Design for America
Location
A home re-decorating television show for families shouldering environmental burdens.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
2 College Street
Project City
Providence
Project Province/State
RI
Project Postal/Zip Code
02903
Project Country
United States
Your idea
Year organization founded:
2009
Year initiative began:
2009
Service/activity focus:
Other
If Service/activity focus is "other" please define in 1-2 words below:
Healthy Homes
YouTube Upload
Project URL
Name Your Project
Design for America
Describe Your Idea
A home re-decorating television show for families shouldering environmental burdens.
Innovation
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
A home re-decorating television show for families shouldering environmental burdens.
Describe what makes your idea unique--different from all others in the field.
There are many home re-decorating shows out there, some of which even focus on "eco-alternative" materials. Design for America: Homes for Health will work with inner city high school students to do the design and implementation work. They learn about the environmental threats within their own home, how to make affordable changes, while collectively designing a space for a family in need. It's a cycle of learning, giving and improving one's health!
Do you have any existing partnerships, and if so, how did you create them?
Community partnerships are key. We are currently partnering with Brown University's Community Environmental College, the Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island, the Childhood Lead Action Project, ClearCorps, and Project Open Door from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). I have been a student and now adjunct faculty at RISD with many existing networks. I've been volunteering with Brown this semester and from this collaboration the project to address community needs have spawned, and partnerships have followed.
In which sector do these partners work? (Check all that apply)
Impact
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.
To eliminate homes and indoor air quality being the cause of childhood asthma and lead poisoning.
Please list any other measures of the impact of your innovation.
Threats within the home range from lead in the paint, VOCs in the carpet, vinyl in the furniture, mold, cleaning products and a family's lifestyle. Allergies, asthma, unintentional injuries, poisoning, cancer, and heart disease have been connected to the design and condition of housing as well as Allergies, asthma, unintentional injuries, poisoning, cancer, and heart disease have been connected to the design and condition of housing as well as the daily habits of residents inside their homes (HUD, Healthy Homes Strategic Plan, 2008) 24 million households face significant lead-based paint hazards (Jacobs etal., 2002) For 2007, the National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute estimated the total cost to the U.S. economy from asthma at $19.7 billion. About 21% of asthma cases in the U.S. are linked to dampness and mold, at an annual cost of approximately $3.5 billion. (HUD, Healthy Homes Strategic Plan, 2008)
Is there a policy intervention element to your innovation?
No. This program will complement existing efforts to increase the liability and responsibility of the homeowners and will not seek out its own advocacy efforts.
How many people does your innovation serve or plan to serve? Exactly who will benefit from your innovation?
After the pilot this summer, the program will expand to be repeated in different low-income communities throughout the country, targeting teenagers who can be agents of change and educators to the rest of their family. There will be an online platform where people can share their own healthy home re-decorations and others can learn how to make their own beautiful and affordable changes.
What is the key decision that you are trying to influence through your innovation/design?
To eliminate homes and indoor air quality being the cause of childhood asthma and lead poisoning. Empower youth to be agents of change to improve their health for themselves and their loved ones.
What have you learned about how people respond to your innovation/design?
We are currently in the start-up phase. However, in discussion with community members and Environmental Justice activist such as Majora Carter and Tanya Fields, everyone is very supportive and excited!
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
For the start up phase, we will be funded through grants. In the second phase, with a proof of concept we will be able to sell advertising space to sponsors whose missions are aligned with the show. I currently have contacts with Method, the clean soap company, as well as many design firms that would be interested in participating in paid advertising.
Financing source
Annual budget
approximately $15,000
Annual revenue generated
Phase 1: $15,000 needed for pilot
Phase 2: $20,000/year for ongoing sustainability.
Number of staff (full-time, part-time, volunteers)
For the pilot we will have 2 full-time staff and about 8 volunteers for the summer. And once we get the ball rolling, we will hire two full-time editors to create the pilot.
What are the main financial barriers, and how do you plan to address them?
The main financial barriers is simply getting the start-up capital and the time needed for grant-writing. Just a little bit of funding could buy time to apply for more grants and seek out sponsorship.
Aside from financial sustainability, how do you plan to grow and scale the initiative?
The first pilot will be showcased online and then shopped to media stations. Starting out with the Sundance Channel and Boston's WGBH as Sami has contacts there.
The Story
What was the motivation or defining moment that led to the creation of this innovation? Tell the story.
It has always been a secret dream of mine to be a host for a home-redecorating show. And with my commitment to Environmental Justice, I have been looking for ways to combine my interests. In conversation with a friend and Harvard Ph.D environmental health candidate last year, we developed the concept. In meeting Majora Carter, I told her about the idea in 2008. She loved and and wanted me to write up a pitch at that time. This year, I have not been able to move forward on the project due to my new adjunct faculty position at RISD, but with my new collaborations with Brown and the EJ League of RI, everything has fallen into place! We will be leveraging our resources very creatively with donated space and art supplies from RISD's Project Open Door, free housing for myself and interns from RISD's residence life, some funding from Brown's Community Environmental College, and piggy backing on existing abatement efforts from Dupont and ClearCorps to work together to eliminate childhood asthma and lead poisoning!
I was recently nominated as an Earth Keeper Hero from Timberland's Changents program. My application video can be seen here which provides insight into my story and passions: http://www.vimeo.com/3902629
Please name and provide a personal bio of the social innovator behind this initiative.
Sami Nerenberg, a San Francisco native, is an adjunct professor of Design for Social Entrepreneurship at RISD and a sprouting entrepreneur as co-founder/ sustainable systems strategist at Grain Design. She considers herself to be a "Community Designer" enabling designers to see beyond their traditional role of product designers and form-givers to be creative leaders and problem solvers. For more info: www.de-se.com, www.imassami.blogspot.com, www.graindesign.com
At what stage is this initiative?
Innovative idea , Pre-planning for scheduled implementation .
What resources would you need to take your initiative to the next stage?
Mentorship, media contacts, video editors, community input from throughout the country to determine where next to host Design for America: Homes for Health.
How did you hear about this contest and what is your main incentive to participate? (Confidential)
A friend referred me to the program. I am very familiar with Ashoka. My previous employer, Timothy Prestero from Design that Matters was an Ashoka affiliate, and I recently sat on a panel with Marina Kim who informed me about the Changemakers Campu initiatives. It would be great to be involved with the Ashoka program as I greatly admire what you do and the start-up capital is the perfect amount to get us started and rolling for success!
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