The Festival of Urgent Reinventions is a 2-day event to question and reimagine how we can use our skills to build a more accessible, equitable future.The Festival of Urgent Reinventions is a 2-day event to question and reimagine how we can use our skills to build a more accessible, equitable future.The Festival of Urgent Reinventions is a 2-day event to question and reimagine how we can use our skills to build a more accessible, equitable future.
Winning Ideas
Plastic Reduction
Mushroom Farms & MycoFilters: Community Access to Food Security & Clean Water
Creating a mushroom-based filter that can filter previously non-filterable water to communities, therefore decreasing the need for bottled water in these locations.
Lily Jane Clarke
Education
Bringing play-based learning to homeless families
Bringing play-based learning to homeless families with preschool-aged children – to help them ensure their children can start Kindergarten ready to thrive.
Muffie Wiebe Waterman, Victoria Shoemaker
Wellness
Closing the wellness gap of black maternal-fetal health
Closing the wellness gap of black maternal-fetal health by providing wellness resources through pay-it-forward subscription boxes curated to support expecting Black moms.
Payal Pereira & Shannon Gerety
Poverty
City kiosks to encourage empathy and provide resources to the houseless
City kiosks using digital technology to create empathetic attitudes towards unhoused people, ease of access to a hub of relief services, and a more dignified and effective way for the unhoused to connect with employers and find professional mentorship.
Cassie Bingham
We are humbled and proud of all the ideas that were shared during the first edition of THE FESTIVAL OF URGENT REINVENTIONS.
Dive into the archive below to uncover more ideas, beyond the four highlighted above.
Education
To provide online search capabilities over a smartphone using text messaging without using an internet connection
Janet Robertson jrobert6526@gmail.com
A web-based platform for teachers, families and students ages pre K- 5th grade to explore the topic of masks together.
Green Learn provides a platform where schools, districts and communities can foster learning and knowledge transfer outside of the formal classroom whilst creating awareness for an “Eco-Friendlier World”.
Godsfavour Ahamisi ahamisivickzyjr@gmail.com
An online course that trains teachers on how to incorporate emotional intelligence into literacy lessons.
Anna Floersch Anna.n.floersch@gmail.com
Empower people to generate innovative, actionable solutions to the climate crisis and pressing environmental issues through the hackathon innovation model.
Anonymous
An application game that teaches emotional intelligence to elementary school children.
Anna Floersch Anna.n.floersch@gmail.com
Build a network of innovation Centers, and a strong mentorship program, by partnering with local universities, businesses and entrepreneurs.
Kent Slowinski, Mentors+Makers, co-founder wksla@aol.com
Create knowledge ingnitinng spaces by fusing the concepts of data physicalization, gamification, sensory learning and conversational objects.
Marion Ximena Ochoa Hidalgo
A plan to put a highly researched and developed tablet in the hands of every 4th-8th grade level student in the country.
Dara Ladjevardian daraladje@gmail.com
Creat Village, a learning kit that provides at-home learning experiences to inspire creative minds of children in low-income communities.
Genesia Tang
Reimagine a School as a one-stop-shop resource hub for every child and every Bronx family seeking education, healthcare, and social services regardless of socio-economic status.
Elvin Garcia elvin.garcia31@gmail.com
Project based learning and flipped learning SMS tool for teachers to engage with their students away from the classroom.
Emily Hicks, Miguel Jimenez emilyh1296@gmail.com
Reimagines the natural world as a classroom, a science lab, an art studio, as well as a space for joy and healing, where students can receive core academic credits in the exploration and pursuit of wonder.
Shasha Du & Sophie Klimcak shashaxdu@gmail.com
Creation of history textbooks of the future: completely customizable to a student’s needs, a teacher’s desires, and a community’s vision.
Jordan Hayles jordan@jordanhayles.com
The Redwood Continuum: We are proposing that the inequities of Education could be solved by applying a Societal Condition- Informed, Revolution-Compatible model of Systemic Equity strategies.
Coco Peila, Hazel Rose hazelrosek@gmail.com
Scale Radio Shaala by Radio Nazariya, a radio show made with the intention to reach to students of primary grades 6th & 7th and educate them with the basics of social sciences.
Trusha Mishra nathinonsense@gmail.com
Broadcasting Education to Level Learning. BELL is a “no-fi” alternative to traditional distance learning that uses local TV broadcast subchannels to connect students to their classroom, no internet or computer requires.
Amy Small amy@mediacause.org
Wellness
A web and mobile platform for connecting individuals in underserved communities to health non-profits as well as healers and health practitioners.
Siena Tetali siena.tetali@gmail.com
A mobile healing and workshop space which can both serve healthy food, offer natural wellness solutions, but also become a pop up space for gathering and workshops.
therese walkowski thwalk@gmail.com
A digital care library offering wellness practices on-demand.
Jonas Haefele hello@jonashaefele.com
A pop up shower and laundry station that takes unused, new toiletries and redirects them to houseless populations in need, as well as providing on-site opportunities to get clean.
A digital platform that school districts or independent schools purchase to give their students access to mental health services.
Victoria Lima victorialima99@icloud.com
A digital experience where broadly accessible wellness practices will be led by people with marginalized bodies and lived experiences.
Charlotte Friend whatexactlyisupchuck@gmail.com
To awaken Source energy on an individual + collective level, in an effort to raise the collective consciousness for humanities sake of Ascension, by showcasing + sharing Earth’s remarkable crystalline architecture whilst upholding the highest ethical standards of sourcing and environmental consciousness
Jazmyne Renee Scott
A documentary about children with blood disease produced alongside a mobile swab station that tours the country to engage the community and encourage sign ups for potential marrow donors
Andres David Lopez andres@icla.org
A digital platform that activates energized citizens around mutual aid for those experiencing lack of resources.
