para o encontro, um trabalho com o sensível presente nas imagens, nas paisagens cotidianas e espaços da cidade. Baseado na cartilha Inventar com a diferença desenvolvemos uma perspectiva de trabalho que consiste em três momentos para a realização dessa vivência, sempre em perspectiva colaborativa. Na ocasião, pretendemos fazer uma cartografia coletiva de sonhos. Sonhos para a cidade, o bairro, as escolas, e para nós mesmos. Primeiras experiências: conversação com os/as participantes e primeiro contato com elementos básicos da fotografia. Os participantes produzem Cartões Postais;  Atividade de análise que possibilite expressar as visões sobre os conceitos anteriormente apresentados em imagens que serão produzidas pelo grupo nos roteiros pela cidade (Minuto Lumière);  Oficina de experimentação audiovisual. Produção de Filmes Carta.  Propomos a criação de um espaço que tenha como resultado textos audiovisuais que apresentem as múltiplas Brumadinhos, os incessantes movimentos que fazem desta uma cidade que respira arte. A ideia é exibir os resultados da oficina em duas praças, para levar estes discursos a seus destinatários - a própria população. A olhares acontece desde 2017, se iniciou como uma pesquisada de mestrado e se tornou metodologia de trabalho, nosso maior parceiro atualmente é o coletivo MICA. A oficina aconteceu com 15 grupos em BH, Ouro Preto, Mariana, São João del Rei e Serro. O Dinheiro será utilizado para: * transporte e alimentação da equipe * Impressões dos cartões postais * pro-labore oficineiros Quem é o proponente Arthur Medrado Soares Araújo é jornalista e mestre em Educação (UFOP). Doutorando em cinema (UFF). Trabalha com audiovisual desde 2012, quando voltou de uma mobilidade internacional na Universidade Nacional de La Plata - UNLP, na Argentina, onde estudou "Comunicação Audiovisual". Com a metodologia Olhares (im)Possíveis, desenvolvida e aplicada durante a pesquisa de mestrado, ficou em 3º lugar no 6º Prêmio AMAERJ - Juíza Patrícia Acioli de Direitos Humanos (categoria Práticas Humanísticas). Valor do Aporte R$ 2.500,00 O que mais precisa além do dinheiro Divulgação. Esse projeto ainda não foi realizado devido à pandemia

Piqua, OH (Inactief) – Positive Vibes for the Win

2019-11-07T00:00:00Z

Awesome Piqua approved 30 Sep 19

Sarnia (Inactief) – APSW Socialization Group

2019-11-06T00:00:00Z

The leaders of the Advocacy, Planning and Support Workers (APSW) Socialization group who work for The Family Counselling Centre here in Sarnia. It was created as a way for our clients, whom have a Developmental Disability and mostly only receive ODSP or OAS as their income, to get out of their homes and socialize whereas they may not have the chance to do otherwise.

Los Angeles, CA – 2019 Holiday Event for low income children

2019-11-06T00:00:00Z

Greetings hope all is well. This will be a holiday event for 50 low income children on 12/22/19. Our goal is to assist the parents with items for their children during the holiday season.

Ann Arbor, MI – The Detroit Museum of Public Art

2019-11-04T00:00:00Z

The Detroit Museum of Public Art is one of the largest archives of region specific art in the country. It is an online museum on which I add photographs and background information on over 1000 murals, sculptures, mosaic, and other public art in Detroit, Michigan. Each piece includes the artist name, year created, and address and will eventually include artist bios and historical facts as well. My goal is to create a website that is reputable enough to be used as an academic resource for parents, students, teachers, and anyone else looking to see Detroit in a non traditional way.

North Minneapolis, MN – Be The Voice

2019-11-01T00:00:00Z

I am interested in starting a support group for victims of gun violence and the families and friends of homicide victims. My Mother was an innocent bystander shot and killed in north Minneapolis in 2016. Since that time, I have worked hard with other families to find justice for their murdered loved ones. In doing so, I have found a lot of individuals are in need of support that is unconventional. Our black/brown communities have long had a stigma against seeing a therapist in a normal conventional setting. I hope that by bringing an unconventional setting and services to individuals we can help heal our communities. It is no secret that hurt people, hurt people! Too often young people are left to figure out the death of a family or friend on their own with no support. I hope to create allies within the schools systems, park boards and within the police departments to offer services immediately after such a loss. I also hope to be able to offer support services to navigate the systems for families to alleviate some of the stress while they are morning, i.e., help with finding services for funeral costs and filling out paper work for those services.

