Awesome Foundation - Projects

Singapore – How She Loves

2018-12-11T00:00:00Z

How She Loves is a series of collaborative portraits featuring queer female couples in Singapore. Given a variety of wedding props, such as bowties, flowers, and veils, representing tropes of matrimony and the gender roles society has constructed, the couples were asked to use items that they felt best represented them. Projected onto the backdrop are pictures of their parents’ wedding portraits, a visual reminder of the heteronormative histories that have shaped many LGBTQ people’s lives, and a juxtaposition to the future they hope to create. All made within a studio space, the portraits consider the performativity that queer couples adopt as a result of societal norms and codes. The series looks at the way queer women love, and the world they wish to reside in. Homosexual relations remain illegal in Singapore due to a colonial-era penal code, 377(a), which dictates that a man cannot have sex with another man. Couples who identify as non-heterosexual do not possess any legal or administrative rights in Singapore, affecting issues such as marriage, parenting, access to public housing, hospital visitations, and overall discrimination. This series was first initiated through a residency at the Exactly Foundation in 2018. I will be continuing this project, looking for a more diverse range of couples in order to create a more representative series of portraits, as well as to deepen the concept of the work. I hope to eventually make a photobook from the series.

Libraries (Inativo) – Market Akenkan (Market Reading)

2018-12-11T00:00:00Z

Market Akenkan (Market Reading) is a reading and creative play outreach event for the children of market women organized by Libreria Ghana, a library and ideas space in the Ghanaian capital, and the Spelling Bee, a national literacy program that teaches students how to use the English language effectively. This initiative goes out into markets around Accra and organizes reading, storytelling, and writing sessions for children aged between 4-15. The event is designed to encourage children to improve their literacy skills by providing a half-day of stimulating reading activities and support to help them enjoy a range of culturally and socially relevant books and intellectually challenging activities. The hope is that the children (and their parents) will be inspired to consider reading as an integral part of their daily lives with a long-term economic benefit rather than as an academic chore. They work with the Market Queen and her Executive Team to organize the sessions to ensure that the children and their parents are involved from the start and feel ownership of the event. The aim is to take the event around markets in Accra and Ghana, promoting reading as a fun and necessary activity that all children should have access to regardless of socioeconomic status. It shows how literacy can be a route out of poverty and into greater educational and economic opportunities by helping children to think beyond their current circumstances and into the future. The first Market Akenkan was held in August 2018. It attracted 85 children and five market women. By the end of 2018, having covered three markets within a four-mile radius, they will have reached almost 600 children in one small corner of Accra. The program has received significant media attention because of its innovative approach to engaging an often overlooked group in literacy and literature What our grantee has to say: "This project will expand the library community across socioeconomic backgrounds, education and literacy levesl, and geographic location. It will expose many children to the joy of reading for pleasure and will highlight the connection between reading and the importance of creating and telling their own stories." What our trustees have to say: "This initiative brings books and the joy of reading to a group that has been marginalized from public discourse due to economic and class prejudice." "An inspiring project that works with the women as equal partners in the delivery and design of the program." "They have built trust in the community and their success is based on forging these relationships."

Vegan (Inativo) – Irene Morgan Schools - Vegan Summer School Meals!

2018-12-10T00:00:00Z

We're launching summer programs to support children who have been incarcerated. Research shows that half of children who are incarcerated return to the criminal justice system within 3 years. Only 15% of those released as 9th graders earn a high school diploma. We're building micro schools that include mental health services, social and emotional skill development, entrepreneurship training and leadership development. We're excited to see our students thrive, remain out of the system and graduate with plans to attend college. We know they can do it! We'd love to have the Awesome Foundation's support so that we can provide vegan meals and vegan meal kits and cooking lessons to our students and their families during our first summer schools launching this year in New Orleans and Oakland. It's important to us that students learn to nourish themselves with plant based food that will give them energy and peace. We'd like to provide students with cooking lessons so they can bring what they've learned about healthy, sustainable, cruelty free eating back to their families. We will deliver these lessons in culturally appropriate ways that inspire students to take care of themselves, each other and the beings around them.

Washington, DC – Sex Worker-Led Harm Reduction Pilot in DC

2018-12-10T00:00:00Z

HIPS has a 25-year track record providing judgement-free harm reduction services to sex workers and drugs users in DC, but it’s time to shake things up with an AWESOME project. HIPS’ current approach to distributing harm reduction supplies (e.g., needles, condoms, lube, and the life-saving overdose reversal drug Naloxone) has been for staff and volunteers to pass them out at the HIPS clinic and on an overnight outreach van. On overnight shifts, volunteers drive around the city from midnight to sunrise to distribute supplies in popular gathering areas for drug use and sex work. People across DC, however, need access to safer sex and injection supplies in far more places. For example, across DC there are “party and play” events where people, often young gay men of color, find that having a place to stay that night and a community to be a part of might be contingent on participating in high-risk drug use and sex. Though needles, condoms, lube, and Naloxone are particularly needed at this type of event, HIPS’ usual distribution channels do not reach there. Additionally, the recent passage of SESTA/FOSTA has driven many sex workers in DC to work in increasingly risky situations. Finally, the rise in opioid use across DC has outpaced the reach of HIPS’ traditional outreach channels. It’s time for HIPS to update its model and reinvigorate its client-led approach. We propose a pilot that taps into the knowledge, expertise, and community connections of HIPS clients to ensure that harm reduction supplies are distributed where they are needed most--and where HIPS volunteers and staff fail to reach. We envision equipping long-time HIPS clients with the training and resources they need to help HIPS dramatically expand its distribution of harm reduction supplies. The pilot could demonstrate the viability and impact of applying a client-led approach to distributing harm reduction supplies, thus making expansion of the model possible in the future. You can read more about the project's progress and donate here: https://www.facebook.com/donate/338669690057149/

Newburgh, NY – Newburgh Barbershops: Conversations and Community

2018-12-10T00:00:00Z

Almost 150 years ago, Frederick Douglass's visit to Newburgh centered around a speech he gave on exercising the right to vote. Social justice, equality, and freedom were central in his writing to expand the rights of African-Americans and women's rights. In the evolution of black identity, which is directly aligned to expanded civil rights, barbershops were "not just a response to Jim Crow." They were safe places where trust and community were built. These barbershops, "though initially blocked from serving black patrons...evolved into spaces where African Americans could freely socialize and discuss contemporary issues....For many African Americans, getting a haircut is...an experience that builds community and shapes political action." (Hunter Oatman-Stanford, Straight Razors and Social Justice: The Empowering Evolution of Black Barbershops, Collectors Weekly, May 30th, 2014) Vincent Cianni and the participants of the Newburgh Community Photo Project's #EveryDayNewburgh workshop will collaborate with the Frederick Douglass in Newburgh committee, as part of its commemoration of Douglass's visit to Newburgh and the passage of the 15th Amendment giving black men the right to vote in 1870, to photograph twenty to twenty-five barbershops in the City of Newburgh during the month of January, 2019. The project is intended to document Newburgh's barbershops, the barbers, and its clienteles (including Hispanic shops) with photographs and interviews, What is their function? How do they shape identity? What issues are important to those who gather in neighborhood meeting places that serve as social, political, and cultural signifiers in a changing Newburgh? The project will culminate in February, 2019 with an exhibition of photographs at Newburgh Community Photo Project, a public installation at 21 Liberty Street, and a panel discussion on black public spaces, political engagement, and activism.

