It’s almost time to make a decision.
Students have proposed project ideas after considering the needs and the capacity of the cultural community. Below are half (five) for discussion and ultimately, a decision. Read them; consider them. What should be our criteria for making a decision? Register your thoughts. That’s what we’ll be discussing when we return to class next week.
Supporting The Philadelphia Black History Collaborative
Upon witnessing the flaws within the city’s current African American history curriculum, activist educators of color came together to fight for “the legacy of self-determination and the righteous study of Black history in our city and across the nation.” Through the volunteer work of their planning board and a self-initiated fundraiser campaign, they host professional development seminars and curriculum building workshops for African American history teachers throughout the city. Despite a lack of support from the Philadelphia School District, they sponsored the Black Lives Matter in Schools Week of Action. Funds to the Collaborative would fund the advancement of more engaging, relevant, and critical black history in Philadelphia.
Teach the Creatives of Today How to Fish in Tomorrow's Pools
Funding programs and brick and mortar buildings is so 20th century. It's time we start playing with 21st century paradigms like the attention economy and fund people and engaged communities of practice. Create a program to train creatives how to leverage Steemit and blockchain technology to build a bigger audience and create new revenue streams. Teach them how to fish in tomorrow's pools to advance sustainability. Building a community of practice on blockchain platforms like Steemit offers a new revenue stream, a dynamic peer group, and an expanded audience. By piloting a blockchain literacy program for artists, at In Liquid, The Woodmere Museum or The Painted Bride, the Philadelphia community can demonstrate innovate ways to nurture our creative economy and culture.
Support a Valuable Program Inside Public Schools
Fund The Fund for the School District of Philadelphia, whose mission is to “identify, coordinate and connect philanthropic resources—through effective public-private partnerships—to leverage investments in local public schools. We target strategic priorities that have a measurable impact on the success of students regardless of zip code, family income or chance. … By turning our resources over to The Fund, we would have supported a valuable program to grow inside the Philadelphia Public Schools.
Create Paid Internships
Art-Reach works to increase access to the cultural sector, particularly for low-income and disabled people. In the last year their programs have served over 160,000 people. They offer a variety of internships, but they are unpaid and thus create barriers for students within their target audience to become involved. With funding these can become paid internships specifically for low-income and/or disabled students, with the goal of supporting subsequent careers in the arts.
Deploy The Public History Truck to Document the Temple Stadium Project
Temple University has plans to construct a football stadium along north Broad Street, another example of the school's expansion into the local community. Support The Philadelphia Public History Truck, winner of the 2016 Outstanding Public History Project award, to archive this moment in time and collect personal memories from the local community. The Public History Truck can augment the narrative regarding the university's expansion and humanize the impact it has on the local residents.
What does it take for a project to rise to the top?
Consider each of the proposed projects in several different ways. Is there the organizational will and capacity to implement? Does the proposed project promise quality results? Would it be considered a good investment in terms of community impact? Is now the right time to implement? Will the project leverage additional resources now or in the future? How would you rank the projects using this and additional criteria?
Come back tomorrow to learn about another five project ideas.
100% of the SBD rewards from this #explore1918 post will support the Philadelphia History Initiative @phillyhistory. This crypto-experiment conducted by graduate courses at Temple University's Center for Public History and MLA Program, is exploring history and empowering education. Click here to learn more.