Glasgow – Rewilding Boxes

2019-11-01T00:00:00Z

The aim of this project is to give people free access to mini-tool kits to help increase the bio-diversity of local areas in and around Glasgow, and play a part in positive, affirmative action on climate change. It's important to me that this work takes place at a local community level, showing people that their small actions can be the start of something larger, and further developing Glasgow's legacy as one of the greenest cities in Europe. Before moving to Glasgow, I was involved in a project to make community book exchanges in Liverpool, and I have further developed the idea to enable members of the public to freely and easily make small changes to their own local environment. The Rewilding Boxes will be 12 Boxes made from reclaimed wood, which will be decorated with bright folk patters and emblazoned with words of encouragement and hope, taken from recent conversations I've had in Glasgow with members of the public and with local business owners. Inside the boxes will be small packets of indigenous local wildflower, grass and plant seeds, as well as small zines explaining how each plant species helps the local environment, with further ideas for how to make small changes that lower your individual carbon footprint. The plants will help to increase biodiversity as they can be scattered on banks, ditches and lawns and will help attract and sustain pollinating insects and moth populations, which in turn encourage bats, owls, voles, hedgehogs and other native wildlife in the area. It is my plan to locate the boxes in a range of locations across Glasgow. I have already spoken to several independent businesses who have said they they would happily have a Rewilding Box in their shop, and there are also two local community gardens who are also interested at this stage. For the zine printing I have spoken to a local print studio who are happy to help me print on recycled compostable paper with non-toxic inks at a reduced rate.

State College, PA – Centre Film Festival

2019-11-01T00:00:00Z

The century-old Rowland Theatre will be host to the inaugural Centre Film Festival, a weekend festival that includes award-winning feature and short films, many opportunities for intergenerational and multidimensional conversations, including visiting filmmakers who will answer questions after their films, special guests, a youth jury who will present awards at our closing ceremony, free masterclasses with our visiting artists, and a local high school competition which will encourage future filmmakers to flourish in Central PA. The films range from outdoor adventures to honoring our veterans, from roots music to the history of movie palaces. Film Students at Penn State have spearheaded a series called Caught in the Act: Behind the Scenes at the Centre Film Festival and their first episode about the woman who painted the poster can be seen here: vimeo.com/centrefilmfestival The Centre Film Festival is the first project by the Centre Film Workshop, a grassroots organization founded in the summer of 2019 to bring local stories to film and create a platform for locally relevant multimedia storytelling, dialogue and screenings. The festival’s community partners include the Philipsburg Revitalization Corporation, the Rowland Theatre, and Galaxy’s Central Intermediate Unit 10. The festival is made possible in part by the Central Pennsylvania Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Pennsylvania Partnership for the Arts. the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State University.

Raleigh, NC (Inactief) – The Lemonade Stand Project

2019-11-01T00:00:00Z

Inspired by New York City's, Laundromat Project, my project seeks to activate nontraditional spaces with art and community dialogue. The Lemonade Stand Projects is a mobile art making, story telling, recipe gathering receptacle in the guise of a traditional lemonade stand. Traveling throughout the city, particularly to areas that are undeserved, I will invite people to my space to enjoy free lemonade. In return, I hope to encourage people to share their stories, favorite family recipes and make some art. Food is such a driver for conversation and community. It can be a bridge to bring people together, from all walks of life. With so many people moving to the triangle everyday, and other families that have been here for generations, it becomes important to create that bridge. We all have a story and a relationship to Raleigh. I would like to create a platform for people to tell their story and share their journey, ties and experience of place. We all have family recipes that are almost sacred. Those dishes that everyone flocks to at family gatherings or fights about who makes it better. Many times these recipes are passed down and tied to a story of their origin (person or place) or are tied to memories of when they were shared and prepared. These recipes tell us so much about our past, our culture, our family and our community. These foods are often how we express love and nourishment. My plan is to collect cherished family recipes, stories, and encourage people to create artwork to accompany them. I will compile them into a recipe book. When I lived in Charleston, the Junior League had a cookbook they would put out, called Charleston Receipts. Think of this as the anti-Junior League cookbook. At the very end of the project I would like to invite everyone to participate in a giant "all peoples potluck" in Moore Square, where people would cook their recipes (if they choose) and share it with the city. This would promote conversation and togetherness.

Atlanta, GA (Inactief) – Community Donations

2019-10-31T00:00:00Z

This month the trustees of Awesome Atlanta decided to make donations to the American Cancer Society and Educational Advancement Foundation (EAF)

Ottawa – Moéitou

2019-10-31T00:00:00Z

October’s Awesome Ottawa award goes to Corinne Sauvé, to support the development of a solo performance dealing with the disclosure of sexual violence. The production, explains Corinne, “could be best described as a Rube Goldberg machine that is made functional with my words and my body. It is a game, and the goal is to get through layers of story-telling that are only made possible by appropriate activation of the device.” “It will be an artistic installation as well as performance art,” Corinne continues, “in the sense that there is always a risk of non-completion of the performance due to accidents in the machine and human errors.” An early, experimental version of the show, called Moéitou, will be performed February 13-15 at the Espace René-Provost, just across the river in Hull. Tickets are available online. Corinne is a theatre practitioner, a recent graduate of the University of Ottawa, and an emerging scholar working in the area of youth homelessness.

