Our Creative Community Building projects
Some Creative Community Building programs on our list are up and running; others are in development; others are still dreams to be done. The point is, they're all infused with creative entrepreneurial idealism and represent only the tip of the iceberg: from urban agriculture to breakdancing, from eco-fashion to community blogging, these programs suggest the many powerful qualities of doing good through artistic, creative, fun projects.
Our mission is to: create a market for all such American programs, exposing them to a wider audience; put them in touch with interested and relevant actors across our 3 sectors; help them acquire support and funding; and, in the process, build the brand for CCB.
On-the-Ground Communities/Programs
TIMES: THE IDEABOX MULTIPURPOSE EVENT SPACE
TIB Project (In Development)
TIMES is a physical manifestation of TIB: a cool, fun, multifunctional, community-oriented space that exudes the TIB mission. Ideally an entire building, its essential features are a café (serving locally grown food, in conjunction with, say, HLB), bar, club, library and specialized "do-gooder" bookstore, and classroom space. Additional revenue-generating possibilities are: TIB office space; an international hostel (like a Japanese-style pod hostel) or boutique hotel; apartments; or office space for an NGO or worthy CCB business. There could also be a rooftop bar/event space. The experience is aimed at creatives entrepreneurs and idealists, but is also a venue for like-minded do-gooders with space and events for the whole community. Sick of the generic Starbucks experience, snooty clubs, or the same old stuff? Nothing like TIMES exists. The international aspect of including a hostel or TIB program office space rounds it out.
TIB Project (In Development)
HLB combats the insidious effects of fast-food culture on the health of low-income urban families by providing a cohesive and accessible program that both educates community members about nutritional lifestyles and helps them acquire healthy, organic food. HLB is a dynamic and flexible collective program that combines the products of organic food stores, co-ops, CSAs, urban and local farms with the services of nutritionists, educators, chefs, and even cooking TV shows. The goal is to create a mutually beneficial environment for all participants that engenders a large-scale turn away from the destructive reliance on fast and processed food and embraces healthy living. HLB members should receive discounts at participating stores. Increased demand for CSA and co-op membership will boost CSA popularity and lower prices. A growing membership could eventually use empty lots to establish more local organic farms like Red Hook Farm. Highly scalable concept.
TIB Partner (extant)
This project was conceived as a large-scale application of Scott Ballum's ConsumeReconnect project into schools and communities. The purpose is to learn about the origins of their purchases and meet their producers. It is a new interpretation of Civics and Home Ec classes in which student teams exhaustively research their purchases in order to gain a direct understanding of the supply and food chains and, ideally, influence smart consumption. It is also a dynamic way for students to apply critical thinking to everyday matters and to get to know community actors, from the grocer to the plumber. As the research is useful to everyone, students’ final presentations will be the centerpiece of a community event to which all are invited. It could feature an artistic element, such as a mural diagramming certain teams’ discoveries, that would vary by neighborhood and serve as a visible symbol of conscious consumption. (Lots of possible synergy with the Healthy Living Brooklyn concept)
F0CUS ABROAD
TIB Project (In Development)
A unique hybrid of the missions of One Laptop Per Child, interactive videologging and film societies, the goal of Focus Abroad is to expand the horizons of inner city youth by establishing a “vlogging pals” program with foreign students, and by sending selected students abroad to visit them and film their experience. In selecting winners of an essay contest, the program create incentives for future leaders to personally develop & inspire others to do so by sharing their experience abroad. The winners should be able to travel with other local winners in a youth trip led by a qualified group that includes a filmmaker. Winners must return and finish a short film/video—ideally, with the help of professionals—and present it at local schools. The program brings foreign experiences and lifestyles closer to children who often don’t leave their neighborhoods, and also uses the popular medium of film/video as the basis of this educational experience.
Sports /Dance Programs
Communiteam
TIB Partners (In Development)
There are many extant creative community building programs that would qualify for TIB. It is our work to find them and recruit them to be on our list, so they can learn from one another and inspire other people to join or create similar organizations. (e.g. Sports4Kids)
There are also many other possible sport-based programs to be created. Imagine, for example, something based on Drew Chafetz's love.futbol. In many urban areas, simple creating the space for well-maintained fields, and structuring a rec sports league for different ages, would be a boon. Add to that elements of community service involving the participants. Again, the potential here to get professional athletes involved is huge (see BP 6, Market & Audience).
An idea combing these elements could be Communiteam. As a lifetime team sports player, I'm convinced there is some genius afterschool project out there comparing sports to competitive life in order to teach social engagement, community building, and activism. This would sort of be like the old Communist "Pioneer" program but in a healthier context toward more realistic ends. It would be dedicated to comparing the psychological and physical benefits of teamwork to those of functional community. Sacrifice for the greater good, healthy competition, trust, practice and big game events, etc. The metaphor has been mined before but I'm convinced it can be done better, and I want to find famous athletes who agree. [note: a program calling CommuniTeam already exists, but it's not sports-focused]
Citywide Student Bowling League
TIB Project (In Development)
A uniquely fun way for NYC students to develop teamwork skills and get out of their neighborhoods to meet other kids their age. Schools organize their own teams, and the league, hosted at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg, devises a schedule. (We imagine a board at BB entrance saying say something like “today’s CSBL matchup: Harlem vs Bushwick middle school,” “PS 7 vs PS 182,”). Other elements could be integrated, such as hiring some of these same kids to work at Brooklyn Bowl before/after their matches, or using the connected concert venue during the day for other teambuilding activities.
