What have we seen and what is coming into view?
Being Responsive
02.23.21
Dear TRENDS Diary -
It's been a dream of mine, for a long time, to be able to share my passion and joy for making things and its ability to turn nearly every problem into something any of us might solve.
I've tried a lot of different places and different types of organizations. Honestly, libraries are where it's at.
Think about it. The need to invent, design, repair and create objects for better living is as fundamentally pervasive as language in our lives.
The library has always been about free access to language. We're expanding those languages to include the creative action of making things for our world, rather than being limited to consuming them. Being a Creative Technologist enables me to share my fluency in that language with others, for free!
We make our community more self-sufficient. That has never been more critical than during the pandemic. BLDG 61 Maker Space at the downtown Boulder Public Library has fostered nearly 70 small businesses with prototyping and micro-production. Those are personal economies being generated.
02.15.21
Dear TRENDS Diary -
I started making digital illustrations as a creative outlet in 2017. I just needed some place to vent. I hated my job at the time, but I also didn’t have a lot of job mobility because I’m on a visa. I can’t just leave a company because I need to find another job that will sponsor my visa. I felt really stuck.
A lot of my early work was specifically about being a Brown woman in corporate America. My work was about the gender pay gap across different races or about companies’ performative activism. I transitioned over to other issues because I had a bigger following and felt like it would be a disservice to just focus on one specific issue. I grew, had more life experiences, and had eyes on me, which made me want to be better at addressing other issues.
01.29.21
Community Foundation Boulder County has awarded $410K in grants from the 2020 Fires Relief Fund for direct assistance, mental health vouchers, and nonprofit organizations and fire protection districts impacted by the Cal-Wood and Lefthand Canyon Fires.
Grants were awarded on January 28 to the following organizations:
Boulder County Housing and Human Services, for reimbursement of emergency direct assistance to fires-impacted county residents
United Policy Holders, for one year of access to United Policy Holders “Road to Recovery” Support county residents whose homes were destroyed or damaged
Jewish Family Service, to develop, implement and administer the Wildfire Mental Health Program providing access to mental health support for fires-impacted county residents
Lefthand Watershed Center, to provide matching funds for a planning grant from Colorado Water Conservation Board
American Red Cross, for costs incurred serving evacuated Boulder County residents