Juliane Chung julianechung@gmail.com
Adopting healing arts to create healing rituals-- ones that are low-cost, holistic in nature, creatively engaging, and ethical, into marginalized communities.
Kamakshi Arora kamarora96@gmail.com
Integrating wellness practices into our school curriculum the same way we teach children about math, science, reading and writing.
Danielle Nguyen danielletknguyen@gmail.com
A fellowship and community organization tasked with bringing Black people in America the privilege of dreaming.
Kelsey Daniels kelseyshere@gmail.com
Intervena is a social enterprise that offers a co-created community newsletter product for Burmese refugees populations in New York, providing them a personal voice and wellness resources, all within their first 60 days in the US (NY).
Sam Wong samshuwong@gmail.com
A micro-loan investment program that recognizes the disparity in access to sport and wellness across the country and provides an opportunity for those positively affected by their own access to sport to invest in communities that don’t have the same privilege.
Lydia Knoll lydmknoll@gmail.com
A social calendar platform that visualizes your free time and suggests wellness events around your daily routine.
An online platform that spreads awareness to break stigma about Body Image and Mental Health through education, resources, open conversations and creativity
sudeeksha somani sudgcd@gmail.com
Poverty
Create a virtual platform for the Oakland Women's Center to provide access to the knowledge, training, and ongoing support that disenfranchised and homeless women need to advance their lives.
Susan Burgess-Lent susanblt@gmail.com
Provide an accessible platform for professional training, mentoring, and career support for houseless individuals to be trained/certified in facilities management and facilities engineering trades.
Anonymous
A co-op coffee initiative focused on those whose jobs are hardest hit by COVID-19. The idea is a bridges consumers who buy coffee and those wanting to belong to a co-op owner-operated structure.
Dana K Luong dana.luong@gmail.com
Raise funds through takeout services, which will then fund access to showers and hygenic spaces for the houseless.
Lisa Franck franckwithack@gmail.com
Creating a networking app that connects individuals experiencing homelessness with job training, mentoring, and employment.
Melinda Martin hello@statementmedia.co
An app available to all but focused first to connect underserved communities facing homelessness and food insecurity with resources locally and beyond.
Helen Lee ohhellohelen.designs@gmail.com
Using a coconut husk, waste-based, bioengineered wood, Zaminka aims to make functional, weatherproof, semi-permanent emergency housing alternatives to provide dignified homes for displaced people.
Shailaja Chadha shailaja.zaminka@gmail.com
A platform offering self-paced learning and up-skilling to increase employability. Tools and technology would be provided so people can make the most of the platform (ie. second-hand laptops, etc.).
Anonymous
Using a billboard advertisement, word can be spread of a shareable physical address for use on job applications. This service aims to help alleviate employers' discrimination against the houseless.
Nechama Muchnik nechama.muchnik@gmail.com
The Briefcase Project will help those dealing with chronic unemployment and homelessness to build credentials, skills, and opportunities through a technical education, mentorship, and social media.
A web platform providing low-cost mental health services and vocational training opportunities to better achieve the ultimate goal— a stable income, stable housing, and a stable mind.
Anders Perrone, Addison Lalier, Dr. Anita Randolph anders.perrone@gmail.com
In lock-down it's harder to service devices and equipment we depend on daily. This communication platform lets participants list their skills and be connected with neighbors in need of those talents.
Ritvi Mishra ritvi12@gmail.com
Plastic Reduction
A zero-waste food delivery service for the workplace.
Min-Hyung Choi minhyung.choi.h@gmail.com
A mobile app with daily challenges for everyone - ranked by difficulty and nature- incentivized to encourage people to live their life in a more sustainable way.
Florent Blot mail.de.florent@gmail.com
An app that helps differentiate which items are recyclable and which are not, also giving alternatives for products with non-sustainable packaging.
Florent Blot mail.de.florent@gmail.com
A google chrome extension that rates the material usage of different products and companies within the beauty industry.
Claren Moyers claren.moyers@gmail.com
A small but efficient trash-catcher placed in the gutters in the streets - preferably near a city's bin- to prevent unwanted trash from going into the drain system.
Florent Blot mail.de.florent@gmail.com
A dishwasher safe grocery bag that folds into a tiny square, a mix and matchable set of lightweight food storage cubes that also fold into tiny squares, and finally an app that tracks what you have in your pantry and fridge
Sara Fares saranfares@gmail.com
A mobile application that assesses your ongoing contribution to global warming, and how to offset that burden.
Erik L Knutson erik@oneitem.com
An open source concept which allows communities to creatively reuse the wasted plastic in their lives.
Adding messaging to the end of shopping tickets, defining the waste the products that were purchased will incur on our planet.
Florent Blot mail.de.florent@gmail.com
Cleaning up the plastic waste using microbes that can convert plastic into protein chains/fish food.
Cheshta Balwani
a short-form video series created with the intention of providing accessible and engaging information on sustainable switches to implement into our daily lives which helps us better manage the waste we create individually and collectively.
Luis "L.T." Martinez, Paige Krumbach, Christine (Polimana) Leilani luis.ltm.martinez@gmail.com
Using music to drive plastic-free behavior, while also helping the live music industry transform during the pandemic to be fully plastic-free.
Jackson Solomon Evan Shulman jack@purplemaia.org
A community that aims to provide customer feedback for plastic manufacturing companies urging them to switch their product to sustainable materials.
Hannah Yukon, Zachariah Walter, Zachary Walker, Sunita Freizy, Yusuf Mohammad, Nate Harris, Aldo Ortiz, Chris Lopez, Micah. tittiesforchange@gmail.com
A network of educative programs about what plastic is and why it needs to be reduced- intended for people from primary schools through university and into their careers.