Blog
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Stand & Deliver: Education // Thank You! Wednesday, March 03, 2010
After one full month of competing in Pepsi’s Refresh Project, CreateHere is pleased to announce that although Stand & Deliver didn’t get funded, the project stayed in the top 25 all the while, thanks to local support. We couldn’t be more pleased to announce that the project will continue as promised, with citizen summits still expected in October, 2010.
Stand & Deliver starts with the production and distribution of ground-setting documents—infographics, best practices, Chattanooga Stand data, and local interviews. These research pieces will be widely available in several formats, and will play a major role in engaging 1000+ people in two 24-hour citizen summits. During these summits, citizens will pitch potential projects, produce asset maps, connect with diverse skills sets, and act on the needs, and strengths, of local education.
Stand & Deliver competed for $50k to revitalize education for the Chattanooga region. Slated against proposals from some of the country’s leading advocacy groups, non-profits and businesses, the project sustained momentum during an aggressive month-long vetting process.
Even before March 1, the day winners were announced, we realized: there’d be no check in the mail. But we were happy to recognize something more important had happened over the course of the month.
For us, it began with a City Share luncheon on February 3, featuring David Boehnke of Minneapolis’s Experimental College, starting a conversation on citizen-owned education. Shortly after, delegates from around the world came to Chattanooga to problem-solve, and we tested out some of our methods for facilitating group innovation. We saw it outside of our doors, too: people with great ideas, interested in launching them into the community. The Half Campaign, which encourages regular volunteerism in community schools, was just one of many.
Chattanoogans came out to support education as a community, be it private, public, parochial, religious, higher, or life-long. You showed us just how much you care, and we heard you loud and clear. Stand & Deliver is for Chattanoogans, by Chattanoogans, and now more than ever, owned by Chattanoogans.CreateHere is committed to facilitating a change process that improves education locally, and to consulting, supporting, and bolstering existing organizations making huge strides in this area. Stay tuned for details on what that process looks like, and how locals can get involved.
