The 2019 Citizen Team Lineup

Team “Adopt a Storm Drain”

Adopt-a-StormDrain is a public facing web-based mapping application with basic task management features. It allows individuals or groups to claim ownership over neighborhood storm drains, as well as provide designated public departments with a basic notification system to respond to citizen concerns related to their adopted storm drains. If (When!) successful, we will encourage a high user-return rate by facilitating friendly competition between neighborhoods across Acadiana.

This web-based mapping application’s primary purpose is to expose Lafayette to the power citizen driven technology has to improve: 1.) government and citizen accountability 2.) communications and coordination between public departments and the citizens they serve, 3.) efficiency of city services, and 4.) government transparency.

This application serves secondary purposes of reducing neighborhood flooding and making neighborhoods more physically attractive. It accomplishes all of these goals by:

empowering citizens to adopt and monitor their neighborhood storm drains,
incentivizing citizens to play their part in neighborhood safety and beautification,
enabling more streamlined communication and coordination between public departments and the citizens they serve,
encouraging the public and private sector to work together to solve local challenges.

Team “Connect Acadiana”

Connect Acadiana’s mission is to bridge the non-profit community to volunteers and vice versa through a landing page that will direct them to VolunteerMatch.org providing current volunteer opportunities. This site would entice non-profits in Acadiana to use the same volunteer platform making it easier for volunteers to locate opportunities to serve.

VolunteerMatch is the largest network in the nonprofit world, with the most volunteers, nonprofits and opportunities to make a difference. VolunteerMatch strengthens communities by making it easier for good people and good causes to connect.

Through marketing and outreach encouraging the entire nonprofit community in Acadiana to utilize the same volunteer matching platform, this invaluable resource will then raise awareness and result in a more engaged Acadiana.

Team “Veggie on the Go”

The goal of the Veggie on the Go is to provide fresh, healthier food options to residents within the McComb-Veazey, LaPlace, Fightingville, Freetown and other Northside neighborhoods. Our project seeks to address the food insecurity found across our community causing many to live within food desserts. Our project will bring produce from the areas farms, like the Homegrowers Community Farm, EarthShare Gardens, and other local growers intentionally into the community.

We plan to partner our veggie bike with other food entrepreneurs in the community. To bring better access to resources to improve the health of the residents we interact with at the pop-ups. We plan to utilize veggie host veggie pop-ups in the community due to limited access to grocery stores or healthy food options such as restaurants, juice bars, etc. The individuals in the community don’t have access to produce within walking distance of their community. To lower the barrier on purchasing veggies, the Veggie on the Go project plans to accept cash, credit card, or EBT card. We will also develop a system to allow those who don’t have the means to pay for their vegetables.

Team “ZydeGeaux Vote”

“ZydeGeaux Vote” wants to make civic engagement as much a part of South Louisiana culture as eating gumbo and going to festivals. A non-partisan group, ZydeGeaux Vote aims to change the perceptions among populations that have been systematically discouraged from voting or that have become disengaged from civic life, particularly as an effect of hyperpartisan rhetoric. Our mission is to use fun events and music-inspired campaigns to remove barriers to voting and help get people to the polls.

Team “The EdD Series”

Transforming the Transformation Zone (Saturday School) is an academic project that will support the continued efforts of the Lafayette Parish School System to academically advance students. The project will specifically focus on core subject to ensure students are at grade level, pass EOC and graduate high school. The goal of the program is push students to new academic heights as we encourage them to be lifelong learners who share their knowledge and skill set with other Lafayette residents. This program has the potential to: remove the transformation zone title, improve student academic performance, which will allow student’s to be on grade level, increase the number of students who are graduating from high school with a traditional high school diploma.

Team “Kids N’ Media”

This project will provide an amazing opportunity for Lafayette teens to create something that they will be proud of. The first phase of the program will be training and discovery. One group of students will be trained by Mark Tassin on the filming and production aspect of media. He will offer training on camera functions, lighting, video editing and scriptwriting. The second set of training will be for students who choose to be in front of the camera. This will include creative writing, Digital Storytelling (hopefully partnering with AOC) and the creation of storyboards. We anticipate that students will struggle to articulate their experience as a result of not having the opportunity to express it before. We hope to explore creative ways to help them find their voice.

Students will need to commit to two areas that they will become experts in before we begin preproduction of the Teen Tales Documentary. Students will refine their skills of media production by shooting and editing biweekly news clips for the Clearport Learning Center. This will allow them to refine skills in preparation for the Documentary. The Clearport Learning Center will host a screening of the Teen Tales Documentary that will be open to students and community members.

Team “Greening Festivals”

We would like to put Festival International (and other festivals in the area) 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 styrofoam food containers cannot be recycled or recovered in any existing system? We bet you definitely didn’t know that there are biodegradable 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 about a quarter. We know this can be a significant ask of vendors, particularly those not used to this idea of “zero waste”. We plan to work with Festival International vendors to help them source the materials, and where it might be a barrier, use a portion of 24HCP funding to cover the difference in cost.

Team “McComb Heritage Mural”

The McComb Heritage Mural will be centrally located in McComb Veazey area. The mural will pay homage to three great musicians: Clifton Chenier, “Buckwheat” Stanley Durel and “Lil Buck” Paul Senegal. A location has been identified (located on the corners of 12^th and St. Charles street) on the Mason Hall building. The project will partner with a local mural artist to design and complete the mural. Additionally, it is anticipated that a porch be developed into the design of the mural to ensure the artwork becomes a gathering place for neighbors and musicians to “jam” in the same way “Lil Buck” and others used to do in their early years.