A Silent Disco Prom will be a night for our autism and special education needs population to feel accepted, understood, and celebrated. Sensory Grooves will be an evening devoted entirely to helping individuals 14-18 years of age enjoy a traditional prom experience in an inclusive environment that feels safe and friendly.
Sensory Grooves participants will feel like prom royalty as they will control their experience, making it as unique as each of them. Participants will receive wireless headphones customized at a constant volume level featuring three different audio channels. These three channels allow participants to volley back and forth between three song choices from three DJs, all by clicking a button on their headphones. This control factor helps each participant feel more included and immerses them in a socially positive group experience.
Suppose participants sense they need a break from all the fun of dancing. In that case, they can still listen and observe or remove the headphones and have a conversation, never missing a moment of the grand experience of their evening. Having choices extends a safety factor, minimizing sensory overload and providing a successful and memorable evening.
Sensory Grooves participants will experience the feeling of being included and allowing each to celebrate and have fun together to the beat of their own headphones!
Project Details
Team Leader: Kelly Landry Funded Date: November 11, 2023 Amount: $3,500 Location: Lafayette, LA
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The Birds and the Bees program is a way to provide veterans with the space and materials to learn basic carpentry skills, while also providing vital habitat to the local animal and insect populations of the Acadiana area. This program engages veterans in their community, as well as helping the local wildlife in building habitat. This not only helps the various flora and fauna, it encourages bigger yields in the gardens we encourage and aide people in building. It also helps develop strong bonds in the participants, and breeds the camaraderie veterans have grown accustomed to during their time in service. Not just with each other, but with the environment around them as well.
By building various housing for bats, birds, and insects we encourage the natural ecosystem to regenerate and thrive. In doing so in a group setting we provide a non judgmental space, and a task that is very manageable and rewarding. The fruits of their labor are immediate and purposeful.
Each box will include a bat box, birdhouse, vermicomposter (worm composter), native plants and seeds, and a guide to each item and how they interact.
Goals
Teach the importance of a regenerative Eco system.
Teach basic carpentry skills and shop safety.
Provide a large selection of Native plants to encourage even more diversity.
Provide a space for veterans to feel safe and understood.
Provide space at the veterans home to help find peace.
Create strong bonds through mutual support and a love for the community around them.
Provide the farm and the community with abundant wildlife, and natural beauty.
Specifications
Lumber will be provided by Live Edge lumber company (veteran owned) and milled and organized in “kits” by Abby’s Acre personnel. These will be organized by set designs and blueprints and can be scaled up or down depending on the skill of the participant. There will be emphasis on safety, and for the time being, no power tools will be utilized.
Native seeds and starts will be provided by The Urban Naturalist in Fightinville. A guide to each item in the box will be included to aid the recipient in further educating themselves on each component provided.
For those not able to build their own, Abby’s Acre personnel will be building, distributing, and installing these boxes for those most in need of them.
Project Details
Team Leader: Colton Campitelli Funded Date: November 11, 2023 Amount: $3,200 Location: Lafayette, LA
Dear Community, From the entire Abby’s Acre organization, we sincerely thank everyone involved in the 24-Hour Citizen's Project. From the flawless organization and execution of a fantastic event to the other teams inspiring everyone watching, and to the backers,...
Inclusive Prom will offer a free opportunity for high schoolers in the Acadiana region to meet students from other schools and build community. Many teenagers in our area, including those who are LGBTQ+, will not be able to go to their proms as themselves or with the date of their choice. Inclusive Prom offers an opportunity for high schoolers who would benefit from an alternate prom experience to come together to celebrate their authentic selves and each other. This community event will benefit our community by creating a safe space for LGBTQ+ and other marginalized youth where they can be accepted as themselves, where they can see there are people in the community that support them, and where teenagers from different schools can meet, furthering a sense of community.
Inclusive Prom will be a free 3 hour event hosted at a local venue in Lafayette, open to all high school students in the Acadiana region. Music, dancing, and snacks will be offered. There will be a photo station offering free selfie opportunities and paid-for photo packages. By offering a safe and inclusive space for youth in the community to feel accepted as themselves, we hope to build up and support young people who may not have other sources of support.
The challenges facing youth today are unprecedented. There has been a dramatic increase in mental health concerns for teenagers. This is even more true in the LGBTQ+ community. According to the Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. LGBTQ youth who live in a community that is accepting of LGBTQ people reported significantly lower rates of attempting suicide than those who do not. By hosting this community event, we can hopefully help to reduce suicide rates of LGBTQ+ youth in our community by demonstrating a safe place of acceptance and support.
Project Details
Team Leader: Acadiana Queer Collective, LLC – Wendy Dorfman, Brandi Ortiz, Kelly Noyes, Monet David, Peyton Michelle, Jess Allain Funded Date: November 5, 2022 Amount: $4,000 Location: Lafayette, LA
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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
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Project Creole Garsons aims to increase male participation in the performing arts. There are several socially-constructed circumstances that negatively impact male participation. This scholarship program will work to eliminate many of these barriers by exposing the participants to a series of workshops and classes in a variety of artistic genres mostly led by male professional artists. The participants will then apply their knowledge in their artistic area(s) of interests. The program will culminate in the boys’ own artistic performance or production work being featured in the Creole Nutcracker.
The Creole Nutcracker was born out of the hearts of its two creators whose main purpose is to further expose the youth of Acadiana to the arts. The production is seasoned with the food, the language, and the music of the charming Creole culture. Each participant has an opportunity to perform on stage or work behind the scenes getting first-hand experience in a variety of different forms of the arts.Since 2018, The Creole Nutcracker has educated over 200 young performers as cast members. In these 4 years, 191 of the 200 young artists were female, and only 9 were male.
In our goal of exposing and educating the youth of Acadiana to the arts, we have been missing the mark with our young male population. Project Creole Garsons was created to fix this problem. The report Living the Arts through Language + Learning showed that young people with high arts involvement were 4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, 4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair, 3 times more likely to win an award for school attendance, and 3 times more likely to be elected to class office. All students deserve the opportunity to take part in the arts, both in school and in the community. The arts encourage students to: stay in school, succeed in school, succeed in life and succeed in work. It is proven that the arts benefit a child’s social development and academic achievement. And we need more boys in Acadiana getting these benefits!
There are several socially-constructed circumstances that negatively impact male participation in the arts. This scholarship program will work to eliminate many of these barriers by exposing the participants to a series of workshops and classes in a variety of artistic genres mostly led by male professional artists. The participants will then apply their knowledge in their artistic area(s) of interests. The program will culminate in the boys’ own artistic performance or production work being featured in the Creole Nutcracker. Creole Garsons is designed to foster creativity in more young men, and give them outlets for self-expression. From ballet to hip-hop and lighting to stage management, our program has something that will inspire tous les garsons.
Project Details
Team Leaders: Leigha Porter / Jazmyn Jones Funded Date: November 6, 2021 Amount: $2,500 Location: Lafayette, LA