Disability – VIsION AI Glasses for the Blind

2019-10-31T00:00:00Z

• What Are VIsION AI Glasses for the Blind? † It's an open source, DIY (do it yourself) device; † It’s a pair of 3D printed sunglasses with electronic components; and † It’s powered by machine learning, deep learning and the freeware SeeingWithSound© vOICe sensory substitution algo … • What Can It Do? † Audible Descriptions of Visual Scenes & Objects in Front of the User; † Reads out text in physical objects like books and signboards; † 3D Soundscape for "Visual" Interpretation of Scenes & Objects Through SeeingWithSound© vOICe Freeware & Bone-Conduction Speakers; † Audible & Haptic Feedback of Distance-Sensing Capabilities (Up to 20 Feet); † Audible Info of Object Locations; † On-Demand Manual Visual Assistance via Video Call Access to User's Peers & Remote Team of Sighted PWD Agents; † Real Time, Audible Turn-by-Turn GPS Location Data (currently being improved); † Serves as Accessible Productivity Computer; † Works Offline & Online; and † Open Source, DIY, Fully Customizable, Extensible & Hackable … • Who Is It For? † Children, adults and seniors with varying levels of visual impairment; and † Their sighted parents, peers and children, along with grassroots communities of independent developers and DIY makers, other PWDs, disability advocates and Government offices, entrepreneurs and business networks, academic and social organizations, public and private institutions … • What's My MISSION? † To create innovative assistive technologies that anyone can build, customize and distribute on their own … • What's My Long Term Goal? † To build organic networks of DIY producers and start-up entrepreneurs across grassroots communities of persons with disabilities, (PWDs) and disability advocates … Preliminary 3D Printed Prototype in Action (Oct 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sclgaGZTldo Github Repository: https://github.com/MXGray/VIsION Photos: https://github.com/MXGray/VIsION/blob/master/Preliminary3DPrintedVIsIONAIGlassesForTheBlind_FrontBackLeftRightViews.jpg Raw Hardware Prototype (Apr 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwuLhyi7qqI Proof of Concept Software Prototype (Sept 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIZj7IW-FDk What our grantee is saying: "Because of this award, I'll finally be able to significantly improve and publish as freely accessible content the overall design materials of my prototype! I'll also be able to promote my Github repo and reach lots of blind and visually impaired persons, their parents and peers all around the world. My hope is for many of them to start building, customizing, distributing and adapting from this technology for their own personal needs, social objectives and entrepreneurial goals. Plus, this award will allow me to produce an optimized prototype. For collaborative improvement and support, I can then present this across my partner grassroots networks of independent developers and DIY makers, other persons with disabilities, and also to Government offices and disability advocates, entrepreneurs and business communities, academic and social organizations. Thanks to Awesome Foundation and the Awesome Disability Chapter for this REALLY AWESOME opportunity!"

Gainesville, FL – New Technology Made Simple Now

2019-10-30T00:00:00Z

New Tech Now (NTN) brings people together to build better lives through new technology by providing technology equipment and training to veterans, seniors, disabled citizens, teachers and underserved youth. Since 2017, NTN presented workshops and trainings to 1,200 youth in schools and summer programs, 720 senior citizens, 200 veterans and others, helping under-resourced communities bridge the high-tech divide. We focus on 3D printing and 3D scanning, Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), coding and precision cutting, and we introduce participants to Tinkercad to design and code 3D objects; Scratch and CoSpaces to create interactive stories and media; Tilt Brush to paint room-wide 3D, virtual reality spaces; ZapWorks for AR marketing and Canva for graphic design. The acronym STE2AM describes our approach of fostering Science, Technology, Engineering, Entrepreneurship, Art and Math. A small start-up grant enabled us to create a Portable Maker Space of high-tech equipment that travels to schools, VA hospitals and other community facilities throughout Alachua and nearby counties. Currently, we focus primarily on reaching students who are disabled, very low-income or at risk of dropping out, introducing new technologies and skills that will help them prepare for 21st century jobs and tools like AR, VR and multimedia that make learning more engaging and helps keep them in school. To date, Janalyn Peppel, a founding member, has led ALL of NTN’s workshops and trainings. The demand for our programs is soaring and our original equipment is fast wearing out. NTN plans to train more presenters and teachers and to create additional Portable Maker Spaces to meet growing demand. However, our most urgent need is replacing and upgrading our current equipment so we can continue our current level of work.