Awesome Without Borders (Inativo) – Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote

2018-12-10T00:00:00Z

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, a landmark moment in American history, the National Archives will present a multifaceted initiative telling the story of women’s struggle for voting rights as a critical step towards equal citizenship. Titled Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote, the initiative will explore not only the hard-won victories that stemmed from the Women’s Suffrage movement, but also remind modern-day citizens of their responsibilities associated with the right to vote. Several initiative components will specifically shine a spotlight on that civic duty - from revealing the often dire consequences faced by non-voting populations, to providing the opportunity to register to vote and become election-ready. Rightfully Hers will encourage visitors across every cultural, geographic and educational line to engage more deeply with the primary source materials of our past, specifically those of the Women’s Suffrage movement and the struggle for equal gender rights in America. The full initiative—through a national coordinated effort of the National Archives in Washington, DC, its regional facilities, and Presidential Libraries across the country—will present a variety of ways for the public to engage with our vast and unique holdings, strengthening their understanding of these issues, their historical context, and their connection to today. Rightfully Hers is expected to engage 13 million people across nearly every demographic via the flagship exhibition in our DC museum, a traveling exhibition for two years, 1,600 mini-popup exhibits distributed to classrooms across the country, a range of online educational offerings, and public programs in DC and at Presidential Libraries.

Moscow (Inativo) – Программа адаптивного ездового спорта Лучший друг

2018-12-08T00:00:00Z

Программа адаптивного ездового спорта, реализуемая в Кемеровской области. Я даю возможность детям и взрослым с ограниченными возможностями здоровья (врождёнными или после травм и перенесенных заболеваний) иметь положительный опыт общения с собаками, заниматься с ними физической культурой и спортом, гулять и разговаривать. Занятия групповые и индивидуальные, я вместе с моими собаками приезжаю в интернаты к детям и взрослым. У меня в команде собаки породы сибирский хаски и беспородные собаки. Многие из собак были бездомными или спасены от рук живодеров. Все они прошли лечение, реабилитацию, сейчас здоровы и приносят пользу. Снаряжение для занятий с собаками (пояса для каникроссе, шлейки, потяги) я изготовила самостоятельно. Занятия бесплатные! Я не беру денег с тех, кому помогаю, но у меня есть расходы, которые мы несём постоянно, осуществляя проект! Это расходы на содержание и ветеринарное обслуживание собак, затраты на топливо для машины, на которой мы ездим к детям и на снаряжение (пошив, ремонт, замена карабинов). От моего дома до интерната, где живут дети-инвалиды и в который мы приезжаем для занятий - около 100 километров. За год наших поездок к детям, которые страдают аутизмом, детским церебральным параличом, отсутствием слуха, речи, зрения я наблюдаю прекрасные результаты, заметный прогресс по улучшению эмоционального и физического состояния детей. Нас очень ждут по вторникам и четвергам и с большой радостью приходят на занятия. Троих детей с аутизмом я сквозила на соревнования по ездовом спорту в город Новосибирск 6 октября и дети пробежали с собаками дистанцию 500 метров.

Moscow (Inativo) – Дедушкина школа

2018-12-08T00:00:00Z

Дедушкина школа.Сообщество заинтересованных людей, готовых поделиться знаниями и опытом с малышами. Цель – представить возможность детям сделать первые шаги в техническом творчестве и исследовательской деятельности вместе с наставниками, имеющими жизненный опыт и авторитет. Одновременно проект преследует цель привлечь ветеранов труда к социально значимой деятельности с детьми. Пропаганда инженерного образования для дошкольников и школьников начальных классов Цикл занятий для детей 6-7 летнего возраста технической и исследовательской направленности.Основная форма - Мастер – классы для дошкольников и младших школьников по приобщению к детскому техническому творчеству с использованием инструментов и технологий. А также экспериментальная деятельность на уровне погружения в элементарные знания по областям науки и обучение фиксации результатов деятельности.В качестве основных преподавателей выступают пенсионеры, имеющие практический опыт производственной или естественно научной деятельности. Занятия направлены на контакт ветеранов труда с со старшими дошкольниками. Занятия как правило состоят из модулей : логика ( решение нестандартных задач) Теоретического модуля, в котором ведется разговор с детьми о исории науки, исследованиях, открытиях... и технического модуля и тогом которого обязательной будет поделка, которую ребенок несет домой....

Moscow (Inativo) – Уголок Боевой славы.

2018-12-08T00:00:00Z

Мы хотим создать в нашей сельской малокомплектной школе Уголок Боевой славы, материалы которого рассказывали бы детям о Великой Отечественной войне и её героях -наших земляках. В сёлах Ореховка и Самовольно-Ивановка Алексеевского района Самарской области уже не осталось ни одного живого участника войны. Мы хотим сохранить память о войне, о своих предках об их подвигах!

Moscow (Inativo) – Всегда на высоте

2018-12-08T00:00:00Z

Целью нашего проекта является установка и обустройство модульного тренажера «Скалодром» в целях создания условий для развития спорта, туризма, пропаганды здорового образа жизни, а также команды «Юный спасатель» в с. Краснореченский. В секции ребята занимались изучением вязания узлов, оказанием первой медицинской помощи, навыкам стрельбы из пневматической винтовки, покорением вершин по отвесным лестницам и канатам. Но самое интересное это когда они покоряют высоту по стене с помощью зацепов. Скалолазание влияет на все группы мышц. Одновременная работа рук, ног и корпуса гармонично развивает все тело. При этом развивается ловкость, выносливость и координация движений. Родители очень положительно реагируют на работу такого вида общефизической подготовки для детей. Также они ожидают открытие полноценного модуля скалолазания, как вида семейного досуга. Ребята уходят с улиц, оставляют в стороне вредные привычки (табакокурение, употребление алкоголя). Скалолазание это уникальный проект для села, где проживает чуть более 3 000 человек. Реализация этого проекта поможет привлечь в село и жителей ближайших населенных пунктов. В Дальнегорского городском округе более 10 пещер, поэтому ребятам будет где применить теорию на практике. Также, скалолазание поможет подготовиться юношам к службе в армии, т.к. это очень хорошая общефизическая подготовка на выносливость и координацию движений.

