With pet ownership on the rise and Downtown Lafayette becoming a place where more people want to live, the need for proper pet waste management grows. Introducing pet waste stations to the downtown district would help encourage resident pet owners to pick up after their pets and properly dispose of the waste while also communicating to the general public that downtown is a clean and welcoming environment. This project would deploy ten pet waste stations strategically placed throughout downtown for dog walkers to use at their convenience. Each station would include a dispenser box with pet waste bags, a trash can, and informative signage.
Forgetting to bring a bag or running out during walks are the most common reasons why pet waste is left unattended. Having a visual reminder to pick up pet waste creates a sense of social pressure that helps improve compliance. The goal is to prevent pet waste problems by providing downtown residents with the means and motivation to keep their community clean. These stations will help ensure a safe and cleaner downtown area for everyone in Acadiana to enjoy along with their furry friends as residential projects continue to take place in Downtown Lafayette.
Project Details
Team Leader: Gabrielle Keaton Funded Date: November 11, 2023 Amount: $3,750 Location: Lafayette, LA
The sights and sounds of a festival or any large scale event can be very overwhelming, especially when there’s nowhere to retreat to. Think of a Mardi Gras Parade…you’ve been standing all day, the music hasn’t stopped, you may be hungry, cold…hot…like you want to crawl out of your skin…You don’t want to leave the parade for good but your brain is telling you: I just need a minute!! Or, what if you are in a wheelchair and need to change, but there’s no accessible changing station close by? This is where Team Sensory Safe Spaces comes in.
Team Sensory Safe Spaces will team up with that particular event to provide an inclusive space for ALL to rest, refresh, and decompress before enjoying more of the event. At these designated spaces, there will be sensory tents (hello shade and decreased noise), sensory bags to be given out (think fidgets, sunglasses, earplugs, gum), calming activities (art, sensory bins, and bubble machines) and much more to ensure that those who may be overwhelmed or just need a break can still experience and enjoy their time.
One key (and hopeful) feature of the space will be to provide a changing area for individuals who are in wheelchairs or still have difficulty with bowel and bladder control. There will be a designated tent (not necessarily at the main location) that can still provide the appropriate accommodations and autonomy that everyone else has at an event. We all need and deserve an opportunity to take a break and chill at large scale events. To date, there is nothing like this in our community. The Beluga Project, in conjunction with Festival International, helped create the first space like this at Festival in April 2022. The positive feedback we received throughout and the call to do more of this is apparent, however, we need funding to make this space work over and over, not just one time. From durable tents, to filling the sensory bags, we need our community to help make this happen…one inclusive event at a time. Thank you 24 Citizen Project for helping make this happen!
Project Details
Team Leader: David Pilon Funded Date: November 5, 2022 Amount: $3,000 Location: Lafayette, LA
Dear Community,We're still tired, yet feeling grateful. WOW! Festival International just ended as you know. We saw many of you there which was freaking awesome. Without you, we wouldn't have a safe space (Zone Detente) at festival. Without 24CP, we could not have...
Hello community! We are still so grateful for the support that we have received for this project. The relationships are connections we’ve been able to establish and harness is more than inspiring. We are happy to announce we will be partnering with the city of...
Dear the (coolest, funkiest and most supportive) community members, First of all: THANK YOU. Thank you all: the backers, our team, the other teams, the 24 hour citizen/civicside team, YOU, to those you’ve told, et al. We are so grateful. We learned and will continue...
We’ve all heard the common phrase “when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade”. The Lemonade Stand Project will allow youth to use their lemons to make a difference instead! By combining lessons on entrepreneurship, marketing, sales, basic construction, and quality control, youth at the Granberry Boys & Girls Club will build a lemonade stand brand and use the proceeds to impact local community initiatives.
There are nearly 1,500 nonprofit organizations listed in Lafeyette alone. Those organizations serve missions rooted in education, youth development, homelessness, hunger, and plenty of other meaningful services. Today, youth struggle to identify where to fit into the equation and how to make an impact while gaining useful skills in the process. The Lemonade Stand Project will allow youth to do just that! The club will partner with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Louisiana Entrepreneurship & Economic Development Center to deliver lessons and mentorship to participating youth to teach them important skills to develop their lemonade brand and business. Youth will then implement those lessons to pitch three lemonade stands across Acadiana on National Lemonade Day! 30% of each sale will remain in business to purchase supplies for the next year. Our teams of kids will spilt 10%. The last 60% will be donated to a community organization determined by participating youth. The first step of the project will be to devise a business plan for the lemonade stand. In the process, youth will gain valuable business skills, earn some money, and make a difference all through this project!
Project Details
Team Leader: Micah Nicholas Funded Date: November 6, 2021 Amount: $3,315 Location: Lafayette, LA
Jackie Unit - Lemonade Stand 12 participantsFunds raised: $706.40 (353 cups of lemonade)Charity of choice: The Outreach Center of Lafayette (Contact-Director, Bruce Gilcrease) 75% to The Outreach Center of Lafayette - $529.80 25% to kids for group celebration -...
September 1st 2022 Dear Community, The Boys & Girls Clubs of Acadiana is launching a month-long entrepreneurship program at our two Lafayette Clubs, thanks to the 24-Hour Citizen Project. One of our premier programs at the Boys & Girls Club is “Career Launch”....
Dear Community, We have been very busy since our last update! We were able to begin planning for our big day: August 20! Our kids are eager to get started and begin partnering with businesses to promote our lemonade stand. We will begin the entrepreneurship classes...
