Archive for November, 2009

One of my favourite parts of running NOW! is spending time with innovators from every walk of life who have wowed, inspired, motivated, and energized me with their passion and dedication. Through little things and big things, these daring and persevering dreamers have sparked smiles and dreams alike.

Have you ever wondered, how did these innovators get to where they are? How did they stand up and push boundaries? How did they get started? How did they find out what they are passionate about? How did they garner the support and guidance they received? Behind the success and glitters and fanfare, what were the bittersweet journeys that make these innovators who they are? How did they make the world a better place the way the did?

I think curiosity and knowledge are some of the most powerful things in the world, and one of the most empowering form of knowledge is storytelling. This got me into launching Wanders, articles which each asks an innovator a simple yet not yet simple behind-the-scenes question: how did you get to where you are? This project will hopefully help connect aspiring difference-makers bustling with big dreams with the how’s, experiences, insights, and stories from current innovators to take courage, passion, dedication, and impact to the next level.

Who will write these articles? The NOW! Team – and you! I would like to encourage you to get involved with this project through ways such as

• give innovators who you look up to a shout, and ask them to share the wisdom they have bumped into along the way. (You could also let us know which innovator you would like to contact for the article, and we will try to connect you with him/her for the story.) Please then email us your article at info@now-org.com so that we could share it with the NOW! network and beyond. (If this article is part of your blog post or web page, please send us the link so that we could share the link).
• recommend us things that you’ve bumped into that fall into the Wanders philosophy – send us a link so we could share it!
• let us know if you would like to coordinate the Wanders project
• feel free to share any Wanders content with others

Please stay tuned for the articles and article suggestions at Wanders. The articles will also be compiled in periodic newsletters and RSS.

I hope you enjoy Wanders. We’re currently building the framework for it – the first batch will be coming in a bit.

Cheers,

Janny

janny.ke@now-org.com

We walk past them, shutting our nose and our eyes.
We accept them as motionless statues of urbanization.
Some shower them with pity and food and clothing, some block them out in contempt.

We forget that homelessness in such a gorgeous, vibrant city is morally unacceptable.

How about let’s address the root cause of poverty – let’s empower homeless people through entrepreneurship?

THE EXPERIMENT

We will link a couple top entrepreneurs in Vancouver to mentor a couple homeless youth interested in starting their own ventures, and document the process from idea, product/service, revenue, to continuity to analyze the project’s impact and effectiveness. We would like as much community involvement as possible – planning, execution, etc. We hope that this small experiment could add to the social change movement of the business and entrepreneurship community mentoring the poorest people to help them full-fill their potential and their dreams.

OUR ACTION PLAN

We would like to make this project as grassroots as possible by turning to you for ideas and suggestions. We admit ignorance in homelessness and we would like to learn as much as possible. This grassroots project will be planned and carried out by the community. We invite you to share your experience, insights, and expertise on the community-powered project plan here.

SHARING THE STORY

We invite you to join us in our experiment through three possible components:

1. Our blog
We will reflect and document the process of this project from start to finish to facilitate a platform for discussion and support. Everyone involved in this project could be an author of the blog. We look forward for your comments, support, ideas, and suggestions!

2. A documentary
Again suggestions would be awesome.

3. Multimedia
Pictures, videos, dance, stories, theatre… whatever you can think of!

I strongly believe in the power of creativity, commitment, and community support to empower homeless people to achieve their dreams and potential. Hope to hear from you :]

[afterword:

This project is now led by May Zou (may.zou@now-org.com) and Heather Sarsons (heather.sarsons@now-org.com), Vancouver. We are currently in the process of learning more about the issue by volunteering in the community and talking to those who have been dedicated in these issues.]

Cheers,

Janny
janny.ke@now-org.com

We are finalizing the judges for the Act NOW! National Playwriting Competition. The latest here!

Recently, we’ve been very fortunate to receive guidance and support from numerous mentors from the community in evaluating where we are at as a non-profit. Special thanks to Pat Montani, Greg Overholt and Ryan Fetterly for their help.

We would like to share with you what we’ve come up with. Please give us a shout at info@now-org.com if you have any advice for us! Thanks in advance :]

A New Direction
Where are we going?
- increase in impact, grassroots involvement, and financial independence
- decrease in the amount of central organizing (which we feel is often bottle-necking; we would like to get the whole community to take ownership in sustainability!)

The Essence of NOW!
What are we most proud of and what would we like to spread?
- creativity and innovation
- holistic, interdisciplinary: social, environmental, and economic sustainability
- grassroots youth engagement and empowerment; youth-led, for youth
- low budget, high impact
- run entirely by volunteers

Our Vision
What would we like to achieve down the road?
- a decentralized grassroots movement on social change through the arts
- a social enterprise that empowers communities to learn, evaluate, act, and celebrate sustainability with a splash of creativity
- the “headquarter” provides a platform to support and facilitate collaboration, empowerment, and innovation
- grassroots “free-run chapters” around the world, each with its own flavour but all contributing to social change through the arts (there is no set box to dictate what each chapter does to achieve this common goal)
- leverage the support of the community as well as strategic partnerships with NGOs, companies, organizations, institutions, etc.

Who can lead a chapter?
anyone! individuals, groups and established organizations/institutions passionate about arts, education, youth empowerment, and sustainability
- start a NOW! (start a brand new NOW! chapter and run wild with it)
- adopt a NOW! (existing groups/companies/institutions/etc adopting NOW! as one of its programs)

Hey there,

Check out ‘SuP 1+1. Interested in being involved? Pleaset let us know at info@now-org.com

To take learning to the next level and provide more mentorship and support for participants, the Act NOW! program is now launching a new grassroots initiative, ‘SuP (Sustainability Playwriting) 1+1. This initiative is inspired by a workshop for youth at Terry, where a playwright and a scientist paired up to weave magic.

The presenters, one with expertise in playwriting and the other with aspects of sustainability, will creatively spark innovations and dialogue in youth  by presenting hands-on workshops at local high schools. Plays coming from these workshops can also enter the 2009-2010 National Playwriting Competition!

The 2009 NOW What? Conference will be held at Point Grey Secondary School on Dec. 11.

Organized by a bunch of enthusiastic and dedicated grade 9 students, the conference will be a fun way to engage more than 200 elementary school students from the area to learn, think, and act sustainability! The theme this year is “resourceful thinking”.