Austin, TX – The Tiny Banger

2018-12-07T00:00:00Z

The Tiny Banger by Alice Stanley uses the Tramp archetype of Charlie Chaplin to unpack modern pervasive perceptions about homelessness. The play introduces you to Dope Fiend, Jailbird, and The Tiny Banger in the silent film world, and this aesthetic slowly unravels as we encounter the family's complex lives as they strive to stay together through cycles of addiction, incarceration, and homelessness. The Tiny Banger will be produced at Trinity Street Players, which is housed in First Austin Baptist Church, opening December 7, 2018. We are partnering with the church's existing homeless outreach and programming, and inviting people experiencing homelessness in downtown Austin. We hope to ignite community conversations and activism, and bring homeless and housed audiences together through this production. Each performance will have an informal conversation after it. We will have food (provided by a man who is currently experiencing homelessness and works at the church as a custodian) and will facilitate discussion between homeless and housed audience members. These are two groups that interact infrequently, and we believe that connection is the start of change. We are also scheduling a tour for the final week of the performance (December 18-23). We hope to bring this play to the Drag and to the Community First! Tiny Village in order to reach people who are homeless throughout the city of Austin. We have already had readings with people who are homeless and are working with them to adapt the script for Austin. The play uses humor and a strong visual aesthetic to invite all audiences into the story. Our hope is that these common stereotypes will be unpacked, and we can engender empathy for the human story that we ultimately tell.

Glasgow – Santa Sack Challenge 2018

2018-12-06T00:00:00Z

This is the 4th Christmas event of the Santa Sacks Challenge to provide Festive Fare for the local elderly in Glasgow. The gauntlet for the challenge has been picked again by Glasgow Caledonian, Strathclyde & Glasgow Universities and their University Nurseries as a Junior Challenge. Last year over 220 elderly in care homes, social housing and the regular attendees to the Fred Paton Centre received a Santa Sack/Box with lovely festive goodies, warm blanket, gloves, hats & scarfs. For some the only gift received at what can be a lonely time of year. Topped off by a personal written Christmas card from the students. Although the main objective has always been to spread some Christmas Cheer to our local elderly residents, another key objective was intended to utilise Santa Sacks as a vehicle to bridge an intergenerational divide which has proven to be the case as the years progressed. Quote: "University Of Glasgow Nursery Manager Caroline McVeigh described the benefits of taking part in the Santa Sack Appeal as a very good opportunity to involve the children in the local community while making links between generations. Collecting for the Appeal helped the children to develop intergenerational understanding and respect allowing children to become effective contributors and responsible citizens. University Of Glasgow Nursery staff, children and their families generously donated and the children had fun counting all the items to be gifted to the local elderly residents throughout the West End of Glasgow. We look forward to participating again this year." Each year Santa Sacks grows and evolves. Positive feedback would indicate the recipients are delighted with the thoughtful gift and partner organisations have confirmed in many cases this is their only gift at what can be a difficult time of year for many. Without good will, hard work and effort of our participating young students this annual event could not happen – long may it continue.

Oakland, CA (Inativo) – Sketchbook Connection

2018-12-06T00:00:00Z

Sketchbook Connection is a visual arts (drawing/painting) correspondence course for Bay Area inmates that are unable to access regular art classes. Each student is given a sketchbook and is mailed weekly prompts for self motivated practice in illustration. Completed pages are sent out for feedback and then returned to each student. Assignments are centered around ideas of self reflection and reality juxtaposed by dreams and meditations on the future. The target audience is inmates that lack access to art education/art therapy (inmates in solitary confinement, those with unforgiving work schedules, those in segregation for behavior or gang affiliation, and indigent inmates).

San Francisco, CA – Sonoma Poetry Festival

2018-12-05T00:00:00Z

Sonoma Poetry Festival Project Proposal Brief Description of the Project: In April (National Poetry Month, 2019) in Sonoma County, California Poets in the Schools will implement the Sonoma Poetry Festival (actual name TBD), a free (to participants) month-long festival with the goal of every single person in the county encountering a poem. Community Need: California Poets in the Schools will implement a newfangled, community-based method for creating spontaneous encounters between Sonoma County's population and contemporary poetry while at the same time generating new audiences for the literary arts. We aim to target underserved populations and neighborhoods (as laid out in the Portrait of Sonoma County), as well as youth and the elderly. We believe that the North Bay is ripe for a creative literary arts festival as we are a community thriving with writers and poets, but with much room for growth in the local literary “scene”. We hope that this community-building approach to poetry will spark excitement in the literary arts - through impromptu engagement in poetry - amongst all sectors of the public, while spreading the messages of hope, beauty and belonging that poetry has to offer. We will put out a call for, and then accept proposals from the community for community-based poetry projects that both invite and empower new audiences to interact with poetry in their daily lives. Each project will require target audience. Underserved neighborhoods and youth will be highlighted and given priority. Ultimately we hope to have 10-20 projects (funding dependent) happening simultaneously throughout the county during the month of April, 2019. Projects that include collaborations with musicians, dance, art and film will be highly encouraged.

Louisville, KY (Inativo) – Galentine's Dance

2018-12-05T00:00:00Z

All girls deserve the chance to have a positive dance experience during high school. One where everyone feels welcome regardless of religion, cultural background, sexual orientation, or any other perceived difference. However, this is often not the case. The idea for this project began when a hijabi friend lamented that she could never attend homecoming or prom since it is haram to dance in front of guys. Other folks I know are hesitant to go to these kinds of events in fear that their self expression will be ridiculed. Even people who don’t have these restrictions are sometimes forced to contend with unwanted attention like touching or grinding without consent. These issues repeatedly ruin what is supposed to be a fun night. We at Louisville Girls Leadership (LGL), want to create a safe space where girls can dress how they want, dance how they want, listen to the music they want, and have fun with their friends. An event that focuses on community and camaraderie, and not coupledom. That is why we are planning an all girls dance called Galentine’s. Last year, I piloted this event at my high school and it was a huge success. Girls had a chance to let their hair down (both metaphorically and literally). Last year’s attendees have insisted we make it an annual tradition so they can bring different outside friends who don’t have this opportunity at their own schools. Since the solution to accommodate more young women who are seeking the freedom that this event allows would be to have a scaled up even beyond my own school, I proposed a citywide version of Galentine’s as a meaningful project that uplifts women in Louisville. We plan to rent and decorate a space, provide snacks, hire a DJ, bring in vendors and booths, and advertise across Louisville through posters and radio ads. Through this we hope to provide a quintessential high school experience to young ladies who can’t have it within their own schools and cultivate a sense of sisterhood within Louisville.

Louisville, KY (Inativo) – She Became

2018-12-05T00:00:00Z

She Became, founded in 2016, is an after-school program for fourth and fifth-grade girls that is run by female college students. Each week has a theme of a different career path with a guest speaker, but the focus of the program’s outcome is not to make girls want to be doctors or lawyers - it is to make girls confident. The primary goal is to instill a sense of capability in young girls that live in a world where men still hold the majority of leadership roles. Too often girls that have strong voices and opinions are labeled as “bossy” and have been taught to remain quiet. We encourage them to instead utilize their skills to become the strong leaders we aim to show them they can be. I started this program to reinforce the idea that these young girls actually can do whatever they want. As I look into their faces, I see unlimited potential, these girls are incredible. At our first meeting, I asked them to draw what they want to be when they grow up. One little girl, Charlotte, told me that she wanted to be “Exactly 351 things, but mostly a ballerina and scientist- at the same time. I want to dance while I do experiments.” I want Charlotte, and all other girls like her, to know that she has the capability to do any of those 351 things. I hope my program is the place where she learns that she can. Nothing would be better than to see Charlotte graduate and become the world’s first ballerina-scientist. Inspiring girls to achieve their goals opens the door for innovation and opportunity in our society’s future - a future in which any woman can be outfitted in a lab coat and ballet slippers intermittently. Recently, we were recognized by the Clinton Foundation, and since then we have been quickly growing. We are currently operating in 2 schools in the Jefferson County Public School District with plans of growth. I hope to have She Became in 10 schools by 2020.

