If kids are our future, a project proposed by one AdaptNY resilience workshop team hopes to educate youth on what it means to be resilient. The “Resilient Willow Project” would let kids articulate and share their own experience with climate change through art, literature, and music, encouraging parents and children can work together build a more resilient society. Here’s how the project came together, with a team summary below. Plus, watch the video above with a team member describing the idea. (Video by Nesh Pillay)

Team Triceratops led by work to begin prototyping their ideas while putting their personas on paper #ONANYC #AdaptNY pic.twitter.com/1vzONjYylW
— Elijah Stewart (@EJ_Stewart) February 22, 2014

MT @EJ_Stewart: An idea for a website: “The Willow Project,” allowing kids to share climate stories #AdaptNY #ONANYC pic.twitter.com/msueh8VVkS

— Matt Surrusco (@mattsurrusco) February 22, 2014

TEAM SUMMARY

“The Resilient Willow Project is a community education initiative that uses children to inspire their communites to get more involved in climate resilience solutions. The project uses social media engagement through such means as a “Resilience Is….” contest soliciting interactive and other art forms from children about what would make their communities more resilient. It would create curricula/intergenerational learning opportunities for teachers and those active with children, such as church groups, scouts, camps or after-school programs. It would involve real-world meetups with those groups and others to galvanize local stakeholders around these activites and topics. It would provide a digital hub with features such as comics, online games and “School House Rock”-style videos on climate resilience, all to engage children, as well as adult-oriented information about climate resilience that parents and teachers could share with children. The Willow Project is about inspiring children and their families and communities to envision a climate-resilient future.

GO FORWARD PLAN

“Our proposed strategic partnership with Scholastic Publications, Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith would fund a pilot project in the outerboro NYC area, with the aim of a national rollout by 2015. It would also fund an annual “Resilience Is…” contest, with winners and their families invited initiatly to Gracie Mansion and later to the White House to meet with the First Lady of NYC and then the First Lady of the United States for lunches and awards ceremonies. Funding would also provide for enrichment workshops (music, writing, dance and video) to foster children’s creative potential in their artistic response to the resilience challenge.”

YOUR THOUGHTS?

Do you think reaching a community through its children makes sense for the issue of climate resilience? Does the combination of real physical gatherings and virtual connection work? What about the use of the arts? What do you think of this project? Share your thoughts in the comments below!