Urban deblighting / renewal mentorship program

[Alexander Zahradnik]

Hi all,

About a month ago I think I wrote to the group about a panel I was producing to kick off a mentorship initiative between AIGA, Delaware Valley Green Building Council, and the American Institute of Architects for high school students, wherein they work in teams to come up with innovative uses for vacant lots. There will be a juried process and the top solutions will receive a stipend to implement their projects.

I was hesitant at first about Clean Currents, the solar/wind company sponsoring the implementation, but after meeting with the owner Gary Skulnik and some of his staff, and realizing that he had worked with someone I trust (Mike Ewall from Energy Justice Network) in the past, I think that it will be fine. The selection process will be run independently and the ideas are left mostly up to the mentees. The mentors will provide design strategy and are all interested in affecting positive social change. 

I find that working in these groups, many people are rather uninvolved in activism and can sometimes be a little naive about gains already made in activist networks although their heads might be in the right place. 

So I'm reaching out to this group because I met many of you at Occupy Philly or up in Zuccotti and  think that some of the organizations that you are involved in might be able to provide mentors with a little more stake in the game. I don't know if any of you are involved in Kensington Renewal, but we are partnering with them at the implementation stage already.

Here's the link to the project: http://lotsofpower.net/

Please let me know if you are interested. I think the commitment is 6 mentoring sessions over the course of the summer. 

Thanks,

Alex Z