Annapolis, NS (Inativo) – Old Ways and Life Skills with Kids

2018-12-05T00:00:00Z

My project is to offer small life skills classes here at my farm on cooking, foraging, mending, basic sewing, repairing and reusing materials that would otherwise be discarded. I will offer classes to children ages 5-12 (divided from age 5-8, 9-12) where I will teach skills such as using kitchen knives, identifying and using herbs, foraging (safe) edible local plants and berries to use in our cooking or to make tea, replacing buttons, mending torn seams, patching holes, braiding rugs, making candles. My goal is to give children the tools and skills they need to take these skills home and put them to use.

Raleigh, NC (Inativo) – Thinking Inside the Box

2018-12-04T00:00:00Z

We are in an age where almost all of our experiences are mitigated by some form of digital device. This reality comes with some benefits like increased connectedness to others, access to information, but it also detaches us the truths we feel intuitively...discerned through meditative experiences and critical self-reflection. Thinking Inside the Box consists of a series of modular and Pop-up-able 10X10ft cubes that an individual enters, is prompted to reflect and respond to. The isolated experience provides an analog experience separate from outside voices, opinions, and screens. Each box will isolate the patron's senses in a specific way to trigger different modes of reflection. The user will remain in the box for 3-5 minutes. The general goal of the series of boxes is to isolate the individual, activate senses, trigger reflection and expand our sense of possibility and self-efficacy. The first box is designed to provide a sense of weightlessness, infinity. The individual will be prompted with an intermittently illuminated sign asking them critical questions about the nature of their humanity and their power to fight for the humanity of their fellow humans. The objective is to have the user realize their power and commit to themselves to using it to build a more just world.

Ann Arbor, MI – Leading the Way to Shed

2018-12-03T00:00:00Z

In an effort to spark student interest in STEM, in local and global context, we are utilizing cross-curricular activities throughout the year involving marine life, cleanliness of the Great Lakes, environmental protection (recycling within the school), and finance (individual and group fundraising, along with environmental cost) to culminate in a field trip for all 6th graders to Shed Aquarium in Chicago, IL. To do so, students are completing all the cross-curricular activities, and leading fundraising for individual student ticket and food allowances. Students are selling various items during lunch time, keeping finance logs, and tracking saving accounts. Students will also be selling Little Ceasar's kits to add to their individual savings accounts while calculating progress to their goal. However, as 100% of our student population receives free breakfast and lunch, we are hoping to offset the transportation cost for the busing to Shed. We want to create an awesome experience for our students to see what knowledge in STEM can help protect, such as animal life, and clean water. We are also a Leader in Me school, so we are promoting Being Proactive, Begin With the End in Mind, and Think Win-Win for all aspects of study and fundraising. Students have already created a recycling, service club, and finance club to assist in this endeavor.

Awesome Without Borders (Inativo) – The Sewing Labs

2018-12-03T00:00:00Z

We are a new 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to a) provide vocational training in employable skills the sewing arts to at-risk individuals b) perpetuate the legacy of the sewing arts and c) form supportive community. We do this in the urban core of Kansas City where many single mothers are attempting to gain employable skills to improve the economic status of their families. We provide skills based training that covers the range from basic sewing through alterations and garment and commercial sewing.

State College, PA – Landscape Public Art Project

2018-12-01T00:00:00Z

Five hand-drawn and carved linocuts printed large and mounted at eye-level in the rural setting of Rhoneymeade Sculpture Garden and Arboretum in Centre Hall. The circles will be printed on clear acrylic so that the landscape can be viewed through the lace-like negative space of the designs. Guests will be able to walk up to them, touch them, look through them at the landscape from many angles, walk among them, and see several overlapping; creating an artistically interactive experience of Centre County’s rural beauty. Healing and transition kept me more indoors this summer than ever. The intent of this piece then is to direct viewers to notice and celebrate the "common" landscape that we so often take for granted.

North Minneapolis, MN – Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar

2018-12-01T00:00:00Z

The Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar(TCC4J) formed after the murder of Jamar Clark by the Minneapolis Police Department on the night of November 15, 2015. After the 4th Precinct Occupation, we recognized the need to continue gathering people around the fight against police crimes. We believe that this fight can and must unite the Black Lives Matter movement and everyday working people in the community. TCC4J meets weekly to plan community meetings, marches and rallies, press conferences, and actions which unite our community and pressure city, county and state officials to hold police accountable and end police violence in our communities. Our events and collaborations have attendance of 50 to 10,000+. In particular, we centralize our organizing in the vibrant community of North Minneapolis. We have worked in support of: Jamar Clark, Thurman Blevins, Philando Castile, Justine Damond, Terrence Franklin, Marcus Golden, Cordale Handy, Billy Hughes, Map Kong, Micheal Kirveley, Phil Quinn, Jaffort Smith, & many others! In addition to organizing events to fight-back against police crimes, we have also helped to organize anti-racist and other movement solidarity events such as a Charlottesville Solidarity event in 2017, Cops Out of Pride actions in 2017 and 2018, and others. Right now, we are organizing to demand community control of the police.

Philadelphia, PA – The Greeting Cards Creation Program

2018-11-30T00:00:00Z

The Greeting Cards Creation program consist of traveling to homeless women's shelters within the Philadelphia Metro Area (PA, NJ, DE) and teaching the women how to make homemade greeting cards that are then mailed to various persons within nursing homes and within the community. The cards feature customized personalized messages written by the women themselves. Through creating the cards, the women are given a way to release negative emotions they may be experiencing themselves because of their circumstances. The Greeting Cards Creation program provides a way for the women to give to someone else who may be hurting or who may have been forgotten. Someone who may also be in dreadful circumstances, such as themselves. All of the women who create the cards are single mothers and are homeless.

Gloucester, MA – Beau Plastics

2018-11-30T00:00:00Z

We are working to create a plastic recycling business based on the foundation of a locally based short-stream process. We want to be able to collect plastic from the local community, from residential, business and the grassroots organized cleanups by Clean Gloucester and Seaside Sustainability. Ultimately we would be wanting to create multi-use commodities that we could then sell to the local market. ie: totes, containers, phone cases, etc. Our longer term goals, beyond the scope of the grant are to create a sustainable business that shrinks the carbon footprint created by the transport and large scale process of single stream recycling.

Portland, OR – Learn to Build!

2018-11-30T00:00:00Z

Learn to Build! is a free after-school mentorship program that gives students the opportunity to work with plumbers, sheet metal workers, carpenters and electricians to learn introductory skills needed for careers in the trades. Explore career field within the industry. Gain experience and learn new skills. Connect with construction professionals and students from other Clatsop County high schools. Students who complete the program will receive a free set of basic hand tools. We also will be completing a project to build a new ticket booth for the high school, which has an older derelict shake that is not usable. We have partnered with AGC, Girls Build!, and a variety of other industries and groups to provide opportunities in the past, and continue to look for partnership opportunities like this one.

