Awesome Foundation NYC’s next party will be at Babycastles in Brooklyn (285 Kent Avenue) on June 27th, 8 pm. Details coming soon! RSVP on Facebook to get updates

Awesome DC have been busy bees this Spring! In part inspired by our wildly energetic April grantees – GirlTrek. I talked to Vanessa about the project and what the Awesome grant means for them. Warning: Get ready to be inspired! What is GirlTrek all about, what do you do, and who is it for? GirlTrek puts the Move back in Movement. 80% of Black women are overweight.  Researchers predict that 100% of us will be overweight by 2034.  We were two ordinary Black women, with no real health background or health role models.  To get moving – we set goals and started walking everyday.  In a few months, Vanessa ran a half marathon for the first time, and Morgan went on her very first backpacking trip – 50 miles! But our personal victories weren’t enough to shake the haunting statistics that implicated our families and friends. We had inspired them by our own transformations. We knew they were listening and watching, but how could we get them to join us?  Better yet, how could we ignite a national movement of motivated women?  One step at a time. GirlTrek is a 10-week walking challenge and a call to action. Each spring we recruit… read more →

Ok awesome friends, it’s on!  Chicago has opened it’s doors and is accepting proposals through May 15th.  We’ll then retire to our Awesome clubhouse, hand type each application into our Awesome computer, and analyze the awesome potential of Chicago.  We’ll inform the grantee by May 30th, and plan to have a sweet award ceremony / party at Small Bar.  For more information on the Chicago Chapter, including bio’s of the trustees and an idea of the projects we love, head to Awesome Chicago.

You may recall back in December, our Awesome Applicants in DC were so… well… Awesome, that we had a hard time choosing.  A very close runner up for the grant was the Walker Jones Kitchen Classroom. Now, our guest Trustee for April, Miriam Schwedt and her Associate of Awesome, Katie Heller (both from the seriously awesome Peloton Projects) have picked up the Walker Jones cause and need your support! On May 1, Miriam and Katie would like you to join us at Walker-Jones for a day of Service to help them with their mission to teach kids about nutrition, nature, and how sowing seeds of hard work can pay off! The day will include working with Walker-Jones kids and families in their kitchen garden, followed by a Happy Hour and fundraiser!  For more information and to RSVP, check out the event page on facebook – get ready for a great day!! Although many kids at Walker-Jones come from tough situations, the staff have taken initiative to start an amazing kitchen garden, through which they are teaching students about gardening, nutrition, and soon, they hope, about cooking with the produce they have grown! We want to support Walker Jones in this… read more →

Urban renewal is a hot topic and the Awesome Foundation is big into supporting into creative minded people who focus on harnessing a community’s energy to complement larger scale bricks and mortar development.  The Boston Chapter awarded it’s February grant to artist and basketball enthusiast Maria Molteni in support of her mission to restore use of local abandoned b-ball courts by crafting DIY nets. This project harnesses the power of shared activity and public space in fostering a bond of trust between artists, athletes, and neighbors. The nets are designed to be colorful, vibrant additions to public spaces that go beyond being strictly functional. Installing unique hand-crafted products sets the stage for individual expression. The MOLTENi NET WORKS project is well underway with a recent exhibit at Cambridge’s MEME Gallery in Central Square that also included workshops where participants were able to hand-crochet basketball nets to be installed on bare hoops. Efforts have begun locally in Allston, MA and there are several local organizations (Boston include Artists for Humanity, Villa Victoria Center for the Arts, Design Studio for Social Intervention, and Massart’s Fibers Department) interested in putting on more workshops. If you’d like to get pitch in, there are a… read more →