Tag: Wisconsin

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Voices We Love: Rebecca Ryan

Project Kinect is so happy to call Madison, Wisconsin home for so many reasons.  One of the biggest reasons however, is because Madison is filled with forward thinkers and positive social change makers. One of them is Rebecca Ryan. She is the founder of Next Generation Consulting, is a futurist, an author, and a public speaker. And basically, she rocks. A couple weeks ago, she published a little piece on her Facebook page, “I am a Liability to the Status Quo” that we found brilliant.  Here it is in the entirety:

I am a liability to the status quo.

Last night, I was having drinks with the executive director and the chairman of a board I serve on. They shared another board member’s response to my strategic ideas: “You know,” he said hesitantly, “Rebecca’s a fighter. And she’s W A A A Y out there…” He was pointing to the future, or the edge of his vision. I’m not sure which.

I felt a little guilty about this. I wondered if I’d put our chairman or ED in a bad spot with this other board member.

So I slept on it. And I’ve come to this: if you want to preserve the status quo, if you don’t want to stretch your vision, I’m gonna make you uncomfortable. And I’m willing to fight mightily for a future that benefits all of our children. Here’s my secret: in every meeting, I imagine a row of chairs occupied by kids I’ll never meet, people who will be born long after I’m dead. And I think about what decisions I can make today that will benefit them.

That’s not “out there” in the future. That’s in here. (I am pointing to my heart.)

So screw anyone who wants to judge me because of their lack of comfort with the future or their discomfort with conflict. Future generations aren’t going to look back on us and say, “Thank you for maintaining the status quo. Thank you for continuing with your consumptive, environment-killing, selfish ways. I know that’s what made you comfortable, and I’m so glad you valued your comfort over my future.”

Hell, no.

I’ll continue to be a liability to the status quo. And I’ll work my face off to help others do the same.

‪#‎mytruth‬

If you want to see a little more of Rebecca Ryan’s brilliance, here is a video. It is a few years old, but still embodies her forwardness, honesty, and greatness.

 

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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.

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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.

 

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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.

 

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Causes We Love: Marriage Equality

A large part of Positive Social Change is finding equality for all. A pressing source of inequality in our nation has been bans on same-sex marriage. Here is a brief explanation of what happened today and what the future holds. We also added some suggestions for change makers who are curious how to use their energy after this ruling.

 What Happened? The five states, Wisconsin, Indiana, Utah, Oklahoma, and Virginia, all had cases where Federal Judges ruled that same-sex marriage bans were unconstitutional. The opposing parties to this ruling then appealed their cases to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court rejected all five cases. Therefore, the ruling sits on what the Federal Judges stated in the circuit courts.

First, in the near future, same sex bans will be dissolved in those five states. Second, all the states that each of those Federal Courts preside over will also dissolve any other same-sex marriage bans that may be present. That includes a total of 11 states. Thus, bringing the number of states where same-sex marriage is legal from 19 to 30.

Will the Supreme Court take this issue up some time soon? It is possible. Currently there are four other rulings from judges from the Appeals Courts on a Federal level that very possibly may be something the Supreme Court takes on. As for now, we must just wait.

What do you do as a change maker?

  • It is important to keep up on current events. Know what is happening and share accurate information.
  • Identify when you can safely correct other people who may be providing wrong information
  • Use your energy to work on other causes that growth can be seen. This rejection is a win and that should be celebrated. Until more development can be done though, don’t just spin your wheels, use that energy productively.
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Exploring the Madison Protests

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to witness everything happening in Madison, WI in the months of February and March but when I arrived into Madison, I wanted to make sure I got the feeling of what was happening over those two months.  Thankfully, my friend Alyssa was in the middle of it which made her the perfect tour guide for this video.  As you watch it, keep in mind that it was the middle of winter, covered in snow with an average temperature of 26 degrees.  Over those two months, there were hundreds of thousands of people with the largest protest maxing out at close to a hundred thousand people.  That was the protest where the state farmers came to support and brought their tractors right up to the capital and drove around it the entire day.

Also keep in mind what this means to have a hundred thousand people in this space.  Over the last five months, we have been reading and hearing about hundreds of protests in the Middle East from places like Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Libya and so on.  The protests in Madison were as large and in some moments, larger than those.  Americans will rally too and we can’t forget what we can do when we come together.

In this video there are a couple references that are made and just in case you would like to check them out, here are a few links.

Kent State Massacre

Kloppenburg Recount

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A Wake Up Story

Last night, as we were laying our heads down to go to sleep in Beaumont, TX, we were watching some footage from after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  The last thing that I remember seeing before I went to sleep was a story about an elected official who personally raised funds for food and water, bought them herself then hiked them up this treacherous hill to make sure that those constituents in that part of the affected area were getting some sort of support.  She was doing everything that she could possibly do to make sure that she was there for the people who voted her in.  I will repeat the main part of this again.  “EVERYTHING SHE COULD POSSIBLY DO”.  That inspires me to continue reaching out, meeting people, finding out what our country actually needs and what is being missed by the people who we voted in.

In Wisconsin, they are doing everything that they can do to be there for each other.  Last Saturday, over a hundred thousand people were marching on the capital. The big event for that rally was that farmers, who have almost absolutely no economical hit directly from the bill in question, brought their tractors to the capital and made themselves seen.  They were doing everything they can to help out the neighbors in need.  Now today, with the possible 8 republican state senators as well as 8 democratic state senators in the spotlight of being recalled, there is a small ripple that is being made that I hope begins to move across the country. We’re not happy the way our government is running things and yes, all this in Wisconsin maybe on a state level, but that is how it begins.  Are the people that you voted in doing what they said they would? I am just asking.  What you do with that answer though is the difference between flexing our democratic muscle and not.

As for the rest on this beautiful Monday, we are now in war with Libya.  Another war before we’ve finished with the mess left from the last administration. I hope that this doesn’t need the resources that it may very well need. Right now, the Middle East is like a hostile kindergarten room with too many destructive toys; A little too much pressure with out a nap time, and all hell will break loose.

Well, I’m off to explore Beaumont a little bit this morning. Have a great day, and while you’re in it, take a moment to think about if you could be doing more in that moment.  Not the entire day, not for your life, but just in that moment.  It’s a little experiment to see what it does to you and does to the people around you.

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