Austin, TX – Language Access for Christopher House

2018-11-30T00:00:00Z

Imagine trying to ask a doctor about your prognosis, or make funeral arrangements with a social worker when you cannot hear, or speak the same language. Interpretation is essential for such patients, and seeing the interpreter can make all the difference. At Hospice Austin, our patients are facing the final months of a serious illness. To improve communication about urgent and highly personal concerns, we are transitioning from telephone interpretation services to a language access cart with a video service much like FaceTime or Skype. A language access cart is a medical grade stand on wheels that holds a tablet, such as an iPad. The tablet has software that connects patients with interpreters though video calls. The cart is portable so that staff can roll it into different types of spaces. This relatively simple tool is pretty awesome because it allows a fast and secure visual connection to an interpreter. Through this project, Hospice Austin will purchase a language access cart, orient staff, and begin using video interpretation. Better communication will help us manage patients’ symptoms, reduce fears, and make families’ last few months—or hours—together as peaceful as possible.

Philadelphia, PA – Chess in the Neighborhood

2018-11-30T00:00:00Z

I have the great fortune to live in an apartment complex with tenants who are mostly artists. Part of the complex has a glass encased community room designed to be inviting to the outside community. I work as a teacher in an urban school. My best classroom management tool is the lure of the game of chess. During lunchtime, my classroom is filled with excitement and energized minds ready to face a challenge and devise strategies. I would like to start a pilot chess program located in the community room of the artist's complex, for neighborhood kids. I have identified both potential participants( many of whom live in neighborhood shelters) and 3 chess instructors.

Disability – Aromatica Poetica's Blind Writers Project

2018-11-30T00:00:00Z

Aromatica Poetica is an online magazine that explores the arts & sciences of smell & taste. Stories and poems, reviews, excerpts such as Proust's madeleine, interviews with rose growers, distillers, and blind organic chemists, and essays on the botanicals in gin and chemistry of the scent of blood, are just some of the things you'll find on Aromatica Poetica. Although it is not a website for or about blindness, Aromatica Poetica does seek to shape the world in a direction that is a little more blind-friendly, by encouraging intelligent engagement with the senses of smell and taste, which , by so often escaping our notice, are rendered all the more powerful. As Proust famously reminds us, "After the things are broken and scattered, still, alone, more fragile, but with more vitality, more unsubstantial, more persistent, more faithful, the smell and taste of things remain poised a long time." There are not enough blind and visually impaired writers getting published in the world, and when they are, they are often urged to write about blindness. I experience this first hand. Aromatica Poetica's Blind Writers Project seeks to celebrate blind voices without explicitly considering blindness. This campaign will solicit submissions from blind writers and pay them for their efforts in fiction nonfiction and poetry, as well as feature one author each month for four months on the website and on social media. I hope to expand ideas about smell and taste, as well as encourage and highlight the work of blind people, who are so often depicted in the media, and yet are so rarely the authors of those depictions. Aromatica Poetica wishes to celebrate perceptual experiences that are often overlooked or discounted. "Without the shy, fugitive, often unobserved sensations and the certainties which taste, smell, and touch give me," Helen Keller wrote in The World I Live In, "I should be obliged to take my conception of the universe wholly from others." What our grantee is saying: "Aromatica Poetica, a magazine dedicated to the arts & sciences of smell & taste is thrilled to use this grant to pay four blind or visually impaired writers and feature their work on our website. Thank you Awesome Disability!"

Cass Clay – BIO girls Ulen-Hitterdal Site

2018-11-28T00:00:00Z

My "awesome" project is bringing BIO girls to a small community in Clay County. Ulen-Hitterdal co-op's with Norman County East for sports but that doesn't mean that the need for building self-esteem and self worth in our young girls is any less important, but for most families traveling so far to have that benefit isn't always feasible. So as a mother of 3 girls I decided to bring the awesome program of BIO girls to Ulen- Hitterdal and surrounding area, not only for them but for all the girls in our communities! This will be our first year in Ulen-Hitterdal, each year BIO girls is offered to 35 girls in 2nd grade to 6th grade; it is a 12 week program where we work on building self-esteem through empowerment of self and service to others. BIO girls takes a 3 tier approach to building these girls' self-worth by giving the girls life skills, using mindful mentoring, and some physical perseverance goals to work towards. We finish off the 12 weeks by all completing a 5k together! BIO girls has been proven to work with studies showing significant improvements in the girls overall quality of life, physical and emotional well-being, and self-esteem in home and school life.

Utrecht – Swing & swim like Tarzan

2018-11-28T00:00:00Z

What's more fun on a warm summer day then slinging yourself high in to the air from a rope on a branch, somersault and then plunge down into the cool water, while your friends are cheering and egging you on from the sides? Not much, I'd say. So let's make it happen in Utrecht City. Some years ago I was in Vang Vieng, Laos, where the famous Tubing takes place. You taxi upstream, get in the river and let yourself drift downstream on a "tube" (inner tube from a very big tyre). Was is the gentle flowing that made it so much fun? Nope. It was the giant tarzan swings that the locals made everywhere alongside the river, to lure the tourists in. And luring they did. It wasn't just fun to do, it's also fun to watch. I think Utrecht can use a bit of mildly risky, hugely playful fun! Something not too pc, not too granny approved, but just great fun for anyone with a pair of proverbial balls. PS. Proverbial balls are 100% vegan, gluten-free and completely genderless. ;)

Minas Gerais (Inativo) – "Empodera ELA"

2018-11-28T00:00:00Z

O projeto Empodera ELA é idealizado pelo Instituto Ambiental Aondê, realizado no Instituto Municipal Antidrogas (IMAD) – Comunidade Terapêutica Feminina Casa Madre Tereza de Calcutá em Uberaba/MG. Este projeto tem como objetivo principal levar o empoderamento feminino às acolhidas por meio de palestras, cursos de capacitação e oficinas. O empoderamento feminino, basicamente, se refere a dar poder para outras mulheres e cada mulher assumir seu poder individual. Com isso, há crescimento e fortalecimento do papel de todas na sociedade. O projeto foi embasado no Objetivo do Desenvolvimento Sustentável (ODS) 5 da Organização das Nações Unidas (ONU) e foi divido em 5 eixos temáticos: saber, capacitar, empreender, valorizar e engajar. O projeto se iniciou em agosto a dezembro de 2018, sendo que o mesmo será reformulado e voltará em janeiro de 2019. Devido à alta rotatividade das acolhidas, não foi possível mensurar com exatidão o número de beneficiadas pelo projeto, inicialmente o IMAD acolhia 23 mulheres, destas, 15 estavam em situação de rua antes de receber o acolhimento.

Leiden – Canal Cups #6

2018-11-28T00:00:00Z

Prachtig die Leidse grachtjes, maar jammer dat ze zo vol met plastic zitten. Weg met dat wegwerp, Canal Cups pleit voor herbruikbare bekers! Wij willen met de Canal Cups expo bewustwording creeëren en zorgen dat de gemeente overstag gaat naar eco bekers. In onze expositie kun je al onze gefotografeerde bekers bewonderen.