Gainesville, FL – Help Us Move In - Prevent and end homelessness

2019-10-30T00:00:00Z

The Homeless No More Grant (HUMI) Program Description: HUMI provides homeless prevention and move-in assistance program. The Homeless No More Grant provides one-time financial assistance to families who are facing eviction, or are already homeless. Whenever possible, this program seeks to intervene before a family falls into the cycle of homelessness. Need in Gainesville: 1. This The number of school-aged children identified as homeless has more than doubled in the last five years (from 525 now at 1,021 children without a home in our school system). 2. Gainesville was just identified as the Florida city most affected by poverty. 3. Gainesville has the highest rent-cost burden rates of any metro in the state of Florida, according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS.) We’re going to do something about this. Family Promise was awarded $20,000 that we’re looking to have matched by businesses and grantors who care about reducing homelessness. The goal of the program is to help families adjust their budget to make room for saving and work with landlords to reduce rent to a rate that is more affordable for the family’s income. Through case management and financial assistance a plan is devised that will help families remain housed through the entirety of their lease and determine ways to either increase income or keep rent at an affordable rate. The following will be used to determine eligibility for the program: 1. Must have a 3 day notice and/or are currently homeless 2. Have a proven financial hardship 3. Have been employed for at least 6 months 4. Rent is more than 30% of Income (rental assistance only) 5. Must have a child under the age of 18 in the home 6. Must have a reference Role of Client: 1. Work on and follow living budget. a. Provide monthly bank statements 2. Work on ways to increase income. a. Education and Certifications b. Budgeting 3. Work with landlord to improve communication and maintain housing.

Melbourne (Inactief) – My Very Cool Project For Geography

2019-10-30T00:00:00Z

Dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago. My favourite was the Icythyosoar. My aim of My Very Cool Project For Geography is to get a medal in one of the events at the World Championships for History and Geography in Puerto Rico in July 2020. I am in Grade 5B at Malvern Central Primary School and am 11 years old. I competed in the High School Geography Championships in Melbourne for Grades 7 and 8 and came 4th in Australia. I also competed in History for Grades 7 and 8 and came 5th in Australia. I care more about Geography though. I have been chosen to represent Australia at the World Championships for high school, even though I’m only in Grade 5. I am studying hard by reading atlases and statistics but also reading about politics and issues occurring right now. I am going to the library 3 nights a week and reading every night. My mum and I are doing practice questions every night to get ready for the competition. I am studying extra hard for the battery exam, which is a 400 question exam on any geography facts about the world as well as for the simulation (this is where they give you a real life issue e.g. pollution and you need to solve it)and for quantitative geography (this is where you need to remember numbers about geography e.g. Mount Everest is 8,848 metres tall). Topics I am good at so far are countries, flags, capitals, rivers, deserts, straights, oceans, seas, islands and lakes. I am improving on main buildings in each city in the world, the tributaries of rivers and smaller mountains, other cities and ports apart from the capitals.

San Antonio, TX – Good Dog Park and Bar

2019-10-30T00:00:00Z

Our animals have become one of us – human equivalents to be talked to and fussed over, family members who are loved in life. Gone are the days of Fido being tied up in the backyard and sleeping in the dog house. Fido is now someone’s “fur baby” with a human name and a spot on the king size bed next to his Pet Parents. All generations are increasingly seeing their dogs as part of the family. Not only are we opening our wallets for our pets, we take them to yoga class, dinner, happy hour, and bring them on vacation with us - all which would have been considered outrageous even just a few years ago. And while many places have met this demand by becoming dog-friendly, they aren’t built around a joint experience for both dog and owner, leaving your dog to become an afterthought. Instead of a place for the sole enjoyment of either dog or human, Good Dog will create a unique, inclusive environment to suit the needs of both dogs and dog owners and foster a sense of community for this growing group of residents in San Antonio's downtown core. San Antonio is growing, however San Antonio's pet friendly spaces are not. As more people move to reinvigorate our urban core, we need spaces for both us and our dogs to run and play. Combining the comforts of a neighborhood pub and the freedom of a dog park, this unique concept brings dogs, owners, and communities closer together. Dogs can run free off leash under trained supervision, while owners kick back and catch the game with friends, unwind with a seasonal beverage, or sip on coffee while reading the morning news. Good Dog will create a true Third Place for San Antonio's pet community, providing residents with a place to enjoy and meet other like minded individuals. Good Dog will focus on creating a unique space for pet owners, as well as creating better pet owners through various philanthropic and educational events. We'll host adoption events, low cost vaccinations, training sessions, and more.