DOL submits grant to Ashoka's Changemakers

On August 11th, Dreaming Out Loud submitted a project proposal called “What do We Reflect?: A Community Conversation” to Ashoka’s Changemakers program. The competition — called Strong Communities: Engaging Citizens, Strengthening Place, Inspiring Change — has the aim to identify innovative projects and ideas that engage citizens to steer change and build strong communities.

Our project would take place within the context of Project Dream Green’s school year program with our charter school partners.  In this project we will use the placement of interactive public art to initiate a community dialogue regarding ethics, character development and community-building. Our young people will help to plan, create and place interactive public art in six locations throughout Washington, DC. These six works of public art will be large (approx.4ft X 4ft) plaster castings of the symbols.

Each symbol asks a set of essential questions related to building sustainable, healthy and ethical communities. The public will be encouraged to contribute to a dialog generated by the Adinkra symbols using email messages, photos, drawings and other submissions. In addition, the youth participants will use MiniFlip video-cameras to conduct interviews. Leading the youth will be Intergenerational Leadership Partners consisting of a college intern and a retired professional/teacher.

A panel of independent judges selected by Ashoka or CommunityMatters will select eight finalists from all of the entries submitted in the competition. From among these 8 finalists, the Changemakers’ online community will vote for three winners. In the event of a tie, the tie will be broken by a vote of the independent judges. Any person may sign into and register with Changemakers at: http://www.changemakers.com/en-us to vote.

Following our progress and Click here to read and comment on the project.

Dennis Chestnut gives reporters a tour of the Center for Green Urbanism.

In the May issue of the East of the River Magazine, Groundwork Anacostia River DC’s Center for Green Urbanism was featured as one of the Ward 7 community’s newest additions. Executive Director Dennis Chestnut gave the magazine an exclusive tour of the Center in its opening phases.

Located at 3938 Benning Road NE, the Center for Green Urbanism (CGU) is positioned primely between both Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road Metro Stations. In addition, it sits directly across from the recently completed Benning Neighborhood Library.

This summer the Center has played a central role in the implementation of Project Dream Green – the program collaboration between Groundwork and Dreaming Out Loud. With 72 youth participants reporting and working from the Ophelia Egypt Center, Ward Memorial AME Church and SEED Public Charter School the CGU provides a central meeting point.

Important program activities such as training the Team Leaders responsible for supervising the youth participants; communications and video-camera training for youth media teams; and tool-safety training have been hosted at this historic building. In the coming months, the CGU will also play a key role in hosting high-school green teams from local charter schools as Project Dream Green enters a new phase.

A view from the front.

They are currently learning about our mission and programs; developing a text message campaign to inform their classmates about the “green” movement; and writing blog posts about their experience. At the end of their Fellowship they will produce an Op-Ed piece and give a speech in a public space about our organization. Stay tuned for the updates!

Click here to sign-up to receive texts for the Campaign Dream Green! Or text “DCGREEN” to 69302!