Aviano (Inativo) – Recycle - Repair - Restore - Refurbish

2018-11-28T00:00:00Z

We’re a group of craftspeople committed to restoring things, putting them back to use in society. We live in the Aviano area and plan to refurbish objects for residents here.

Boston, MA – Boston Women's Memorial Statue Fashion Show

2018-11-27T00:00:00Z

The Boston Women's Memorial was erected in October 2003. The memorial is located in the Commonwealth Avenue Mall park in the Boston's Back Bay Neighborhood. Artist Meredith Bergman sculpted three statues in the likenesses of Phillis Wheatley, Abigail Adams, and Lucy Stone. Typically fashion shows are noted for famed "catwalk" and movement of a often female figure. I would like to have a fashion show and invite others to (temporarily) add a meaningful piece of clothing to one (or all) of the statues featured in the Boston Women's Memorial. Fashion designers are also invited to create original pieces for Phyllis, Abby, and Lucy. They're great women but their style is admitted a little outdated! Participants will be photographed with the garbed statue(s) and asked a reply to a short questionnaire about their personal connection to the women and history represented by the Boston Women's Memorial. Additionally, this statue fashion show project will help raise winter coat donations (and awareness) for Boston citizens experiencing poverty and/or homelessness. New/gently-used outwear donations from this statue fashion show project will be donated to emergency shelters in Boston. I will personally contribute a dinosaur-related piece of clothing to the statues.

Utrecht – Puzzle the emptiness away

2018-11-27T00:00:00Z

Het Neudeplein ligt er buiten festivals om maar leeg en verlaten bij. Terwijl het zo'n mooie en centrale plek is! Dat maken we allemaal mee wanneer een leuk festival er staat, zoals Tweetakt of de winterse schaatsbaan. Voor de tijden dat er geen bijzondere evenementen plaatsvinden wil ik daarom iets bedenken voor op het plein dat ook weer makkelijk weg te halen is. Een enorme legpuzzel! Een grote puzzel met een Utrechts tafereel erop, of een gewaagd edgy tableau vivant. Iedere voorbijganger kan dan puzzelen op het Neudeplein, en als het weer tijd is voor Tweetakt of het NFF is het binnen een handomdraai opgeruimd. De puzzelstukken leggen we vast aan kabels, of we maken er een schuifpuzzel van, zodat er geen stukjes verdwijnen. Leuk voor iedereen!

Northern Virginia (NOVA) (Inativo) – (working title)LGBT Abuse Experiences

2018-11-27T00:00:00Z

I am working on a stop motion animated documentary discussing topics of abuse within the LGBT community and the running theme of secrecy enabling abusers. I have a rough cut of one segment already up on Youtube, but I only had the resources to animate on threes, as I was using borrowed equipment on a very short term. With longer-term access to equipment, I would have far more than the allotted day to animate. I am starting with my own story, and likely branching out from there. Future animations depend of course on others coming forward with their own stories. Here is a very rough draft of a scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8bkH7oXwiM

Alaska (Inativo) – IAFN Community Pantries

2018-11-26T00:00:00Z

Interior Alaska Food Network, IAFN, is looking to create community pantries across Fairbanks, AK. These community pantries would be open to the entire Fairbanks community and modeled after the "Free Little Library" idea of stand alone pantries/boxes/installments that would operate on the basis of "Take what you need, leave what you can". While our current pantries in the area serve many people and do a wonderful job, there are some areas that could use the extra access. The Fairbanks Community Food Bank was consulted and is in support of our efforts.

Awesome Without Borders (Inativo) – A day in the forest

2018-11-26T00:00:00Z

Amazon Forever is a non-profit organisation, developed in collaboration with the Conservation Center for Species Survival, located in Iquitos, Perú, that promotes conservation of white sand forests and other Amazonian ecosystems. It does so through positive contact with nature, environmental education, and research and preservation of wildlife. In 2016 we took a survey in some schools in Iquitos, the biggest city of the peruvian Amazon, and found out that nearly 80% of children do not the forest that sorround them, this condition is known as Nature Deficit in Children. A DAY IN THE FOREST: Through the development of emotional education strategies and lived experience, thousands of children from Iquitos and the communities surrounding it have the opportunity to spend a day in positive contact with nature. As a result, they are able to develop emotional connections, and to understand the importance of conserving the nature that surrounds us. By providing children and the local community a profound experience in our native Forest, we will grow empathy in children from Amazonian schools who will have the opportunity to visit our Natural Protected Area and learn about the importance of Amazonian conservation through a Botanical Garden, an Eco Library, and paths in one of the last white-sand forests that exist.

Kingston – Special Meals at St. Andrew's

2018-11-25T00:00:00Z

I an not 100% sure that this would qualify as an awesome project. However, I am the Director/Coordinator of Meals for the Homeless and Needy in the Kingston Community. We serve a free hot meal every Sunday night from Sept to end of June at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church downtown at 130 Clergy Street E. We have been advised by the KFLA Public Health Unit that we have to renovate our prep kitchen in Gill Hall to comply with health unit rules. We do not have a dishwasher, or a hand washing sink. Just the regular 2 sink method like you would have in your home. According to Health Unit rules we have to 4 sinks. 1. Hot water wash, 2. Hot water rinse, 3. Hot water & sanitizer, 4. Separate sink for hand washing. Better yet, we would like to install a dishwasher and a sink of sufficient depth for washing and sanitizing stock pots. This is a costly reno and we need all the help we can get, to prevent our program from being shut down. We are one of only 2 places that serve a meal on Sunday. The church is also used by 2 other groups who provide for the community. One is "The Mess Studio", where folks are welcome to come in to be creative with painting on canvas, or learning pottery skills every week from Tuesday to Thursday. They are served a light lunch and the doors are open from 10 am to 2 p.m. Then beginning Nov 1st, the Kingston Street Mission also shares the same space and they are open from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., to allow a warm safe place for street people to come and get in out of the cold and they provide hot chocolate and snacks for everyone. The church does not charge us rent fees to use the space . We are working together to try to raise enough funds to do the necessary renovations and keep our programs active for those who need us. If this is not allowed, I will understand, so please let me know if I should proceed. By the way, all of our helpers including myself and the leaders of The Mess Studio and the Kingston Street Mission are volunteers.

