Semi-finalists: Strong Communities: Engaging Citizens, Strengthening Place, Inspiring Change
Semi-finalists Announced! An independent panel of judges will review the semi-finalist entries to select eight finalists that will showcase their work at the CommunityMatters ‘10 conference in Denver in October.
Of the eight finalists, the Changemakers' online community will vote for three winners who will each be awarded USD $5,000.
Winners will be announced on October 8, 2010 at the CommunityMatters ‘10 conference.
OpenNeighborhood: Re-Visioning Kelley's Corner
Using the virtual-reality program 'Second Life' and more low-tech arts/crafts tools the public of all ages was invited to re-visualize an old commercial suburban intersection marked by unused store fronts and parking lots; the idea was to create the infrastructure for dynamic public participation. By giving people all kinds of tools and diverse ways to take in information and express themselves could we increase citizen participation, building momentum for change?
Community Stewards: Building the Network to Create Great Communities
We are building networks of engaged citizens who will shape the future of their communities by advocating for smart growth and livability. We educate and empower the community members with training and support as they campaign for positive change – everything from advocating for Complete Streets and Urban Forest policies to hands-on efforts like creating community gardens in underserved communities.
Gulfsouth Youth Biodiesel Project
Operation REACH’s Gulfsouth Youth Biodiesel Project is an innovative youth-led social enterprise designed to collect and recycle New Orleans’ used cooking oil into environmentally-friendly biodiesel fuel as a means of educating and developing leadership, environmental stewardship, and social entrepreneurship of young people for the “Green Collar” workforce.
Epicenter
The Epicenter engages and instigates a myriad of projects from within the context of Green River, Utah. Led by a group of young professionals, the Epicenter is a community-based affordable housing, small business resource, and cultural center. This three-pronged focus is achieved through creating affordable, durable, & efficient housing, supporting entrepreneurs and small business development, partnering with allied organizations, & instigating events that encourage activity.
place work[s]hop
place work[s]hop is a collaborative community design initiative built to fit the individual needs of a small town; shape and respond to the most important questions they face; and empower them with techniques to implement innovative answers. Compared to traditional charrette models of community design, we place a greater emphasis on equally valuing the social capital of community members and the creative capital of design and planning professionals.
Remington Youth Community Radio (RYCR)
RYCR is a community based arts program, engaging youth and adults in creating, collecting, and recording stories about their neighborhood. Stories are displayed in audio/visual forms including microbroadcasts, CDs, downloadable audio tracks, and community exhibitions of drawings, photographs and collages. The goal is to encourage and grow youth involvement within neighborhood-based activities, while building a community history that can be shared for generations.
Rise & Shine Food Co-op
The teen-inspired, teen-managed nonprofit business Rise & Shine Food Co-op addresses food insecurity as identified by a parent survey. The program provides families with high quality, low cost fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, bread and nonperishable foods twice a month while providing teens with valuable “real life” work experience and skills that will help them successfully transition into adulthood.
Bend 2030 – Vision Builds
A collaborative, community-based initiative and partnership to articulate and achieve our community’s long-term goals and aspirations.
Bend 2030 is a community-based volunteer organization dedicated to engaging the residents of the city of Bend to implement a long-term vision for development, growth, and sustainability over the next 25 years.
With a vision and action plan developed, Bend 2030 now maintains an organizational structure to make our vision a reality.
Food System Enhancement Project
We have gathered key local partners to develop a food system strengthening strategy to include Healthy Corner Stores, Mobile Farmers' Markets, urban and rural farmers' markets, a Commissary Kitchen for value added production, and local sourcing from growers in the county. The project will enhance local value added production and consumption of local produce, improve access to healthy, fresh produce among low-income consumers, and improve economic outcomes for local farmers.
LanX: A Local Securities Exchange Project
LanX is a local securities exchange project aspiring to serve the South Central Pennsylvania region of 8 counties. If successful, this regional exchange model could be replicated throughout the country. Local securities markets, which provide ultra micro-cap financing to small businesses, could rejuvenate local communities by providing more financing options and shrinking the equity gap that currently hampers the development of small and medium size firms.
Takoma Park and Long Branch Community Indicators
Engage members of a diverse urban community in a collaborative process of visioning, goal setting, and selecting indicators that measure progress toward shared values of a healthy community. Then conduct community based participatory research on the selected measures with the help of local partners and engage community stakeholders in an information based process to identify and take actions consistent with the community's shared vision and values.
From Atlanta congestion to Atlanta Streets Alive!
Imagine a street full of people of all ages and backgrounds, walking, biking, creating and laughing, together. A street temporarily closed to cars, but open to people. Imagine people safely enjoying their city, socializing with neighbors, and engaging in healthy activities. Imagine if all of this were free! Atlanta Streets Alive takes a contested public space – our city’s streets – and opens it up for people to play, walk, bike, breathe, and make their own.
