Steeming Ahead Toward a Funding Decision

Class is cancelled today (snow!), but we’re moving along in several ways as we have seven projects to consider:

• Create Paid Internships at Art-Reach (proposed by @charliehersh)
• Develop Community Led Oral Histories (@gvgktang)
• Fund the Fund for the School District of Philadelphia (@hourofhistory)
• Support the Philadelphia Black History Collaborative (@chelseareed)
• Advance the Pennhurst Memorial & Preservation Alliance’s Museum and Interpretive Center (@dduquette)
• Develop Walking Tours that are Free, Relevant and Engaging (@engledd)
• Teach the Creatives of Today How to Fish in Tomorrow's Pools (@peartree4)

Unfortunately, we’re now missing the Public History Truck. It’s founder had to decline to participate: "I do not have the manpower to make the project your students proposed come to fruition—however, it is a compelling idea, one that I had played around with at the end of the 2015 exhibition They Say They Gonna Build when the stadium rumblings began.” (I shared the full response with @johnesmithiii, who would have been the main contact if we were to go ahead with this one.) Also, in the spirit of leveraging the potential power of the STEEM platform, and deploying my discretion as professor, I chose to include “Teach the Creatives of Today How to Fish in Tomorrow's Pools.”

What's next for our seven prospects?

Direct contact. Now is the time for each of the students listed next to the bulleted projects above to send me (via email) contact information for the organization and a short description of the proposed project. I will then send each a description of our project and ask if they are willing to submit a response and a request for the STEEM by April 13. We will be requesting answers to the following questions which align with our evaluation criteria:

• Is the proposed organization willing and able to commit?
• Is the proposed project consistent with their mission?
• Will additional resources be leveraged?
• Will the organization continue to utilize Steemit?
• Will the project continue after the funding runs out?
• Is there a reasonable promise of scale and impact?
• Will the project be community driven or community oriented?
• Will the project provide increased, affordable access?

I will also explain the Steemit process, letting the organization know the step-by-step sequence of events to transfer funds after the award decision. (More on that in a subsequent post.)

Then, in mid-April, with responses in hand, we’ll make a funding decision.

^{100% of the SBD rewards from this #explore1918 post will support the Philadelphia History Initiative @phillyhistory. This crypto-experiment conducted by graduate courses at Temple University's Center for Public History and MLA Program, is exploring history and empowering education. Click here to learn more.}