February Updates

Hello, everyone!

We had a wonderful time during our trip to Coahoma County in mid-January. We drove an example trailer to the county stocked with tools, machines, and materials. It was a great learning experience to run sessions with youth in the space, and to show our partners what the space could look like. Now that the new semester has started, we’re getting off the ground running with new tasks and goals. We’re planning another Coahoma County trip this month, from February 24-26. We hope to see you when we’re there!

New Team Members

Anne, Aditi, Cecilia, Irene, and Alisha are continuing on the team, and we welcome two new team members this semester: Josuel and Jiaying.

Semester Planning

Our planning for the semester has centered around the lessons learned and action items from our January trip. We’ve synthesized into five areas of focus for the semester, each with its own goals and deadlines.

Funding and Impact

For this semester, the funding and impact team is inspired to develop a sustainable business model for this mobile education space, as well as gather the appropriate financial funds to jumpstart this project. We aim to apply to county funding as well as start a crowdfunding campaign at the end of the semester.

Community Connection

This subteam is dedicated to sustaining and developing connections to our partners and supporters in Coahoma County. We’ll be in charge of sending newsletters like this one. In addition, we’ll keep track of contacts for trip planning, communicate with the community on extension projects, and start working on plans to hire a director from Coahoma for the space.

Concrete Product Development

This team aims to end the semester with a concrete proposal for space development. A primary activity will be researching existing curricula for similar spaces, and working with community resources to develop what our own curricula will look like. Additionally, we’ll do space and interaction design to determine the physical feel of the space.

Branding and Social Media

This team will spend the first phase of the project developing a cohesive branding identity for the mobile space. We’ll decide on a name, color scheme, logo, and more based on feedback from youth on our last trip and community input. We’ll also be creating a website to showcase the project and share with potential partners.

Team Documentation and Sustainability

This team will be using videos to document this semester’s work, as well as capture what makes Coahoma County beautiful through interviews and footage of its people and places. We will also cultivate stronger ties with alumni who have been on the team in the past, leveraging their wisdom for the success of the project.

If you have any ideas or feedback you want to share on where we are, please let us know! Also, if you would like to be more involved in any of the items mentioned above, we would be very happy to have your input and participation.

Your friends,

Aditi, Alisha, Anne, Cecelia, Irene, Jiaying, Josuel, Kofi, and Amon