Breakitdown
TIB Project (concept)
The afterschool breakdancing program used as the example in the "from dreaming to doing" page. Get dance professionals to recruit and teach breakdancing and other urban dance as afterschool programs that build toward goals, such as a local/regional jams and yearly breakdancing competitions (think about the urban dancers who got famous and made you wish you'd gotten into it). Get professionals and celebrities involved as a form of music/industry-driven community service. Get local clubs/DJs to give the kids a stage at parties. Etc.
"Cool Environmentalism”/ Eco-Fashion
TIB Project (concept)
The inevitable arrival of eco-fashion or sustainable fashion has been hastened by the figure of Summer Rayne Oakes, activist, host, writer, and model— model for do-good causes wearing recycled clothing. She’s a creative entrepreneurial idealist: “I enjoy modeling, but I’ve always seen it as an approach to getting the bigger issues into the public eye. I know the “Eco-Model” label has brought me some attention, but I always make sure that the substance and the message aren’t far behind the image." TIB would harvest the rich potential of the modeling industry’s celebrity power and sexy cache in order to (1) build cultural awareness for sustainable fashion, and (2) raise money for actual programs teaching sustainable fashion in high schools or community centers.
TIB Partner (in development)
BHAVA is an ethically minded fashion accessory brand founded on a system of streamlined manufacturing in combination with a unique approach to grassroots marketing and distribution. The emerging social conscience and interest in local economic improvement will be key in the establishment and ongoing success of BHAVA. The marketing strategy will include reaching out to the college sector with a focus on students involved in local eco and animal friendly organizations. BHAVA will actively recruit sales associates within the local NYC vegetarian and yoga communities. Sales associates will also be recruited from social networks for fashionable stay at home mothers who are looking for an enjoyable way to earn extra income.
Recycliture / Furnicycle
TIB Project (concept)
This program collects wood and materials from lumberyards, donations, and the street and brings it to a location where it will be used by people to learn carpentry. Thus builders can teach locals to build their own furniture and the costs of the material are low, and the creativity factor is high. Locals will also have the chance to enroll in more specialized carpentry courses in which the long term goal should be to build furniture or structures benefiting the community: cafes, parks, etc. Over the long term the venue could employ part-time builders and sell home-made furniture at low prices (an alternative to IKEA). The program could also offer summer internships in the woods building houses, etc. Thus the program uses local materials, builds a real skill set and provides kids and young adults an opportunity to get out of the city.
The Big Green Bus
Potential TIB Partner
Program founded by Dartmouth undergrads in 2005 who converted a bus to run on veggie oil and then travelled the country preaching their environmental cause (and playing ultimate frisbee). This kind of program--home-grown environmental activism at its best and funnest-- could spur a fleet of biofuel buses from other colleges with similar missions, covering more ground and gaining more visibility. Eventually they could throw their own benefit ultimate frisbee tournament. [BGB is not a TIB partner project yet; we're hoping to get their approval soon].
Writing / Media /Mixed Media Communities
TIB partner (extant)
A Seattle-based afterschool program that uses HipHop as a vehicle for kids to get together, reflect and write about issues in their lives, make positive and encouraging music, and have tons of fun. It encourages creativity, teamwork, and mad rhyming skillz. A simple and scalable model.
TIB Partner (Past Partner)
Established in July 2008, P:R grew out of the Kind Monitor song Reversible. It hopes to inspire positive change by asking and answering the question "What Will You Reverse?" and to inspire others by showing that a small group of people combining their individual talents can support real community improvement and move beyond hardship into new beginnings. Their first project is to raise funds for organizations fighting against racism, homophobia, and suicide through profits from a compilation CD and live multi-media fundraising event. They eventually hope to use proceeds/donations to finance micro-community development projects in NYC.
Figment Survey Project
TIB partner (in development)
TIB is recruiting web designers, videographers, and other creative for a project at FIGMENT, the annual celebration of participatory arts and culture on Governor’s Island. The Figment Survey Project (FSP) will transform the typical “event survey” concept into a multimedia project that embodies and examines our values: the utility of art and creativity in the public space, the beauty of teamwork, and the power of leveraging art toward community building. This is going to be a collective, grass roots project based on a loose framework (we have a plan!) but executed according to your vision (ooh, exciting!). The resulting website will help strengthen the Figment community and foster conversations and further action in the area of arts and civic engagement.
