Tell our Own Story: Photography at East Lake Elementary

East Lake Community PTA is a network of parents, teachers, educators, and community members who are fierce, and who will do anything it takes to help children thrive. They believe the arts can play a strategic role in building up children and bringing our community together. So the plan is to equip 10 children in a Spring Break workshop to tell their own stories through art, to begin to see themselves as storytellers, to know that their own unique perspective tells the world something it could not know without them. How? Cameras. Enter The UNFoundation.

Shelton Brown of Humans of Chattanooga and Audrey Menard of ELLAchattanooga (also the PTA president) will teach kids basic skills of photography, portraits, and photojournalism. During the week, students will get to take their cameras home with them to document the stories around them. Students will choose one photograph to have professionally printed and framed and then display their work at +Coffee in an art show. At the end of the workshop, the cameras will be donated to the art program the PTA is building at the Title 1 school, so that in the upcoming year, all 540 students can have access to the art of photography as they learn to tell their own visual stories. #winning

Travel Lego Kits for Foster Kids | 16yr old Eagle Scout

A rising Eagle Scout applied for help with his project. His plan, one pretty awesome for a 16 year old kid, was to custom build 100 Lego travel kits for foster kids in the Hamilton and Catoosa County areas.  After studying the details, he was unanimously voted an UNFoundation winner by a group of 100 budding philanthropists.  (That's us in case you were wondering, our 5th birthday party was huge.)

Lego kits can be expensive and kids in troubled situations, along with the adults who take care of them, may not be able to afford them. Our $1,000 grant will purchase lunch boxes and base plates to build on, all legos will be donated through a drive he plans to have at his school. Volunteers (Scouts, Leaders, Friends) will help with sizing the base plates, gluing them to lids and sorting Legos for each kit.  Catoosa and Hamilton County DFCS as well as Catoosa and Hamilton County Police Departments will help distribute the kits as needed. Way to come together, everyone. Go team!
 

Pass the Plate: Hardy Elementary Teach with Food

Kelsey Googe and Emily Brace are CDC teachers at Hardy Elementary. CDC stands for Child Development Credential, in layman terms they specialize in teaching children with special needs. These teachers have been cooking with their 3rd - 5th grade students every Friday for almost 3 years, and using their own money to fund the supplies. What does the Friday cooking class look like? If they are studying colonial times, they're making butter. Studying the life cycle of a butterfly? Make a pretzel and celery model! Phases of the moon? Must be Oreo time! Students learn how to follow directions, measuring, social skills, problem solving and teamwork.

Our $1,000 grant will be used for weekly food, but it will also be used to purchase some additional kitchen items, such as an additional microwave, toaster oven, stand alone burner, bowls, permanent utensils, and measuring items. Teachers shouldn't be spending their own money buying these items. We got you, Ms. Googe and Ms. Brace.

Refugee Coffee: Mad Priest Coffee Roasters

The mission of Mad Priest Coffee is “craft excellent coffee, educate the curious, and champion the displaced.” Though they believe in producing the best product, they equally believe in creating a business that educates and empowers. Our $1,000 January grant helps with a coffee subscription program with an educational component designed to teach coffee drinkers about conflict zones and displaced peoples as well as tools to teach employees English.

Subscription Program: 3x5 cards will go out with each subscription plan (did you know you can have coffee delivered right to your door here in Chattanooga?) that have a featured country of the month. The cards will be educational material on both the conflict in that country, and the coffee being grown.

Job Training Program: Resources for the staff to utilize, such as language materials (mastering English through a platform like Rosetta Stone) and espresso/coffee training are needed to do this right. Bridge Refugee Services helps find the right people to come and work for Mad Priest Coffee. Mad Priest Coffee does the rest.

Wilderness First Aid at Lookout Mountain Conservancy

Imagine having the knowledge to save someone's life. Take it a step further, imagine using that knowledge to actually save someone's life. Now think about the pride and self worth you feel from having this knowledge. Empowering, isn't it. Not only will completion of this class bolster self worth, it will make the interns better equipped to help each other while working on the property doing conservation work. This is what our $1,000 grant will bring to 11 Howard High School students currently enrolled in the Howard Intern and Leadership Program. What's that? Read here.

This wilderness first aid class would also be open to the public and has the potential to expand and generate income for the Lookout Mountain Conservancy (LMC). SOLO will teach the classes on the LMC property, and after 32 years with over 120,000 students trained, is considered to be the pioneer of wilderness medicine. In Chattanooga, the scenic city, the outdoor Mecca of the Southeast, the closest option for this training is the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina, 125 miles away. We are moving on up. Just like the Jeffersons.

Project Innovate: Social Entrepreneur Incubator for Youth

Chattanooga is the entrepreneurship capital of the Southeast, right? Well what about the underprivileged youth? We definitely need more. Project Innovate will empower underserved youth with social entrepreneurship skills to create solutions to problems that their communities face. Students will develop their own ideas for a product or program addressing the issue they choose and will pitch it to a panel of community leaders. The top 3 projects will be awarded $400 dollars each for implementation. Add in refreshments, supplies and marketing and you have our $2,050 grant to fund this winter 2017 event.

Who is making this happen? Anjali Chandra (Seriously, click her name and read a paragraph about her). At 11 she created the non-profit GlobalEXCEL with a mission to equip underprivileged youth with the resources and skillsets they need for a healthy, financially secure future. Like whoa. In December 2013 she won an UNFoundation grant for a program called PowerIt Up, you can read all about how much Mayor Berke loved it here. When she accomplished this feat she was a junior in high school. Today she attends Harvard. Yes, the Harvard.

Forest Kindergarten: Winter Gear

Forest Kindergarten is an early childhood education model that allows children to learn in and through the natural environment. 20 kids at Red Bank Elementary are lucky enough to be a part of this phenomenon right now in its inaugural year. Similar to the original German model where 100% of class time is spent outdoors, this model is a bit different with 2.5 hours each day spend outside. While outside, students will have the opportunity to practice the content that has been taught in the classroom through their own exploration.

Now that you know what it is, I bet you're wondering how we helped? Winter gear. Waterproof gloves, wool socks, warm hats, gaiters. The UNFoundation, warming hearts and hands. 

PLAY Chattanooga: Police and FIrefighters Coach Flag Football

PLAY Chattanooga discovered that by changing the relationship between law-enforcement and inner-city youth through sports, we can transform lives in Chattanooga. With several events under their belts they applied for a grant to fund a Spring Flag Football league. Lead by our local police officers and firefighters, kids will be lead to make great life choices, develop leadership characteristics and transform the perception of law enforcement in their communities.

What will the money go towards? PLAY Chattanooga plans to use the money to pay their dedicated coaches and referees. Funds will also be used for equipment such as cleats, league apparel, and travel to compete with out-of-town teams. Our $1,500 grant was matched 50% (another $750 for you math challenged friends) by Causeway, so in total the impact for PLAY is $2,250. Want to help? You can! DONATE HERE.