Back in the fall of 2013, I was living in an apartment with four other people and things were not going so well, I had been miserable with my living arrangements. I had gotten to such a low that I had been looking for a place to move into. Just as I was packing up my things to go home for the winter break I desperately needed, my phone rang. A friend of mine said that she knew of an opening in a house full of motivated and goal oriented people. After taking a tour of the newly renovated home in the heart of State College, I knew that I would be happy here, in this new home developed for change makers to gather and accomplish one goal: make the world a better place. The name of the house: Co.Space.
Co.Space just opened their doors back in July 2013 and since then the house of 20 have been hard at work in the local community, on campus and even worldwide. When the two people who hatched the idea of the house were developing it, they decided that having one Co.Space house would not be enough. Currently, they are developing more houses in college towns across America and even across the sea. Residents do not just live in this house and you can understand that once you walk in through the front door just by the layout of the house (Figure 1).
Everything was planned around having organic conversations and the founders took key hints from Google and other companies who have similar ‘Theory Y’ approaches. There are whiteboards everywhere and the coffee tables were whiteboard tables so no matter where in the house you are you can leave a note or have a conversation and write things down for yourself or the house. The dining room table is custom made with outlets under the table to allow anyone to just sit down and plug in and w...
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...ause the students are already driven. They already have some ideas in place or are actively looking for ideas. Taking driven students and putting them under one roof and telling them to work together to accomplish whatever they feel would make the world better only motivates them even more. In the future Co.Space’s goal is to expand out of Penn State to open up houses across the country and the world and have the houses collaborate together further motivating people. The open atmosphere and the way people just start planning and collaborating together to motivate everyone else in an organic way is outstanding and there are only a few areas that need only minor adjusting. But overall, Co.Space is an amazing, innovating, inspiring home where students who are already motivated can come together and increase their motivation and make a change in the world together.
Most individuals would suggest creating a homeless shelter, but that solution is unrealistic due to budgets, and the lack of funds from the community and Calvary Chapel. The cost of these solutions is reasonable and within reach. The solution will provide jobs and offer a sense of self-esteem most homeless have lost. The homeless as well as the community will thrive from this program and lives will be changed. Individuals, who were stuck on the street cold and alone, will be given the opportunity to go out and make a change in their lives. Although, many might suggest that many homeless are ex drug addicts or alcoholics, there are many who do not have the financial stability to survive and live a life of normality but will do what it takes to change their situation. Hess suggests that, “What many people need is an opportunity to get back on their feet and develop their own income” (Feuer, 2012, para.15). My solution offers this opportunity and by implementing it, homeless will have the power to change their
We invite current and potential corporate and community sponsors to our visit us working in our labs, and host tours that are launched with an informational presentation. Each student is versed in Nicolet FEAR’s elevator pitch, and encouraged to share their enthusiasm within our school and
The OU Sooner Housing Center (SHC) is comprised of three housing facilities (The Jefferson House, The Jones House, and the Bud Wilkinson House) and a dining hall (The Wagner Dining Hall) which creates a family-like environment solely for residents. The Jefferson House houses all female residents, while the Jones House and Bud Wilkinson (referred to as “the Bud”) houses all males. The Wagner dining hall provides meals services only for students, faculty, and staff living in the three Sooner Housing Center. The first floor of the Bud is the “community center” which provides computers, a television, sitting areas, Ping-Pong and pool tables, a laundry room, and a main office. In the past, the Bud served only as athletic housing, but by 1996, the houses were converted to shared housing for both athlete (49%) and non-athlete (51%) “The change from all athletic housing to shared on-campus housing was originally mandated by the NCAA rules. As a result, the OU Athletics Department decided to take a creative approach and provide quality housing for all students” (Sooner Sports NP).
The school’s “Making dreams happen...one student at a time program of transformation," supported by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, began in 2001, when the school was divided into two small schools, each led by a team of teachers who also act as advisors to help students take advantage of experiences and internships congruent with their interests and passions.
Homelessness needs to be attacked at its source. Developing a transformational campus will provide hope for the homeless by attacking its causes. This “Transformational Campus” is a place where an individual or family experiencing homelessness can go to receive housing, education, counseling, and support in order to help transform his or her life by addressing its root causes . This will be the beginning to the end of homelessness.
