Category: Loves in Madison

Posted on

Announcement: Official Launch in Madison

For Immediate Release

Social Change Firm Launches in Madison

Project Kinect will make its official home Madison, Wisconsin

Madison, WI, January 12th, 2015: Project Kinect will be officially launching in Madison, WI Monday, February 23rd. The week will be filled with events, Meet Ups, and community engagement activities. The culmination of the week will be the first annual Social Change Forum that will be held Thursday, February 26th, at the Goodman Community Foundation.

The Social Change Forum’s theme this year is ‘Using Privilege to Become More Inclusive’. The goal is to better develop advocacy skills to make room for everyone’s voice and bring a more inclusive community to the table when planning and developing. This one day event will bring together interested parties in Madison to openly discuss and articulate how we can empower people citywide, thus creating the most impactful community possible. Both organizers and participants will leave energized, connected, and knowledgeable with action items to continue the conversation after the forum. The forum will cost $25 per participant and will begin at 8:30 am. Tickets for the forum can be purchased at EventBrite.

Following the forum, the first quarterly Social Change Happy Hour will take place at Ale Asylum at 6pm. Food will be provided and drinks will have special discounted prices. Social Change Happy Hours are open to the public.

Project Kinect is a firm that connects resources and tools to people and groups seeking to accomplish their own positive social change endeavors. Project Kinect can be contracted for single task objectives or can work as a project manager and assist in entire projects. Currently partnerships have been made with Let’s Eat Out, MadCity Bazaar, Goodman Community Center, 100 State, and many more. For more information about Project Kinect and the official launch week, check out Projectkinect.com.

Posted on

Dane Buy Local Embraces Project Kinect

This last week, Dane Buy Local added Project Kinect to the extraordinary group of local businesses that make up this initiative.  The mission of Dane Buy Local is “to create a sustainable, vital local economy through education, collaboration, and promotion as a nonprofit member organization.”  To date, there are nearly 800 members with Dane Buy Local, and they are the #1 Largest Buy Local Organization in the United States.

Some values and vision points:

• Importance of local ownership and purchasing
• Supporting small business practices and ethics
• Sense of community
• Desire to learn
• Belonging and inclusion
• Sustainability
• Respect
• Value of uniqueness vs. sameness
• Commitment to future generations
• Better quality of life for all
• Building social and economic capital

 

We thank you Dane Buy Local for including us in this very unique and groundbreaking organization.

 

Posted on

Projects We Love: Tiny Houses

This isn’t brand-new news, but it is still newsworthy.  This early polar freeze we are experiencing has shaken us all up.  This cold coming early also makes life as a homeless person more difficult. Our founder, Gregg Potter, has worked extensively with homeless populations globally.  His view is that homelessness is not a problem, it is a circumstance.  Each one of us could find an unfortunate path that leads us to life without a place to rest our head. Because it is a circumstance, and not a problem, we need to aid people in their individual situations.

Occupy Madison is taking steps to assist the homeless population in south central Wisconsin. This last Saturday, there was a ribbon cutting for the Tiny House Village.  This village is creating homes that people from the homeless population can partner with to obtain. Each person must volunteer, agree with the mission and vision of the village, and abide by strict rules. The idea is that this will be enough a stepping stone to reach personal goals.

The Tiny House Blog mentioned this:

Occupy Madison, with help from numerous community groups, has built nine tiny houses, a day resource center, laundry facilities and a community gardening space in the village. The 96 square foot homes are made from reclaimed and recycled materials and include a bed, a toilet, propane heat and solar panels for electricity. Each building costs around $5,000 to build and the money was raised with private donations.

There may never be one definite solution to homelessness because each person, with or without a home, has their own story and their own set of circumstances.  The Tiny House Project is a great step towards helping out in specific communities.  Click here if you’re interested in doing this where you live.

Here is a Huffington Post article about the Tiny House Project.

And, even though we assume people know this, a list of things one should never ask a homeless person.

 

Proudly powered by WordPress