It's Our Money
#itsourmoney Youth led direct democracy
Emoti-Con 2021 -- A Super-Kool, Super-Exciting, Super-Fun Student Tech Fair
Name of Your Organization:
Mouse Inc.
Overview of the Project - Please provide a brief description of the project.
The Emoti-Con NYC Youth Digital Media and Technology Challenge is an annual competition, celebration, and community for young Black and Latinx designers, inventors, engineers, digital artists, gamers, programmers, and activists. Every year Emoti-Con attracts over 300 middle and high school students from all five boroughs of New York City. Emoti-Con is designed and run by young people and alumni, with the support of several youth development organizations including Mouse, Global Kids, Parson New School for Design and the New York Public Library.
With 89% of participants identifying as students of color (39% Latino/a; 30% Black; 12% Asian; 8% Multiracial), Emoti-Con is a critical platform for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) students to showcase their ideas for social change, to build community with peers from other programs and schools doing similar work, and to get feedback from and network with career professionals.
This year Emoti-Con turns 13 and Mouse Inc. needs your help to make our 13th event interactive, community-focused, and fun, even though it has to be virtual instead of live!
Every year, students in classrooms and afterschool programs around the city begin working on design projects in teams over several months. These projects will be finalized through the Spring of 2021 and then presented at a virtual public ceremony in mid-summer.
In May, Emoti-Con will have a two week-long digital project fair, a project design competition, and career-focused networking opportunities.
Participants demonstrate their proficiency in a wide variety of digital media, such as game design, physical computing projects, app and web design, 3D/CAD design, AR/VR interactive projects, technology-enhanced art, assistive and adaptive technologies, and audio and video projects. A panel of judges comprising experienced industry professionals evaluate student projects and award prizes in multiple categories, such as Most Innovative, Most Potential for Social Impact, Most Entertaining and Best Pitch, etc. Competitors have a chance to earn digital badges, which they can then use for college entrance and/or internships.
Young people who participate in Emoti-Con gain a number of valuable skills and experiences:
- They build a sense of belonging within a professional field or community;
- They develop their professional networking abilities;
- They get the opportunity to collaborate and cooperate with other youth from across New York City during activities, presentations, and dialogues.
- They deepen their sense of how technology and social media can be applied, repurposed and designed for social action;
- They showcase digital projects and explain the objectives behind their design projects;
- They get to practice presentation skills in front of a large and unfamiliar audience of peers and experts;
- They gain exposure to industry professionals who can serve as mentors and help them in exploring career pathways.
In the past Emoti-Con used to be a real-time event organized in a physical space. But because of the COVID-19 crisis, the event has been converted into a wholly digital format. Despite this change, the 2020 Emoti-Con was a great success. 326 teens from across New York CIty submitted 87 innovative projects, which were evaluated by judges from major tech companies such as Facebook, Netflix, Verizon, Google, Smithsonian, IBM and many others.
This year, with your help, the students who plan the event would like to add more live events during the project fair to connect students with each other virtually and with judges. For example, the Design Fellows -- a team of high school students who help organize Emoti-Con each year -- plan to create a VR space where participants can interact with the project fair in new ways.
Which of the following issues does your project address?
- Issue 1 - Addressing Mental Health
- Issue 2 - Preparation for College and/or Career
- Issue 3 - Youth Advocacy Promotion
2
Youth Engagement - Please explain how you will engage youth in the planning and implementation of the project.
Emoti-Con is designed, planned and run by youth and alumni with the support of a Steering Committee that includes representatives from the following organizations -- Mouse, Global Kids, New York Public Library and Parsons School of Design.
The “Aluminati” are a council of Emoti-Con alumni leaders who attended the event when they were in high school. Each year, the Aluminati meet regularly with Mouse staff and the Steering Committee to lead the planning and organizing for the event, choose keynote speakers and judges, design the project fair and competition, create videos and act as event hosts.
