Dance has been shown to be very impactful on individuals and the community at the emotional, cognitive and physical level. However, there aren’t many inclusive dance classes for people with limb differences (PWLD). Dance for All Bodies (DfAB) addresses this gap through organizing monthly adaptive (interpretive, adapted to their own physical abilities) dance classes for people with limb differences in the Bay Area. Through these classes DfAB aims to create an inclusive and non-judgmental space for PWLD to dance, express themselves, and find community in shared experience. DfAB takes charge of finding an accessible dance space and scheduling teachers who have experience and interest in teaching adaptive dance classes. These classes will be made accessible through outreach and partnerships with disability organizations, hospitals and dance companies in the Bay Area.
University: UC Berkeley
Kaloum Bankhi (Home of Kaloum): A Migration of Architecture
Kaloum Bankhi is “process-focused” and not “product focused”. The mission is to ensure every resident in Kaloum, Guinea lives in a durable home, and the approach is multidisciplinary in establishing a self-sustaining local supply chain. In order to realize this goal, the project takes a multi-faceted approach, innovating the physical design, the financial mechanism, and social systems. This house model is designed to be built in stages instead of all at once. This enables residents to remain in their own home during a progressive transformation at the householder’s pace and cash-flow. Guinean culture is celebrated with this alternative housing solution that is built by a community, for a community. Architecture becomes art, bringing social change to the canvas of Kaloum. The project envisions that the knowledge invested in the community will grow beyond the slums – an architectural migration providing durable homes for all of Kaloum.
Helix
The healthcare field requires people who can navigate cultural barriers to communicate with and comfort patients. However, the current underrepresentation of minorities among health professionals is detrimental to the quality of patient care in the healthcare system. Helix is a non-profit organization working to diversify the healthcare workforce by facilitating direct exposure to health professions for high school students from minority backgrounds, allowing students to explore potential health careers. Attending Helix’s free one-week immersion program and subsequent four-week health internship will provide aspiring pre-health high school students with an unparalleled opportunity to participate in biological and clinical skill labs, obtain a CPR certification, and shadow a variety of health professionals from similar backgrounds. Through the Helix experience, students will not only discover and develop their interests, but also realize that they are not alone in their pursuits and that success is attainable.
Our Campus Kitchen
At UC Berkeley, student food insecurity is rampant while food waste is pervasive. Between expensive meals eating out and emergency provision at the Food Pantry, thousands of students are left without a consistent, affordable food option while Cal Dining and the campus gardens are flush with unused food that’s unable to be reliably processed and distributed. Meanwhile, the Berkeley Student Food Collective has pioneered a student-run food waste recovery program that focuses on addressing food insecurity using a sustainable business model in a kitchen that’s too small to scale. Our Campus Kitchen and retail café will operate as the hub of a new paradigm for campus food: a volunteer-operated, student-run kitchen that would engage students in food education, community service, and food business.
ElectroSan – Reimagining Waste for Kenya
Globally, 1 in 3 people still do not have access to a toilet, causing over 3.6 million water related, preventable deaths each year. In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people without access to safely managed sanitation continues to grow. ElectroSan is reimagining the global sanitation problem as an opportunity. If disposal and treatment of human waste can be made profitable, the generated revenue can be used towards the cost of providing sanitation services and ultimately can help alleviate poverty. ElectroSan’s ion exchange technology has been demonstrated to create a valuable fertilizer end-product from human urine. Through a partnership with a local social venture called Sanergy, ElectroSan can meet the high demand for fertilizer in the Kenyan market, addressing sanitation needs for low-income communities like Mukuru while instilling a self-sustainable sanitation solution.
LEAD
Across Burkina Faso and Africa, the inadequacy of skills in the workplace greatly contributes to the non-utilization of the continent’s human potential. This issue, rooted in the inadequacy of the education students receive in schools, explains their low employability and lack of skills to innovate. LEAD emerges in this context with a mission to prepare students for the workplace in Africa. The school will offer a unique curriculum aimed at immersing students in general education, as well as practical and technical education, all in a framework focused on developing entrepreneurial thought and action. LEAD will nurture students who have the skills required for successful entry in the workforce, and who will use their entrepreneurial skills and knowledge to innovate on the technical and practical skills they learn in the school. LEAD aims to graduate not just qualified job seekers for Burkina Faso and the continent, but also job creators.
Opportunity Through Data
There will be one million unfilled technical jobs in 2020. There are 2,220,300 people in the U.S. prison system. Opportunity Through Data hopes to address this gap in human capital while simultaneously reducing recidivism rates in California prisons and increasing the number of women, especially minority women, in technical roles. The project is centered around a ten week certificate course on data science for inmates who have attained their high school diploma or GED. The course, taught by university students and industry volunteers, will connect women to lucrative data analysis jobs upon release from prison. Throughout the course, participants will learn statistics and computer science, and they will complete projects that can be used to bolster their resumes upon release. Opportunity Through Data will develop key industry partnerships to place program graduates in jobs, thus reducing recidivism.
UROC – Demystifying the Research Process
Currently at UC Berkeley marginalized students receive little to no mentorship or resources to conduct research. Students of color perform low rates of research and campus research programs have low acceptance rates of underrepresented students. Of the 54 undergraduate research programs on campus, 12 are directly for first-generation, low-income, historically underrepresented students – however these programs often have limited resources to offer and/or limited space. Mentorship for underrepresented students is also lacking, with university faculty consisting of few scholars of color. Through a series of workshops, UROC will equip students with key skillsets for conducting research, including: designing research questions, creating literature reviews, analyzing primary archives, and designing methodologies.
AsphyxiAlert
AsphyxiAlert addresses the need for a tracheostomy alarm system that alerts caregivers in the event of accidental tube dislodgement and tube occlusion. AsphyxiAlert’s dual purpose device houses sensing technology to warn against these two emergencies, with the ability to add extra features for the home consumer. In the case of airway compromise due to a tube dislodgement or blockage, the device will remotely display critical warnings to a personal electronic device or nursing station module. Using big data, the team will tailor the algorithm for each patient’s breathing to personalize the system. This safety device is for home and hospital/rehab facility use in both children and adults. While saving lives is AsphyxiAlert’s primary goal, this device can prevent costly hospitalization, consumption of resources and provide an early warning system as an FDA approved medical device.