We are about to submit our response to the second round of the Tools Competition Award for the International Big Picture Learning Credential (IBPLC). The team led by Scott Boldt put together a great response that describes what we want to accomplish to a tee. To go along with this Tom Toch asked Viv and I to write a blog on the IBPLC for FutureEd that reaches 50,000 subscribers. Given the present climate and mild distaste for standardized assessments, we have a shot at influencing the system here. Who knows where it will all go or end up but this is our best shot to date?
College Unbound
The College Unbound Board met and discussed the search and nomination for the next College Unbound president after Dennis. Once again, a founder and a board have to figure out who and how to move to the next step of an organization while maintaining the culture, mission, and vision. Replacing a founder is not easy work. It is a place, where if not careful, things can easily fall apart or get diluted. Few groups ever go through this type of change and feel very successful. Consultants and search groups who make their living doing this work have rarely been successful at it personally and rarely do they really know the organization well enough. From the vantage of being at CU from the beginning and also being on the board, it is a very different feeling than how the selection and transition was done for Big Picture Learning with Carlos and Andrew. For sure, this will be an interesting process with a great deal to do.
Harbor Freight Fellows Initiative
Charlie, Kurt, Lorna (HFF Regional Coordinator), and I met with a large team from South Carolina maritime and apprenticeship programs. This is the third meeting for us and we are making waves it gets both industry and government to see that access to adults in the maritime industry for youth earlier on in their lives is key to eliminating bias and increasing opportunity for those youth furthest from these opportunities. To go along with this work, on December 20th, I will meet with the Carpenter’s Union and industry people – Mungu Sanchez, John Dillow, and Joe Youcha about creating new credentials that get youth to work by focusing on the actual skills they need to do the work. It is here that the IBLPC, Harbor Freight Fellows, and B-Unbound intersect. Our Wednesday group has been pushing on these types of intersections between initiatives for months and they are now becoming more and more real through actual work.
Project InSight Fellows
When Kyna Leski sent me an email about a competition her RISD students are involved in called Home for the Blind, I quickly sent her an email back connecting her to Andrea and Carrie for Project Insight. The Home for the Blind competition is about accessible architecture where architects and designers have “an opportunity to reinvent accessible architecture by putting accessibility at the forefront of design, rather than leaving it as an afterthought. How can architecture influence how a person moves through a home? How can it help people to feel safe, comfortable, and independent?” Architects and designers connecting to our students and building this workout is yet another great avenue for Project Insight.
B-Unbound
B-Unbound now has its first two connections to supportive adults and youth in the FabLab in Newport/Providence. This work is in the field of animation. Just by coincidence, the FabLab’s newsletter came out yesterday, and without really making the connection, as is the case with most organizations featuring their work, there was a story about a young person and his mentor. When it comes down to it, the stories of 1:1 personal relationships are what all non-profits feature but at the same time don’t have any real programs to make that happen until B-Unbound.
Big Picture Living
As Chris & Co. pointed out in our BPL newsletter both Carlos and Casey are on the education transition committee for newly elected Mayor Eric Adams. This is great news and there is more. Our partners, ACLM are on the health transition committee for Mayor Adams and are talking up BPLiving. Hearing about BPLIving from these two places might create the kind of change and synergy we are striving for. In January, our joint partnership with ACLM’s HEAL – Health Equity Achieved through Lifestyle Medicine group will present a 3-part series on community health featuring Danique and students from BPLiving along WITH physicians from HEAL. Brian has been developing video clips of the series. Isary and FableVision are preparing our BPLiving Newsletter that will have more details about this series. It is a great way to get the word out in NYC and beyond. Be well!
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Elliot Washor
Co-Founder of Big Picture Learning