In addition to the Aluminati, the Parsons School of Design runs the “Emoti-Con Design Fellows” program starting each winter. The Design Fellows are a group of high school students who work together over several months to create the theme, artwork, and special interactive experiences for the event. This year, they plan to create a VR experience during the Project Fair.
Global Kids hosts an Emoti-Con afterschool program to prepare a group of middle school students to become the ‘emcees’ for the event, introducing keynote speakers, and announcing winning projects.
Budget - Your total project budget must equal $20,000 to be placed on the ballot for a youth vote. Please provide a brief description of what the funds would be used for to successfully implement your project. You will also need to download, fill in, and attach a full budget using this template.
Mouse Inc. is requesting funding to cover only the final stretch of Emoti-Con -- the actual hosting of the event. As this is an ongoing project, other expenses have already been incurred. Our request includes $7,000 for personnel costs, covering the staff time provided by Meredith Summs, Sr. Director of After School and Informal Learning at Mouse. Other expenses include: stipends for the Emoti-Con “Aluminati” youth leadership team (3X$1,000) -- $3,000; designing and hosting a new virtual project fair website for Emoti-Con student teams -- $5,000; and student prizes and Incentives -- $5,000. The total for this request comes to $20,000.
Timeline- Please describe the timeline for the implementation and completion of the project. All work for this project must be completed by June 30, 2021, which is the end of the city’s fiscal year and the deadline for the funds to be spent.
January - March, 2021 -- students continue working on their projects
April - May, 2021 -- judge selection; judges begin evaluating student projects; virtual project fair launch;
June 2021 -- final awards ceremony.
Project Activity Alignment - How does your project align with at least one of the following topics:
- Leadership skills development: organizing & advocacy trainings
- Stewardship of public spaces: public parks, transportation, etc.
- Youth and student engagement
- Civic education and advocacy
- Community outreach involving residents that have been historically underrepresented in or underserved by city government and its processes
Emoti-Con has a close alignment with at least two of the above mentioned categories:
- Leadership skills development: organizing & advocacy trainings; and
- Youth and student engagement.
As part of the planning process for Emoti-Con, youth receive ongoing training on organizing and advocacy. They gain leadership skills by participating in various activities, such as agenda setting, public outreach, program planning and event publicity. As an event that is exclusively targeted at middle and high school students, youth and student engagement is an essential element of Emoti-Con.
What is your organization's area of focus?
- Children and youth related
- Advocacy and organizing
- Arts and culture
- Civic engagement
- Education and literacy
- Emergency management and disaster response
- Employment and workforce development
- Environment and sustainability
- Faith-based
- Food access
- Health and medicine
- Homelessness and/or affordable housing
- Human rights
- Human services
- Immigrants and/or refugees
- Justice related
- Legal services
- People with disabilities
- Senior services
- Women's issues
5 (Education and Literacy)
Affirmations - Type "YES" below each statement to affirm that you are eligible to appear on the ballot for this process.
I confirm that my organization will be registered in the NYC Payee Information Portal and in PassPort, NYC’s online procurement system, in order to receive funding from the City of New York.
Yes
I confirm that my organization is able to front the costs of implementing this project. Organizations will be paid based on deliverables.
Yes
Completion of Deliverables: I understand all deliverables must be completed by June 30th, 2021.
Yes
I understand a condition of funding includes submission of a final report upon project completion, and participating in a debrief session with the CEC.
Yes
This idea proceeds to voting because:
Thank you for your proposal submission! Based on our review, your proposal is eligible according to the project guidelines and will be placed on the ballot for the youth vote to take place in February. We may reach out if we need further information to prepare the ballot.
Idea appearing in these projects:
Report inappropriate content
Is this content inappropriate?
Comment details
You are seeing a single comment
You can check the rest of the comments here.
Groups can be used to gather feedback from members, conduct polls, or make group decisions. Admins can create polls to collect opinions, preferences, or votes from group members https://societieslink.com/girl-whatsapp-group-link/.
Loading comments ...