Newmarket – Overcoming the frustration of public speaking

2018-11-23T00:00:00Z

Hello everyone. Thank you for this awesome opportunity.As a former primary school teacher back in my country, I wanted to pursue my career here in Canada. I've come through many hard trials because of my English language and accent.I was rejected. I felt not good enough, frustrated and embarrassed. Have you ever felt that way ? Have you ever felt that however hard you try there is still a lot to learn ? I have had a conversation with teachers on this topic on how to overcome the frustration of language learning. In high school, each student has to give a 20-minute in class presentation of a paper relevant to the topic of each class. Many students approached the teacher to be excused for this requirement on the grounds she/he is terrified of having to speak in front of others, especially in English as a second language. They are willing to do an alternative assignment that doesn't involve a presentation. Many of them are good enough students but not confident. Because of that, I would like to offer youth a public speaking workshop where they learn to : -overcome anxiety -deliver a powerful message -be concise -sound natural and conversational -get rid of annoying speech habits such as 'um" and 'up" -speak with flowing words and sentences -perfect pronunciations

Yerevan – Let's feel the cosmos/Արի զգանք տիեզերքը

2018-11-22T00:00:00Z

Our awesome project is about sharing astronomy with people who are visually impaired and blind. This project is written by 8 members (children aged 12-13) in our school astronomy club - their first project ever. I asked them six questions, to which they answered the following: *** "Blind children do not have opportunities to see the cosmos. Our goal is to make them feel the universe and its secrets. We will prepare touchable planets, touchable moon, constellations, star balls with cold and hot temperature, we will play for them the sounds of the cosmos, and will tell them stories about cosmos. We just need the materials and computer. And we would like to do these activities for coming New Year". After attending our astronomy club for one year, these children have accumulated enough knowledge to share it with others. Sharing is the best way to understand what they have learned. Also, sharing is the best way to open their heart and mind. That's why I decided to submit their project to the AWESOME foundation. I want them to feel awesome for the idea they have and for their willingness to share.

Philadelphia, PA – Community Outreach/Overdose Prevention Project

2018-11-21T00:00:00Z

We are a small non profit called Operation in My Back Yard. We do outreach in Kensington providing healthy meals, hygiene kits, wound care, overdose reversal drugs and training, safe injection education, substance abuse treatment referrals, financial assistance with sober living costs and harm reduction education. On a typical outreach day, we serve between 100-200 meals and distribute around 50 doses of overdose reversal drugs to individuals who are homeless and use drugs.

New York City, NY – Fresh Pipes:A Concert of World Premieres for Organ

2018-11-21T00:00:00Z

_The pipe organ is historically an instrument that was at the forefront of innovation: it was the original synthesizer with hundreds of pipes that mimic other sounds. The organist, adjusting the sound of the pipes in real time as he or she played, was the original music producer. Historically, composers were excited to write organ music, as the instrument’s versatility and possibilities acted as a playground for the imagination. Composers today are intimidated by the organ’s heritage and unaware of its modern possibilities, resulting in a contemporary repertoire that is stale and irrelevant. The current contemporary music scene is fertile with experimentation; composers are hungry for new ways to produce sound, which the organ can satisfy._ _I would like to bring the organ back as a sonic laboratory for composers and allow them to express new ideas. My collaborator Shannon Murphy and I would like to make this happen by commissioning four young composers to write new works for the organ that push the boundaries of organ repertoire while building a new audience for the organ and contemporary music._ _Over the next few months we will work with these composers and help them learn how to write for the organ, showcasing their resulting work at a concert on February 5th, 2019, at St. Michael’s Church in New York City. The concert, titled “Fresh Pipes: A Concert of World Premieres for Organ” will feature Shannon and myself as the performers._ _We have chosen four composers whose work we believe in: Victor Baez, Aris Antoniades, Lydia Chang, and Suzanne Kosowitz. All four come from different countries and diverse ethnic backgrounds, and have already showcased that they are capable of writing fresh, innovative works. Through these commissions, we hope to breathe new life into the organ repertoire and lend much-needed diversity to this white, European, male-dominated field. This project will demonstrate that this instrument is not limited to the confines of antiquity._ You can get your [tickets to the February 5th concert right now](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fresh-pipes-tickets-52843470242)!

Chicago, IL – Know Your Rights Education

2018-11-21T00:00:00Z

First Defense Legal Aid is a non-profit organization that helps people when they are arrested and held in police custody by providing them with a free lawyer when they call 1-800-LAW-REP-4. FDLA’s goal is to increase the amount of people that get lawyers at police stations as that number is at % 1.5. % 1.5 of people getting legal representation when they are in police custody is an unacceptable number, thus FDLA’s goal is to is to bring that number up. In order to make the number go up, FDLA has a Street Law Corps that conducts outreach such as door-to-door, leafleting, and Know Your Rights Workshops. By doing this, the hotline number has been distributed to a greater number of people. Street Law Corps’ outreach efforts have come a long way and they are reaching more people now than ever before. They are currently hosting weekly youth clubs where youth can come after school to learn about their rights through skits, art projects and other creative means. Creativity is a way to get youth involved and engaged, especially when learning about things that can save their lives.

Miami, FL – Warehouse 4726

2018-11-21T00:00:00Z

Warehouse 4726 exists as a working arts/studio space in The Bird Road Arts District in Miami. Operated by Jean Blackwell Font and Ignacio Font, both visual artists, with partnership from Rosie Gordon-Wallace, Founder and Director of Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator. As members of the visual arts community here in Miami, we realize the power of the arts and collaboration; our goal is to support visual artists to mature and to think deeper through offering affordable studio space, artist exposure and development. We offer a diverse set of workshops and meetings as part of a community outreach effort in a neighborhood that has been quietly developing the arts community for decades. Our workshops and meetings are geared towards artists and the needs of the artistic community. In the past two years we have held free workshops and meetings in website development, blogging, social media, grant application, artistic techniques and journaling. We have also hosted artists talks and community conversations (like My Miami Story by the Miami Foundation.) We recently held a conversation based on a podcast about creativity and diversity. This seasons calendar will feature a official Art21 screening and conversation, My Miami Story 2018 (our third year), we are participating in the Creative Capital Dinners Project, a special project of the Fridge Art Fair Miami 2018 and monthly open studio nights. We also participate in events hosted by our partners at Warehouse 4726.

Miami, FL – BOLD

2018-11-21T00:00:00Z

BOLD is by students and for students. As Branches’ first-ever student magazine, it provides our children and youth with the incredible opportunity to cultivate and share their stories. Each semester, students get the chance to explore their love of writing, photography, and design as they work together to create something uniquely theirs. Our student writers are challenged to think outside the box and pitch their own stories, which has lead to analyses of their favorite video games, whimsical comics, and candid advice columns. Depending on the story they choose to pursue, writers also get the chance to interview their teachers. Then, our student editors, who have applied and been chosen to lead a team of writers, review their peers’ work and offer constructive criticism. Our student photography team works together to tell their story through pictures. In our last issue, they showed readers what “A Day in the Life of a Branches Student” looks like, using GoPros to document their daily routine. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the photography team is the fact that students who love to take pictures on their phones are finally taught how to handle a camera like a professional. Our student designers are given space in the magazine to showcase their artwork. Members of this team are generally paired with writers in order to help bring their characters to life. But they also have the opportunity to collaborate with our Creative Director, helping shape the overall look and feel of the magazine. After each team member has lent their talents to the production, their hard work is rewarded with a copy of BOLD to be shared with family, friends, and teachers, and to be cherished for years as a sign of something they may have never thought possible. Altogether, BOLD opens new doors for our students, educating them about unfamiliar and exciting careers in the arts, showing them how to work as part of a team, and giving them creative space to sharpen their skills.