Dear Community, Our club kids and families are still riding the excitement of being funded! It was, without a doubt, one of the highlights of our year. Over the last few weeks, we have made progress on our project in preparation of the August 22nd event. We’ve shared...
The Oasis Pantry will serve as an alternative food resource for the Oasis Community. Constructed in an easily accessible location within the neighborhood, this unit will feature cool items, nonperishables, and fresh fruit and vegetables. The pantry will also include a Dropbox for area residents to give donations throughout the week. While we welcome all community members to partake and participate in this initiative, its centralized location will allow safe and easy accessibility to our community’s most vulnerable population, children under the age of 14.The food pantry would not only be a way to curb hunger but to show love & compassion. We at Oasis believe that we can help the problem by becoming the internal solution. Being proactive in this time is critical and needed. Showing love and hope is not only rewarding but appreciated by the ones receiving. It is our hope that this pantry will also be a cycle of hope in our community in that when families utilize the resources of the pantry and are able to get back on their feet, they can invest back into the pantry for other families in need.The oasis food pantry is not only a way for us to give back to the community, but for the community to give back to itself. Our hope is that this initiative will spark community engagement, pride and unification.
The idea for constructing this neighborhood pantry is not only for needy families in our community but for the homeless population existing in our community. We have a heavy presence of homeless people in our community and the pantry is to be the hand up they need, continuing the restoration in our community. We desire for our residents to see Oasis Pantry as a reservoir and source of hope, healing and restoration.
Project Details
Team Leader: Valerie Lewis / Josh Edmond Funded Date: November 6, 2021 Amount: $2,500 Location: Lafayette, LA
Dear Oasis Community, It’s happening. IT’S HERE! The Oasis Food Pantry started as a vision to sow into our community and serve as an additional resource to our residents. We wrote the vision, made it plain, pitched our plan, got funded – and pushed forward to the...
Dear Community, We’re gearing up for an exciting summer in Oasis! In addition to multiple activities planned by local and government organizations for our community in the coming months, we’re moving full steam ahead with the Oasis Food Pantry. Our vision is for the...
Dear Community, Great things are on the horizon for our Oasis Community. Despite our Coterie’s limited visibility since the onset of COVID-19, we’ve not lost sight of our commitment to our community. Many of you may recall providing us with valuable feedback as to...
Team Greening Festival wants to reduce the amount of waste created at Festival International and be part of catalyzing a styrofoam-free Lafayette! The ultimate goal of this project is to put Festival International on the road to becoming a “zero waste” event. The first step is replacing styrofoam serviceware items (i.e. plates, bowls, and clamshells) used by Festival vendors with compostable versions made out of bagasse, a byproduct of sugarcane mills.
We’re bringing out the FIL Geaux Green logo by putting Festival International (and eventually other local festivals) on the road to becoming a “zero waste” event! Anyone who has spent any time at Festival International (isn’t that all of us?) knows that most of the food is served on styrofoam plates or containers. But did you know that styrofoam never goes away and that these food containers can neither be recycled nor recovered in any existing system? We bet you definitely didn’t know that there are compostable equivalents to all the styrofoam plates, bowls, and clamshells used today. In fact, one such plant-based item is made from sugar cane bagasse, a byproduct of sugarcane mills that we have an abundance of here in South Louisiana.
Depending on the product (plate, bowl, clamshell, etc), the cost difference between styrofoam and bagasse can range from nothing to fifty cents. We know this can be a significant ask of vendors, particularly those not used to this idea of “zero waste”. We will work with Festival International vendors to help them source materials, and, where it might be a barrier, use 24HCP funding to cover a portion of the difference in cost.
This effort will be paired with a fully-backed Festival International marketing effort promoting FIL’s move away from styrofoam. Vendors who elect to participate will be designated in the FIL app and at their vendor booths with the FIL Geaux Green logo.
Future Plan:
The beauty of plant based materials comes full circle if you are able to capture them once Festival-goers have finished eating. These materials, along with any food residue and leftovers, can be sent to compost at a right-sized and managed facility. When managed properly and mixed with other organic material, oxygen, and water; all of this plant-based waste will break back down into healthy, rich soil! It is very important that no other materials get mixed in though, so we would start with collection in select areas only (i.e. Parc San Souci) and follow Louisiana Football’s model of hand sorting compost after each event to make sure that no other waste materials end up in the compost pile. This work would be completed by volunteers similar to the volunteers who handle recycling at Festival Acadien.
Project Details
Team Leader: Monica Rowand Funded Date: November 9, 2019 Funding Amount: $3,000 Location: Lafayette, LA
Dear Community, Did you enjoy this year's Virtual Festival? What about a Festival favorite drink or menu item on a patio or from the comfort of your home? As you know, our project meant to eliminate the use of styrofoam at Festival International de Louisiane and...
Dear Community, As you all know, Festival International looked a lot different last year, altering the plans for our original project. The same will be true for Festival International 2021. The Festival released their plans for this year's event in January. The...
Dear Community. WE DID IT!!!! We had the first ever ZERO-WASTE FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL! (Too soon?) Like all of you, we were disappointed when we couldn’t celebrate our favorite festival in person. We would like to give a huge shout-out to Scott Feehan and his team...
Dear Community, The response to our project has been truly overwhelming these last couple months. The outpouring of support and encouragement from you still comes daily as our plans continue to develop and come to fruition. A few weeks ago we posted a poll via the...
Dear Community, Is it a marketing miracle or meant-to-be that the first day of Festival International de Louisiane 2020 is Earth Day? That’s right, mark your calendars for April 22-26, 2020 and a Festival International experience with a slightly green-er hue! As a...