Landscape Auction for Vermont's Working Landscape
The Landscape Auction for Vermont's Working Landscape is a live auction event that allows individuals, groups, and businesses to place a bid to “adopt” a landscape element – such as a riparian buffer or wildlife habitat – by funding its protection or maintenance for a period of time. The goal is to raise private capital for nature conservation while creating a bond between those who enjoy the landscape and those who manage it.
Making the Rules- Young citizens learning together for Change
Making the Rules is an experiential program to help young people explore democratic citizenship, and what actions they believe will make their community more democratic for all citizens. This program combines group process (we call this the "wake up" where youth link their passions and interests with a need, gap or opportunity in the community) and product (this is the resulting action and involves planning, preparing, implementing and evaluating a project).
Sustainable Jersey
Sustainable Jersey is a certification program for municipalities in New Jersey that want to go green, save money, and sustain their quality of life. It provides tools, training and financial incentives to support and reward communities as they pursue sustainability programs. The program uses the framework of “municipal certification” to break new ground in establishing meaningful community partnerships and developing effective intergovernmental coordination.
Our Town, Our Hood: Intergenerational Mapping Project from Queens Community Media Center
As a pilot project of Queens Community Media Center “Our Town, Our ‘Hood” aims to engage Queens neighborhoods in community journalism through an intergenerational mapping project. Starting in Jackson Heights, this initiative will expand borough-wide to create spaces where different neighborhood populations share stories and document the changes in their neighborhoods, culminating in an interactive web-based map.
Troy Bike Rescue
We are a collective of people committed to removing bikes from the waste stream and getting them back on the streets to low income community members who need affordable transportation. Operating on a volunteer basis out of donated spaces, we also organize educational events on bicycling as transportation, urban renewal and community building.Troy Bike Rescue also brings people together across class and gender divides to come and share spaces and learn about each others lives.
Pueblo County Economic Gardening
Economic Gardening is an entrepeneur-centered economic growth strategy, focused on giving established small businesses the tools they need to grow in the global marketplace. Instead of poaching jobs from elsewhere with lucrative incentives, we help local business compete by providing advanced, custom analyses with tools like GIS and customer psychographics. Our economic development program looks to "grow" small businesses - who create 85% of all new jobs.
Sustain-A-Raisers: Re-imagining “barn-raising” for sustainable home and yard retrofits.
Sustain-a-Raisers (inspired by barn-raising) are teams of youth in Lakes Region, NH who provide sustainable home and yard retrofits, or "raisers," that promote resource conservation and self-sufficiency. Raisers include garden-raisers, clothesline-raisers, compost-raisers, rain-barrel-raisers, etc. Each Raiser also serves as a platform for youth to develop entrepreneurial and project management skills.
The Transformative Power of Intergenerational Community Living
GHDC envisions enhancing and extending the lives of vulnerable popluations by tapping the transformative power of intergenerational community living. We are currently helping to facilitate the development of Generations of Hope Communities--intentional, intergenerational communities organized around a social challenge that utilize older adults as volunteers. These communities are based on the success of Hope Meadows in Rantoul, Illinois.
Network Organizing
The Making Connections Network is a comprehensive equity agenda. With over 3,400 members - most of whom live, work or worship in some of Louisville's toughest inner city neighborhoods - and dozens of institutional partners, it is a results-based and highly integrated approach focused on achieving results for children and families and transforming the systems and policies that affect families.
Cultivating Community: Its Growing Everywhere
To cultivate community through town-wide production of affordable local food; growing, promoting and community gatherings. On public and private land, schoolyards, balconies, roofs, up walls and fences, we foster equitable access to urban agriculture. Partnering with schools, agencies, neighborhoods and youth, we are strengthening our community by sharing and celebrating healthy local food as a catalyst for change.
Art in Storefronts
Art in Storefronts temporarily places original art installations by San Francisco artists in vacant and under-used storefronts, engaging artists in reinvigorating neighborhoods and commercial corridors hard-hit by the economic downturn. Artists, affected by the economy, receive a unique opportunity to showcase their creativity in transforming vacant storefronts into free exhibition spaces and celebrate the neighborhood where they live and work.
Kamiah Community Partners Coalition (KCPC) Youth Activity Implementation Project
Kamiah Community Partners Coalition works to create change in our community that will reduce the amount of alcohol & substance use by youth. Kamiah borders the national forest and lies within the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. The project builds partnerships for positive & healthy youth development engaging youth as active leaders in their community. The project fosters prevention leadership development. After all our youth are the future of our community.