“When I saw my house three weeks after the storm, I was glad it stood but I knew it was time for change. Now five years later, I have learned that for me to enjoy the beauty of this place, there is a cost to bear. I love this place and am here to stay, but I have to invest more than I had imagined. The hurricane has greatly affected our lives but not only in a bad way.”
A well-known program in New Orleans is The Covenant House. It is a well establish program that offer assistance to thousands of youth. Each day, scores of kids walk into Covenant Houses across the Americas for the first time. They get what they need immediately: a shower, a meal, clothes, a warm bed, and medical care if they require it – more than a third do. Then, Covenant House has expectations of the kids. Once they’re safe, clot...
In the 6th grade, I took part in an after school class, in which I not only increased our knowledge by going to museums and art galleries but also did everything we could to make our school of higher quality. I built bikes whose designated purpose was for the kids in our school to use, painted picnic tables for our school, and much more. If accepted to the Kealing Magnet Program, I can guarantee that I will assist in creating a greater environment. I love helping my community, and I will never pass up a chance to make it cleaner and more desirable.
People’s lives are changed every day by their actions and experiences. This past summer, I participated in a community service project, an experience that opened my eyes in many ways. I was a volunteer at the County Memorial Hospital. In my time as a volunteer at the hospital, I was able to meet patients and staff members from all over the world and learn about their life experiences. Listening to all of their stories has made me truly appreciate everything which I have.
...employment and housing (Haj-yahia & Cohen, 2009). Building Better Beginnings provides all of these wants and it does so innovatively and effectively.
When I moved to California two weeks before school started, I had difficulty looking for places to live around County Community College. This is because community colleges don’t usually have on-campus housing facilities for students. This made life very difficult for me because I was brand new to the area and I knew no one. My dad did help me by calling up one of his friends and asked if I could stay at their house temporarily until I was able to find a place I could live at, that was near school because I didn’t have a car at the time. The day I finally found a place to live, school was almost about to start. When I went to check the house out, I really disliked it there because there was no cooking allowed, the only time I could use the stove was to boil water. There were even curfews enforced because poor wooden floorboards would alert everyone whenever someone would walk around just to grab a cup of water or a snack at night. Another limitation was that the landlady had ridiculous shower curfews that I had to follow. The house was very unclean and unhygienic due to the lack of maintenance and care provided for the building. There was no other choice but to live there because it was the closest place to school, that was within walking or biking distance, I could find because I didn’t know how to take the bus in this new country. This is what leads me to believe that County Community College should see if it’s feasible to construct an on-campus housing facility for students because it is able to help a large variety of students in various ways.
(Transition: Know you understand how big the problem of homelessness is and how you can help)
The severe layoffs in Wilmington forced us to confront the significance of losing our hometown. By coming home to work, we have had the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to repairing the place that anchors us to the world. The things that make Wilmington an important place to us are the same things that make our work powerful, such as its historical narrative, the communal social ties we share with the people with whom we work, and inspiration provided by our friends and families. Working as members of our own community gives our work a unique purpose that only arises when the people engaged in the work are fully anchored to the place in which they work. We hope that our work will help shift perspective back to the value of places, and provide others with a living model for the impact that can be made by investing in the places that make us who we are.
Community of Hope opened in February 2014 to temporarily house homeless single-parent families who have been impacted by barriers related to trauma. Community of Hope’s goal is to provide families with a safe environment and parents with the tools to find a job, locate stable housing, and establish healthy parenting skills. Parenting classes are offered and they focus on
Habitat for Humanity strives the bring fair living conditions to people worldwide. Ten million people die worldwide die each year to conditions related to substandard housing, and they are trying to change that statistic. 40 million American families find themselves in a situation where housing consumes more than 30% of their income. They can barely afford to pay for anything else in their life, because their house bill costs so much. Virtually nowhere in the US can a full-time minimum-wage employee afford a one-bedroom apartment, which is extremely unfortunate and means that either the minimum wage is too low, or the rent is too high. Either way, some policy needs to be made so working families have somewhere to live and do not become absolutely