Click here to vote: http://jumo-individuals.maker.good.is/projects/philosophymatters
As I’ve written before, my long-term plans are to take the ideas that I’ve started in this blog and form a nonprofit organization. As of now, I have three main ideas about projects I’m interested in tackling:
1. Fun activities open to the public – bike rides, cooking classes, and other similar sessions that explore an idea with hands on practice while thinking about the philosophy and how it relates to what we’re doing. Hopefully you have seen from the theme of many of my entries here so far how I hope to connect these types of activities to philosophy.
2. Working with pre-college students on philosophy. My work at Mississippi Governor’s School and the Francis Karnes Center for Gifted Studies has made me passionate about this area of work, and I’ve found that gifted students respond really well to discussing philosophy. I would like to continue working in this area and expand it beyond gifted students to all students. Ideally, I would set up a program where local universities and colleges could have their philosophy majors go out into the community and work with students. In order to meet this on a large level, I would also like to do studies on how learning philosophy at a young age impacts creativity and critical thinking skills – and maybe even standardized test scores!
3. Working with people in prison. First, I have read that there has been some work in this area and that it has been very successful. During my time with DOT, I also have worked first hand with a group of prisoners who learning technology skills that they would be able to use after their release. This was where I first had the idea and started thinking about how much of an impact it might make.
See more here:
Exploring the Good Life Idea Presentation
So how do I get there?
Currently, my strategy is to begin developing the public community events first, and holding them for a small fee. These sessions will help me develop material and raise money that will support the other goals, which won’t generate any income.
The biggest obstacles, of course, are time and money. Because I work full-time at another nonprofit, this is all being done in my spare time and on my personal budget.
How can you help?
Another part of the plan is to begin applying for grants or fellowships that would support my mission and allow me to focus more time on Philosophy Matters. Today, you can help me out with that. GoodMaker is offering $500 for the idea that gets the most votes. I know posts about receiving help through votes might be annoying, but this is a project I’m extremely passionate about, and I would really appreciate your support – and will only take a few seconds.
Please visit this site and vote for my project: http://jumo-individuals.maker.good.is/projects/philosophymatters
Thank you for your support!
