In the midst of the uncertainty, chaos, and not so good news around us, my favorite project to review lately has been the Dare to Dream wrapup. In the 2019-2020 funding cycle, Youth MOVE National funded 9 amazing Dare to Dream projects.
Groups submitted applications in November 2019, were notified of their awards in December, and were to have their projects take place between January and June 2020. The projects’ goal was to mental health awareness, and most of them revolved around in person events or activities. The pandemic hit projects in the middle of their implementation and all of them had to find ways to meet their goals and reinvent their projects. (With the amazing Member services team Jasmine and Madeline who made themselves available to support them in that transition).
All of the Dare to Dream teams found creative ways to meet their goals – from organizing virtual events to delivering self care packets, creating opportunities for remote connection and outreach, videos, websites, social media campaigns, and more! Despite the context, this year’s dare to dream projects reached over 1,400 people.
I encourage everyone to take a look at some of the amazing and creative projects Dare to Dreamers were able to put together despite very challenging situations. It was incredibly inspiring to see these teams pivot original plans, think creatively and quickly about how to meet the goals they had set for themselves.
And if you are looking for other creative ways to create connections with your group, I encourage you to check out these blog posts:
- Facilitating Engaging Virtual Meetings https://youthmovenational.org/facilitating-engaging-virtual-meetings/
- Supporting Youth MOVE Chapters virtually https://youthmovenational.org/supporting-youth-move-chapters-virtually/
