Category Archives: Summer of Solutions

Working Collaboratively

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My reflection from last Friday’s gathering at Canterbury Elementary where a group of great people put hands on the land that we’ll all be tending for the season. I was very happy to have worked with those who showed up.

We came across a couple of teachers that showed interest in what we as a team of (7) were doing. The teachers asked questions like, “What school do you all go to?” and “Are you high school students?”  We answered that we were all members of the community, some in college etc. Teachers briefly shared ideas and included that they too had worked hard in the garden but that there were to many bugs that were no good for gardening and did not continue. Challenges will come about and part of creating some lube for those challenges will be through communication and meetings.

The following are my thoughts on working in a collaborative manner. Continue reading →

DC Seeks a Program Leader!

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Exciting news!! The leadership team of Cultivating Intergenerational Leaders (the Washington DC program) is in the process of looking for an additional program leader!  We are looking for a college student who has an interest in food and environmental justice as well as a passion for working with youth. We currently are reviewing the applications and starting our first interviews.  In order to apply, applicants can visit:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dERMRkpZXy11UlFLdXFDTUFLcUFjYnc6MQ#gid=0

While Josephine and I have helped jump-start the program, we look forward to welcoming a new program leader to our team to help our efforts and will post a follow-up blog announcing our new program leader very soon!

– Jeremiah

Race and class in Little Rock

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Outreach team at work!

Outreach team at work!

Though the Little Rock team has not done any specific anti-oppression work yet, issues of race and class have begun to surface.  In particular, our plans for community events and fundraisers have sparked some interesting conversations.  After our March meeting, a few folks stuck around to talk informally.  One participant posed a question regarding an upcoming door knocking session: how will the majority Black, low-income community where we work respond to the diversity of our group? Several people told vivid and fresh stories illustrating a lack of acceptance for racial mixing from both white and Black people in our community. Little Rock, like the rest of the South (and the rest of the U.S., for that matter), has not found its way to racial healing or equity despite incessant talk about our role in the civil rights era with the Little Rock Nine, Daisy Bates, the Freedom Riders, etc.

Continue reading →

Canterbury Garden in the Works

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An update from Summer of Solutions Arleta!

In mid-February, we met up and discussed some visions that we have for the garden at a local elementary school which include monthly or biweekly cleanups and tree care. We took a short tour and learned some background info on what we’ll be diggin’ into and plant the growth that is deeply welcomed in our lives and those of our community. There is an application that will need to be filled out to be able to work as a volunteer during the day and after school hours. There is a lot yet to be communicated, but for the most part things are moving forward. :) We will be continuing to do some work on Fridays.  Come and share your visions and work on spreading a beautiful message through gardening to the 1000+ children attending this elementary school. There will be some milk and cookies, and maybe coffee too. ;)1

Continue reading →

The Joys of Telecommunication

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In the weeks since the January gathering the Twin Cities team has been getting used to Skype, lots of Skype. We are currently all in different cities: Patricia is in Minneapolis; Aly is in Northfield, MN; Elizabeth is in Ashland, WI; and Maddie is in Canada. So we have been faced with the challenge of 4 different schedules, 3 states, 2 time zones, and 2 countries. Needless to say I think all of us are pretty excited for when we can all be I the same place.

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Patricia and Maddie talking about the Twin Cities program at the Chicago January Gathering

Despite all this we have been having fun and getting a lot done! Only two of us were able to make it to Chicago for January Gathering, so we had fun sharing everything we learned with our fellow program leaders. We planned lessons in Chicago which we then shared with the rest of our team in the weeks following. There was and Anti Oppression session, a Media and outreach session, ahow to work google docs session. We used the time to practice facilitating, and we are planning on having a facilitation recap when we are all back in the Twin Cities.

Continue reading →

Something worth stretching for

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Cross-posted from LetsGoChicago.org, homepage of the Chicago solutionaries! Written by Marissa Neuman, Chicago 2013 Program Leader.

Compartmentalized is a word that I often use to describe the separated realms that make up my day to day life, and I think that for many young activists this is a similar sentiment. Many of us have other jobs, school, children, relationships, other activist work, or passions that occupy our time and energy. The majority of my time is spent between the ceramic studio, Let’s Go Chicago, and feminist organizing. With so many of these sectors functioning simultaneously and often not in union with one another it is easy for me to feel spread ultra thin.

On those weeks when days feel like hours and work looks like steep mountains for me to conquer, it is important for me to know why I spend my time the way I spend it. Sometimes these reasons are more clear on certain days than others and it is often more challenging for me to find real clarity when the pressure keeps building on top of me.

