The Summer of Solutions is so excellent
Oh man! I am so busy! All the time! I have already done (according to my hours spreadsheet) 107.5 hours as a program leader for Summer of Solutions (some of that is stuff like potlucks) since June 1. That is many, in my personal opinion. It has been so fun! SO FUN! I love everyone in the program. We are working on four projects this summer -- energy efficiency (as a driver of sustainable community-based development), green reindustrialization, improving bike access, and urban agriculture. It is as awesome as you would expect based on that description. We have also been doing a lot of community building within our group -- reflection on who we are and why we came here and who we want to become through the program. We had an amazing dinner of Indian food (I forgot the name of everything, but there was a curry with potatoes and peas that blew my mind) and then smashed open a coconut on the back porch. It was a good evening.
Here is why Summer of Solutions is great: we are helping the community we're working in build real economic growth that benefits the environment, builds the community, and can continue after we leave. We get a lot of issues with grant writing because we have two core constituencies -- we focus on developing youth leaders (the program participants) AND on making a real difference in the community. Funders want you to have one focus, which I totally understand in terms of their process, but what's so great about our program is that we do both at once.
I was busing home with two of the girls in the program (they both just finished being first years at Macalester) on Thursday and they were telling me how much they already felt transformed by the program and how much more capable and aware of their own capabilities they felt. One girl had been waffling between this and something else back home and she couldn't stop telling me how right it felt to have chosen Summer of Solutions. It made my heart warm. We completely nailed our first week, which was heavily focused on building skills and community. We planned a lot, even me, even though I was abroad, because I could edit and write trainings over the internet. I feel so accomplished through this first week, and it's only the first week. We have the entire rest of the summer!
Already in this summer, even though we were doing like 12 hour days the first week pretty much solely focused on trainings, we have helped community partners build an entire urban farm (50' by 50') from a lawn, gone to two community events to get to know the people living around us and make connections, fixed up enough bikes for everyone in the program to have a bike while building our bike mechanic knowledge, and begun working with the state representative from the district where we're working to plan a study that we will begin to execute on the capacity for green jobs from urban agriculture in this neighborhood. This is just the beginning. I am so excited about where we're going.
You all on my friendslist are my internet family. Sometimes I am kind of a delinquent (in that I don't post for months at a time, but I am always reading I swear!), but I've know many of you for years. I don't like to ask you all for help on my projects like Summer of Solutions, since I know you are all busy people with lots of places to put your resources. However. Tomorrow, June 13, is my 21st birthday (WOOOOOO). The main two things I want for my birthday are 1) cheesecake and 2) for the Summer of Solutions to go well, and I already have cheesecake. The Summer of Solutions has a fundraising goal of $6000 for the summer. This money will go straight to supporting youth who otherwise wouldn't have the means to take a summer to make serious, sustainable change in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the Twin Cities. It will cover the very basic costs of living (pretty much room and as much of board as we can afford) for some of the most committed, awesomest people I've ever met. If you have the means and feel so moved, please consider donating to the Twin Cities Summer of Solutions program (use the "Donate" link at the bottom of the page; thanks for the heads up on the non-working link!). Even a few dollars makes a big difference. My personal fundraising goal for the summer is $400, so if just fifteen of you donate $5, that's almost 20% of my goal. I can provide more information about the program, as can our website, if you want to know more.
In other news, I got a killer oven-rack burn on my left ring finger taking the cheesecake out of the oven and made awesome oatmeal cookies today.
Here is why Summer of Solutions is great: we are helping the community we're working in build real economic growth that benefits the environment, builds the community, and can continue after we leave. We get a lot of issues with grant writing because we have two core constituencies -- we focus on developing youth leaders (the program participants) AND on making a real difference in the community. Funders want you to have one focus, which I totally understand in terms of their process, but what's so great about our program is that we do both at once.
I was busing home with two of the girls in the program (they both just finished being first years at Macalester) on Thursday and they were telling me how much they already felt transformed by the program and how much more capable and aware of their own capabilities they felt. One girl had been waffling between this and something else back home and she couldn't stop telling me how right it felt to have chosen Summer of Solutions. It made my heart warm. We completely nailed our first week, which was heavily focused on building skills and community. We planned a lot, even me, even though I was abroad, because I could edit and write trainings over the internet. I feel so accomplished through this first week, and it's only the first week. We have the entire rest of the summer!
Already in this summer, even though we were doing like 12 hour days the first week pretty much solely focused on trainings, we have helped community partners build an entire urban farm (50' by 50') from a lawn, gone to two community events to get to know the people living around us and make connections, fixed up enough bikes for everyone in the program to have a bike while building our bike mechanic knowledge, and begun working with the state representative from the district where we're working to plan a study that we will begin to execute on the capacity for green jobs from urban agriculture in this neighborhood. This is just the beginning. I am so excited about where we're going.
You all on my friendslist are my internet family. Sometimes I am kind of a delinquent (in that I don't post for months at a time, but I am always reading I swear!), but I've know many of you for years. I don't like to ask you all for help on my projects like Summer of Solutions, since I know you are all busy people with lots of places to put your resources. However. Tomorrow, June 13, is my 21st birthday (WOOOOOO). The main two things I want for my birthday are 1) cheesecake and 2) for the Summer of Solutions to go well, and I already have cheesecake. The Summer of Solutions has a fundraising goal of $6000 for the summer. This money will go straight to supporting youth who otherwise wouldn't have the means to take a summer to make serious, sustainable change in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the Twin Cities. It will cover the very basic costs of living (pretty much room and as much of board as we can afford) for some of the most committed, awesomest people I've ever met. If you have the means and feel so moved, please consider donating to the Twin Cities Summer of Solutions program (use the "Donate" link at the bottom of the page; thanks for the heads up on the non-working link!). Even a few dollars makes a big difference. My personal fundraising goal for the summer is $400, so if just fifteen of you donate $5, that's almost 20% of my goal. I can provide more information about the program, as can our website, if you want to know more.
In other news, I got a killer oven-rack burn on my left ring finger taking the cheesecake out of the oven and made awesome oatmeal cookies today.