In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, communities in the most devastated parts of New York City began the process of rebuilding almost immediately, mostly through the work of volunteers and self-motivated individuals stepping up personally with very little infrastructure or centralized support. In the Rockaways, one of the areas hit hardest, a group of local artists and builders are collaborating on an alternative relief and resilience project called This is Not a Trash Pile. They have teamed up with Culinary Kids, a local organization working with youth to promote nutrition and self-sufficiency through local agriculture and aquaculture projects. Together, they have erected a tent built from salvaged material on NYC Parks Department property under the stewardship of Culinary Kids. With programming from The Whale Project, The Fixers Collective and Time’s Up, among many others, this tent will be a hub for the community and will host combination of youth educational programs, resilient community programs, and mutual aid and distribution programs. We’ve even heard that the tent is going to house a library!       AwesomeNYC is proud to name This is Not a Trash Pile our November grant recipient. The funds will go toward materials and heating units for the tent,… read more →

Planet Orchestra Performing for Foundation Board Members on October 19th, 2012   What happens when you combine curious kids, eager parents and a whole bucket load of orchestral instruments?  You get planet Orchestra.  Los Angeles South Bay Awesome Foundation (yes, that’s a mouthful isn’t it?) was excited to the brim to award it’s second grant to a growing group of devoted musicians based out of Lawndale California.  These musicians aren’t your ordinary orchestra, they are youth that are given free lessons, an instrument and (most valuable of all) a nurturing environment in which “to come together to achieve the common good of making music.”  Planet orchestra has grown, from its inception in 2010 with a group of eight children, to a thriving group of professional musicians, volunteers, parents and children. Based in Lawndale, Planet Orchestra has grand ideas and does not plan to stop with just a few lessons to a few kids.  This energetic group of social entrepreneurs hopes to use its existing system to spring board into school classrooms, dance studios, and (in the words of Buzz Lightyear) to infinite and beyond!  There’s little doubt that Planet Orchestra will continue to impact lives and make our world a… read more →

Awesome Foundation – Calgary’s final $1,000 micro-grant before the Mayan Apocalypse went to Shannon Hoover and “MakeFashion,” a collaboration of great minds who want to demonstrate that the convergence of Technology and Art can result in a form, fashion and community brand new to Calgary.

After more than a year of stewing, and then more than a year pretending we were close to launching, AF Winnipeg is proud to finally announce its first call for submissions. The deadline is Thursday the 22nd, and the grant will be awarded on Thursday the 29th. Winnipeg, Manitoba is a city where many people can find ways to live cheaply, and so it’s become a cultural centre for Canada. That cheapness brings other difficulties with it, though; it was very difficult to find people, outside of rich (and too-busy) businessmen, who could spare $100 every month. At AF Winnipeg, there are two main things we did to keep costs down: We created a pool of ‘nano-trustees’, who give $100 every two or three months. We need a larger number of them, but we can rotate through the pool to fill any extra seats each month. They don’t get those sort-of-perks the micro-trustees get, like having a seat named after them, but this opens us up to allow people to become part of this process a single time if they wanted. We allow a groups of individuals from an organization to create a micro-trustee seat. The face might change from… read more →

November’s Awesome Ottawa award goes to Margaret Tourond-Townson to support organic gardening by seniors in retirement homes. Margaret, a senior herself, will work with fellow Canadian Organic Growers volunteers Rob Danforth, David Townson, and Sara Holzman to expand a program that was started as a pilot this summer. “This past year has been so satisfying to see seniors gardening and loving it,” says Margaret. “We even had a Harvest Celebration with seniors helping to prepare the food that they grew themselves!” They also hope to connect the seniors in the program with children involved in the successful Growing Up Organic program, which was active in 26 schools in Ottawa this year and will be in more than 50 in 2013. To learn more about the Senior Organic Gardeners program, visit http://cog.ca/ottawa/goo/.