Awesome Without Borders (Inativo) – FCFCEP Child Welfare Film Festival and Symposium

2018-11-19T00:00:00Z

OVERVIEW: The Foster Care Film & Community Engagement Project (FCFCEP) is a grassroots, volunteer-run, effort which provides current and former foster youth the opportunity to share their stories through film, writing, art, and public speaking. Our mission is threefold: 1. To share rarely heard foster youth stories 2. To provide foster youth professional development opportunities 3. To create a greater understanding of the foster care system among a wide, general audience. EVENT DETAILS: In May 2019, during National Foster Care Month, we will host a Child Welfare Film Festival and Symposium in NYC to raise public awareness and give foster youth a chance to be heard. The event will consist of film screenings, Q&A’s and discussion panels. Select documentaries from our own film series will be screened throughout the festival alongside curated films by other artists. We will have an open call for film submissions; entries will be judged for inclusion by foster care alumni and film professionals. This will empower foster youth by giving them a say in how they are portrayed in the media, and help create a more accurate public representation of the child welfare system. All films will address topics such as abuse, neglect, mental health, substance abuse, sibling separation, adoption, identity and other themes which often affect foster youth and are portrayed in our series thus far. Short films invited to screen will be grouped by theme and foster youth, foster parents and social workers will speak on the selected themes following each screening. We will host three events; each will be 2.5 hours and will include a 90 minute film screening and Q&A, followed by a 60 minute discussion panel. Attendees will have the opportunity to stay after the formal event is over to continue the conversation.

Pittsburgh, PA – Crickets to Betsy! A Farm for Fun & Bugs

2018-11-19T00:00:00Z

Crickets to Betsy! has been an ever evolving project whose focus is introducing the people of Pittsburgh to entomophagy, the practice of eating edible insects. Its main goals have been cultivating sustainability, accessibility, education, nutrition, and fun! In many different parts of the world eating insects is nothing new, but here in the United States we're still slow to catch on to the trend. Edible insects are an excellent source of nutrients, use a fraction of the resources that other sources of protein do, and have an extremely small carbon footprint making the decision to incorporate them into one's diet a simple one. It's not for everyone of course, but for those looking to explore new ways of being mindful about what they put into their bodies, and how that affects the planet, Crickets to Betsy! is here to assist. By establishing a cricket farm in Pittsburgh, I hope to offer everyone the chance to explore entomophagy in an inclusive and educational environment. Crickets, and other insects, will be available for purchase, educational programs will be offered, and products made with our insects will also be available to the public. It is so important to me that every Pittsburgher, regardless of race, nationality, sexual orientation, and/or socioeconomic status, has the opportunity to make healthy choices for themselves and their environment. To that end, I will explore ways of keeping costs low for everyone. Life is too short not to take chances and try new things. It is my dream, with Crickets to Betsy!, to offer an experience many probably would not dream of having in their lifetime. I have seen firsthand how fun and happy eating a bug for the first time can be for friends and family, now I would love to bring that to more new friends and family of Pittsburgh.

San Francisco, CA – nègre

2018-11-17T00:00:00Z

Since my childhood, I have watched downtown Oakland transform from a largely boarded up environment that emptied before dark into the vibrant shopping and nightlife destination it is today. In observing this transformation, it has been clear that the majority of the businesses that have moved in are not there to serve the black community. More, the newer businesses themselves are most frequently symbols of the displaced black communities that once lived throughout the area. So I want to create nègre, a socially-engaged creative intervention that functions as a pop-up store, for the month of December. nègre is a black-walled boutique that sells black- and multi-colored clothing, jewelry, accessories, housewares, and other unique items that prominently feature the color black, all made by members of the African diaspora. nègre will also host one free community-oriented event per week, including a video screening, a dance performance, a one-night visual art event, and a closing party called The Blackest Friday. The pop-up boutique at Dream Farm Commons—a new, artist-run space at 349 15th Street in Oakland that will need to be transformed into a retail store—will open to the public on December 4th and close on December 30th. The store will be open Tuesdays through Saturdays from noon to 7pm. nègre is about using the boutique format to highlight blackness in a space where boutiques are potent symbols of the displacement of long-standing black communities. It's also about drawing attention to the ways in which blackness is (under)valued in our society by creating a space where blackness is hypervalued, both in form and in content. nègre, as implied above, is focused on supporting local black artisans by providing a space for the makers to generate income during the busy holiday season. It is also about showing that we are still here surviving and thriving in the face of all that’s happening to our communities.

San Francisco, CA – Tricyclolo

2018-11-17T00:00:00Z

Tricyclolo is a publicly cited sculpture that is informed by the Filipino tricycle, a ubiquitous three-wheeled transport in the Philippines. They are brightly painted, adorned with burloloy (dangly décor), ornate designs and slogans. They are often embellished with names of loved ones and patrons. If a Rocker motorcycle and an baroque Mod scooter had an offspring in Southeast Asia, it would be a Filipino tricycle. Through the Awesome Foundation, I’m seeking to support primary research, design and materials tests towards the construction of a native San Francisco tricycle. The main fabrication will be funded through the San Francisco Arts Commission and community partners in the Bay Area. This proposed tricycle will be designed with elements in the Bay that exemplify the SOMA Pilipinas Cultural District. The protected sidecar allows for decorative content and possible patron acknowledgement. SOMA Pilipinas Cultural District has identified a need for a public collective identifier. The presence of a familiar signifier in the streets of San Francisco can be a poetic place holder for a cultural identity. This community-developed tricycle will be built with local iconography in SOMA Pilipinas that will embolden and empower a community that suffers from decades of displacement and are often ignored. Public presentations will range from casually driving around San Francisco to more formal exhibitions. For example, Tricyclolo can be used to assist those with mobility challenges in SOMA. The sidecar can be nostalgic space for recording conversations with elders in the community to capture their stories and wisdom. Occasionally, the sculpture will be displayed as a static artwork and potentially as an addition to the Pistahan parade or other events where SOMA Pilipinas presence is needed.

San Francisco, CA – Robot 44

2018-11-17T00:00:00Z

Hi, My name is Sean and I am a high school student at The Nueva School in San Mateo, California. I am currently building a full size humanlike robot for fun and am looking for additional funding to this project. I am currently building the lower body portion of the robot and and have almost completed it. While the base has been designed and I have started building it, I am in need of more parts and materials. This has been a passion project I've worked on since the start of Freshman year and I am excited to see it through. You can read more about my project here: https://www.matterhackers.com/articles/bringing-a-life-size-3d-printed-robot-to-life Please let me know if you would like any more photos or videos! Any help would be sincerely appreciated! Sincerely, Sean Cheong

Oahu, HI – Refurbish Kalaheo HS Drivers Ed Vehicle Garage.

2018-11-16T00:00:00Z

As a student at Kalaheo HS, the first thing we see when entering campus is a rundown, dilapidated garage. The wood is dry rot, paint is faded and there is a large amount of termite damage. It is truly an eyesore and as a student, I want to feel proud of my school. To see this as the first thing upon entering is sad for not only me as a student but for other students and our staff who work so hard for us. I would like to refurbish this shed that holds our drivers ed vehicles. The project will include replacing and painting all wooden doors and walls, repairing the roof and coordinating with the high school art department to paint the school logo on the front doors. This project will not only improve our school pride but it will also improve our school's first impression. I'm hoping this will demonstrate to other students that we can make a difference at our school and in our community. Thank you so much for your consideration.