Blogject
TIB project (in development)
The Blog Project, or Blogject, gets students and community members involved in a common project focused on local events. Its format fuses school newspaper reporting with community news and as such breaks down the “in/out of school” and “student/adult” dichotomies. Schools serve as “nodes” for each particular team. Reporters and participants can be both “students” or professionals. Students practice journalism and learn about what’s going on in their communities. Adults have a venue to share their community projects and visions. The published results also feature a community response board. The process uses writing/journalism to bring students closer to their community. Possible events in clued bringing in professional bloggers and amateurs popular among the students to speak, do workshops, etc.
Set MagaziNe
TIB Project (concept)
Inspired by Dave Eggers’s 826 Valencia mission, Set is a platform for socially aware fiction for young writers. It aims to be a national magazine with local programs. Through forming partnerships and organizing events with local schools and universities, Set hopes to draw attention to the ways writing speaks for life, imparts wisdom, provides therapy, and helps us deal. Great potential to provide a venue, platform, and some buzz for civically-minded writing, as well as engage in community building. Possible collaboration with bookstores. Inspirational blurb: "Just the wish that you may find in yourself enough patience to endure and enough simplicity to have faith; that you may gain more and more confidence in what is difficult and in your solitude among other people. And as for the rest, let life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always." --- Rainier Maria Rilke, “Letters to A Young Poet”
What to do with your life : A guide
TIB Project (concept)
A series of guides organized by theme/career for young people. Along the lines of “so you wanna…” website, this online guide/zine/community will serve as a metafilter that combines college Career Services functions with expert advice, job listings, networking, reviews. Similar to a more specialized Monster.com, but with a lot of personal opinion and philosophical reflection on the pros/cons of not just the job, but the lifestyle it imparts. Like YEAOW, "What to do with" would combine the practical options of the online community with great potential for creative contributions and genuine consideration of the comparative value of professional industries.
Tourism
TIB Project (concept)
A mock reality-TV show tracking a haphazard group of mostly intellectually curious people as they travel in a given region (each season is planned around one continent). Filmed as if by the characters’ own cameras, it follows a group and random people they meet along the way through countries, trains, planes, as they attempt to travel correctly, argue politics, discover the purpose of mankind, and maybe get laid, while living exotic adventures that allows American viewers to live vicariously through them. The show is meant to reflect the TV medium at its finest: the exotic, romantic, comedic, dramatic and "reality TV" aspects are all means to a socially engaging, thought provoking, and educational end that one can be happily addicted to. I'd like the show to feature a healthy balance of unknown actors, non-actors, and a few guest stars.
Online Communities/Programs
TIB Partner (in development)
a specialized online community and networking platform for people with dreams who want to share and develop their projects and be exposed to others. Dreamvane aims to be a Facebook with purpose, a non stop fireworks show of creativity and inspiration, and a lip-smacking list of possibilities from all over the world. The paragon on what TIB can/should do, Dreamvane is something of a platform for its mission. Just as TIB donors will be able to choose the project(s) to which they contribute, Kiva-style, Dreamvane members can vote on ideas and decide which ones deserve most support. In a world with a more developed CEI industry, we imagine some very innocent little Dreamvane projects ending up as very compelling business plans submitted to TIB for serious funding.
YEAOW: Young Expats All Over the World
TIB Project (Extant)
Online community, magazine, guide, and networking site for the young expatriate lifestyle worldwide. Rather than focusing on buying property/investing like existing expat sites, the logical practicality of the YEAOW global community is buoyed by the themes (life as discovery/adventure, being an outsider, writing/reflecting), and motivated by the goals of building supportive micro-communities and publicizing the lifestyle to the curious and jealous back home. Created by expats in 2003, YEAOW needs funding to make a comeback.
Kill The Test/
“GoogleLearn”
TIB Projects (In Development)
Online test-prep service packaged as a video game that would break the financial barrier to SAT success faced by normal kids everywhere. The program, in dev’t with TIB staff, a fellow tutor and computer programmers, would allow kids to prepare for the SAT by using a “smart” algorithmic program that provides questions appropriate for a given skill level and also explains question type and strategy, all while being almost as fun as a video game and much much cheaper. By cross referencing detailed student biographical data with many metrics for test questions (level of difficulty, time taken, "2nd answer choices", etc), KTT would also create a huge database for educational researchers to help learn aboutthe process of learning. GoogleLearn is the more ambitious outgrowth of this idea.
The Real Deal
TIB Project (In Development)
Online vehicle for experimental political philosophy and civic engagement/activism, based on the simple idea of analyzing and challenging the dominant political narratives of our time. TRD is an activist community for those newswonks, blog readers, and know-it-alls who want to fix our broken political system, as well as those interested in the stories that explain how things work. A Basic Claim is made in support of political activism (BC that we need a cultural/political revolution!); it is supported by 6 Corollary Claims (CCs that explain they why/how aspects of the BC), while it is refuted by an Anti-Claim asserting the utility of political activism (AC: forget about changing the system, go crawl back into your hole). Participants agree or disagree with these claims, building or refuting the narratives, and provide evidence, leading to the creation of an organized database and wiki'd guide to US politics. (we're looking for a web developer!)
