CONNECT
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2016 Grants Challenge

'PEOPLE IN ME' Interactive Cyber Mural

A student-created interactive, cyber-video mural that maps the cultural diversity of those living/working in downtown L.A., PEOPLE IN ME showcases participants' culture, arts, and beliefs.

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Are any other organizations collaborating on this proposal?

METRO Charter Elementary, A multi-disciplinary design collaborative, CHA:COL, South Park Business Improvement District, Sandy Point INK, Chase New Markets Tax Credit Group, Xyvest Holdings Inc., CalStateTEACH, L.A. City Real Estate and Land Use, Technology provider - TBD

Please describe your project proposal.

PEOPLE IN ME is a student-created, interactive, cyber-video mural that maps the cultural diversity of community living and/or working in downtown L.A., representing 180 countries. A team of students working alongside parents, artists and school partners will interview locals about their culture, arts, cuisine, childhood, beliefs and how they arrived here. Students/viewers will put themselves on the map by inputting data about themselves to determine how their family is connected.

Which of the CONNECT metrics will your proposal impact?​

Cultural events

Public/open streets gatherings

In what areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?

Downtown L.A. metro area

Describe in greater detail how your proposal will make LA the best place to CONNECT?

PEOPLE IN ME is aligned with METRO's emphasis on providing innovative opportunities for Place-Based Education (PBE): learning through rigorous, real world learning projects that help our students understand and appreciate diversity; make global connections; and become involved in, and a contributing member of, the downtown Los Angeles community.

While other schools use downtown places for field trip destinations, METRO's belief is that the real value of those sites, and all of downtown, is the unmatched diverse experiences, backgrounds, beliefs, knowledge, creativity and cultural norms of the people who live in, work at, and breathe life into our downtown destinations.

We look for projects that, through building students' foundational group-work skills and collaborative problem solving modeled by teachers, parents, other students and community volunteers, our students learn that there's a diversity of valid perspectives, build comfort around using their own voices, and understand the value of accepting and building on the contributions of others.

Within that group structure is delivered personalized learning that allow our students to figure out how they learn best. They also get to see how their peers learn best, showing them that there are many ways to problem solve and reach the same solution.

Beyond the classroom PEOPLE IN ME is a community showcase project that cultivates civic pride and educates students and residents about the positive traits and commonalities of our diverse downtown populations.

Another purpose of 'PEOPLE IN ME' is to initiate, build and strengthen intergenerational relationships that connect, capitalize on, embrace, and showcase, the cultural diversity of elderly community members who represent 180 countries and 140 languages; utilizing the vast experiences, backgrounds, cultures, beliefs of the wiser generation as a Common Core learning tool for our new generation of learners.

Seniors will benefit from: meaningful experiences with children and educators; learning new technologies; and, passing down of cultural traditions.

Students will benefit from: mentors, communication and problem-solving skills, positive attitudes about aging, and community service.

Please explain how you will define and measure success for your project.​

1) Tabulate the number of visitors that view the mural.

2) Tabulate the number of visitors who interactively participate with the mural.

3) Tabulate the number of interactive participants who enter their own information.

4) Exit surveys that collect visitors takeaways from their visit/interaction: enjoyment level; educational value; wanting to

know more about their own family history/culture; raised awareness of downtown L.A.'s diversity.

5) Improved METRO student academic performance in core subject areas connected to the project's learning activities.

We look for projects that, through building students' foundational group-work skills and collaborative problem solving modeled by teachers, parents, other students and community volunteers, our students learn that there's a diversity of valid perspectives, build comfort around using their own voices, and understand the value of accepting and building on the contributions of others.

Within that group structure is delivered personalized learning that allow our students to figure out how they learn best. They also get to see how their peers learn best, showing them that there are many ways to problem solve and reach the same solution.

How can the LA2050 community and other stakeholders help your proposal succeed?

Money

Volunteers

Advisors/board members

Publicity/awareness

Infrastructure (building/space/vehicles etc.)

Technical infrastructure (computers etc.)

Community outreach