This past week started off as one of these ‘bottom of the mountain’ kind of weeks. Several projects were due at school, a fundraiser I had been planning for months was taking place, and an important grant was in the works for Let’s Go. By the end of the week all of these tasks were successfully accomplished and all of those seemingly daunting mountains felt like foothills in retrospect. Admittedly, I think it is relatively symptomatic to make little of the pain of a challenging week when time has nursed the wounds. However, the transformation of my ‘mountains into foothills’ was not a temporal consequence, but the result of breaking down that precipice and conquering it with a team of fellow solutionaries. Continue reading →

Full Circles Foundation embarks on sustainable menstruation initiative as part of their Strong Girls, Fair Economy, and Healthy Earth mission

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FCF campers Tyra and Davis and Aniah Bland, and FCF Program Leader, Toni Craige, have been selected as one of 6 projects to receive a $1,000 Fellowship though SustainUS, a youth environmentalist organization.  They are working on a project to increase awareness of sustainable, reusable menstrual products. The Fellowships were awarded to 6 small-scale sustainable development projects all over the United States.  For the year 2013, Tyra, Aniah, and Toni will receive mentoring and support for their project, and get to know the other fellows though conference calls and in-person meetings. 

The average woman in America will spent over $2,000 over a life time on single-use, disposable menstrual products.  Reusable products like menstrual cups (cost $35 and last for 10 years!), and cloth pads (you can make them yourself), are great for the environment, and for women’s wallets.  They will be working to get the word out about sustainable menstrual products, and are also developing a line of reusable cloth menstrual pads to sell as a microventure to support FCF.  This is an exciting and empowering opportunity – we can’t wait to see what they do with it! 

Here’s some more information about the project.  Sustainable Cycles is a great resource to learn more about reusable menstrual products.  Please let us know if you want to know more, or be involved!

Tyra sewing reusable cloth menstrual pads at the FCF Raleigh office.

Tyra sewing reusable cloth menstrual pads at the FCF Raleigh office.

Project Description: Continue reading →

Getting better all the time…

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Mosquitos and sweaty brows characterized Little Rock Summer of Solution’s first large group meeting on a recent and unseasonably warm 75-degree January day.  Despite the discomfort, our team showed their dedication and energy through active participation, which bodes well for our ability to make great things happen in what promises to be a hot and challenging summer ahead.

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Our gears quicken their pace every week.  After our January meeting, we organized working groups for outreach and fundraising. We have begun prepping our garden and starting seeds in the greenhouse at a nearby urban farm.  Donations of all kinds have started rolling in– a printer, a bucket of heirloom seed packets, $$$$, time/labor from volunteers, and a zine rack all in the past few weeks.

Continue reading →

Johnson City is FULL of Energy for Food Justice!

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Greetings from Johnson City! We’ve been super busy getting our programs set up and scheduling events for the coming spring season. But let’s just go ahead and get down to the fun stuff:

1Johnson City, Tennessee is currently in the midst of an incredible blossoming of energy for food justice! Just last month we had a new café hold a “First Seed” fundraiser. Now, what’s so exciting about any old café? Well, let me tell you. This café, One Acre Café, is part of the “One World Everybody Eats Foundation” (http://www.oneworldeverybodyeatsfoundation.org/). Their mission statement is: “To nourish the body, replenish the spirit, and grow the community so that all might be fed.” In addition,

“It is the intent of One Acre Cafe to build a healthy community by providing the basic need of food in a respectful and dignified manner to anyone who walks through the door. One Acre Cafe will be unique in the lack of a set menu as well as set prices. Daily menus will be made using fresh ingredients and funded by the donations of patrons and community members. Everyone will be invited to pay what they felt their meal was worth or to leave a little more in order to help pay for someone else’s meal. If a diner does not have sufficient money to leave, they are encouraged to exchange one hour of service to the cafe for their meal.”

Continue reading →

Getting to Know Our Community

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Project Youth Green provides 60+ farmers with plots for a small fee that creates a sense of community in the city of Pacoima.

Last weekend Jackie and I (from the Arleta SoS program) had the opportunity to meet a couple of folks who have planted some veggies on the land supported by Project Youth Green. PYG is a part of the Youth Speak Collective organization. Youth Speak Collective has many branches that engage the youth on productive projects. These projects are long-term in scope and involve the community along the way.

We took a look at the gardening branch of PYG which allows for members of the community to rent a plot for the year with a small fee of ten dollars a month. Located on a hillside, this garden space gives us a sense of serenity. The streets below hold bustling cars and the fast pace of a busy city. In the garden we see bees pollinating, families enjoying nature together, lots of good energy emanates from the people around us and the plants that welcome us to this lovely place. A fruit tree orchard is found on one of the hills. Seeing the avocado trees makes me crave some yummy homemade guacamole. Now I see what the modest fee is for. This cost covers the plants most essential element for nourishment, water. This allows for residents who live in a place where there is little to no space for gardening the opportunity to grow something of their liking on a piece of land. Farmers can either consume the food they grow or trade with the 60+ farmers growing food there.

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Its not the first time I see something amazing like this happening in our own Valley. It is people that keep that motivation high for the rest who want to contribute to the solution. I’m glad that I had the chance to spend time with my team member and absorb the beauty that keeps on thriving with the help from people. We also met and talked to some vendors who were selling crafts, homemade dips, and citrus fruits. On this particular day PYG had a DJ and various vendors for the Farmer’s Market that they host every first Saturday of each month. Continue reading →