List the different solutions you came up with:

One of the unique features of the Choosing to participate project is that it supports multiple areas of problem engagement and the associated human-centered design of solutions/actions. This provides for a rich dialog among class members related to the intersectionality of these issues, but because of the smaller size of each working group allows for each student to take on meaningful work and to learn and practice important collaboration and leadership skills. Below is a representative selection of some of the possibilities explored by our teams.

• We had many ideas and brainstorm sessions that contributed to our project. Some ideas included contacting organizations that would allow us to volunteer and help those in need. Some examples include volunteering at Democracy Now! And Amnesty International. Over all, the solutions we thought of contributed to the “Do” portion of our project and inspired a change in the world.
• We thought that it would be important to attend conferences and rallies to help spread awareness about climate change issues to people with political power as well as voters.
• During this project, we wanted to address our topic of hunger in the most effective way possible. One of the ideas that we had in addressing hunger was creating our own version of Canstruction. Canstruction is an annual exhibition where designers and architects build sculptures completely out of food cans. After Canstruction is over, all of the food cans that were used to create these large sculptures are donated to anti-hunger organizations. We thought that Canstruction was extremely unique and special because it was a way of raising awareness and impacting hunger at the same time. Another idea that we had was the concept of “thinking beyond the can drive.” We learned about this concept from an interview that we had with Joel Berg, who is the Executive Director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, which is an anti-hunger organization in NYC. “Thinking beyond the can drive” is the concept of looking at hunger from an even deeper level and trying to impact it in a more sustainable way. In other words, “thinking beyond the can drive” means that hunger can’t just be solved by soup kitchens, food pantries and can drives. To end hunger forever in the United States, we learned that federal feeding programs, such as SNAP (food stamps) impact hunger the most, where as can drives indeed help the hungry, but they aren’t necessarily the most efficient and sustainable way to solve hunger in our country.
• In the imagine stage, my group and I read the book Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, the former CFO of Google, and the current CFO of Facebook. The book was really interesting for us because it outlined strategies and ways that women could encourage each other to stand up for themselves and what kind of behavior would help them advance in the workplace and get the resources and necessities that they need. One solution that we came across was making sure that every workplace gives paid maternity and paternity leave so that women are encouraged to return to their jobs. Also, equal pay is a necessity for women who are providing for their families. In the imagine stage we read many articles about the Equal Rights Amendment, which would provide women with the same legal status.
• One idea that we had to address the epidemic of gun violence was to work with existing groups that already had ideas, and elaborate on them. We worked with Harlem Mothers S.A.V.E., an organization that already had an idea for stopping the illegal gun pipeline in their neighborhood by working with the police to watch certain stores that were on their watch list. Another idea that we had was to hand out flyers in Bryant Park that encouraged people to call the White House and demand stronger gun laws.

Who was involved in the brainstorming process?

Brainstorming for the Choosing to Participate project was a multi-tiered process. The primary area for this work was in the topic-focused group of 3-5 students. However, groups also sought input from other groups and from the class as a whole. As the project was also connected to the ongoing humanities portion of the curriculum, ideation sessions about class readings also informed the work of the social justice groups. In addition, groups often engaged in brainstorming sessions when they were on fieldworks. This allowed a wider range of voices/perspectives into the design process.

How did you come up with your idea/ideas?

Each group followed a slightly different process that emerged from the nature of their topic and its associated opportunities and challenges. Fieldwork, research and ongoing discussion and dialog were crucial to the process. However, the most important factor in taking action was making connections with others already doing work related to the topic and individuals and communities impacted by the issue. This provided an essential human connection to the work and helped to bring ideas and issues to life.

One of the key goals of the Choosing to Participate Project is educating others about the issues and topics that are at the center of the groups’ work. Since the primary audience for this work was 5th-7th graders, teams had to think about how best to communicate their learnings to this group. Teams developed initial concepts for their workshops and then through a prototyping process were able to get feedback about what worked and what needed to be redesigned.

Which one did you choose to implement and why?

Depending on the topic, groups had varied approaches to planning for action. Some groups were able to design solutions for direct engagement with impacted communities and individuals. In addition to the projects listed below, all groups were responsible for designing workshops for the Social Justice Teach-In to teach fifth-seventh graders about their topics and how individuals can make a difference. The Social Justice Teach-In is described in more detail in the Share deliverables.

“In partnership with Amnesty International, we engaged our 7th and 8th graders in a letter writing campaign in support of individuals who have been imprisoned for expressing their views.”

“We also focused on creating awareness about small things that can make a difference in reducing the impact of climate changer such as: recycling, not littering, turning off the lights and eating locally grown food. We also planned to spread the word to other people about how easy it is to at least make a small difference. Although these efforts won’t immediately stop global warming, they still make a difference and still count. We believe that if we show the people in political power how much we care, they will start trying to make the difference as well.”

“After gaining experience on hunger by volunteering at food pantries and soup kitchens and by interviewing hunger experts, we imagined that having our own Canstruction was the best way for us to impact hunger the most. This is because we couldn’t exactly try to solve hunger on a federal level, so we decided that creating activism art that helped food insecure Americans was the most effective solution that we could actually take on.”

“We wanted to help public schools get funded and we wanted to raise awareness about underfunding. We thought that one of the best ways we could help was to participate in protests and lobbies. We joined with the Alliance for Quality Education to fight for funding in public schools.”

“To address the issue of gun violence, one solution that we thought that we could definitely take on was the flyer solution. We handed out flyers that asked people to communicate their views to the Whitehouse. Those flyers may have played a role in helping to pass the executive orders that President Obama signed into action in January of this year. “

“Before we got started on thinking about how we can make a change, we jumped right into learning about the issue of women’s objectification in the media. It was not until a little bit later on that we asked what can we do to address this problem or make a change? We decided that the way we would address this issue was by spreading the word to other people and educate them about women’s objectification in the media. We wanted to talk to the fourth graders about this problem because we thought that, that was the age that we all felt this issue started to play a role in our day to day lives.”